THE SOUND OF MUZAK - The Ultimate PORCUPINE TREE Playlist - Part 1

My playlist

Rock Progresivo

ptree and wilson

It's mind blowing for me to realise that it is almost exactly 20 years since Porcupine Tree made their first ever live appearance, at a small club called the Nag's Head in High Wycombe, UK on the 4th December 1993. To commemorate the anniversary here is a recording from the archives of the first song played at that first ever show, the Van Der Graaf Generator / Dead Can Dance sampling, David Gilmour meets The Orb fusion of Voyage 34 (years before he did actually collaborate with The Orb!), the birth of PT as a band and a performing entity.  It was recorded straight from the mixing desk so the balance is a bit strange, but actually considering how nervous we must have all been, it's not bad at all. 

Buy archive PT CD here

PORCUPINE TREE - Voyage 34 (Nags Head 4/12/1993)

In Absentia

Blackest Eyes

The Sound Of Muzak

Deadwing

Lazarus

Arriving Somewhere But Not Here

Trains

As previously announced the forthcoming vinyl compilation LP “Transience" will feature a new recording of Lazarus, originally recorded by Porcupine Tree for the “Deadwing" album in 2004.  

To mark the release of this new version you can listen to my original demo of the song.  This was actually the first of two demos I made of Lazarus, and it features a very different middle 8, subsequently rewritten for the second demo and final album recording.  

Lazarus was one of several songs that were based on a film script that I was working on at the time with my friend Mike Bennion, and the David mentioned in the song is a central character in that script. 

Lazarus (first demo) performed by SW at No Man’s Land, December 2003.

Lazarus (Demo)

Lazarus Piano Solo - Porcupine Tree

The Sky Moves Sideways- Porcupine Tree

The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories)

Drive Home

Happiness III

Happiness III (Edit)

Last Day Of June

There Must Be A Way

Suspended In Me

Some Things Cannot Be Changed

That Day By The Pier

Permanating

Permanating (Ewan Pearson Mix)

25 years ago today, on the 4th December 1993, Porcupine Tree made its first ever live appearance at the Nag's Head in High Wycombe, UK.  By then 2 albums and an EP had been released under the name (and a third one was half finished), all of which gave the impression that Porcupine Tree was a band, when in fact it was a solo project, just me messing about in my bedroom studio, although Colin and Richard had both guested on one song each on Up the Downstair released earlier that year. Positive press and a growing fanbase had led to increased pressure for live appearances, so in late 1993 I asked 3 brilliant musicians I knew, Colin Edwin (from my home town of Hemel Hempstead), Richard Barbieri and Chris Maitland (both of whom had played with my other band No-Man) to join me in forming a real band line up of the project. For some reason they all agreed, and on the strength of the buzz about the project, Richard Allen at my then record company Delerium managed to book this show, as well as 2 others and a BBC radio session.  After one week of rehearsals this was our first ever gig in front of an audience, performing a 7 song, 70 minute set in a backroom of a pub to about 200 people that had traveled from all over the country.  The first song played was Voyage 34. which you can find elsewhere on the web, but here is a mixing desk recording of the second song Always Never.  This would have also been the first time I had sung in front of an audience, at least since the days of my various school bands, so I can only imagine now how nervous I must have been at the prospect!  

The rest, as they say, is history...

PORCUPINE TREE - Always Never(Nags Head 4/12/1993)

Here we all are
Born into a struggle
To come so far
But end up returning to dust

Oxfam panache tips his hat
(laces undone)
He has no truck with idle chat
(work to be done)
The songs he learned from scratched LP's
Stops in mid-flow to sip his tea

He strums the chords with less than grace
(songs we all know)
Each passing year etched on his face
(sun, rain or snow)
The words he sings are not his own
They speak of things he'll never know

http://www.stevenwilsonhq.com
http://www.facebook.com/stevenwilsonhq
http://www.twitter.com/stevenwilsonhq

Steven Wilson - Vocals, Mellotron, Keyboards, Guitars
Nick Beggs - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Guthrie Govan - Lead Guitar
Adam Holzman - Fender Rhodes, Hammond Organ, Piano, Minimoog
Marco Minnemann - Drums, Percussion
Theo Travis - Flutes, Saxophones, Clarinet
Jakko Jakszyk - Additional Vocals

Kscope - Volume 4

Luminol

This is the official Soundcloud account for UK musician Steven Wilson
