Customer Reviews

The Incident

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Another huge PT fan here, I have been counting the days until this album arrived on my doorstep and I like it. I like it a lot. It's everything a fan would ask for, like a kitchen sink chock full of PT. But I can't say that this album grabs me and shakes me and won't let me go like their other albums. I am listening to it nonstop, and some songs are very good--right now I truly love "I Drive the Hearse", "Black Dahlia" and "The Incident".

I don't know if that is because this is not a great PT album, or just that I have become too familiar with their sound. Maybe I need more time with it, not less--but I have the feeling that more time will just uncover more familiarity and that is possibly what is keeping me from raving about it.

ETA: After listening to this album for the past several weeks, I think I understand what the problem is for me. From the first track all the way until "Time Flies", I love this album as much as anything else I have heard by PT. But from "Time Flies" (which I just don't like, I have tried to no avail) up until the start of "I Drive the Hearse", which is the last track on Disc 1, I am gone mentally and emotionally, and nothing can keep me there. Then once "I Drive the Hearse " starts up, I love this album again all the way through the end of Disc 2. That's just me, though--other reviewers here love the songs during the stretch that loses me.

ETA: I need to stop editing this review, but I have to add one more thing, about PT in general. I am over forty, about to be forty five, in fact. I live in a suburb, I have two kids, a husband, a mortgage, a cat and a Subaru. In short, I am as far away from young and cool as you can get--I am not even old and cool yet. And that is fine, but one thing I used to mourn was the fact that I probably would never love a band the way I did the Beatles as a kid, or the Clash in high school, or Nirvana--you know, that electrified connective sense of discovery that you get. At some point for a lot of people, you realize you have crossed over and suddenly there is "the kid's music" and "your music", and while you might truly enjoy "the kid's" music, nothing seems to sound as brain-grabbingly amazing as the music from your youth. Well, I discovered PT about two years ago, and they brought back that kind of rush about music that I missed. They really are that good, deep, and enthralling to listen to.

For a band that never settles into an easy formula, Porcupine Tree still manages to impress with The Incident, an all-encompassing musical adventure and concept album.

It surfaced early on that the follow-up to PT's very successful previous album, Fear of a Blank Planet would be another concept album and pretty much one long piece of music clocking in at 55 minutes. Steven Wilson, who has a writer's itch for long form, was rightfully satisfied with the quality of Anesthesize, the brilliant highlight of Blank Planet. In progressive rock, the form is not new, dating back at least to the grand daddy of them all, Genesis' Supper's Ready from 1972 and IQ,the Flower Kings or Transatlantic have certainly explored it thoroughly. But Porcupine Tree now gives it its own treatment, with spectacular results.

Before going further into The Incident, the "song", it should be noted that The Incident is actually two CDs, the main one and a second one made from four side tracks. It is an interesting choice: Fear of a Blank Planet had itself generated a companion album, Nil Recurring, an EP belonging to the same creative cycle and bringing several variations and echos of the main project's themes. And so it is with The Incident's second CD, although we don't have to wait a year or so for its release. The material is clearly less impressive than the main cycle but is pretty good nonetheless.

As for The Incident, it is primarily a high concept collection of songs exploring our reactions to tragedies and hardships, particularly in the context of modern media overload. This is why it is called the "incident", an all-purpose euphemism that is likely to cover unspeakable sorrow for the real actors but allows us, the public, to retain a certain distance, to avoid being reeled into the suffering and drowning in empathetic reaction. Wilson calls this the "Princess Diana effect", the fact that a tragedy affecting a person that cannot possibly have any interaction with most of us is able to trigger an overwhelming emotional response through the prism of media coverage. Meanwhile, Wilson has argued in interviews, we protect ourselves from having to react over and over to tragedies that affect us more directly. Thus The Incident, an exploration of human nature based on "incidents" from Wilson's own experience, probably making it Porcupine Tree's most autobiographical work to date... Light stuff.

It should be said that The Incident is not really one piece of music. It is made of 14 parts, most of which able to stand alone on their own. Furthermore, the transitions between the songs are sometimes almost seamless but not always so. Musically, PT is all over the map, which should not be a problem for afficionados used to Wilson's musical explorations. Historically, PT has often shown a great reverence for Pink Floyd's influence but has also dabbled in the musical territories of Dream Theater, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp or Nine Inch Nails among others. Most influences can be found here, including four instrumental sections. A few songs take some getting used to (still working on "Drawing The Line " for example...) but there is no filler and the whole cycle is fascinating.

The inescapable centerpiece of The Incident, a masterpiece in its own right and enough of a reason to buy the whole album, is the almost 12 mn long "Time Flies". Lyrically, it is the most autobiographical of all the songs in a pretty personal set:

"I was born in '67
The year of "Sgt. Pepper"
And "Are You Experienced"
Into a suburb or heaven
Yet it shoulda been forever
It all seemed to make so much sense
But after a while you realize time flies..."

Musically, the song is a glorious pastiche of Pink Floyd circa Animals, a fusion of Dogs and Sheep from this album with perhaps a touch of "Stars Die" from Porcupine Tree's own 1995's Sky Moves Sideways sessions. The homage is not purely musical. The lyrics themselves channel Roger Waters' irony and gloom, even though Wilson's voice does not quite have the same bite, and allude directly to other Floyd songs as in:

You see there's something wrong here
I'm sorry if I'm not clear
Can you stop smoking your cigar?

The Incident is not for everyone. It takes work to absorb, its subject matter is clearly not "fun" and the treatment more experimental than on FOBP. But PT's fans will be awed and and any listener eager for intelligent, grown-up pop both musically and lyrically, will find little fault with it.

12/4/2009 Update:
The December 2009 issue of Sound & Vision magazine has an extensive coverage of Steve Wilson's work with Porcupine Tree on the Incident album, and also his work on the 5.1 mixes of three of King Crimson's albums recently released. This articule confirms many of the great reviews that Steve's work is getting everywhere, and more specifically how he has become the "king of surround". A must read!

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There... I said it!

Porcupine Tree is in a class all by itself in the music industry. And their formula is: PT = MUSICAL GENIUS + TALENT + QUALITY + MUSICAL TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP

1. Musical Genius: Steve Wilson as the front man of the band just has unbound ideas that he translates into themes that are beautifully delivered in PT's music. This concept album just puts together the ideas in a much more fluid way than previous albums. The concept is developed with great beauty, grace and flow, and the multitude of musical styles have enough "space" to develop. The first time I listened to "The Incident", it reminded me very much of the first time I listened to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon many years ago, it is an album that grows on you every time you listen to it. The individual songs might not be the best that PT has created, but the sum of the parts is definitely greater and better than anything else they have done to date. I do like some individual songs from Deadwing, Fear of a Blank Planet and In Absentia better than most of the individual tracks in The Incident, but the overall listening experience of The Incident is what will make this album a classic for many years to come.

2. Talent: The talent of the band is obvious, all instruments are masterfully played with such precision. The guitar playing is exceptional, and the drumming impeccable (Gavin Harrison might be the best drummer alive).

3. Quality: Everything PT does exhudes quality, from the production to the instruments, to the recording, the album artwork, lyrics, sound quality and of course the unmatched 5.1 surround mixes. Nobody in the world comes even close to Steve Wilson's skills in the 5.1 surround arena. He might have learned a trick or two from the master Elliot Scheiner, but now Steve has developed an edge over him, in part because Steve creates and plays the music as well, he's not just a sound engineer!

4. Musical Technology Leadership: As mentioned above, Steve Wilson and PT have developed the best sounding records over the last few years. The 5.1 mixes are just amazing! I got the limited edition version of The Incident, that contains a DVD Video with a DTS 5.1 mix. I have fully enjoyed listening to it over the last few days, and I can't wait until PT (hopefully) releases the Advanced Resolution DVD-A later on. I own both the DVD-V DTS and the DVD-A versions of Deadwing, and it is very clear that DVD-A is superior in sound quality. However, I could not wait this time around for the DVD-A to be available, so I invested in the limited edition package, which in itself has been a superb investment (the books that come in the limited edition are amazing!) When "Dark Side of the Moon" was created, Alan Parsons (sound engineer) and Pink Floyd did not have access to what today's technology has to offer, but Parsons did an amazing job, well ahead of its years in recording that album. Steve Wilson and PT do take advantage of the technological advances in recording and surround technology, even though most artists today don't care or invest the time to make their work available in high quality, surround releases.

In summary, this album should go down in history as one of the best ever. However, we live in much different times than when "Dark Side of the Moon" was released. The music industry has changed a lot, people don't really "listen" to music anymore and the pseudo-music that sells millions of copies is usually assembled and produced in a couple of weeks and marketed to the lowest common denominator. We are just lucky that there are true artists like Steve Wilson and PT that have preserved the ability to create music that is intelligent, well crafted, and fully enjoyable, while exploring topics in human nature in the lyrics in songs in a way that nobody else can do it!

I have not been inspired to write a review in a while but this outing takes the cake. I have been a fan of this band since about 1998. I felt at that time they were the best thing to come along since Pink Floyd and I have felt that way since. I saw them live in Dallas in 2007 on the Fear of a Blank Planet tour and it was the best performance I have ever seen. That was after almost 30 years of attending concerts. I saw Rush, Queen, Yes, Zeppelin and many more in their heyday in the 70's. These guys top those performances in spades. Mainly because I think they are the first band to come along in decades that have the intelligence to understand what came before them and how much better it was than the current schlok that has been on the musical landscape for decades. Musical artistry has been gradually dumbed down over the past few decades via punk, synth pop , grunge, alternative and indie rock. Those genres have their merits but for people who want more emotion, thought and inventiveness out of music there is no better discovery than Porcupine Tree. I think they have taken everything that has happened in music before and upped the ante, mainly by being intelligent, musically advanced and extremely imaginative. Drummer Gavin Harrison has been voted best progressive rock drummer for the past two years. He also was the drummer for King Crimson on their last tour, not too shabby credentials and well earned accolades for Gavin. He is a machine and way beyond any other percussionist out there.

The Incident is the latest offering from Steven Wilson and crew. This is a 2 disk set that is simply astounding, but that is expected from a band that has the strongest back catalog out there. These guys have waxed more brilliant albums than any act I can think of. Most bands are lucky to put out 5 or 6 great albums, these guys have about 12 I think plus a few great live recordings. The Incident is a 55 minute piece composed of 14 parts, basically songs that each have their own space. The full range of what PT is known for is on display here and I cannot fathom how they could compose this, especially since frontman Steven Wilson has so many outside projects in the works with his other bands Blackfield, No Man,Bass Communion and not to mention his stunning solo debut Insurgentes from earlier this year. The guy is a whiz at song writing , production and all around artistry. This is what sets PT apart from most bands they get compared to like Opeth and Dream Theater. Those bands pale in comparison but share a similar ambitious credo as PT. I think PT is way ahead of all the other ambitious artists like the aforementioned because they know just as much about what not to do as what to do. Mainly I am hinting at the fact that some other bands render otherwise stunning music unlistenable due to really bad vocals and lyrics. Dream Theater REALLY needs a new singer to replace Dennis De Young II and Akerfeldt needs to drop the death vox in favor of his beautiful clean voice. Back to PT,I am so glad that SW sings the way he does, favoring aesthetics, harmonic and melodic creativity over novelty. This is a sign of creative genius and enables new ground to be broken. This band knows how to take you on a ride without being pretentious or boring, which is saying alot when you have a 55 minute piece. With The Incident both disks are brilliant and rewarding and pleasingly there are no bad prog rock vocals to muck things up. I really love prog but most bands really screw up with the vocals ex: Geddy Lee, The Mars Volta (don't know the guy's name but his voice is preposterous), Robert Plant ,Jon Anderson, Mikael Akerfeldt (there is still hope for him), and James Lebraie - unlistenable histronics. Thank you SW for being smart enough to ice the cake of your stunning music with brilliant vocals. Much like Pink Floyd (good vocals) I think once people catch onto Porcupine Tree they will become immortal on the musical strata.

Back to The Incident, I don't want to go into a song by song type of review. All I can say is that if you like bands like Pink Floyd and King Crimson you seriously need to look into Porcupine Tree. Before I discovered them I long felt like rock music was done and nothing else could be acheived. That was brought on by the fact that rock music throughout the late 80's and 90's was mostly lazy, unimaginative , non melodic and musically inept. I am happy to say that with Porcupine Tree we now have an act on par with Pink Floyd yet with a contemporary and emotionally expansive sound that completely fits the current times.

Do yourself a favor and check these guys out if you are a serious music fan.

From reading all the five star reviews I'm convinced that if Steve Wilson hung a microphone and recorded air for thirty minutes most fans would call it a masterpiece. This is a good disc but I don't hear anything groundbreaking or different from previous releases. The disc flows well but it doesn't sound like one composition. The tracks that stand out for me are - "Great Expectations", "Time Flies", "Circle of Manias" and "I Drive the Hearse". And what's the deal with "Drawing the Line"? The cheesy (Muse like) chorus destroys what could have been a cool song.

For me, the audio quality is somewhat muddy and nowhere close to the audio perfection of "Stupid Dream" or "In Absentia". The cymbals specifically, don't have the clear shimmer they usually do and the decay cuts out to quick. The kick and snare are perfect.

I'm still not sure about disc two. I like "Flicker" but the rest sounds like filler to me. Overall, this is a good disc and this band is a gem compared to most offerings out there. However, if you're new to PT you may want to start elsewhere.

I must be going in a different direction than many other Porcupine Tree fans. I like this album and consider it to be second-best to "Fear Of A Blank Planet". I thought "In Absentia" was good but not great, and I thought "Deadwing" fell between that album and this one.

My main cricitism of "In Absentia" is that the tracks were too same-y. My main criticism of "Deadwing" is that it has some incredible tracks, but also some that feel like filler and go nowhere. I have no criticism of "Fear Of A Blank Planet". This album sounds to me like a sonic combination of "Fear Of A Blank Planet" and "In Absentia". It has the variety of the former while refusing to slack off like the latter.

Another thing that stands out to me is that, when they use the piano, they use it well. This applies not just to this album, but to their entire body of work. Piano is obviously not their focus, but it always contributes a lot when it's there -- I'd rate the usefulness of the contribution to the mix up there with what Tori Amos does in some of her work where she uses the piano as a minor player (though, obviously, Tori Amos is a far more skilled piano player and puts far more focus on the instrument in general). That is a huge compliment in my mind, regardless.

when i discovered this band years ago it was partially due to searching out whatever happened to the other members of 'japan'. being a bass player i naturally knew what mick karn was up to, as well as david sylvian... i heard richard barbieri was in a group called 'porcupine tree' and decided to see what the music was like.
it was not love at first listen, but once it hooked me i became a fan of steven wilson. i now buy pretty much anything his name is on and have relly enjoyed most of it, even growing to like opeth quite a bit. i really appreciate his producing skill as well as his tendency to release 24 bit audiophile copies of his albums, which sound gorgeous coming out of my tube-driven sennheisers...
pt's albums have had the rare ability for me to improve with each listen, and also to improve upon the prior album... since most bands' first album is 'the good one' and all others get wistfully compared to it,( think appetite for destruction) i think it's amazing to hear a group who constantly grow and improve. porcupine tree have become my favorite band of all time...
this album came early in the mail last week. i bought the big box set and am thrilled with it... but i do have to say it isn't quite following in the tradition of 'even better than the last one' for me. it is really great, but the fun part for me is to discover all the tricky time signature things they do and make sound so easy, like in the middle of the song 'deadwing' where the band and the drummer are playing in different time, or the song 'fear of a blank planet' that always amazed me how the lyrics fit the odd metered music. i was particularly impressed with that... this album is really beautiful music, but it's pretty straightforward to me, and there are some moments where i want to skip over to get to the next song.
'blind house' 'drawing the line' 'the incident' and the awesome 'time flies' are highlights in an album i would compare with earlier works like stupid dream and lightbulb sun, both some of my favorite albums ever... but 'in absentia' 'deadwing' and 'foab' are just a bit above for me. these albums are in a place of their own...
as usual, gavin shines, richard creates lush dreamspace, colin plays bulletproof bass and steve wilson remains my musical hero.

This album is showing some new direction For Porcupine Tree and a wonderful sort of maturity. There is a wonderful sort of dynamics from screeming lead guitar to subtle Pink Floyd like haunting lyrics. As far as I am concerned this may be their greatest album. The songs are interwoven in a thematic presentation which pushes and pulls at you as you glide through the incredible swings in mood. The beginning notes of OCCAM'S RAZER followed by some acoustic guitar notes and then what seems like night animal sounds lets you know you're in for something alittle feaky and different. Running the tracks into each other produces an feeling of traansition of plot. The album reaches a fabulous pinnacle in the TIME FLIES segment after which they return briefly to the original theme before heading out again into mellow in OCTANE TWISTED. CIRCLE OF MANIAS returns with a heavy driving beat that won't let you rest. How any PT fan could NOT love this album is unfathomable.

To all of you in Porcupine Tree, thank you. I'm a fan, I have most of your other releases, and this is a masterpiece. I'm also a professional musician, and it's guys like you that inspire me to try harder and be better. This release is beautiful, haunting, subtle.

To you Porcupine Tree fans who are on the fence about buying this: Well, obviously some people are not 100% satisfied. I cannot fathom why. This is a great pc of music from start to finish. It is alternately dynamic, powerful, beautiful, haunting, heavy, moody, and sublime. Personally, I did not "need to listen to it several times", I loved it right from the first song.

After several listens of both discs in full, I can say this is easily PT's best work since In Absentia. The variety here is immense with headbanging jams like "Bonnie the Cat" or "The Incident" to beautiful, melodic pieces such as "I Drive the Hearse" or "The Seance". There is no filler on the first disc. The only weakness I can see in the album would either be "Flicker" or "Black Dahlia", and even those songs are highly listenable and comparable to the tunes from Nil Recurring. "Bonnie the Cat" and "Remember Me Lover" are up there with Porcupine Tree's best material. Lyrically this album is back to classic PT, without the juvenile references found in FoaBP.

I will have to see how time affects this album. Right now I'm completely in love with it and it has already surpassed Deadwing and FoaBP for me. I think there is something on this album for any PT fan to appreciate, from those who prefer Stupid Dream or Signify to those fans to loved FoaBP.

Another thing I really appreciate about this album is the extensive use of the acoustic guitar. This is one aspect I felt very absent from the last several albums.

I'm not sure this album would win over any new fans that haven't cared for previous PT work. But for the fans, this album is all you could ask for.