Customer Reviews

Lightbulb Sun

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a Re-issue/Re-master of Porcupine Tree's ~ Lightbulb Sun, which was originally released in 2000. Most of the songs are unchanged. The bass and kick drum are more present in the 2008 mix than the 2000 mix and "Rest will flow" is slowed down just a bit, that is it.

The album delivers a wide variety of music, from the harder riffs in "Hatesong" and "Russia on Ice" to a softer edge with "Last Chance...." and "Rest Will Flow". This album is very diverse and well rounded. While I personally do not consider it to be one of Porcupine Tree's strongest works, it is by no means weak. Any fan of PT should purchase this album, it is fantastic!

The re-master also comes with a 5.1 DVD-A mix of the album. Which also contains 5.1 mixes of the original 2000 recording. As well as several bonus tracks only in 5.1

The double CD set comes housed in a very nice and durable Super Jewel Case with a cardboard sleeve and booklet.

At some point in listening to this album, you have to ask yourself, "Is this really progressive rock?" Sure, the symphonic epic scope of the 13:03 "Russia on Ice" and the extensive sax/flute jams on "Hatesong" tell you "yes." However, the euphoric acoustic pop of "The Rest Will Flow" and the hard-rocking chorus of the title track really make you question this album as a prog piece.

So, genre-haters rejoice at this British prog-pop hybrid that celebrates Floydian surrealism as well as Beatlesque catchy pop. True, you'll be singing many of the album's catchy, poppy melodies for months to come, but this isn't the simplistic, commercial tripe you hear on FM radio. Though poppy to a certain extent, many of these songs exhibit sophistication, subtle details and adroit playing native to progressive rock. Not to be forgotten, obviously, is the brilliant songwriting.

This album also has a great diversity of moods, which is something that really spices it up. "Four Chords" is high energy rock that criticizes commercialism in music. "Last Chance to Evacuate" has a nostalgic feel in the first part and a space age adventure in the second. "Russia on Ice" is heavily melancholic and powerful. "Where Would we Be" is both the simplest and most powerful track on the album, consisting mostly of just acoustic guitar and vocals. This song is incredibly moving.

Really, all of the tracks stand out on here. Some catchy and poppy, some conspicuous prog takes. If your up for something adventurous that challenges your expectations, try this out. And if you know any pop fans who are sick of commercial music, point them in Porcupine Tree's direction. Chances are, they won't be disappointed. And niether will you.

A friend of mine just returned from London with a copy of Lightbulb Sun in hand (I asked her to pick it up for me while she was there). For the past two days, I've listened to it over and over and OVER again. This CD is unbelievable in its depth and complexity! The music is mesmerizing and incredibly moving. The lyrics are as clever as ever. The vocals are trademark Tree. Woven throughout are snippets of sounds, conversations, laughter. Lightbulb Sun takes the power and precision of Stupid Dream to another realm, another musical level. From the delicate acoustic guitar intro and vocal (that quickly becomes an electric guitar riff worthy of Jimmy Page) of the opening title track to the haunting "How Is Your Life Today?" (check out the vocal harmonizing and the herky-jerky carnival piano!) to the oh-so-catchy "Four Chords That Made a Million" to the epic-length (13 minute) "Russia On Ice" to the closing track, the heartbreaking "Feel So Low," Lightbulb Sun is an astonishing musical statement from a band that just keeps getting better. Because of its level of musicianship, its ability to draw me in and its uncanny ability to flow from melancholy to upbeat, Lightbulb Sun has become one of my all-time favorite albums. I put my portable CD player on Repeat and listen to Lightbulb Sun with my headphones on all day long at the office (I'm a copywriter in an ad agency so I can get away with that sort of thing). Buy this album NOW...and hope Tree tours near you this year!

Lightbulb Sun has long been one of the most elusive CDs in the Porcupine Tree catalogue, a fact which I always found strange since it is also one of those most sought. I was able to obtain a copy here on amazon several years ago from one of the partners. The packaging said it was recorded in the UK, but it was shipped to me from Russia, so I always wondered whether or not it was bootleg. But now that Snapper Music has issued this excellent CD/DVDA package, Porcupine Tree fans will no longer have to pay premium prices for an inferior recording.
To me, albums like Lightbulb Sun and Stupid Dream are the heart and soul of what PT is all about. I like the entire album, but I do have favorites. Those are the eerie title cut, the pounding Four Chords That Made A Million, the soaring Shesmovedon, the futuristic Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled; the driving Hatesong, and the spacy Russia On Ice. The DVDA is excellent as well, but some buyers may have to alter their settings in order to view and hear it on their sound systems.
The CD is packaged in a stylish and sturdy jewel case and is accompanied by a handsome booklet filled with lyrics, pictures, and all pertinent album information. Reading the lyrics as you listen will enhance your enjoyment of this masterpiece. Currently, it is being sold here at a great price, so if you are one of those missing Lightbulb Sun in your PT collection, now is the time to buy! You will treasure it for life.

I'm a fairly new PT fan, having consumed myself with purchasing virtually the entire catalog in the last 4 months after hearing "Fear of a Blank Planet". I think "Lightbulb" is another excellent PT CD filled with all the great musical styles I've noticed in all other PT offerings. I love the fact that this one has a lot of acoustic guitar-based songs that morph into more intricate. electronically infuenced tunes. Steve Wilson's ability for balancing out heavy, almost metal guitar parts within the structure of multi-layered mellow compositions is a very appealing part of PT's musical style to me and is evident throughout this album on songs like "Lightbulb":, "Hatesong", and "Russia on Ice". "Feel so Low" is also a favorilte of mine: a slow reflective piece very much reminding me of "Collapse the Light into Earth" from "Absentia".
This CD is a must for all PT fans who enjoy them for their musical versatility and commitment to instrumentally influenced music.

It takes courage and conviction for an artist to try new ideas at the risk of losing their initial audience. Such is the case with Porcupine Tree. Starting as a spacey electronic music project and advancing to a band capable of ambient dreamscapes and intense rock, often with a progressive feel Lightbulb Sun has alienated some fans while gaining new ones.

There is a bit of all phases of Porcupine Tree's musical evolution on this CD. The prevailing mixture of sardonic and sad lyrical themes are both personal and mildly abrasive. This makes for an interesting listen.

Songs like Lightbulb Sun and Feel So Low put a electronic/progressive spin on the pop/rock sensibilties they are based in. Four Chords That Made A Million is a great parody on multiple levels, sounding almost close enough to be the kind of cookie cutter "product" that the song sneers at. In a similar vein Last Chance To Evacuate Earth... continues a long line of instrumental tracks borrowning from the electronic music side of Porcupine Tree, in this case using the eerie samples from the goodbye tape from the Heaven's Gate cult.

The longer form songs Hatesong and Russia On Ice are variations on a theme so to speak based all the way back to The Sky Moves Sideways. These songs are more structured but still give the feel of earler, loosely constructed music.

Lightbulb Sun is an excellent album that shows maturity, diversity and progression in a band that sometimes prefers not being considered progressive. It is sad that some listeners get fixated on conventions of certain music genres or specific areas from previous artist's albums expecting them to infinately repeat the past while complaining that more conventional music is horrible because it's the same recycled garbage. These same listeners equate accessability with bad music.

Any Porcupine Tree album has great moments, you really can't go wrong from The Sky Moves Sideways onward to Lightbulb Sun. Even though they sound very different there is an essence of Porcupine Tree on every album no matter how loosely played or tightly constructed. It should also be noted that every album Porcupine Tree has released has presented major changes and leaps in sonic and songwriting quality.

Part with your cash, this album is worth it.

After years of underground rock stardom, Porcupine Tree reached a new level of popularity with their latest album "Lightbulb Sun" in Germany: This album sold remarkably well and provided a minor hit single with "Four chords..", but it was the following concert tour which really established the band as one of modern rock's most interesting outfits. This nicely packaged double-disc set (double slimline jewel case + additional slipcase with slightly different cover art-work) was released in order to attract new fans and to say 'thank you' to long-time PT followers. The sticker on the front of the slipcase quotes several reviews from German rock magazines, however odd they may seem: "Ten times dynamite", "8.5 out of 10 points", "The most exciting, adventurous and multifaceted rock band of today", and so on. For a short and intriguing introduction to the wonders of PT, the bonus disc will do the trick since it features three audio tracks and one hidden bonus cut plus some CD-ROM material with the video clip of "Piano lessons" and some additional information about the band's members, discography, and image gallery. The pick of the bunch is undoubtedly the 6-minute edit of "Buying new soul", a song which will appear in its entirety on PT's forthcoming rarities collection. This is simply one of the finest and most melodic rock ballads I've ever listened to, as well as one of the saddest: It opens with various understated ambient sounds which are somewhat reminiscent of Wilson's output under the Bass Communion banner, then subtly introduces acoustic guitars and fragile singing which build into a catchy and pretty memorable refrain. The piece culminates with a short guitar solo and ferocious drumming before suddenly returning to the opening gambit of alienated guitar samples, slight synth patterns and dark atmospherics -- this should be compulsory listening for all fans of Radiohead and comes highly recommended. "Pure narcotic", one of the obvious pop songs from the album "Stupid dream", is much lighter and friendlier in comparison, albeit not nearly as engrossing. The live performance of "Tinto brass", another track which originally appeared on "Stupid dream", offers a faster-paced rhythm and highlights Wilson's guitar work, while the 2-minute untitled bonus cut seems a bit out of place here, featuring nothing but a Mozart-like string arrangement. The CD-ROM section is also worth noting because it contains the video clip of "Piano lessons" (again, a song taken from "Stupid dream") and does also succeed in providing an overview of the band's work. So prior to the release of this "German Deluxe Tour Edition", there never really was a definitive 'first purchase' for the novice, and this compilation really deserves top marks for such a visually and musically attractive design, but the fact that most of these tracks are available on "Stupid dream" makes the bonus disc somewhat redundant for fans who already the aforementioned album.

"Lightbulb Sun" itself was regarded as PT's attempt to become pop stars, featuring more commercial and musically structured songs than any other PT album while retaining the freedom of expression the band experienced within their earlier output. Interestingly, while many '90s rock bands have moved increasingly towards the integration of electronic rhythms, digital manipulation and sequencing -- the best example may be Radiohead's new album "Kid A" -- "Lightbulb Sun" is actually much more akin to the art-rock-meets-radio-pop approach from the likes of Pink Floyd and latter-day Marillion. The pop-song brevity of most songs refuses to let an idea or guitar solo kicked to death and lends an accessibility to the music which other art-rock releases often lack. The album starts with the Beatles-que "How is.." and three perfect slices of guitar-orientated and gripping songs, the most impressive and best of which is the 5 1/2-minute title track: Opening with crisply strummed acoustic guitars and quite depressive lyrics (either about a sick child lying in bed or someone who has a major depression from a failed relationship), the chorus completely turns the table with its aggressive, roaring guitar riffs and keeps the listener off-balance. Although, in my opinion, the album never reaches this level of intensity again, it comes close with the rather catchy single "Four chords..", which has a similar structure to the title cut in that it moves from rhythmically dense guitar chords and ethnic percussion patterns to wonderfully atmospheric interludes. "Shesmovedon" continues with these themes of experimentation and guitar pyrotechnics within the pop-song format and makes for great listening; after that, it becomes a little more romantic with the peacefully drifting "Last chance.." and the utterly charming "The rest will flow", the latter augmented by a beautiful string arrangement which provides some of the album's best moments. Five stars so far, but then it all starts to go a bit awry with the lyrically awkward "Hatesong", which also tends to sound tuneless and underdeveloped due to its lack of ideas and the fairly standard rock beat. "Where we..", well, is close to being run-of-the-acoustic-guitar-mill for PT and the 13-minute "Russia on ice" is just too ponderous and dramatic for my taste, but I'm sure that PT fans are thrilled with the latter piece. Finally, Wilson offers a glimmer of hope with the album-closing "Feel so low" by creating an uplifting and hopeful atmosphere. In their affection for referring musical ancestors without exactly sounding like them and mixing it with Wilson's soft voice and his stories about life and love, PT have made an album that sounds ancient and modern at the same time. While "Lightbulb Sun" may not be a great leap forward for PT, it's easily among the band's most accomplished and satisfying works to date and is really worth a listen for all fans of sophisticated pop/rock music.

I have been listening to the mass amount of progressive rock bands over the past 6 months, researching them on here, and then giving their cds a try. The quality of music in this genre is just ridiculous, and coming across new artists and albums is very enjoyable to me.

That being said, Porcupine Tree is by far the BEST band that remains unknown to the US market. I hate the radio for that reason. Why these guys arent international superstars just completely blows my mind. If this isnt music for everyone than I dont know what is.

I have all of their CDs now, with the exception of Stupid Dream, which is the last to collect, and Lightbulb Sun is without a doubt my favorite of the collection. There is just simply no songs on the entire CD that arent amazing. If you enjoy this band or good music in general, GET THIS CD! Now!

I should start by saying that I've been buying Porcupine Tree albums for about 10 years now, and that I'd give at least four stars to every one I own. I do own many other albums, but I tend to write reviews only for the CD's that I really like.

The things I like in Porcupine Tree are some of the same things I like in Pink Floyd. They can write long epic songs, with enough variety in a song (and between songs) to keep the music interesting. The songs have good lyrics, and generally just enough lyrics to get across the point of the song. There are some progressive-rock groups where I really like the music they do, but I feel like they're speed-reading a book of lyrics at me. I don't want to have to work that much to catch everything that's being said!

This album isn't a carbon-copy of a Pink Floyd album, but it does pick up one "trick" that David Gilmour knows. When writing a song, it's just as important to think about "silence" as it is to think about "sound". A song can have a second or two of silence at some point, and that silence *will* be "the right note for that moment". A song doesn't have to be "just slow" or "just fast" for the entire length of the song. While some songs need the big pounding drums or dramatic guitar work, other songs really work best with a quiet backing of violins. It depends on the mood of the song.

As to the songs here, "Lightbulb Sun" is a song about someone who is sick in bed. I was sick a lot when I was young, so I can really relate to the lyrics and the "feel" of this song. I think it's a great song, but maybe I identify with it more than most people would.

Several songs on this album are about a broken relationship. For "Shesmovedon", I like how they have the title as a single word. It's a single irrefutable statement. Sure, you may still be stuck on that former girlfriend, but, hey, "shesmovedon". There's a solid brick wall up, and you just ain't getting her back! "Hatesong" is a somewhat amusing song, if you're into dark humor... There's only a few lyrics, but they do a fine job for setting the stage for the song. Musically it's a dark brooding song, and that certain fits the lyrics of ``This is a hate song, meant just for you...'', and ``Yes I'm hearing voices too, and I'm more cut up than you!''. And as you might guess from the title, "Feel So Low" isn't exactly a happy-happy song either: ``And each day that you forgot to call, just made me feel so low -- so low". (solo = so low?)

PTree generally has at least one epic-ish long song on every album, and the song for this album is "Russia on Ice". The lyrics are a bit obscure and vague, but to me it's basically a song about a guy who's drinking too much after breaking up with a girlfriend. You've got a relationship which has gone cold, and you're going to keep drinking those Black Russians until your stomach is gone... But there's only a few lyrics to the song, it's the instrumental work that makes this really epic. It's 20 seconds worth of lyrics, in a 13-minute song. It's up to you, the listener, to fill in all the details which the lyrics don't explicitly cover. Using Your Details, not someone else's. This is a great song.

This 2-CD version includes the *short* (6-minute) version of "Buying New Soul", where the 10-minute version would show up on the limited-release CD called "Recordings". This is another Great Song (either version...). It is pretty hard to get a copy of "Recordings" these days, but then it's also hard to get hold of "Lightbulb Sun"! (as you might guess by the price of $22 for *used* copies!!). There should be a re-release of "Lightbulb Sun" sometime in the next year or two, if I recall correctly. So you might want to wait for that instead of spending so much for used copies. Several of these songs (including "Russia on Ice" and "Hatesong") are also on their live album titled "Warszawa", which was released early in 2005. So would be a good way to hear some of these songs while you're waiting for the re-release of "Lightbulb Sun".

For fans who have heard "In Absentia" and "Deadwing", this album is a little slower and quieter than those two albums. Those albums have a much more upfront aggressive punch in some of their songs, but this album is closer to the slower songs on those albums (particularly "Deadwing"). It includes a few songs which are a bit closer to "accessible pop music" than PTree usually comes up with. There is some great keyboard work from Richard Barbieri, plenty of drums, and lots of memorable guitar work here.

My awareness of Porcupine Tree dates only from the issue of their masterpiece In Absentia CD. Both it and two subsequent albums were so good that I knew I had to work my way back through PTs older CDs to get the full flavor of what the band is capable of. One thing I have noticed is that so far each PT CD I have heard stands on its own with scant reference to what the band had done previously. I like that, it shows that the band's foundations rest on a bedrock of massive talent.
I bought Lightbulb Sun from this site before the surge of PT reissues that made available some recordings that had been long out of print. When I put it on, I was dazzled by the quality of the music. Some reviewers liken Porcupine Tree to Pink Floyd. Well, yes, there are some superficial similarities but PT is not a Pink Floyd copy. Steve Wilson is far too much of a talent to allow that to happen.
The best cuts on Disc 1 are the hard-driving title cut, the CSNY- evoking How Is Your Life Today, Four Chords That Made A Million, the spacey prog workout on Last Chance to Evacuate..., the rocking Hatesong, and the Floydian Russia On Ice. But my favorite is Shesmovedon. On disc 2, I am partial to the harmonic Pure Narcotic and the progressive Tinto Brass.
Lightbulb Sun is another absolutely essential CD from Porcupine Tree. Whether or not you realize it, your CD collection has a gaping hole in it if you don't have this. I couldn't wait for the reissue and am very happy with the limited edition available here. Its been worth every cent. Indulge yourself now, you won't be sorry!