Up the Downstair

Porcupine Tree | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 13, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Madfish Records UK
• ASIN: B00095MLGC
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,207 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, June 22, 2005

By 

Anthony Morelli "Woofbear" (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up the Downstair (Audio CD)

I managed to get my hands on one and purchased it and must say that I'm quite pleased with everything. For me, this album takes me on an "Atmospheric" or "Euphoric Journey". I'm referring to 2 particular songs "BURNING SKY" and "FADEAWAY". Most of the songs are instrumental "jamming" tracks. Without relying heavily on loads of vocals, Steven Wilson knew exactly what he was thinking when he recorded the original in 1994. He was and will always remain a Beethoven reincarnate or "Musical Genius". From the first keyboard notes from "FADEAWAY", I'm swept away to another time & place. These 2 particular songs do it for me!

Having been Remastered & Re-recorded, the sound on "UTD" is much richer and fuller than on the original 1994 release. It was originally supposed to be available to Canada & USA as of 06/07/05, but they had printing problems & held back the release for 2 weeks. I didn't take a chance with ordering it online, so instead I ordered instore 2 weeks ago and here it is in my hands today.

With the new drummer (Gavin Harrison), he's replaced the old programmed drums with his own live drum tracks, contributing to the much more "put together" PT sound. I've grown accustomed to seeing & hearing live drums and drum solos at the PT concerts, so I was quite anxious to hear this recording. There have been subtle changes in every aspect in this project. I didn't notice them, but they are there after listening to the album more than once.
This is good, because when something has been changed drastically, the feel has been lost.

The packaging is beautiful, housing the CDs in a glossy 4-fold digipack. Each CD is glossy black with silver titling. Really simple & nice. Inside my copy, I found an advert for the "Blackfield" CD with release info. On the front side is the picture of the front cover of "Blackfield" CD. When you open the CD package, the first "fold" houses the booklet, printed on a semi-matte paper. Anyone who's not familiar with Blackfield.......they are Steven Wilson & Aviv Geffen (From Israel). Their music is amazing & very "PT" based. Without SW's influence, the album would certainly be lacking!

"Up The Downstair" is actually among the top 3 of my fave PT studio recordings. Stupid Dream still remains on top. ;-) I'm anxious to read the comments from other fans in near-future reviews, because there will be some who'll complain about the minor changes.

Between this album and "Stupid Dream", I feel the "Pink Floyd" influence. And because of this, PT's drawn me closer to their music since the past 5 years.

I do have the "Staircase Infinities" CD (Still sealed), as well as the cassette, so the music on the re-issued CD comes as no surprise. Steve Wilson recorded a couple new pieces, one of those being a re-working of a track from the cassette days. There are only 5 tracks total, about 30 minutes.

It's damned good stuff for the collector & will make any PT fan happy if they haven't purchased "Staircase Infinites" elsewhere online. A Highly recommended item for any PT fan old & new. Get them while they're hot! There's nothing like Re-Mastered music from PT! You won't be disappointed!

Tracklist of CD1:
(UPD)
01- What are you listening to - 0:57
02- Synesthesia - 5:16
03- Monuements Burn into Moments - 0:22
04- Always Never - 7:00
05- Up the Downstair - 10:14
06- Not Beautiful Anymore - 3:25
07- Siren - 0:57
08- Small Fish - 2:42
09- Burning Sky - 11:36
10- Fadeaway - 6:19

Disc2
(Staircase Infinities)
01- Cloud Zero - 4:40
02- The Joke's on You - 4:17
03- Navigator - 4:49
04- Rainy Taxi - 6:50
05- Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape - 9:36

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Progressive Rock Lives On, June 10, 2006

By 

Richard Thompson "Music Fanatic" (El Paso, Texas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Up the Downstair (Audio CD)

I discovered Porcupine Tree via their "Deadwing" album (2005). It got a little bit of air-play on my local radio station with the heavy rocker "Shallow". At my first listen I was mesmerized! I could not believe a modern rock band was playing this type of music.

I read some of the reviews on Amazon.com and then bought "In Absentia". Again, fantastic, incredable, prog-rock. Since then I have begun to dig back into their earlier works. "The Sky Moves Sideways" was next. It just kept getting better. The Snapper Records Remasters were not only great sounding, but a real bargain.

This week I received "Up the Downstair" in the mail. It too is a fantastic collection of songs. Not as "heavy" as Absentia or Deadwing, but very cool. I can tell you right now, Burning Sky is destined for my Best of Porcupine Tree mix, along with the title track and Always Never.

After even more research to figure out when these different albums were actually recorded/released, I realized that the bonus disc entitled "Staircase Infinities" was previously released as an EP with very limited quantities available. It is essentially leftovers from the recording sessions for Up the Downstair. But, by no means are these "throw-aways" or filler. They are mostly instrumentals though, but thats cool. I like the Staicase Infinities tracks even more than the over-all Up the Downstair songs! All this for only $14. And you can dub both discs onto one cd for the car. Up the Downstair is a little over 48 minutes, and Staircase Infinities is another 30 minutes.

Now I'm thinking about ordering some of their "Live" material such as the Warszawa cd recorded Live in Poland 2001, or "Coma Divine" which has also been remastered and expanded by Snapper Records of the UK.

I'm very suprised that there are over 140 reviews for Deadwing, showing how popular it is, and only a dozen or so for most of the back catalog? When I found out Porcupine Tree had been making music for the past 15 years, I was floored! Steven Wilson and company are easily THE Best band that no one has heard of!

Keep spreading the news...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steven Wilson creates "albums", June 12, 2006

By 

M. Traks (State College, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up the Downstair (Audio CD)

Like any other PT album, this is exactly that... an album. Its not a collection of songs with filler but, rather, a well thought out album which lives and flows from song to song.

Any project from Steven Wilson incorporates the use of layering. Theres a lot of stuff going on in any one of these songs. And to hear it all on one listen would be near impossible.

Steven Wilson has mentioned himself that he doesn't typically make the most complex music, instead he makes simple songs with complex production.

Listen to Burning Sky for a good example of this.

Think of this as sort of pink floyd and spacey pop opera. There are quite a bit of instrumentals, so if you're coming from a pop background then i would recommend trying their newer stuff first: "Deadwing", "In Absentia", "Lightbulb Sun", or the newly reissued "Stupid Dream"

Great stuff. Great journey.