Voyage 34 the Complete Trip [Original recording remastered]

Porcupine Tree | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 6, 2000)
• Original Release Date: June 6, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Delerium Records
• ASIN: B00004SUAZ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,470 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Phase I

2. Phase II

3. Phase III

4. Phase IV

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Porcupine Tree is to Pink Floyd as Marillion is to Genesis, June 10, 2000

By 

Mat Hames (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voyage 34 the Complete Trip (Audio CD)

Most reviewers will take the easy route to describe Porcupine Tree by saying they are "prog for the 1990's" or "the thinking man's techno band". Generally, the easiest way to review an album, book, or movie is to hook you in with superlatives (e.g. "this is the best album ever man! etc.) Another easy way is to resort to the associative marketing technique: "If you like Pink Floyd, you'll love Porcupine Tree. " I'm going to go one better and embody the laziness I've been criticizing by combining the two approaches, with this statement. "This is the best techno album Pink Floyd never made." Cheesy, huh? However that about sums it up. This album is incredible, and if you like Floyd, or any prog rock for that matter, order it.

I know, you used to like classic Prog and you've gotten really burned trying to "discover" other neo-prog bands (Spock's Beard, IQ, Pendragon) but sound the music sorely lacking in coolness. Well THIS is the band you've been waiting for. But saying Porcupine Tree sounds like Pink Floyd actually hides more than it reveals. There is more to it, and you just have to buy the album to find that out.

Voyage 34 IS about an acid trip, and that in itself tells you a lot. But lyrics aren't Steve Wilson's strong suit, and you can and SHOULD just tune those out, and focus on the expansive, atmospheric space rock he produces. Anyway, sell all your Pendragon and IQ albums and use the money to buy this instead.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Voyage 34 - A Trip to unknown, April 6, 2001

By 

Veke from Oulu (Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voyage 34 the Complete Trip (Audio CD)

This review handles Porcupine Tree's album Voyage 34 which is made by Steven Wilson and some other music makers. This album is a collectio of two E.Ps and later released in one CD. Voyage supposed to be just a song in porcupine Tree's newest album but the recording company wanted Voyage to be a single. So Steven Wilson made some extra minutes to Voyage and cut it to 4 sections. He named it to Voyage 34 and the new album was finished. The album's name and main theme born very weird way. Wilson's friend in recording company gave he a tape of some 60's LSD propaganda albums. Some were for, some against. He made a marvelous finding, a fake documentary recording of Brian's 34th LSD trip. Voyage 34 is full of some other LSD recordings which make it really interesting album. The album is very Pink Floyd influenced but not too much. Some can even say, that the guitar effect which appears in album is copied from Pink Floyd. All those poeple should know, that it was not Pink Floyd who used that effect first. So Steven did not copy it from anyone. Voyage 34 carries a lot of guitar solos and computer sounds, narration and speech including Brian's stories of LSD experiments. It sounds even unbelievable, that only on man can do so much music with computer and other instruments, like all kind of guitar and drums. Perhaps drums are electric. Whole album is instrumental so it does not have any singing. Voyage 34 is very difficult music and it is not for people who listens pop music like Britney Spears and U2. It is highly psychedelic and progressive. Some can even say, that it is ambient music. It is for sure, but as it is progressive and antipop style, there is lots of other types of music, even little techno. If you really pay attention to concentration you will find almost new world, that you even did not know exist. If you pick right place, switch lights off, turn music volume up and just listen, your senses of time and place are gone. You wake up in the middle of the album and wonder what is the time. Then the music takes turn and the trip continues. If you ask me, I would say that Porcupine Tree's album Voyage 34 is almost like legal LSD trip. I am not sure was it supposed to be or not but it is. A drug. I recommend it to all who likes Pink Floyd, King Crimson, The Orb or just likes new adventures.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Early PT Masterpiece, October 10, 2000

By 

"flakecosmo" (Brantford, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Voyage 34 the Complete Trip (Audio CD)

Steve Wilson has been trying to dodge Pink Floyd comparisons for years, and this release does little to help that effort, especially with its "Another Brick in the Wall Part III" sounding guitar riff (although Wilson himself says the riff was inspired by a piece off of Ash Ra Tempel's "Inventions for Guitar" album, and listening to "Echo Waves" again I can hear that), but Pink Floyd comparisons aside, this is still a brilliant piece of music. If there was any Pink Floyd inspiration, Steve Wilson uses it as a starting point only, taking off in different directions, incorporating techno influences and soaring guitar that almost seems effortless in its grandeur. This is not a difficult listen. Not to say that the music is simple or basic. It's the kind of music that just grabs ahold of you and whisks you off on an unforgettable musical journey. It sounds nothing like current PT, because it was actually released between their first and second albums, and was actually originally part of the recording sessions for "Up the Downstair." It would get five stars, but I find the second half of the CD, the re-mixes, to be somewhat lacking. Usually I only listen to phase 1 and 2, but that is about half an hour of music, and worth the price of the whole CD.