May 12, 1992 - Porcupine Tree and On The Sunday Of Life...

Just one day after my last album, a new band joins my library when Porcupine Tree released their debut album "On The Sunday Of Life..." on May 12, 1992. But who are Porcupine Tree? Well at this point, just one guy! Porcupine Tree is the brainchild of Steven Wilson (born in Hemel Hempsted, Hertfordshire, England) and he wrote, produced, sings and plays all the instruments on this album! That is a heavy workload Steven and his musical style at this stage is a space-y, experimental style of rock. Let's check out what Porcupine Tree is all about!

The album begins with "Music For The Head" and it has some slow, almost haunting music that consists of trippy bass, percussion sounds, and even some flute bits! We also hear bits of psychedelic keyboards and guitar, as well as some incoherent whispering, and it all combines for a pretty trippy short opening song. Up next is the much longer "Jupiter Island" and Wilson plays a loud drum beat to carry the pace before things settle into a psychedelic main riff with some trippy keyboards in the background. Wilson plays a simple bass riff to help keep the pace and we hear lots of psychedelic noises in the background while Steven sings the verse. His voice sounds pretty high and a little strange in this song, but it also seems to fit this strange music. The verse flows right into a similar chorus where Steven just sings "c'mon let's fly to Jupiter island" a few times and things sound decent but also pretty repetitive as the rhythm section just keeps playing the same bass and drums over and over. Steven sings another strange verse and after another chorus there's a short "solo" that's really just Wilson playing some simple but pretty trippy sounding guitar. It segues nicely into a quiet new verse and then the rhythm section rejoins the mix and they play a final verse and a couple choruses that you'd think would be the end of the song, but there's still nearly two minutes to go! The rhythm section continues to jam on and we hear lots of psychedelic and strange noises as they (he really) continue to jam things out until the song eventually comes to a close. Track 3 is called "Third Eye Surfer" and it has some very quick drumming that almost reminds me of Carl Palmer and this goes along with some pretty fast and cool keyboards! There's some trippy guitar in the background as well but it's the organ and drums that both sound pretty cool in this one. There's not much else to this short song, but the keyboards and drums sound great the whole way through and I think it's definitely a cool little tune. The end of it leads right into the title track "On The Sunday Of Life..." and it has a quiet and psychedelic backdrop with what I think is some oboe playing some trippy music overtop. This song is just over two minutes long but it has this hanging, epic feel to it as the background keyboards keep the trippy vibes going and the oboe sounds pretty cool leading the way. The drums return to a frantic pace midway through as Steven plays some nice fast drum rolls and this song fades at the end right into the next track "The Nostalgia Factory". It also has some psychedelic keyboards that give things a very epic feel as they slowly and continuously go on. Steven starts playing a new synth riff that sounds pretty epic and cool and we then hear a slow and epic guitar riff that compliments it nicely. The drums and bass then join the mix and he builds up this catchy main riff nicely until everything is clicking and the catchy guitar is leading the way. Steven begins the first verse and he sounds a bit computer-y as he continues to sing in a high and slightly strange voice. After the verse we hear a keyboard solo that sounds almost old school gamer-esque and I like it and think it sounds pretty sweet. After the keyboard solo they segue nicely into the first real guitar solo and Steven shows us that he can play some epic guitar when he wants to. The solo moves nicely back into the main riff and after another short verse they continue to jam out things for a bit longer with Steven playing some nice guitar to lead the way. The song then shifts back to the slow and trippy opening part to finish it off, but I find it drags and takes too long to end things. 

Up next is "Space Transmission" and it has some quiet psychedelic noises in the background, but is mostly a long speech whispered in a hushed and epic voice. "You must listen very carefully to what I am about to say. There isn't much time because you-know-who has destroyed all the instruments." It sounds very ominous and space-y and we learn that this voice is from a prisoner who's been held captive by someone for a very long time. The long creepy rant continues on about a dream with a ticking clock and ends with him saying "one day I will return to Earth, and seek my revenge". Pretty dark and creepy and very strange little song. Speaking of little songs, track 7 is the shortest on the album at just 27 seconds and is called "Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip". We hear a robotic voice say "this announcement will self-destruct in five seconds" and then after the count down we hear some loud incoherent noises and then it's a very sudden shift right into the next track, the ten minute long "Radioactive Toy". Wilson plays some droning keyboards in the background as well as a nice light drum beat and a quiet but solid bass riff as he sings lightly overtop. His voice doesn't sound nearly as weird in this one and sounds more like a natural singing voice, and Steven has a nice voice as he sings softly overtop this slow, droning main riff. He ends each short verse with "give me, the freedom to destroy, give me, radioactive toy" and after a couple verses the guitar finally joins and delivers some pretty epic and cool stuff. It starts off slow, but ends up being a pretty cool early solo and it fades nicely back into the droning main riff. He plays a few more psychedelic verses followed by some more cool guitar, and then things get very quiet. We have a very space-y backdrop for Wilson to add some trippy keyboards, guitar, bass, and wordless vocals and it's pretty crazy that all this cool psychedelic music was dreamed up by one talented musician. This instrumental part goes on for several minutes and I think it's pretty cool, especially the latter part of it with Steven playing another epic guitar solo overtop everything else. He plays some great guitar that sounds really epic and really trippy and my attention was kept throughout easily. Around the 8 minute mark this cool part, and seemingly the song come to an end, but a trippy keyboard part continues and then Steven builds off this weird riff and continues the song for another two minutes on a very different but equally trippy tangent. Track 9 is "Nine Cats" and Wilson plays just an acoustic guitar and sounds pretty good singing a nice verse and slowly strumming along. He adds some light electric guitar to the mix and plays a few verses in this quiet mood before the bass, drums and keyboards all come crashing in nicely. They play another verse with all the instruments that sounds solid and then we even get a guitar solo as Steven ramps up the electric guitar for an epic-sounding solo that isn't very fast, but it fits the mood perfectly. They continue to jam things out until the end of this interesting song.

The next song is another short one called "Hymn" and it has Steven doing some incoherent whispering and some loud breathing overtop some windy and very psychedelic sounds. It's only 1:16 long and is another very strange, very trippy song from Mr. Wilson. Track 11 is much longer, the near six minute "Footprints" and it starts off with a simple but catchy light guitar riff and Wilson singing quietly overtop and despite his low volume things still sound pretty epic. Things get louder as they reach the chorus as we hear some loud keyboards and Wilson's voice becomes much higher and louder in this solid chorus. It quiets down again for the verse and after another loud chorus things quiet down again and the backdrop isnaet for a solo. Wilson plays an electric guitar solo overtop and while it's slow to match the mood it sounds pretty epic and cool. The solo fades into a soft guitar riff and after some more whispers from Steven he kicks into a couple loud choruses before ending the song with a quiet and epic final verse. Up next is "Linton Samuel Dawson" and it might be the strangest song on an album filled with some pretty weird stuff! It has a short trippy opening before Steven forms a fast-paced main riff with some simple and repetitive instruments and Steven's voice sounds different than on any other track. It sounds almost like a comedic voice, like he's trying to sound silly and almost helium-like and it's not awful, but it's certainly very strange. Wilson had all kinds of trippy ideas in his brain when he wrote these songs, but this song is psychedelic in a different way with this crazy voice and the simple music that keeps you on beat. The "chorus" is just an additional riff played overtop the main one that spices things up a little bit. After another verse and chorus they continue to jam things out with the extra chorus riff and Steven sings several "from the bottom of mankind" that devolves into some crazy noises that sound very weird, very high pitched and very trippy. What a wacky little tune, definitely memorable! Track 13 is "And The Swallows Dance Above The Sun" and it begins with someone matter of factly saying "indecent desires" before Wilson cues up a drum beat. The same voice then says "do you know that bad girls go to hell?" as things take a strange turn and we hear some trippy echoing guitar in the background. Eventually Wilson begins the first verse and he sounds good singing in a more normal singing voice quickly overtop the drum beat and the trippy background guitar and synths. There's no real chorus as the long verse eventually ends with Wilson singing the title track and then he repeats with another long verse. We then hear a brief guitar bit that isn't really a solo but sounds cool nonetheless and then Wilson just continues to play the main riff for a bit longer. We hear one final quote from the man who spoke at the beginning, this time he says "I want you to put Felix's penis on me" as the music just keeps going until it finally comes to a stop. The man's parts were very strange indeed, a weird and possibly unnecessary addition to yet another strange song. The next song is "Queen Quotes Crowley" and we immediately hear some very loud talking that doesn't appear to be actual words, just some weird noises made by Wilson. He then cues up a nice backing bass riff and then plays some guitar to lead the way, and the guitar here is quite good! Despite the weird vocals the music sounds pretty solid and I love the offbeat guitar playing it's own crazy and cool thing while the bass and drums keeps things on beat. It goes on in this style for pretty much the whole four minute song and the guitar never let's up and features probably Wilson's best guitar work on the album! It can get lost behind all the craziness as we hear a ton of reverse cymbal hits that make things sound very trippy indeed, but the guitar is pretty awesome the whole way through! Another song that is definitely strange, but strange in yet another unique way, and I really liked this one!

Track 15 is another short one under a minute long called "No Luck With Rabbits" and it's entirely comprised of some very psychedelic and trippy keyboards. Not much else to say about this one as the end cuts off suddenly and the next song "Begonia Seduction Scene" begins, another short song just over two minutes long. Wilson plays a light acoustic guitar riff to lead the way and then we hear some more strange, very high keyboards in the background that sound almost like some sort of whistle. This short instrumental song reminds me a lot of old-school psychedelic Pink Floyd with a calm and cool acoustic guitar riff and some crazy noises coming from the keyboards. It doesn't really jump out and grab your attention, but it's another cool little tune and it ends with a whole bunch of wind chimes that carries over to the next track "This Long Silence". It has a similar style to "Jupiter Island" earlier on the album with an upbeat rhythm section, Steven singing in a high voice overtop, and of course some psychedelic keyboard noises. After a long verse the chorus is actually instrumental in an interesting twist: no vocals at all, but it is driven by a catchy and cool guitar riff. After another verse and chorus Wilson sets the stage with a cool drum beat and then it's time for a crazy solo! I think it's on guitar, but it sounds pretty crazy and trippy and is a pretty sweet little solo! Wilsoj begins to sing a new verse while the solo is wrapping up and then they jam out the cool instrumental chorus a few more times to finish off this unconventional but pretty cool song. The final song on the album is "It Will Rain For A Million Years" and it's also the longest on the album at 10:53 in length. Unsurprisingly we hear some rain in the background right from the get-go as Wilson plays some slow piano bits with long pauses inbetween them that sound trippy as you'd expect, but also pretty dark and gloomy! After over a minute we finally hear another instrument as Wilson adds some cool guitar to the mix, followed by some epic drums and finally bass. This song seems to be building very, very slowly and Steven does a great job of making things sound slightly more epic at every turn, juicing up his guitar or speeding up the drums. At around five minutes in we finally get some vocals as Steven sings a soft, short verse, then it's back to the slow instrumental music. Wilson plays some cool guitar that's not really a solo but it sounds epic and matches the mood perfectly and he also adds some cool bass as well. Things keep rolling on at this slow pace for the whole song, but there's lots of cool music played by Wilson throughout on a variety of instruments. Eventually we hear another short verse and the instruments begin to slowly fade out until we're left with just some trippy keyboards and the rain to finish off the album.

That's the end of "On The Sunday Of Life..." and I thought it was a cool and very strange album. Steven Wilson has a lot of crazy ideas in that brain of his, with songs ranging from slow psychedelic rock to some that were very bizarre indeed! It's pretty crazy that Wilson plays all the instruments on this album, showing that he's a capable drummer, bassist, guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist! This album had a lot of psychedelic keyboards that took me back to the 70s and while it certainly had a lot of quirkiness and weirdness to it, I thought it was an interesting and solid album. It's the debut of a new and interesting band and I look forward to seeing where Porcupine Tree go from here!