June 7, 1993 - Up The Downstair

Two months after my last release and a little over a year since "...On The Sunday Of Life", Porcupine Tree released their second album "Up The Downstair" on June 7, 1993. Just like the debut, all the music and vocals on this album are done by Steven Wilson and he continues to play the same style of psychedelic/progressive rock. Let's listen to the latest weird and wonderful music from Porcupine Tree!

The album begins with a one minute song called "What You Are Listening To..." and it has some very trippy noises that whine and wail until we hear a voice calmly say "what you are listening to, are musicians, performing psychedelic music, under the influence of a mind-altering chemical called..." and it moves perfectly into the beginning of "Synesthesia". It kicks right into the main riff which has Wilson leading the way with a catchy keyboard riff and also adding some cool psychedelic guitar, nice bass and solid drumbeat as well. Once this main riff is established it drives this whole song and Wilson sings a nice high verse overtop. The chorus is sung in a more normal voice but the music remains the same and just continues to repeat itself. After another verse and chorus Wilson delivers a short guitar solo that isn't too flashy but it sounds nice and epic. It flows right into another verse and chorus and then Wilson has time for a longer guitar solo. He takes his time, playing some slow but pretty cool stuff that fits perfectly overtop the main riff. Eventually this long solo comes to an end and the song fades into a psychedelic ending that carries right into the next track, "Monuments Burn Into Moments". I's only 22 seconds long and it has the same trippy style that opened the album as we hear some crazy noises in this short interlude that brings us to the seven minute fourth song "Always Never". Wilson plays some quiet acoustic guitar and sings softly overtop at first and he nicely segues into a very dreamy main riff led by some nice-sounding guitar. Steven sounds pretty good singing along with this main riff and his bass and drum skills are not to be understated; they aren't all that flashy but Wilson is able to perfectly combine everything into one harmonious and smooth riff. By the second chorus they've shifted into full rock mode and then Wilson sets himself up with a nice rhythm guitar riff before epicly going off with a trippy solo overtop. It sounds pretty sweet and it perfectly leads into another chorus. The chorus fades nicely into a new trippy part as we hear a haunting background with some slow trippy guitar overtop. Wilson says a few quiet lines and then he cues up a pretty sweet bass line that starts to drive a new riff and then proceeds to play some epic guitar overtop that sounds pretty great. The drums are pretty sweet as well as things slowly ramp into a loud and heavy finish with lots of great guitar. The final few seconds we hear a variety of bells as we shift into track 5, the title track, "Up The Downstair" and it's over ten minutes long! It opens with some trippy noises in the background and we hear a female British voice say some trippy things overtop of the psychedelic backdrop. Almost two minutes in Wilson cues up a catchy drum beat overtop the still very trippy background and from there a groovy bass riff takes control and drives things from here on out. Steven adds some cool trippy guitar along with the weird noises in the background and together it all makes for a repetitive but trippy and cool main riff. Eventually a nice lead guitar riff takes the storefront as Wilson plays a heavy and cool riff for a bit before things slip back into the psychedelic space. They repeat this process of slow trippy section followed by another nice heavy guitar part and then things fade into another slow, trippy part like the opening. We hear the voice say a few more things  (and there are no other vocals in this song at all) and then Wilson takes off with a loud and trippy new riff that meshes nicely with the trippy background music. This loud part eventually dissolves into near quiet with some light trippy noises continuing until the along finally comes to an end. Up next is "Not Beautiful Anymore" and it begins with a woman (not the same one as last song) saying "You can be with somebody you like to be with, and just touch their cheek, or hold their hand and it's the most beautiful thing in the world. You don't need sex under LSD, you don't have to, it's I would think it's just, it's a weird trip". That's an interesting opening few lines and at the end of this a fast drum beat starts up and then Wilson breaks into another pretty cool and catchy main riff led by some epic guitar. There's a brief break where we hear the woman again, and things snap nicely back into the main riff as Wilson delivers a pretty sweet solo overtop. The song ends with almost the same quote as the opening, but it's finished differently: "You don't need sex under lsd because,because you're so satisfied with just holding hands that going for more than that isn't beautiful anymore". Not sure I agree but it's an interesting concept and the music was pretty cool on this one. Track 7 is another song that's under a minute and it's called "Siren". It's a short, psychedelic song that sounds pretty interesting and it leads right into the next track "Small Fish". Wilson plays a solid rhythm section and some nice acoustic guitar and he also sings a nice soft verse that matches the mood perfectly. After a couple verses Wilson breaks into a long guitar solo and it's slow-paced but it sounds pretty damn epic and cool. After this nice lengthy solo Wilson sings a final verse and this song leads right into the longest song on the album! Track 9 is "Burning Sky" and it's over eleven and a half minutes long. The strange noises from the last song continue and Wilson starts a slow and interesting drum beat overtop. After about a minute Wilson breaks out with a cool lead guitar riff and plays a nice matching rhythm section as well. After a hit of jamming we hear some cool keyboards join the mix as well and after a bit of jamming with those Wilson breaks out into a guitar solo overtop the main riff and he takes his time playing some nice, epic stuff. After this pretty sweet solo things quiet down and we hear a clock ticking in the background as Wilson plays some trippy, psychedelic noises as we seen to be slowly washing along with the waves. Just like earlier Wilson emerges from the space-y stuff with the cool lead guitar riff and we do it all again. There's another cool solo and Wilson plays some great psychedelic music throughout this lengthy instrumental song. The final minute-plus has things starting to slowly fade away, but the ticking clock remains and it continues into the album's final track "Fadeaway". After a few seconds of quiet Wilson starts up the slow main riff with a nice slow drum beat, some solid bass and some space-y lead guitar. After a couple minutes Steven sings a slow verse and his quiet but clear voice sounds great with the slow, droning music. We hear what sounds like some flute-y keyboards inbetween verses and things slowly jam along like this with lots of cool bits of crazy and trippy stuff. Eventually it fades to a close to finish off another very psychedelic offering from Mr. Wilson.

That is the end of "Up The Downstair" and I thought it was a pretty solid album. This album was still very psychedelic and trippy, just like their debut, but I found this one was less weird/strange trippy and more straightforward psychedelic rock. It also had some slower parts, but I enjoyed myself the whole way through and I consider it very close to "...On The Sunday Of Life". If I had to choose, I would say I like this newest album just a bit more, but both albums are extremely impressive given that everything is done by just Steven Wilson. What will his crazy and inventive mind come up with next? I'll be here to find out!