January 30, 1995 - The Sky Moves Sideways

Happy New Year! A month after my last release and astonishingly just one month since the EP "Staircase Infinities" last month, Porcupine Tree have a rare feat with back-to-back releases in my timeline when they released their third album "The Sky Moves Sideways" on January 30, 1995. Two of the songs on this album are still entirely done by Steven Wilson but this is Porcupine Tree's first album where they are actually a band and not just Wilson! Steven is joined by new members Colin Edwin (bass), Chris Maitland (drums, percussion) and Richard Barbieri (keyboards), with Wilson still adding some keyboards as well as all the guitars and vocals. Steven did some cool psychedelic stuff by himself, but let's see what a group effort from Porcupine Tree sounds like!

Similar to Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", this album opens and closes with two lengthy tracks, beginning with the near 19 minute "The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1". It opens much like the Porcupine Tree we've come to know: very slow and psychedelic with some trippy noises in the background. Barbieri plays some cool psychedelic keyboards and Edwin adds a slow bass riff to help keep the pace. Maitland eventually adds a light drum beat and Wilson finally comes in with some slow but epic guitar overtop. After about four and a half minutes Wilson finally sings the first verse and his quiet singing fits the mood nicely and there's a slight echo to it as well that keeps things sounding trippy. The verse leads right into a similar chorus with some more cool keyboards and guitar and after the chorus Wilson plays a slow guitar solo that sounds pretty epic before the next verse starts. After this verse and chorus the mood shifts to a new riff driven by a cool bass riff by Edwin. Maitland plays a nice drum beat to match and Barbieri adds some cool stuttering keyboards to complete this cool new riff. Wilson then solos overtop and he does a great job matching the mood with a slow but pretty sweet solo. The bass takes center stage briefly after the solo and then Maitland starts playing some cool percussion that sounds pretty sweet. Wilson solos overtop of this as well and he's really giving it in this longer solo that's filled with several cool parts, all overtop this quite solid backing riff. We even hear some flute join in and it adds another cool dynamic to things as they nicely jam along and the keyboards and drums get louder and louder until things crash and slowly fade into another quiet, psychedelic section with Barbieri playing some trippy keyboards. Wilson plays some light guitar overtop and they lightly float through this part until they finally reach the end of this long but pretty cool opener. The next two songs are still entirely done by Steven Wilson, starting with "Dislocated Day". It opens with a phone ringing before Steven kicks into the main backing riff with a solid drum beat and some droning keyboards. He adds in the guitar last and then begins a quiet verse overtop. After the verse Wilson plays a cool new riff that sounds pretty good and then he does it all again. After the next guitar break Wilson moves into a solo and he plays a fairly simple but pretty epic-sounding solo that matches the mood well. After a final verse Wilsom jams out the cool guitar break until the end of the song, where we hear someone leaving a message (I guess no one ever answered!) Track 3 is "The Moon Touches Your Shoulder" and Wilson plays two guitar riffs that go pretty nicely together: one slow acoustic riff to keep the pace and also some quiet but solid electric guitar. He sings another soft verse that matches this slow mood and eventually adds in some keyboards and bass in the background. He lightly jams this out for a bit and finally over halfway through the song the drums come in to complete the main riff. After another verse with the drums it's solo time and Steven once again doesn't shred or go very fast at all, but his playing matches the mood perfectly. After the solo things get louder and I like this louder closing riff that sounds pretty good and brings us to a trippy ending. The whole band is back for the rest of the album now and up next is the two minute song "Prepare Yourself", which is still pretty much all Wilson. He once again plays two guitar riffs, starting with a nice softer one to drive things and then adding some wicked sounding lead guitar overtop. It sounds so epic and awesome, anything in this tone sounds so good and Wilson plays some cool stuff. Maitland adds a bass drum to keep the beat, but otherwise it's just a cool little guitar song that leads right into the last track on the original album (though I have some bonus songs). Just like "Wish You Were Here", the album finishes with "The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 2", the second half of this lengthy song, and just like Phase 1 it has a psychedelic opening with lots of trippy noises being made on guitar and keyboards. Maitland adds some trippy drums and percussion as well that add to the psychedelia as they slowly float through this long opening with Barbieri playing some pretty cool keyboards. Around five minutes in Wilson's guitar takes over with a loud new riff that sounds pretty good and it breaks down and flows nicely into a new riff with Barbieri playing some nice keyboards and a woman adding some wordless vocals as well. After her brief appearance, Wilson begins a guitar solo overtop this new riff and he actually plays some pretty fast stuff in this long solo that is filled with all kinds of epic guitar. The solo leads nicely into the loud part once again and it breaks down at the end again until we're left with just the rhythm section and some droning keyboards. This fades into a very quiet part where there's just some barely audible noises for a minute or two, then after twelve minutes we finally hear Wilson's voice, although it's distorted and it doesn't last very long, just long enough to set the stage for a slow and epic guitar solo. Steven delivers a very David Gilmour-esque solo that sounds epic in all the right places and leads the way beautifully. The solo fades at it's end and then we hear the sound of paddling in the water while Edwin plays some cool bass overtop in this strange but cool way to end another epic. That's where the original album ended, but there were several bonus songs added on later versions. The next on the track list is a 34 minute alternate version of the title track, which features some new parts to it, but is mostly the same music we just listened to, so I do not have this alternate version. Instead I move on right to "Stars Die" which has a light but pretty sweet opening that combines a nice drum beat, some cool bass, some trippy keyboards and some nice acoustic guitar to form this main riff. Steven sings a nice soft verse overtop and you know it's the chorus when he sings the name of the song. The next verse is a bit louder and things sound pretty good in the next chorus as well. We then hear a lengthy clip of the President calling Neil Armstrong from the White House after the moon landing. A bit of an odd choice for a British band, but it's not a terrible part. They then play a final verse and chorus before ending the song on a trippy note that leads directly into the next song "Moonloop (Improvisation)". This track is over sixteen minutes long and as the name suggests, it's completely made upon the spot and not rehearsed. It has a very dreamy opening with lots of trippy noises in the background, including some cool percussion by Maitland. There's birds chirping and lots of trippy keyboards and Edwin adds some long droning bass that sounds cool. Wilson finally adds some slow lead guitar and it adds another dimension of trippiness to this psychedelic "riff". It may sound like there's not a lot happening in this lengthy instrumental song, but I especially like this since it's actually a whole band and not just Steven Wilson. Everyone is playing off each other as Maitland adds a more complicated drum beat and Wilson continues to play some cool lead guitar overtop, adapting perfectly to match the mood of whatever is going on. With the percussion and some cool organ this somewhat reminds of an old Santana song! Things flow very smoothly throughout this long song and towards the end everyone is playing some pretty cool stuff with some nice bass and drums, cool guitar and some trippy and pretty sweet keyboards. After about 14 minutes things quiet down to just some trippy background keyboards and we hear two men talking via radio, an astronaut and Houston. It's a strange way to end this cool improv song, but there's some cool drums after the talking and this sets the stage for the rehearsed final song on the album "Moonloop (Coda)". Edwin plays a nice slow bass riff and they build around that with Wilson adding some cool guitar overtop. The talking on the radio continues while they jam and things start to get louder as they progress until they're all rockin' pretty hard! Wilson plays some great guitar to lead the way that sounds pretty epic and everyone else nicely backs him until they reach an epic flourish that ends with Steven doing some pretty sweet shredding! The song then fades out with some quiet trippy noises to fittingly end this still very psychedelic album.

That is the end of "The Sky Moves Sideways" and I thought it was another great psychedelic rock album by Porcupine Tree. Steven Wilson is joined by a full band for the first time, but it's still very much his band and the music shows it. I loved the two lengthy title tracks and it seems Steven found some pretty good musicians to fill out his band with some cool bass and drums throughout the album and lots if trippy and cool keyboards by Richard Barbieri. I think this full band effort surpasses both of Porcupine Tree's first two albums, but the sky is the limit! I can't wait to see where they go from here!