The Benja-man Is Verbose

Sunsets On Empire is the Steven Wilson record to many.  The future Porcupine Tree mastermind and future "that guy who does a remaster of every prog and prog-adjacent record ever recorded" is the guitarist on a big chunk of it, and a co-writer on a big chunk of the songs.  This is a big deal, apparently.  I wonder if the fact that the best I've been able to muster for Porcupine Tree/Wilson solo over the years is a casual mild interest will reflect on how I feel about Sunsets ?   I really have no idea who the touring band was at this point, and in particular how many guitarists were involved.  On the record you have Steven, and Robin Boult (a credited writer on three tracks, including two of the standouts), and Frank Usher, each doing different parts.  Ewen Vernal is the main bassist, Foss Patterson the main keyboardist, Dave Stewart the main drummer, and Lorna Bannon the most frequently used backup voice, but various other people are credited with or instead of them in var

Say what you will about Sleep Well Beast , it is a National record through and through.  This means that many of the things I think about the National in general I think about this record.  I think I've been clear about what I think this band's biggest strengths are.  Well, more of them here.  For example, despite the lack of musical vocabulary, we've discussed that a certain type of chord simply sounds really good to my ears.  Since I normally emphasize the vocal melody, instead I'll highlight the bridge in "Day I Die" after the second chorus as my example to represent the whole record.  So far the song has been running on a  basic guitar-and-keys groove, punctuated by the drums.  After Matt stops singing, the pace slows down, one guitar starts playing a two-note figure, and then a second guitar suddenly drops in a four note "do do DO do" thing.  That bit is delivered at basically the same place in the bar that the song's main U2-esque guitar sc

Suits is the first slice of Fish the indie rocker.  I think most would agree that professionally speaking, this is his niche.  As much as the guy wants to be beloved (when he's not wanting to be left alone), it just makes so much more sense for him to be micromanaging his own record label, have complete creative control, and play to bingo hall sized crowds with whom he can make eye contact.  Now, some of this may be a self-fulfilling narrative, wherein Fish's endless series of personal and financial crises combined with questionable business decisions ensured that this was the only way his solo career possibly could go, but looking back at the complete body of work, it just makes so much sense. Track One:  "Mr. 1470" Slow grower for me, but grow it did.  There's a groove to the bassline as Fish's vocal delivery is especially chatty; there's enough momentum that I don't get impatient as the verses take their time building up.  I'm of two

 Covers albums I find a bit hard to characterize.  I love covers... but mostly only in a live setting, with a few exceptions.  Live, a cover is a great way to energize a crowd and to hear an old favorite in a new way.  In the studio with a professional release, we want a clear reason to record a song that's already been recorded.   I do of course speak from the perspective of someone who grew up in an era in which artists take more ownership of their songs; the perspective is a little different if you're in a world where there's a canon of songs that everyone takes a crack at.  If you're, say, a folk or a blues musician, or listening to show tunes, or "Great American Songbook" stuff, whatever.  Rock and roll, though, where so much of a song's identity is about the particular performance, instrumentation, and production from the guys who came up with it, the expectation is more that a cover needs to put a new spin on a song and answer the question "why

The way time fell this week, I ended up listening a third time before getting around to writing anything up.  Hence the minor break from the usual format of real-ish time reactions to spins #1 and #2.  Hey, as long as I do three posts on Sleep Well Beast , the overall approach to blogging about a record as I absorb it remains the same. I remember when the third listen was a bit of a task for some of the early National records.  It was exciting to be done with listen number three of the self-titled, so I could stop writing about it and listen to something else.  (As mentioned before, three is my usual magic number before I say I "know" a piece of music; the stuff that clearly isn't for me might not survive on my list to even make it to three spins, of course.)  I don't think I ever had any doubt that Sleep Well Beast would be getting at least four, and more likely five or six full runthroughs before I'll be satisfied that I've gotten everything I wa

I'm going with the track listing from the brand new 2024 remaster, rather than the original order.  Prepping to write this post is the first time I'd ever listened to the songs in the new sequence, so let's see how it sounds that way. Track One:  "Shadowplay" Damn, I like the guitar part on the verses.  Given how impressive the chorus is, it says something that this is the part that jumps out.  I also like the chorus too.  Since we're all prog, the structure of "Shadowplay" goes mid-tempo intro, then shimmery chorus, then menacing verse/prechorus, then after a couple verses there's a solw fade out into a chanting repetition, and then a bridge, and then the final chorus is a different tempo as more of a Pink Floyd swirl of sound than a melody.  It takes skill to take a song that would be so powerful as a straight pop-rock song and build it into something more epic.   I guess this a slow-grower because I always knew this was a good song, but it'