jon_chaisson | V is for Voyage 34 (Reply)

Porcupine Tree is one of my Top 10 favorite bands. They're a fascinating group that's not quite prog, not quite hard rock, not quite alternative, but they're absolutely brilliant. Singer/songwriter Steven Wilson is a great and understated guitarist who rarely uses his ax to show off; more to the point, he uses it to paint an aural landscape.

This is one of their early singles from 1992, edited with its b-side (part 2) and its follow-up remix single (parts 3 and 4). Sure, the drug-themed narration (it's from a 60's documentary about LSD) and the opening guitar lick is indicative of Pink Floyd (one expects to hear "Another Brick in the Wall Part 1" at some point), but it's more than that. You've got Richard Barbieri's ethereal keyboard washes, Colin Edwin's sublime bass lines, and Chris Maitland's artistic drumming. By eight minutes in the track shifts direction and becomes a driving rock track, playing off the narration's mention of an LSD trip gone bad. By the time the track winds down again, so does the narrator's subject, coming down from his high and reclaiming his control.