Deadwing is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released by Lava Records in Japan on 24 March 2005, in Europe on 28 March, and in the US on 26 April. It quickly became the band's best selling album, although it was later surpassed by Fear of a Blank Planet. The album is based on a screenplay written by Steven Wilson and Mike Bennion, and is a ghost story. Wilson has stated that the songs "Deadwing", "Lazarus", "Arriving Somewhere but Not Here", "Open Car", and "Mellotron Scratch" were originally intended for the film soundtrack, but when the project failed to find funding they were instead recorded for the next Porcupine Tree album. The album versions of "Lazarus" and "Open Car" essentially remain Wilson solo tracks onto which Gavin Harrison overdubbed drums.
The album produced two singles: "Shallow" and "Lazarus". Music videos for "Lazarus", "The Start of Something Beautiful", and "Glass Arm Shattering" were produced. "Shallow" also appeared in the movie Four Brothers.
The album includes collaborations with King Crimson's Adrian Belew, who plays guitar solos on the title track and "Halo", and Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt, who adds vocal harmonies on "Deadwing", "Lazarus", and "Arriving Somewhere but Not Here". He also plays the second guitar solo on "Arriving Somewhere but Not Here".
In 2017, Kscope Records purchased the album as well as the previous album In Absentia; both were remastered and rereleased in 2018 through the label, with the new versions having less compression and an overall improvement in sound quality.
Wondered if I needed another album from Porcupine Tree, but then I enjoyed this very much so I guess I’m good with that. Some someones on here seem to be intent on making sure this band sticks with me…
Arriving Somewhere But Not Here is a perfect progressive jam that had me totally in on this album!
The second Porcupine Tree album Iv come across on this user list, and a clear step up in quality from the more accessible Stupid Dream.
Darker, heavier, and much more in line with my taste. One I can see myself coming back to rather than just appreciating for a single day.
Listening to this album without any additional background info, I thought the guitar sound was a lot better than the often too clean and overthought sound of other Steven Wilson albums. Now I know that's party thanks to the contributions of Adrian Belew (ex-King Crimson and ex-Bowie). It must have been an honor for Wilson to have such a legend and musical hero on his Team. He lifts two of the song enough to make these interesting and fun to me the others are hit (up-tempo ones) or miss (ballads).
The prior offering from this (hitherto unknown to me) band I recall finding a little too relentlessly gloomy, with a bit of holier-than-thou thrown in. While still very dark this felt to me to have a more sprightly energy (and diversity in sound) that helped move that down around, and I liked it quite a bit better.
Porcupine Tree are honestly kind of slept on in the prog scene honestly. This album is really hauntingly beautiful with just the right amount of heavy moments for contrast.
I've tried really hard to like Porcupine Tree. It's not that I dislike them, but I feel like, because I love progressive rock like Pink Floyd, Yes, Jethro Tull, ELP, etc, that I should really like them as well. But every time I listen to them, it's just okay for me. Not bad, but doesn't really grab me either. 3 stars.
This band now has 3 albums on the user list so there's clearly some devoted fans here. This LP feels much like the last two, and my thoughts are much of the same – there are some great melodic/instrumental ideas here going on under this heavier modern prog umbrella, but a lack of editing means they get washed out relative to a good deal of filler. There's so many passages here that could've been left on the cutting room floor and heightened the album by making it meaner, sleeker, and more impactful.
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