This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Hand. Cannot. Erase. is the fourth solo studio album by English musician Steven Wilson. The album was released on 27 February 2015 through Kscope. The album was recorded in September 2014 at AIR Studios, London, UK. All band members of the previous album are also featured on the new recording. When discussing the lack of Theo Travis's input on the record, Steven Wilson described the album as less "jazzy" in comparison to the previous album, featuring only a few parts written for flutes and saxophones. Wilson also described the album as more reflective of all of the different material in his back catalogue, featuring elements of electronic music and straightforward pop songs alongside long progressive-oriented tracks. Alongside Wilson, the album features Ninet Tayeb on vocals, and the sequences featuring boy choristers is inspired by the track 'All of the Love', from The Dreaming, an album by Kate Bush. According to Wilson, the album is written from a female perspective, and the concept and story are inspired by the case of Joyce Carol Vincent, where a woman living in a large city dies in her apartment and no one misses her for over two years, despite her having family and friends. Wilson explained: "The basic story, or concept of the record – it's about a woman growing up, who goes to live in the city, very isolated, and she disappears one day and no one notices. There's more to it than that. Now, what's really interesting about this story is that your initial reaction when you hear a story like that is, 'Ah, little old bag lady that no one notices, no one cares about.' [Vincent] wasn't [like that]. She was young, she was popular, she was attractive, she had many friends, she had family, but for whatever reason, nobody missed her for three years."
I like what's going on here, but I think the record is too long, and generally suffering from prog problems.
Kind of bland prog, if I'm being honest. I mean, it's fine, very enjoyable in moments. But if I want prog I want it spicy, but this is like when you go to a Vietnamese restaurant and they give you the "white people" spicy. Nah man, I want it to hurt, hit me with the challenging stuff.
Might be my favorite of the user albums so far; very beautiful!
Really good. Great add
Prog usually leaves me cold, but despite being be big, dramatic and theatrical, this has undeniable heart. It connects, builds and it soars. Thanks for the recommendation! Rating: 4.5 Playlist track: Hand Cannot Erase Date listened: 15/11/24
Halfway through 3 Years Older I perked up and started to really attend to this album even though not a lyric had yet been delivered. Something special was unfolding here. The music is layered and interesting. Dulcimers! Epic rock organ! Kate Bush-inspired boy choristers! This really engaged me. When I started investigating deeper it did not surprise me in the least that this drew comparisons to The Wall. The story behind this album is so compelling - there are a million ways that attempting to capture this story in a concept album should fail but I was enthralled for the duration. After one listen this album and its story haunts me - I’ll be listening to this a lot more and checking out more from Steven Wilson.
I was totally surprised by this album. Never heard of the artist, but I was hooked just from the Wikipedia article about the album and the trail it led me down about the inspiration of the characters in this album. Such a tragedy that befell Joyce Vincent. I think its re-listenability is hindered due to its concept nature, but I really enjoyed this album and glad for the submitter to have shared it with us. 4.5/5, but downgraded to 4 stars based on re-listenability.
Someone I'd never heard of, and really interesting. A lot of Prog DNA but shades form Rush to CSN&Y. Didn't do a ton for me lyrically but they did the job.
Really good mix, huge instrumentals. Nice vibe for some morning work
interesting progrock album. Lyricaly, I had a harder time to empathize with the story of the album. But the music is very good.
Jamais entendu parle de l'artiste mais j'ai bien aimé le style. 4.5
This was pretty cool! 8/10
I really enjoyed listening to this. Complex, but accessible progressive rock with elements of so much (Crosby Stills and Nash, Pink Floyd, Marillion, even Elton John). Intriguing and heartbreaking story concept. A worthy bonus inclusion
Fourth studio album? It is unique. I think I like it.
I had a friend who told me this was his favorite artist, and when I realized I'd never heard of him (but had heard of Porcupine Tree), I checked them out. I did not check this album, nor did it particularly pull me in enough to warrant more listens, but now listening to this record, I found myself enjoying it. In parts. Any of the heavier proggy parts, I love. When the record slows down, it's easy to lose track of it. It's clearly steeped in every prog-rock band that came before it, and I think it holds the mantle well, just not entirely my bag. Call it 3.5. Favorite track: "Ancestor"
Really great album, lots of variety but with that slightly electronic vibe. Jazzy and rock at times.
Steven Wilson is one of those people who I assume is like his fans - annoying.
The most bland of these bonus albums so far. Totally inoffensively fine.
Ancestral was the easy track highlight. The other tunes contain some shredding and thematic material, but without going all in on the latter Wilson refuses to try in a certain way. Even in failure that style can "succeed". Instead, we get a non-jagged but muted waveform.
Weird, but nice solid sound
6/10. This was peaceful and chilled out, but didn't really stand out to me a ton. Definitely a good album, but not something I am crazy for.
Fans of Porcupine Tree will definitely like this as its basically an extension of that sound. First Regret sounds remarkably like Rush, but the remainder is the driving prog/rock sound that PC is famous for.
I appreciate Steven Wilson for his support of prog rock and some of the great remixes he's done. I like his music also, but I find it a bit cold and emotionless. It's sort of how I feel about Rush compared to Yes. I absolutely love Yes, but with Rush, while I can appreciate their technical proficiency at the end of the day it leaves me a little unsatisfied. I will give his another listen though. 3 stars.
Well, what can I say. I love a lot of the Procupine Tree records and the work Wilson did with Opeth. But honestly, this work doesn't distinguish itself a lot from what he did earlier. That doesn't mean I don't like it. Quite the contrary. I still have weakness for this kinda prog. And on a good moment when I have the space to listen to it, it still sounds great.
Well crafted, there's great talent there. On the other hand nothing too memorable.
Good stuff Should get into some porcupine tree soon 4 3
Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Hand cannot erase
This was a good prog/power pop album. It had shades of jazz, CSN style harmonies, and fantastic musicianship. The story itself is very compelling and allows Steven Wilson to explore themes of youth, relationship, isolation, and death. That said, there were some parts that didn’t work as well musically that really made the album feel disjointed.
Progressive rock, progressive pop. Ni fu ni fa.
Community theater dropout musical. If you want a long prog album, this is for you!
An interesting hybrid. A little introspective/heartfelt singer-songwriter, that goes into several experiments in the rock/classic rock/prog rock genre. Perfect Life was the first track that stood out, though it wasn't until Ancestral that i felt the rock side of things took off a bit better. Not a bad listen, just not too much to return to.
There were a couple interesting mixes of 70s and modern prog rock but overall it was just whatever. I’m beginning to realize that it’s hard to sit through these 70 minute albums when they don’t even have the 1001 album stamp of approval. At least there I’m guaranteed some reason for why I should listen to it beyond “some guy thought it was really good”
This was well written and very well played, but I didn't connect much with the proggier songs. And yeah, it was overly long. Pleased to see music of this quality being produced so recently. Fave Songs: Perfect Life, Hand Cannot Erase, Routine
I was unable to really connect with this today.
Very interesting album, a good change of pace. Categorized as prog rock, which makes sense. I like the long, meandering nature of some of these tracks. I also think the variety of instruments and sounds is cool, it's a bit all over the place in a good way. Only saving one song, but it was a fun listen. Favorite tracks: Home Invasion / Regret #9. Album art: A woman's face deteriorating into colorful paint. Very bold and vibrant, I like this one. 3/5
I just can't with prog sometimes man, sorry.
I like the proggier bits, but the rest sounds like emo musical theatre.
Probably the most pretentious album on this list which is some accolade!
He's such a self-absorbed guy that it's almost unbearable. I highly respect him as an artist within Porcupine Tree, and especially his work in modernizing the sound of old prog classics. However, I've never been drawn to his solo work. This was a perfect opportunity to give him another chance... and all he's done is reaffirm my opinion
This is too neat and clean mor my taste. Steven Wilson is being music's equivalent of that annoying OCD neighbour who manages to have his garden pristine on every day of the year. Not a single piece of weed or dirt - no room for some wild out of bounds things that might appear if you give them room. Musically it's all very well done, but with all the wrinkles professionally ironed out, it's fails to actually grab me. I like to actually be in my garden, not look at it from inside the house.
This LP has no idea what it wants to be, and all the guises it tries on are equally annoying. There are longer sections of breezy radio-friendly pop that give way to boring attempts at pummeling hardcore, all that circling back to plucky synth pop that should’ve stayed in the ‘aughts. At its completion, this album gives me no sense of what Wilson was trying to accomplish or what kind of artist he wants to be, even though he tried damn hard for an hour to convince me otherwise.
Not that great. It was too long for what it was. Nothing really stood out and the dial did not move much on it.
Faaaaar toooooo looooong
Interesting, but I wouldn't add it to any Best Album list.
This is modern indie prog rock and I do not love it. The bigger than life concepts have been around for a while but this felt like took that a step further with this album. Some songs were quick and other were way too long. This album suffered from being disorganized. It’s an adventurous attempt but falls flat for me. 5.8/10