PORCUPINE TREE - CLOSURE/CONTINUATION
As this review is posted, the comeback Tree album is top of the UK charts. Whilst clearly, and obviously, superior to much of the dross which passes as music in the charts I find this album ultimately disappointing.
Where do you begin with a review of a new Porcupine Tree album? Well, I suppose with the last time I reviewed a new PT album, and that review of The Incident was posted in the 2009 section of the Album Reviews by Year Page of this website. It is fair to say I did not enjoy it. That album sounded to these ears like that of an outfit which had run out of creative juices, reached the end of the line, and so it proved. That is, until last year’s somewhat unexpected announcement of an unlikely reunion, albeit without their bass player Colin Edwin whose absence remains a little bit of a mystery and who has been replaced by the master of ceremonies, one Steven Wilson Esquire.
Of course, as a progressive rock fan I was deeply appreciative of much of the output of this band prior to The Incident, and when the announcement was made, a trip to Burning Shed to pre-order Closure/Continuation was a mere formality. Is it any good, though? Does it bring anything new to the PT table? Given that in the interregnum, Wilson has become a pretty huge solo star (although rumour has it that the last effort, The Future Bites, came in with slightly disappointing sales and made a PT reunion more likely), Harrison has been a massive part of Fripp’s latter day KC reincarnation, and Barbieri has enhanced his reputation as a leading light in the art rock world, one has to ask whether this new work adds genius to the canon, whether it is simply a reunion designed to bring in some hard-earned, or whether it is just, well, there.
The first option is the optimistic or fanboy button, so delete as appropriate, the second is the shockingly cynical option, and the third is the “it is merely there” option, the I really don’t care that much button, and I am afraid I fall into this category. An album by such accomplished and talented musicians was never going to be awful (I didn’t find The Incident awful, just bloody boring), but it really doesn’t excite me at all, and I have given it several listens before putting fingers to keyboard.
Harridan opens proceedings and provides Wilson with the opportunity to show us just how much he has developed as a bass player and that we shouldn’t miss Edwin at all, nothing to see here. In addition, and as this is the case on every single track there is no need to break the comment down into individual pieces, Harrison is exceptional on the skins and Barbieri adds some wonderful textures. What strikes me, though, is that this track could have appeared on either of the last two Wilson solo efforts, especially considering the cynical nature and delivery of the lyrics/vocals.
And therein lies my overall beef with the album. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bad LP, but it is not a particularly original one. Yes, I know that any collective work will draw on the influences of the participants and their individual output, but I am afraid that I expect, and anticipated, something new, fresh, and vibrant, a Porcupine Tree for 2022, and this is not it.
Take the second track Of The New Day. This is a carbon copy of much of the theme of Hand. Cannot. Erase, and must have been written at the same time. I love that album. It is one of the best albums I have in my collection, but if I knew I was going to get PT does Wilson Solo, I would not have spent any money on this album. By the way, when I say this, please believe me when I state that I like this track particularly because it evokes its mighty fine “parent”, but original it ain’t, sorry.
Rats Return is a definitive PT track. The opening bars and staccato delivery have been defined pretty much on every PT album. In addition, I find much of it in between said riffs rather meandering and unexciting, excepting Harrison’s wonderfully jazzy drums. When I heard stuff like this on In Absentia, I loved it, because it was fresh.
Dignity weighs in at over eight minutes and is the second longest track here. Emotionally, this track does hit the right buttons, especially with the soaring guitar chords, vocal cries, all underpinned by some beautiful keyboard work and brilliant drumming. I especially love Wilson’s guitar solo some five and a half minutes in, and lyrically it is interesting with what I interpret as some hard-hitting introspective conversations with a younger self.
Herd Culling is a return to the harder roots of the band, and is especially disconcerting in its accusations of liar, delivered with force and emotion vocally and musically. Not bad at all, but certainly, again, not really breaking any new ground.
Walk The Plank is an altogether strange affair. It can only really be described as an extended noodling session. The lyrics are delivered in a robotic fashion at times (another commonality with the last couple of Wilson albums). It is a nothing kind of song, really, and exemplifies more than anything else here what I meant by the “it’s merely there” option.
The standard CD, which I purchased, ends with the longest track on the album, Chimera’s Wreck which is nine minutes plus. Many reviews have raved about this track especially, almost in such reverential terms as greeting The Second Coming. Well, in biblical terms, the opening passage is most certainly reminiscent of early Genesis, but as the song develops, I find myself getting annoyed. It starts to meander, another common theme on much of the album, and the lyrics contain much of the immaturity, self-pity, and puerility of The Incident, and I am afraid I switch off at that. “Couldn’t care less if I was to die”, indeed. Damned depressing, and not even that clever. The extended instrumental section is perhaps a wee bit too extended but is okay.
As I said before, this review is of the standard cd. There are other versions available and I have heard the three bonus tracks online, a couple of which are, in my opinion, vastly superior to the main album.
This is not a bad album, let’s be clear. But, for a website such as mine, in order to gain as many “hits” and praise as possible, the easiest thing to have done would be to sing its praises, and welcome the Second Coming as an act of genius, pure unalloyed pleasure which could only possibly be sated by more of the same in the future. God bless, you, Steven! However, this website’s owner is not particularly bothered by such considerations. It exists to provide for honest opinions on works of musical art, and this album, whilst okay, is not that memorable, and when it is, it is for the wrong reasons. It confirms my opinion of Porcupine Tree from 2009. It has run its course as an original creative force.
A shame. A last thought – as I post this review, the three Tree members are posting their thanks on Facebook to the great unwashed masses of Great Britain for sending the album to the top of the country’s charts. What do I know, eh?