TOGETHER WE'RE STRANGER

This album gives the word "beauty" a whole new meaning!!! Probably the best of all No- Man releases. I like it even more than my Porcupine Tree's favourite: Lightbulb Sub. The opening suite (tracks 1-4) is 28-minutes of pure ambience. "Photographs In Black And White" is quite long song divided into two parts: the first is great acoustic ballad (I hear some Roger Waters influence here), the other is a truly katharsis piece of music (my favourite part of album). Two remaining compositions musically sound a lot like Porcupine Tree. Highly recommended!

This is possibly my favourite non-Porcupine Tree Steven Wilson-related album.

Very slow. very atmospheric and very beautiful, the first part of the album consists of four pieces linked by textures, effects and clarinets (Talk Talk-esque), and comes across as a more emotional, vocal-led, version of Bass Communion.

The second part of the album comprises three more conventional, but equally beautiful, acoustic guitar- driven singer-songwriter pieces (the long, slightly Genesis-y, coda to 'Photographs In Black And White' is breathtaking).

Lyrically intimate and almost uniformly sedate, this is undoubtedly the least dynamic album in the band's repertoire, but more so than any of their other albums (with the possible exception of Returning Jesus) rewards frequent listening.

I have a few NO-MAN albums in my collection and still wonder why these guys have not been talked about a whole lot more. "Together We're Stranger" is another fantastic slow paced dream-like symphonic beauty. NO-MAN is the collaboration of PORCUPINE TREE's Steven Wilson and life long pal Tim Bowness who seem to have some sort of a unique musical chemistry when working together. Gone from this album is even a trace of the early dance beat tendencies with all energy on this album spent in the depth and mood creations. I must tell you that this album is one of my albums from 2004 that "blew me away" and I have played this CD to death. Hard to exactly peg this album but I would say is somewhat reminiscent of the slow instrumental transcendental aspects of PORCUPINE TREE. As usual there are a host of other guest musicians who help shape this rather delicate album including Roger Eno on harmonium. Essentially a great album to mellow out to and a perfect album for the cottage life.

I really wanted to give this 5 stars but I just couldn't because it's not as complete as the other no-man cds I have(what can I say I'm a porcupine tree freak). But now by saying that I can worship it for what it is... It was my first no-man album and my favorite no-man song is on it, ''Back when you were beautiful'' is just truly beautiful... thats all I can say, I've never had a song make me cry, I don't want to sonund like a pussy but it's just a down right beautiful song!! GO NO-MAN!! 4 stars

This melancholic record is very hard to classify: while often being very ambient, linear and hypnotic, it is not very progressive, and it contains psychedelic and spacy textures. It sounds a bit like Radiohead's "Treefingers" and the mellow moments of Porcupine Tree. The rhythm is VERY slow, and the miscellaneous very ethereal electric guitar loops and keyboards slightly remind me David Torn's work with Mark Isham (Castalia) and David Sylvian (Secret of the beehive), Robert Fripp's ethereal work with Brian Eno and David Sylvian, David Helpling, Pink Floyd circa "Division Bell", or even Terje Rypdal. The soundscapes are very original and unique. There are some good & serious piano on a couples of tracks. The bad thing is the lead vocals: they have an unpleasant, depressive, cheap & gross tone belonging to bands like Porcupine Tree, Riverside and Opeth: the lead vocals partly kill the good elements provided by the guitars and the keyboards: I try to concentrate on the rest of the instruments in order to give a proper evaluation.

This record truly has great soundscapes, especially on the first track "Together we're strangers". "The city in a hundred ways" contains strange clarinet textures and ethereal floating keyboards in the background: it is interesting but it has to not last too long. "Things I want to tell you" contains excellent lush & echoed acoustic guitars with ethereal floating keyboards in the background. The folkier "Back when you were beautiful" and "Break-up for real" remind me the most melancholic parts of Barclay James Harvest and Pink Floyd. Radiohead should take a lesson from No Man: the electronic album "Kid A" has nothing memorable compared to this record! Finally, this is a good record that many young people should like.

Rating: 3.5 stars

First, I am a huge fan of PT and Steve Wilson. Second, I love music that can make world stop. That happened to me the first time that I listened "Together...". Delicate arrangements, speceful keyboards, a beautiful voice, exquisite guitar arrangements... Sometimes, "Together..." looks very simple and even bored but for really expert listeners this album immediatly can be a masterpiece... or close...

Songs to remember: Together We're Stranger, All The Blue Changes, Photographs In Black And White, Back When You Were Beautiful. Maybe I'm wrong because the album looks like a conceptual piece sometimes and all songs are really good but if you want to have a few minutes of intimity and introspection, "Together..." is totally recomended.

Thanx to Mr. Bowness and Mr. Wilson for this beautiful album... almost perfect (Sorry but I really vote for Steve in PT)

It took me a long time (too long) for me to appreciate this album. It was hard to get past how slow moving and ambient it is.The atmosphere is so thick, and the lyrics so well done that when I finally came around I was left in awe of what they've done.

The title track has so much atmosphere as Tim sings slowly. "All The Blue Changes" has a little more life instrumentally but not not vocally. Incredible sound 3 1/2 minutes in that doesn't start to let up until around the 6 minute mark. "The City In A Hundred Ways" is a short track with horns and again lots of atmosphere. It blends into "Things I Want To Tell You". Acoustic guitar comes in and then the vocals. So much spacey atmosphere here as well.

"Photographs In Black And White" opens with strummed guitar and spacey sounds as vocals come in. Emotional lyrics. And talking about emotion check out my favourite track "Back When You Were Beautiful". It's cool that Stephen Bennett is playing organ on this one. He is an important part of the HENRY FOOL band that Tim Bowness sings on. "The Break-Up For Real" could be on a PORCUPINE TREE album. Strummed guitar and vocals lead the way. Steven's backup vocals are great. Piano is a nice touch too. Again the lyrics are moving.

A solid 4 stars and no doubt one of their best yet.

Edit 10/29/10 Wow it's been over 4 years since I reviewed this album. I originally gave it 3 stars but bumped it up to 4 stars and here I am giving it the full blown stars ! It's almost shocking how much atmosphere is on this disc. It overwhelmes me and the emotion is right at the surface when listening to this album. Wondrous simply wondrous.

SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PERFECT ALBUM! An evolution to his predecessor 'Returning Jesus', where music gets less beat & rave to become more sentimental, more perfectionist, more clean, maybe more jazzy. All these tendencies have been noticed in that album, those changes have been acclaimed and well received as for old as for new listeners. Well, this time we'll hear the same focusing but with a much better and more thorough production; these are longer and even slower songs full of sense. Music in the whole album is still and calm but you will not get bored if you really let yourself be caught and envolved by the heartbreaking voice of Tim Bowness and the abundant beautiful arrangments and dreamy soundscapes courtesy of Steven Wilson. "Back When You Were Beautiful" is the song that would have made a single if there was such a single, but somehow this album doesn't need of singles to triumph. "All The Blue Changes" and "Photographs In Black And White" are for me the proof of that perfection I'm talkin' about at the top of this review; really my favourite pieces of this album. There are also many guest mussicians in this record. There will be a reissue in DVDA format this year, maybe on spring, it will consist of 2 discs and will package the stereo mix version of the CD previously issued as the disc one, and a 5.1 surround mix version on the other disc.

Individual ratings for each song:

1. Together We're Stranger (9/10) 2. All The Blue Changes (10/10) 3. The City In A Hundred Ways (8/10) 4. Things I Want To Tell You (7/10) 5. Photographs In Black And White (10/10) 6. Back When You Were Beautiful (10/10) 7. The Break-up For Real (10/10)

"Together We're Stranger" is No-Man's deepest, most soulful, and enjoyable album to date-- focusing entirely on delicate ambience and intricate song writing; it is the only one of their albums I heartily recommend to fans coming from outside the genre, and will unfailingly impress any going in with an open mind.

First, the recording quality is top-notch, allowing the listener to be swept away by the rich atmospheres. The songs themselves are lyrically smarter than anything else they've done, and Browness' vocals positively ooze class-- his best yet. Moreover, Wilson's signature guitar is much stronger and his soundscapes more vibrant, despite their melancholy tone. The songs do have their (slightly) upbeat sections, but are as a whole slow and sullen-- very enjoyable. Ben Coleman is sadly absent, but the album does have an enjoyable bit of clarinet work to add a rarely heard sound to things.

An amazing listening experience for those ready for it.

Songwriting: 4 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 4 Style/Emotion/Replay: 5

Heartbreakingly sensational. NO-MAN finally put music and lyrics together to perfectly sum up the end of a relationship using some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. Why on earth isn't this band more widely known?

So how good is this? I'm a huge PORCUPINE TREE fan, but this is better than anything in the PT catalogue. I'm a fan of ambient music, and this ranks as my favourite album in that broad genre. And I've loved PINK FLOYD since I was a young teen, and I have no hesitation in saying this is right up there with WISH YOU WERE HERE.

But before I go any further, a warning. This album has none of the immediacy of a PORCUPINE TREE album. There's very little that impresses itself on you at first listen. Ambient music is about the listener actively interacting with the music: you have to put something in. You can't sit back and expect the music to work wonders, and you most certainly can't put it on as background. It requires your active attention.

The first four tracks form an indivisible ambient suite nearly half an hour long. The opener is comparable to 'Flowermouth's 'Angel Caught in the Beauty Trap'. A drill-like opening gives way to an impossibly dreamy soundscape. BOWNESS's voice is more direct here than I've heard in nearly a decade: his delivery is still breathy and matter-of-fact, but there's a tautness speaking of suppressed emotion. I can't help thinking of TALK TALK as this track unfolds, of 'Spirit of Eden'. 'All The Blue Changes' - well, even thinking about it brings a chill. Organ, chattering synth loops and the first percussion on the album lead into BOWNESS's best vocal performance on top of a slow build into cathartic beauty, which bursts into a PORCUPINE TREE-like harmonised chorus (a la 'Trains' or 'Prodigal'): 'The city in a hundred ways/It wouldn't let you stay.' Reminiscent of PINK FLOYD at their best, a modern and more desperate 'Welcome to the Machine', perhaps, or something from Side 2 of 'The Wall', filled with angst and the prospect of dissolution. Lush, addictive, achingly beautiful and hurtful. The third track, titled after the lyrics in the second track (a NO-MAN trick) is a clarinet-led instrumental, a short sounscape leading to 'Things I Want To Tell You', an exercise in slow desperation: 'I'm what you left behind/I'm fading from your mind'. Anyone who has experienced heartache and loss has finally found here a sophisticated voice well beyond the banality of pop sentiments.

'Photographs in Black and White' is a ten-minute minimalist triumph. We are warned: 'You talk so fast/To stop yourself from thinking/You move so fast/So you'll never see you're sinking'. Instead, in the midst of present sorrow, take the time to remember, to reflect on those who loved us. This track has the most gorgeous progression, with ROGER ENO playing harmonium to great effect. A five-minute coda sends chills down the spine: WILSON brings everything he has to the table, all the years of space-rock compositions coming together.

'Back When You Were Beautiful' is another song of loss: 'Friendship comes/But it mostly goes'. This is a slow ballad, closer to PORCUPINE TREE than NO-MAN. Banjo and all, this is recognisably 'In Absentia' territory married with 'The Sky Moves Sideways'. And the album finishes on a plaintive note with 'The Break-Up For Real', another PT-style track, the second on the album to have the increasingly familiar harmonised chorus hook. On my iTunes playlist this last track is replaced with the drum mix version from the eponymous single, and I follow it with '(bluecoda)', an instrumental from the same single that reintroduces the album's opening theme. Five stars either way.

You have to be in the mood for this, and you have to have the time. Some day you will, so get this and be prepared.

No-man's music has always intrigued and appealed to me, but the Wilson - Bowness tandem had never entirely convinced me. I always had some kind of issue with the poppy nature of the music or Bowness' vocals. Also their 5th album Together We're Stranger did not entirely engage me at first. The slowly meandering atmosphere did take a lot of time to leave its mark on me. But ever since it did, I've been truly astounded by this album.

None of the previous No-man albums had prepared me for this one. Wilson stripped the arrangement to the bones, only leaving minimalist sketches of slowly flowing ambient guitars and keyboard sounds. It makes for a sombre, moving and very poetic album detailing the break-up of relationships and other hardship. Bowness delivers some of his best vocals ever here. Very quiet and subdued, almost hesitant, but evoking a feeling of fragility and truthfulness.

The slowness and bare approach of the album might put off many listeners, spoilt as we all are by very busy and action-packed music. This is a typical example of an album that takes a while to sink in and I wouldn't recommend it if you are into harsh metal, busy Prog or hot techno right now. That's where I was when I first heard it and it didn't really register then. But if you feel you're ready to be overwhelmed by slow and delicate melancholic mood music, then this is the album you need.

Slow, sad and sometimes almost lethargic, this will register as boring to some, but as fascinatingly beautiful to others. This is an album to listen to when you cannot be diverted by any distractions, so wait until dark and put on those headphones, or surrounded yourself by the lush 5.1 mix.

Pure beauty transposed into music, pure and simple.

As an album, Together We're Stranger is just that - a collection of truly beautiful music transposed into one disc. On this album of wonderful ambient pop, Bowness and Wilson truly solidify their legacy as no-man, creating just under 50 minutes of sonic wonder. The truly commendable effort of Wilson, tackling a majority of the instrumentation, creates some of the most dense and explorative atmospherics to ever grace my ears, and Bowness' dramatic, dulcet tones, although not everyone's favourite vocal style, match this music perfectly, and pull at the heart strings like very few other albums ever have, or ever will.

The music is mostly soundscape/synthesizer based and has a wonderful lyric set, which mostly seems to confront relationship issues, the loss of loved ones and other facts of life, love and loss. The soundscapes, guitar, banjo, clarinet, strings and vocal work here is unlike any other no-man album (or any other album for that matter) - incredible creativity and imagination is at work here, creating unheard of tones. This is an album best enjoyed on a walk at night, or in one's room alone - put simply, this is not upbeat music in any real shape or form, and features very few pop sensibilities like many of no-man's other works.

The album opens with soft synth on the title track, Wilson awaiting Bowness' vocal input later on in the track. A soaring guitar solo cuts amongst the ambient work here, and the result is truly perfect. Other tracks like All The Blue Changes feature a more definite rhythm, and this movement between structured, beat based music comes in and out of the picture. The spacey, open wide sound returns with Things I Want To Tell You, a maze of haunting vocals, incredibly sad yet beautiful lyrics, plucked guitar and mellotron, which is very easily one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever conceived, recorded or heard. Photographs In Black And White features a sound more similar to the earlier, poppier no-man works, although closes in an incredibly dark fashion. Back When You Were Beautiful is the albums more obvious ballad, but is still brilliant none the less. This melancholic little ditty features some of the most beautiful guitar and vocal interplay I've ever heard, and ranks highly amongst my favourite Wilson releases. The closer, The Break-Up For Real, has a much more harsh, raw sound, although is still absolutely beautiful, and brings this tear-jerker to an end.

As a pop music, ambient lover, or Wilson aficionado, you HAVE to hear this album. As such a curiosity in their discography, it is surprising to see this album receive the band's most critical acclaim, although incredibly well deserved. It is worth mentioning the sonic quality on the 24 bit master, available on the DVD portion of the CD/DVD version, blows the CD's out of the water for sonic fidelity, which is an important factor on this album. Regardless of how, this album MUST be heard!

An easy masterpiece.

Tim and Steve are back with another stroll through the mellow side of poppy prog. This time they've allowed over half of their compositions to drift into the ten minute region, thus we have long slow development with little or no drums or percussion.

1. "Together We're Stranger" (8:31) industrial ambient soundscape. Tim enters singing from a closet in the back of the room at the end of the third minute. Way more like a Mark Hollis song than I was expecting. Some nice, emotional electtic guitar in the middle within the synthy spacescape before some breathy, treated trumpet notes take a turn just before the music turns into the next song. (17.5/20)

2. "All The Blue Changes" (7:48) spacious Mark Hollis-like piano and shakers set up the mood for Tim to perform his elegant magic. Piano, guitar, and other electronics slowy build beneath Tim's vocal. Very Steven Wilson-like harmony vocals in the final two minutes. (13.25/15)

3. "The City In A Hundred Ways" (2:23) more like a warm up of an John Zorn orchestra pit or Art Zoyd wind section. (4.5/5) 4. "Things I Want To Tell You" (9:03) taking over from the bleed over from "The City in a Hundred Ways" echoed Dominic Miller-like acoustic guitar notes and strums join in, almost incidentally, while Tim whisper/croons his almost equally incidentally deposited vocal lines. It's pleasant enough. I'm sure it might mean more if I were into the lyrics. (17/20)

5. "Photographs In Black And White" (10:03) gentle Americana acoustic guitar played while watching an immense open sky of Western expanse provided by thin Mark Isham-like synth washes. The song could almost pass for something by Rikkie Lee Jones or k.d. lang. Clarinet takes over the lead at the end of the third minute for a bit before Tim continues his breathy Paris, Texas confession. Roger Eno's harmonium begins rising up from the deep background as second acoustic guitar becomes a bit more aggressive and the clarinet returns for another solo. Over celestina and acoustic guitar weave Tim's muted voice sings and bass clarinet joins in before some deep bass thrums thunder the background every 16 seconds or so. This is the best part of the album (so far). After the thunder storm ends in the tenth minute, Tim and acoustic guitar finish out the song as it started (minus the synth backdrop).(18/20)

6. "Back When You Were Beautiful" (5:07) what, no drums?! Methinks we've heard this one before. By either No-Man or Talk Talk. Nice floating guitar and bank of Mellotron-like "ahhs" in the middle. Nice to hear Steven's banjo in the final third. (8.5/10)

7. "The Break-up For Real" (4:11) electric guitar and acoustic guitar. Tim Bowness and acoustic guitar. Definitely a Steven Wilson song. Nice AMERICA/TONY PATTERSON vocals. A nice one. (8.75/10)

This is different from but in no way as good as the duo's previous album, Returning Jesus. (primarily because they chose to not retain the services of rhythm maestro Steven Jansen)

B/four stars; a nice addition to any prog lover's music collection--especially if you're in the mood for the mellower more meditative side of prog music.

No-Man are again a duo, with just a few guests, and there cannot be many bands that have been going fifteen years let alone recording while one of the members is also in a slightly more well-known outfit. Tim Bowness provides the vocals, while Steve Wilson provides all of the instruments and if anyone thinks that this might just sound anything like Porcupine Tree are very much mistaken. This is an album that sees the band really push Tim's vocals to the front, while the music swirls, moves and shifts behind. It is almost New Age at times but there is always a slight hint of menace that drives away the saccharine.

It becomes an album that is timeless, ageless, modern yet harkening back to the Seventies. There are Floydian touches but no-one could ever think that they are copyists. There can be just a gentle piano chord, followed by a line of sung melody. There are songs that are heart- achingly beautiful that if edited might even stand a chance in the charts. It is almost as if their previous albums have been leading up to this, as if Steven has managed to exorcise heavier demons with Porcupine Tree and here has come home to provide a stark view of what can be done. If these guys were designers then they would be minimalist, of that there is no doubt. This is not an album to jump into, you must be prepared to sit back and let it all wash over you (oh and don't turn up the volume at the end of "Things I Want To Tell You" like I did, otherwise you will jump out of your skin when the next song starts). Superb.

Originally appeared in Feedback #73, Jun 03

It's hard to believe that with all the EP's and collections of rare music from No-man, that in total, all they released were 6 actual studio albums. It is their last three that was where they found their real sound, as the first three were more along the lines of complex dance music, even though it was still interesting music. By the time of this album, 'Together We're Stranger' that Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness were settling into their style, beautiful music with a huge degree of lushness and this was also the style that fit Tim's airy style of singing. Together, I don't know if they were stranger, but their unique sound was anything but strange with Bowness' unique and easily identified trademark voice and Wilson's dreamy and psychedelic instrumentation, they became a team whose sound any prog lover should recognize. The two of them made up the band, and they always had plenty of session musicians to help complete the sound.

The first four tracks on this album were actually a suite and took up the first half of the LP. Beginning with the title track 'Together We're Stranger' we are led slowly into the dreamy, atmospheric and beautiful electronics and instrumentation of Wilson. When Tim's voice comes in, it just blends in with the dreaminess of it all. Wilson's signature sound is really apparent when the guitar comes in, slowly strummed with a strong echo helping to fill in the sound. Just like all other guitar greats like David Gilmour, Steve Howe, Steve Hackett and so on, Steve Wilson's playing is his own signature style. This track, even at 8 minutes and with its floating sound, just flies by as you immerse yourself into it and you hardly realize that there is no percussion keeping rhythm here. A strange vocal effect ends the track and leads it into the next track.

'All the Blue Changes' has a bit more movement with a soft percussive sound, and Tim begins singing his pensive vocals much sooner. Another beautiful track, this one has a more memorable melody even if it is more pensive. Rhythm gets further established as keys help to build the beat and the intensity until it levels off, yet still creating tension, but the instrumental layers still have the dreamy and atmospheric quality to them. Later, you will hear Wilson's voice come in as harmonics. The last part of the track just floats as it calms with the spacey sound of fading instruments. This also transitions to the next track.

'The City in a Hundred Ways' begins with layered reed instruments creating harmonic sounds with some dissonance that always tends to resolve itself. This lasts for only a few minutes before it follows into the last track of the suite. 'Things I Want to Tell You' begins with chiming meandering guitar and Bowness picks out his beginning note from the thin air and the pensive feeling continues. I have no idea how he can pick out his melody from the minimal and wandering guitar, harmonium and electronics and he stays pitch-perfect. Now that is talent. Things end minimally with just a barely discernable electronic drone.

Next comes the 10 + minute 'Photographs in Black and White'. Beginning with a slow acoustic strum and atmospherics, Tim again starts singing with a much more melodic sense this time. There is minimal toned percussion in the background and other keys slowly being added in. When the clarinet comes in, its almost a surprise, but a stirring and welcome one as it penetrates through your ears into your soul. As it continues, an organ becomes apparent which helps anchor the track. Then a nice chiming guitar with keys swirl together as Bowness' vocals become manipulated. The bass clarinet gives the song a deepness and then heavy guitars are added in contributing to an amazing atmosphere that is soft and dark at the same time. The track is amazingly lovely and it begs you to pay attention to it.

'Back When You Were Beautiful' starts with a simple electric piano and vocals with strummed guitar coming in later. This track is set up more like a standard song but still continues with the lush and peaceful yet slightly dark atmosphere that has permeated the album. The lushness of this music simply speaks to my soul. And yes, that is a banjo you hear there towards the end also. 'The Break-up for Real' is a bit more upbeat, but no percussion, just vocals and a faster strummed guitar. There's a bit of minimal percussion, reverb guitar and piano added in later. Wilson adds his voice towards the end. On the newer editions of the album, there is another version of this track called 'Drum Mix' which I haven't heard, but I would assume there are drums added to the track. There is also another track, which is also added to the vinyl version called '(bluecoda)' which consists of sustained keyboard chords, a wandering clarinet and the soft vocals of Bowness for a short 2+ minute song.

This album is quite minimal for the most part, but is a very lush and lovely album that, even with it's minimal nature just seems to fly by. The melodies are lovely, the instrumentals are perfectly layered and atmospheric and the music is still dynamic. I love this music, but even so, it still isn't the masterpiece that their next album 'Schoolyard Ghosts' would be. It is close though, and if it were possible, would get 4.5 stars.