Pink Floyd vs. Porcupine Tree

Just getting into PT myself, although I haven't yet listened to any of "The Incident" yet.  I thought I'd go back to the earlier stuff, which I like.  When I listen to PT, I hear elements of PF, or PF influence -- but it's different enough to my ears (which, admittedly, are shot by years of cymbal smashing).

Dogs, obviously.

The Floyd. Dogs is a great song off of a great album.

PT fan here.  Time Flies is one of the band's worst tracks (which a lot of people here probably wouldn't even have heard), whereas Dogs is considered to be one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.  PT have more Floyd-esque tracks that might have been better to use here: Prodigal, Always Never, The Sky Moves Sideways, etc.  If the options were different, I would have gone for any of those tracks.

And yeah, I voted for Dogs.

Dogs is my favorite piece of human artwork. I don't even need to have heard Time Flies to know its better (although I've listened to a certain amount of the Incident - )

just piling on for the hell of it....

speaking of comparing a '67 GTO to '76 Pinto....   at least the Pinto has some redeeming qualities...  anyone remember this screen classic..





let make this akin to comparing Raff's beauty... to mine...


Dogs...

Not sure how many times I have tried to get into PT, but they aren't good. A simple re-enactment of it's more CREATIVE PREDECESSORS. Sorry caps lock but I'm not deleting it. Pink Floyd is on a completely different level. I guess an analogy would be like PT:PF as The Beatles:Sublime. One is an original classic that stays with you forever. The other will fade away with realization and awareness. No question who the winner is here.

I went with Dogs... a no brainer... one of personal favorite songs by Pink Floyd or any other band... Gilmour's singing and guitar solos will truly stand the test of time... whereas, as much as I love PT and SW, Time Flies doesn't leave a nearly resounding impression on me as the sublime Dogs does.

As I cast a thought back many years I remember when I first heard P Tree (Sky Moves Sideways) and thought ooh, ever so close to Floyd. This actually delayed my enjoyment of P Tree for some time. What more was I to listen to in rock? Zappa, Zeppelin, Crimson and then getting into the RIO side of rock (Univers Zero Henry Cow.) Then along came P tree. Phew, that was close.

P Tree did themselves little favour by being a liitle too close to Floyd. SW even stated he regretted making Sky Moves Sideways due to it's PF Closeness. However P Tree do have some great attributes and one of those is melodies that are distinctive. In Absentia has them in spades for example. They have made great albums of great ideas. Ok, not everything is for everyone. I'm not much of a fan of the Incident or SW's solo album but Signify onwards and Up The Downstair are all terrific. I actually like Sky Moves btw but still have that close to PF reservation. On it's own merits it's fine . Great effort really in a home studio...

However another thread hear goes on about the lesser PF albums. This seems to be nearly all but Meddle to The Wall. PF spent nearly half their life not doing much but arguing in the press and occaionally recording solo (or solo disguised as PF) albums. P tree get up off their arse and recorded and toured and have done so for roughly 20 years. Bit longer than Floyd did. P Tree also have the disdvantage of overcoming fan-dom reactionary attitiudes. It seems quite common that a band now is new but isn't as good as it's immediate predecessor. Mind you when P F first began no one liked them outside of their London fans.

PF have a wealth of great material and were innovative in a time that allowed it. P Tree have a wealth of great material and try to be innovative (despite their own foot shooting - PF tributes) and succeed in a time that doesn't allow innovation. I think people want the safe and familiar as we live in very complex times now. No surprise there and fair enough.

I wonder what the future is in store for those artists who will cite P tree as a major influence.

Definitely Dogs. I don't like how Steven recycled the chords from that song. I thought he could be a bit more creative.