FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET

In early fall 1987, I was playing Rush's "Hold Your Fire" and Pink Floyd's "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" over and over. At that time "Hold Your Fire" won out since "Momentary Lapse" felt like an "elaborate forgery." Fast forward to 2007 and I'm playing Rush's "Snakes and Arrows" and Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet" in regular rotation. And the roles are reversed in 2007. I don't really know why but I'm now listening to "Fear" over and over. Is it nostalgia, or is it faith in an almost extinct prog, I have no idea. Perhaps as we get older, we crave that familiar sound.

Porcupine Tree has hit upon a great formula. Take Pink Floyd - think "Echoes" off of "Meddle", Tangerine Dream, Led Zeppelin - "No Quarter" off of "Houses of the Holy", Metallica, King Crimson, Peter Gabriel - "Passion" and vocals inspired by Coldplay and mix 'em up. The big difference? While good artists copy, great artists steal. And that's exactly what Porcupine Tree has done. The music is uncomplicated and actually not prog at all. But it sounds like prog and that makes all the difference. With Alex Lifeson helping out with a beautiful solo on the 17 minute "Anesthetize" - and one wonders why there isn't something as good by Lifeson on Rush's "Snakes and Arrows" CD - and Robert Fripp providing Crimsonesque atmospherics on "Way out of Here", this CD is a prog junkie's wet dream.

It doesn't make sense to classify Porcupine Tree as prog actually. They are more like a cross between trance, electronica and sometimes metal. But they sound like prog. Boy, do they sound like prog!