ON THE SUNDAY OF LIFE...

The first offical PORCUPINE TREE album is a lot better than I thought or heard it would be. To quote Steven Wilson "On The Sunday Of Life...is not really an album in the tradtional sense; i still think of it as being a compilation of material originally issued on pre-record deal cassettes recorded between 1988-91" I couldn't agree more with stonebeard's review that this sounds very much like it was inspired by Syd Barrett era PINK FLOYD. And it's not very cohesive, it's all over the place really but it works. I guess my love for Psychedelic music is what really draws me to this one, but also the fact that for three years now i've been driving my daughter to University and back home (2 hour drive both ways)several times a year, and PORCUPINE TREE has been our music of choice for all those drives. So listening to this reminds me of driving in the sunshine on a Sunday (of life) . Great memories !

"Music For The Head" seems like it was inspired by Krautrock to me, with the voices, flute, synths and the Eastern vibe. "Jupiter Island" is a Syd inspired tune that features some fast paced drumming. It's a charming little Psychedelic tune with lyrics like "Come on let's fly to Jupiter Island". "Third Eye Surfer" is a really cool song with odd metered drumming from John Marshall along with synths and keys. It's about as dissonant as PORCUPINE TREE gets. It blends into "On The Sunday Of Life..." with a lot of the same kinds of sounds. "The Nostalgia Factory" has an excellent sound a minute in that reminds me of RUSH for some reason, and then it changes to a good beat after 1 1/2 minutes with vocals to follow. Nice guitar 3 1/2 minutes in and then it breaks off into a spacey passage to end it. "Space Transmission" and "Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip" are both kind of strange with spoken words. Psychedelic at it's extreme I guess you could say. "Radioactive Toys" has some nice heavy guitar melodies and slowly pounding drums. Then 4 minutes in we get spacey interlude before the main melody returns. More great guitar to follow. "Nine Cats" is my favourite and it has strummed guitar and vocals as bubbling synths and guitar join in.

"Hymn" has some strange vocal sounds and synths. Another experimental piece. "Footprints" is one of my favourites. It again reminds me of Syd Barrett era PINK FLOYD. Spoken words, acoustic guitar and synths are contrasted with the outbreaks that follow throughout this tune. "Linton Samuel Dawson" hmmm...LSD ? Anyway the vocals remind me of Geddy Lee hahaha. This is an upbeat, fun song. I love the synths on "And The Swallows Dance Above The Sun" and it has a good beat as well. "Queen Quotes Crowley" is a funny title and the song is another favourite of mine. Some good guitar with lots of psychedelic affects."No Luck With Rabbits" is a short instrumental of synths, while "Begonia Seductive Scene" has some great sounding acoustic guitar and synths. "The Long Silence" has some aboe in it as well as some terrific vocals from Steven. I love this stuff ! "It Will Rain For A Million Years" opens with the sound of rain and thunder and then synths are added. Lots of atmosphere to this one.The guitar comes in and then flute, the guitar is Gilmour-like. Reserved vocals arrive 5 minutes in as the guitar cries out. Another fantastic song !

There are 7 songs on this record that are amazing. My favourite is "Nine Cats" while "Radioactive Toy" and "It Will Rain For A Million Years" round out my top three. This is an excellent PINK FLOYD inspired release from PORCUPINE TREE that I highly recommend.