TARQUIN'S SEAWEED FARM

Pre-listen: Ok, so I already know some of the tracks due to me owning On the Sunday Of Life... and I somewhat know that album well. The only difference on those tracks are lower quality (from what I have read about it). What I am most interested in hearing is how the tracks flow into one another in this track listing, and the songs not on OtSOL. Songs on OtSOL: Tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (3 renamed Third Eye Surfer, 4/5 renamed On the Sunday Of Life...)

Listen:

1. Music for the Head - Here: Cool intro, fade in flute solo. Keys in the background. Very nice opener, sets the mood for a trippy listening experience.

2. Jupiter Island: This song just takes off with the drums, great contrast to the last track. Very nice, charming melody. Very repetitive vocal, but it's a nice melody. Chorus is nice and simple, great sounding harmony. Odd ending. Good song overall, but I would like a little more variation.

3. Nun's Cleavage - Left: This song is just weird. Keyboard solo/Drum solo at the same time. This makes no sense. Great for a tape like this though, very trippy and odd. The drum solo is pretty cool too. Not too much of a song, just random stuff to me. Good, but I would have liked a little more direction in the song.

4. Clarinet Vignette: Cool solo, nice fade from last track. A very good, short instrumental.

5. Nun's Cleavage - Right: More drum solo. This is just the same thing as the "left" section of this song. Although the drums are more of the centerpiece of this than the "left" section

6. Space Transmission: This is a scary track. Works for a trippy experience like this one (the entire tape being the "experience"). Interesting story. Not really a song, just spoken word. I think this is a pretty cool track though.

7. Message from a Self-Destructing Turnip: Just a weird filler track to me. Doesn't really serve any purpose except to throw you off when Radioactive Toy randomly starts.

8. Radioactive Toy: Great floydish song. My favorite off the tape. The simplicity of this song makes it work. The guitar work is truly amazing on both of the solos. The drum fills sound really great for this song. Great ending, nice ambient sounds. Amazing song.

9. Towel: This song starts as pure WTF. The drums are so weird. Then the bass and acoustic guitar come it and make it sound, well, nice. Very nice instrumental song, it is nice to listen to once you get past the odd intro. This is one that I wish was a bit longer. Another of my favorites on the tape.

10. Wastecoat: Another weird filler song. I don't even really know whats going on in it. Its just noise really, but its done in a cool way. Only listen to this when listening to the full tape.

11. Mute: Trippy intro, more noise. Nice melody when the song really starts. Cool riff, great start. There are a few weird moments were voices take over. But there are quite a few great solos on different instruments. Another great instrumental, this is one that you should never skip over. One more favorite.

12. Music for the Head - There: Another solo, very much similar to the first track (I guess why they have nearly the same name).

13. No Reason to Live, No Reason to Die: Fade in drum/keys intro. Another good melody, nice start. Cool guitar solo, very long. This seems to be just a pure improv track, perfect for old PT (or in this case old Steven Wilson). Nice sounding instrumental. It seems that the instrumentals are the best parts of Tarquin's Seaweed Farm. The only drawback is that it feels a little bit too long.

14. Daughters in Excess: Again, this song starts with a fade in, psychedelic, noise intro. A nice bass line comes in soon after though. This songs kicks in with a sick drum beat and nice guitar noise solo over that. Very repetitive, non-stop drum beat. Nice trip-out song, but its a bit boring after a while.

15. The Cross / Hole / Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape: Nice guitar intro solo, nice sounding intro to a song. Beautiful intro, great song. Nice sounding track (The Cross). Great guitar solo. Very long, kind of dragged out and boring after a while. Next up is the acoustic section, with a very pretty solo. Sweet drum/guitar/ambience intro to, i'm assuming, Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape. This feels like a Pink Floyd song. It's very hypnotic. A great psychedelic track, very well executed with all of the spoken word parts introducing the fake band led by the fictional Porcupine Tree. Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape is a great song, most of which, after the spoken word section, is a guitar solo. The transition from The Cross to Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape was done extremely well. Overall, this is a very nice track, and one of the highlights of the album (Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape, not so much The Cross). This is the perfect ending track.

Post-Listen:

Amazing Tracks: Radioactive Toy, Towel, Mute, Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape

Good Tracks: Jupiter Island, No Reason to Live, No Reason to Die

Not So Good Tracks: Message From a Self-Destructing Turnip, Wastecoat.

This album provides a great psychedelic experience, and even the not so good tracks are great when listening to the full album. The only problem the grading. If you were to look through this to find singles, and songs to skip through, you would skip most of it. This was made (even more than latter PT releases) to listen through without skipping any songs. Thats what makes this much more fun to listen to, don't skip any songs.

Overall:4/5 Great songs here and there, but some boring moments (that should have been cut shorter) were in there, and that brought the grade down.

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