TARQUIN'S SEAWEED FARM

Tarquin's Seaweed Farm, subtitled "Words from a Hessian Dack", is the first album by Porcupine Tree realeased in 1989 however at this time Porcupine Tree was only a joke band created by Steven Wilson and his friend Malcolm Stocks. The release was only available to a few people at the time and was later released by Delerium Records in 1991 in a limited edition of 300 copies.

Tracks from this and together with the album The Nostalgia Factory went into the album On The Sunday Of Life... which is considered to Porcupine Tree's first true album.

Let's begin with the fictious credits listed as the Tripping Musicians Extraordinaire:

The Porcupine Tree - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Flute, Koto and Sings

Sir Tarquin Underspoon - Organ, Electric Piano, Synthesisers and Sings

Mr Jelly - Bass Guitar

The Expanding Flan - Drums, Percussion, Drum Computer and Speaks

Timothy Tadpole-Jones - Acoustic Guitar, Percussion

Sebastian Tweetle - Blampton III operates the delay circuits and mixing desk

Solomon St. Jemain - Guitar on 'Wastecoat', Drum Computer on 'Towel' and speaks

Master Timothy Masters - Oboe, Cor Anglais

Linton Samuel Dawson operates the light show

I really like the list showing a slightly humerous side to Steven Wilson around the time he left school.

1) Music for the Head (Here) - This is the instrumental intro that also begins On The Sunday Of Life...

2) Jupiter Island - This song was written by Steven Wilson and his friend Alan Duffy who he would later lose touch with on the release of On The Sunday Of Life... I do find that this song takes a few listens to get use to and i can seeing it becoming a hated track by some listeners.

3) Nun's Cleavage (Left) - This is the title for the track which would later be renamed Third Eye Surfer on the album On The Sunday Of Life...

4) Clarinet Vignette - This song was written by Wilson and Timothy Masters. This track along with Nun's Cleavage (Right) would later be renamed the title track of the album On The Sunday Of Life...

5) Nun's Cleavage (Right) - Tracks 3, 4 & 5 all use a drum solo from a track on Soft Machine's Six album which i added a short section of information to my review of On The Sunday Of Life...

6) Space Transmission - This is a monologue rather than a song and there is not much more information i can give about it that i haven't already listed in the OTSOL album review.

7) Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip - This track again is an add on to the monologue of the previous track and for me has a more crazier title than the album.

8) Radioactive Toy - This song would later become a fan favourite however the mix of this track on this album in my opinion is only half as good and half as long as the one that people would become familiar with on the OTSOL album.

9) Towel - This a track which would not make onto the album OTSOL. The drum machine is apparent here though.

10) Wastecoat - This track again would not make it onto the cream of OTSOL.

11) Mute - This track is the longest so far on the album running at 8:07 which again does not make OTSOL. The track is more like an experimental soundscape with groans that gradually turns into a melody that is not unlike a track that you would find on one of Steven Wilson's side projects No-Man which at one time was his main project rather than Porcupine Tree because of its success. This version of the track is also an earlier mix.

12) Music for the Head (There) - This track like the first is a instrumental but rather an outro leading onto what was then when released, Side B.

13) No Reason to Live, No Reason to Die - This track is the first song to break the 10 minute mark on the album however that is understandable considering there are only 3 tracks on the Side B and no track from this side would make the onto the album OTSOL.

14) Daughters in Excess - My version of this track has bad sound quality at the beginning but slowly fades as the music begins however does not fade out completly. I presume that this happened when the track was being created on cassette. This is a track that i don't find enjoyable however i still run through it because i like to listen to the album as a whole and i rarely go through music picking out individual songs.

15) The Cross/Hole/Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape - As you may well see from the title, this track is 3 songs together and totals to an epic 20:52 minutes. The song The Cross is a cover from Prince and Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape would turn up on a later album with a different mix which i prefer.

In all because i am a Porcupine Tree fan i think this is an average album and only for dedicated fans. It is not an album that i go back to and if i do want to hear music from this period in Porcupine Tree's existence i usually go to the album of On The Sunday Of Life...