THE SKY MOVES SIDEWAYS

The Sky Moves Sideways, the fourth album by Porcupine Tree is one of the best albums ever. Upon first hearing it, my thoughts were like many others...sounds too much like Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. There may be simalarities such as the bookending title track, but after that there is not that much in common. The title track opens with spacy keyboards and lulling guitar solo completementary of Steven Wilson. After the first seven minutes or so the epic totally shifts gears using synthesizers and what sounds like to be almost "cool" techno. Dislocated Day is a straightfoward rock song with a good guitar solo. The Moon Touches Your Shoulder and Prepare Yourself set up the mood for the darker phase 2 of the title track. The 2004 reissue has a second disc with an alternate 35 minute version, that in my opinion, is even better than the real version. This version has many more instrumental passages than the version on the firt disc. Stars Die is a mellow acoustic guitar track with real moonlanding recordings. After Stars Die, Moonloop, the next track is something completely out of this world. While an improvisation, this 20 minute song starts out with spacy keyboards and some amazing drum work by Chris Maitland. The second part of Moonloop (Coda) is a complete shift in tone, concentrating on the heavier direction the band would take with albums like In Absentia and Deadwing. This album is an essential album for an lover of space rock and prog rock in general. This album is a must have for everyone.