Great Guitar Solos – Porcupine Tree Plays The Sound of Muzak Live

I’ve highlighted Steven Wilson before, as well as Porcupine Tree. At this point, it’s safe to say Porcupine Tree is done, despite many fans desperately wanting a reunion.

Admittedly, I feel quite different about modern music today then I did when I first heard this song. When I first heard it, I was definitely the worst kind of music snob, and so this became a sort of anthem to me. Now, I accept that there’s no accounting for taste, and that love of music is subjective. I’m not so sure that music is “going down” so much as it, by nature, cyclical. The genres and styles may change and/or evolve, but the way music is produced, performed, and made popular doesn’t ever really change… it just goes in circles…

That said, I do still enjoy this song immensely, especially for the guitar solo, which is another brilliant one played by Steven Wilson himself… it starts at 2:44 and ends at 3:38.

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Great Guitar Solos – Steven Wilson and Guthrie Govan Play Porcupine Tree’s “Radioactive Toy”

(You probably noticed how this is not part of the Self Care series. There’s a reason for that…)

Remember back on February 24th, when I posted about how Agent Orange wants to expand the US’s nuclear arsenal? Well, now you know where the “radioactive toys” in the title comes from…

It reminded me of this song. Written by Steven Wilson, and originally recorded and performed by his band Porcupine Tree, this is a song that is, basically, about a nuclear holocaust. Here, it’s Steven Wilson’s solo band that performs it. It’s dark, but very much apropos…

Perhaps it needs to serve as a warning…

And, as it happens, it also has an incredible guitar solo…

There’s a short solo played by Steven Wilson himself that starts at 2:45 and ends at 3:10. But the solo that I really want to highlight is played by Guthrie Govan. It starts at 10:08 and ends with the end of the song.

Enjoy, and don’t let it get you too down or scared…

Self Care – Porcupine Tree Plays Linton Samuel Dawson

(Quick note: this video is made to be trippy… lots of colors and such. The flashing is minimal here, but still… just be careful if you’re sensitive to this kind of thing…)

Since my last post talked about LSD and the music inspired by it, here’s one I thought y’all would enjoy, and get a kick out of. This was recorded back when Porcupine Tree was just Steven Wilson. And yes, that’s him singing; just with some added effects to his voice.

The video is not official at all. It’s just… well… it fits with the theme of the song, if there even is one…

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Great Guitar Solos – Porcupine Tree’s Shesmovedon

Here’s a band that was popular in the 90s, often considered the logical progression of what Pink Floyd started. Sadly, they seem to be relative unknowns today, including the amazing musician, composer, singer, and guitarist Steven Wilson. You’ll be seeing Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson (with his solo work and other projects) relatively often in this series, because I’m such a huge fan.

Porcupine Tree was even more the quintessential angsty teenage band than Nirvana. Hell, they have an entire album, called Fear of a Blank Planet, that is literally about “two typical neurobehavioural developmental disorders affecting teenagers in the 21st century: bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder, and also with other common behaviour tendencies of youth like escapism through prescription drugs, social alienation caused by technology, and a feeling of vacuity—a product of information overload by the mass media.” So it’s kind of funny that I discovered, and fell in love with, their music when I was already well into “adulthood”.

Anyways… this one doesn’t come from Fear of a Blank Planet, but from their album Lightbulb Sun. The lyrics are almost sort of nice guy bemoaning, sadly. They’re basically the dude (not necessarily Steven Wilson himself, as the vast majority of his albums are concept albums, so they tell stories with characters) bemoaning the loss of a girlfriend who he thinks was just using him. The lyrics are… fine… but the guitar solo is what makes this song. It’s so powerful, and I adore it.

As usual, there’s no video to this one, just audio. The solo starts at 3:25 and ends at 5:05.

Enjoy.