siLLy puPPy My gateway drug into the world of PORCUPINE TREE wasn’t the acclaimed “In Absentia” or even the earlier psychedelic freak shows in the form of “The Sky Moves Sideways” but rather an innocent thrift store find in the name of LIGHTBULB SUN. I had heard of this band but didn’t know much about them and i can’t say i was blown away upon first listen. Sounding something like a modern Pink Floyd meets 90s alternative rock band, PORCUPINE TREE took a while to sink in but in the end the band won me over with its unique mishmash of past prog teased out in the modern world of production and mixing splendor. While LIGHTBULB SUN has not become my favorite PT album of all time, this one does hold a special place in my heart as my first encounter with Steven Wilson and friends.

LIGHTBULB SUN is the sixth overall studio album from PORCUPINE TREE released in the Y2K year of 2000 and was the third and last release of their second phase between the psychedelic earlier years and the prog meets alt metal later chapter. The album is divided into two parts. The first half is called “Rest Will Flow” and the second “Hatesong.” The first half of the album continues the art of progressive pop as heard on “Stupid Dream” with super catchy melodies that are really what we music nerds call crossover prog. The instantly ear wormy “Shesmovedon” for example takes a single listen to burrow it’s way into your inner playlist and sticks around for a while. The second side of the album showcases the band’s more experimental side. This strategy was implemented by many of the classic prog bands of the latter half 70s when the genre waned in popularity and the artists were trying to straddle both sides of the fence and forced to stuff a whole career into an album or two’s experience. PORCUPINE TREE however walks the tightrope fairly damn well and nailed that aspect of the album in full modern regalia.

Overall LIGHTBULB SUN is a much mellower album than “Stupid Dream” and the preceding “Signify.” There seems to have been a slight retrograde here in the alt rock department but that would all change with the following breakthrough album “In Absentia” however even mellow chilled out style PORCUPINE TREE is inventive, creative beyond belief and yet totally accessible with influences up the ying yang without sounding like Dolly the sheep’s clone. Once again this band delivers a set of interesting material that is easy to digest even upon first listen but offers more beyond a superficial first experience. Comparisons have been made to Wilson’s space pop group No-Man on this one and it’s certainly not unfounded but the other band members contributed their own energy into the band which keeps it distinct from the various Wilson projects. Another factor that makes LIGHTBULB SUN different from its predecessors is that Wilson wrote songs about personal experiences rather than abstract concepts.

Like “Stupid Dream,” the strength of LIGHTBULB SUN beyond the infectious melodies, excellent vocal harmonies and beautiful arrangements is the attention paid to the details. By this point Wilson’s production and mixing talents had reached sheer perfection and that is clearly evident on the seamless transitions (amongst everything else) between tracks on this album. The band captures the perfect mood of dream pop meets dream rock in the vein of Radiohead only a bit more accessible on this one. This one may be too commercial for hardcore proggers but when done properly, progressive pop can be exhilarating! PORCUPINE TREE has made a career out of drifting over that line that separates true prog from barely prog. LIGHTBULB SUN is probably the best example of this band doing just that. The album is made all the richer with the help of several guest musicians including an entire string quartet therefore violins, a viola and cello sounds find their way into the mix at all the right places. The band members themselves add many ethnic sounds courtesy of not only the banjo but a dulcimer, beglama and guembri.

With the second track “How Is Your Life Today?” we are reminded of the influence of The Beatles with that classic Paul McCartney show tune piano roll and keeps it mellow until it cedes to the heavy rocker “Four Chords That Make A Million” a seeming throwback to the conceptual themes of “Stupid Dream.” The track “Shesmovedon” is perhaps PORCUPINE TREE’s best known single with an instantly catchy melody in the vein of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” only broken down into various parts that culminates into the most sizzlingly hot guitar solo on the entire album despite being the most poppy track. Honestly it’s one of those love / hate tracks where but ultimately i just can’t resist its simplistic nature coupled with the complex layers of sonic mastery of the production, mixing and instrumentation.

My favorite tracks on LIGHTBULB SUN are “Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled” and “Russia On Ice,” the former starting out like a bluegrass festival with a psychedelic space rock backing. The track tackles some deep subject matter with the concept of the Earth recycling itself in the cosmic changes complete with a spoken word sample from Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the Heaven’s Gate religious cult who organized a mass suicide in 1997 the Comet Hale-Bopp fiasco thus proving Wilson was still quite capable of thought provoking subject matter. “Russia With Ice” is probably the most badass song on the roster as well as the longest track at just over 13 minutes long, the proggiest space rock track of the album. It pretty much runs the PORCUPINE TREE gamut from this phase. Catchy melodies on slo-mo, psychedelic accoutrements, though-provoking lyrics and the ultimate balance of dynamics backed up by impeccable production and mixing, which despite some naysayers can be essential ways of expressing creativity. A big yes in this case.

Like all the albums from the phase 2 period of PORCUPINE TREE, this album is not perfect. There are several sleeper tracks that deliver a big yawn for me. In the case of LIGHTBULB SUN it is the less than thrilling track “The Rest Will Flow,” the sleepiest track on board “Where We Would Be” and the disappointing closer “Feel So Low.” Despite hinting at greatness, PORCUPINE TREE just missed a few marks on LIGHTBULB SUN compared to the maestrohood of the triumvirate perfection that would follow but overall this album is excellent and even the sleepy tracks don’t dissuade too much from the album’s overall consistency. My only problem with this album is that it went too far in the pop direction and avoided excessive progginess which is really where i want to go most of the time! Yeah, call me a sappy bitch but i like many of these crossover prog albums that deliver an insufferable multitude of production techniques backed up by rather simplistic musicianship. This album is a perfect example of how complexity does not have to come from the musicians themselves but from the ingenuity of sound manipulation and clever juxtaposition of musical motifs.

Warthur With the opening title track regaling us with an anecdote about falling ill with the flu as a child, it's no surprise that Porcupine Tree's Lightbulb Sun has a rather doped-out, feverish tone to it. With gorgeous vocal harmonies on psychedelic progressive pop gems like Shesmovedon and extended ambient space rock workouts like Russia On Ice, the album refines and develops the approach of Stupid Dream, whilst at the same time some of Steven Wilson's guitar work begins to lean in a harsh, buzzing heavy metal direction prefiguring the band's radical transformation on In Absentia. If you liked Stupid Dream, this is the second half of that sandwich.

Unitron Adorned with a solemn textless album cover, Porcupine Tree's Lightbulb Sun is one of the best alternative rock albums out there. It's an album that exudes depressive as well as bittersweet melodies and instrumentation, and has enough metal to give it an aggressive edge when needed. By this time, Porcupine Tree had just about completely discarded the wonky psychedelic rock of their first few albums and made a smooth transition into the alternative rock/metal sound they're known for today.

Comparisons to bands like Pink Floyd, Live, and Toad the Wet Sprocket would be fair, but the band does really have their own unique sound here. There are spacey remnants of their early albums, but they have now taken form as an atmospheric backdrop to a depressive yet bittersweet alternative rock sound, which really benefits the mood of the album. "Shesmovedon" is a perfect example of this, as the song switches from a melancholic plod to harmonious melody during the chorus. The epic track "Russia on Ice" lands mostly on the depressive end, but builds up to a colossal metal thrashing at the end with a spacey orchestral backdrop. I must give a mention to Chris Maitland's drumming at the end of this track, which is just through the roof. Why he's so overlooked when talking about greatest rock/metal drummers, I'll never understand.

Lightbulb Sun is a good album to listen to in whole, as the lengthy-titled "Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It is Recycled" doesn't really stand on it's own very well. However, it works when in context with the entire album. As far as highlights go, excluding the ones previously mentioned, the dreary piano ballad "How is Your Life Today?" is certainly one. The fun snarky poke at the music industry "Four Chords that Made a Million" is as well, and is probably the only moment on the album that's not layered with feelings of loneliness and depression. The bass-heavy "Hatesong" and the nice heavy/serene contrast of the title cut are among my favorites as well.

With most of Porcupine Tree's output, you know what you're getting on the lyricism front. Most of the lyricism is made up of sadness, depression, loneliness, hate, drugs, and various other melancholy themes. The aforementioned "Four Chords that Made a Million" is the only song on the more lighthearted end, and provides some nice variation to an otherwise dreary album. Of course, when one shares the feelings expressed on albums like these, nothing hits harder in my experience.

On Lightbulb Sun, Porcupine Tree really focused their sound, and knew when and where to incorporate the different elements of their music. While I really like several of the band's albums, I think this is easily their most consistent and one that really resonates with me. One of my favorite albums, and an essential listen if you're looking for some melancholic alternative rock with a bit of a heavy edge. Hope you found this review helpful, feel free to comment!

aglasshouse It's quite easy for anyone to say that PORCUPINE TREE's 2000 progressive rock album is not as good as say masterpieces like In Absentia or Fear of a Blank Planet. Although I think that they are drastically different in terms of sound, that does not mean that they're better or worse than eachother. In fact, I think all three of said albums are fantastic for what they are, though perhaps I find myself liking this release more.

I've said it a million times and I'll say it again. Progressive metal is not my thing. I enjoy only a handful of bands with said sound, such as VOIVOD, but sadly PORCUPINE TREE (although being my friends' favorite band of all time) is not a band that I like very much. Don't get me wrong, their sound is excellent for what it is. But I never got into albums like Fear of a Blank Planet, although I did find myself enjoying Deadwing (probably because it was more alternative-oriented). However, Lightbulb Sun is perhaps my favorite release by the band.

Perhaps this album is stuck in limbo of progressive rock and alternative rock, but I find myself thinking more along the lines or progressive. This did after all precede the release of Stupid Dream, an experimental concept album released a year earlier, so they wouldn't be going back to metal for a time.

The album starts off with the interesting title track, 'Lightbulb Sun', which combines elements of acoustic and metal, perhaps more of the former overall. The song is probably my top highlight of the album. 'How's Your Life Today?' bridges 'Lightbulb Sun' and 'Four Chords that Made a Million' with a short but sweet piano piece. It's quite nice upon listening, not to mention relaxing. 'Four Chords' actually brings a Signify-type sound back into the picture, with lyrics speaking of the problems that recording companies put on bands like them. 'Last Chance to Evacuate...' is probably the most mediocre, sort of like an experiment in mocking PINK FLOYDs sound. It does not fit in well by any means. Same sort of goes for 'Where We Would Be', although I must concede that the PINK FLOYD influenced sound is not on that song. 'Russia on Ice' and 'Hatesong' is where the metal first comes back into entirety. 'Russia on Ice' is more dominated by slow acoustics, with the ending quarter of the epic being devoted to more metal (Same goes for 'Hatesong'). 'Feel So Low' is an extremely slow and relaxing closer, with no remnants of metal and keeps the sound of a soft love song throughout. Although the lyrics may seem a little cliche (a typical love song), it is extremely beautiful and just great to listen to.

I would totally recommend this to anyone seeking great progressive rock work by this band. Prog-fans seem to love it, and I sure do as well.

Go give it a listen.