UMUR "Up The Downstair" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act Porcupine Tree. The album was released through Delerium Records in June 1993. It´s the successor to "On The Sunday Of Life..." from 1992. The predecessor was more or less just a collection of demo tracks frontman Steven Wilson had written and recorded during the late 80s/early 90s and it´s more a solo album than a full band effort. "Up The Downstair" is similar in the respect that it´s also more or less a solo effort by Steven Wilson who sings and plays most instruments, although future Porcupine Tree members Colin Edwin and Richard Barbieri guests on bass and keyboards respectively. The material on the album is not culled from any of the three pre-album demo releases that Wilson recorded in the late 80s/early 90s.

"Up The Downstair" exists in two significantly different sounding versions. The original version from 1993 which features programmed drums, and the 2005 double album reissue, which was partially re-recorded (featuring drum tracks recorded by then Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison), fully re-mixed, and remastered along with the 1994 "Staircase Infinities" EP. It´s two very different listening experiences as the original version suffers a bit from the artificial sounding drum programming, while the re-recorded version has a completely different organic feel to it. "Up The Downstair" was originally intended to be a double album release featuring the album material plus the "Voyage 34" single track and the material from the "Staircase Infinities (1994)" EP. So the reissue is probably a little closer to Wilson´s original vision, than the 1993 version of the album.

The material on "Up The Downstair" is psychadelic rock with ambient keyboards, soaring guitar leads and powerful rhythm playing, sound effects and samples, a driving organic beat, and Wilson´s melancholic restrained mellow vocals in front. The album feautures a coherrent musical style, which is a change from the eclectic debut album, and therefore "Up The Downstair" also feels more like a "real" album than the debut did. The album both features some relatively normal vers/chorus structured tracks (well...relatively), but also longer spaced out psychadelic jams (the title track for example features a style similar to contemporary Ozric Tentacles), so there is variation enough to the found on the album. The album is predominantly instrumental though, but the tracks featuring vocals like "Synesthesia", "Small Fish", and the absolutely stunning closing track "Fadeaway" mean a lot for the listening experience as a whole.

"Up The Downstair" is upon conclusion definitely a step forward for Porcupine Tree compared to the debut album. The original version as mentioned does suffer from featuring programmed drums, and I would strongly recommend purchasing the reissue version instead, and leave the few copies which still exist of the 1993 version for the hardcore collectors. I would probably have rated the original version with a 3 star (60%) rating but the 2005 reissue deserves a 3.5 star (70%) rating. This is one of the rare cases where a re-mixed and remastered version of an album truly makes sense.

Warthur If Porcupine Tree's debut, On the Sunday of Life, was the band's nostalgia album (and remember, one of the cassettes its songs were selected from was entitled The Nostalgia Factory), Up the Downstair brings Porcupine Tree into the modern day. Settling on a space rock sound on this release which draws from influences ranging from Pink Floyd to the Ozric Tentacles, Steve Wilson masterfully infuses this sound with carefully selected influences from the worlds of early 1990s dance music and Britpop.

The end result is a progressive rock sound which is genuinely forward-looking and of its time, eschewing nostalgia entirely in favour of saying "well, if we take what's going on now and apply a progressive approach to it, where does that take us"? This has been the secret to the band's success ever since, and as a piece of 1990s prog which is 100% progressive without a shred of "retro" to it, Up the Downstair is an engrossing listen.

siLLy puPPy UP THE DOWNSTAIR is the second official album but really the debut of all original material since “On The Sunday Of Life” was really a compilation of previously released material. After that extremely eclectic album displaying all the possible paths Steven Wilson could steer his faux band turned into the real thing band PORCUPINE TREE, it is this album where he settles on his Floydian space rock sound that not only borrows from the past but also incorporates everything spacey released up to that point. At times this reminds you of Pink Floyd especially in the guitar soloing department but there is also a hint of Ozric Tentacles and their hyper electronic beats, times that remind me of German Krautock and certain passages that show an interest into the heavier riffing that would be much more emphasized on later releases. There is also a smattering of progressive electronic to be found. This was a fruitful time for Wilson. This was originally intended to be released as a double album since in addition to the material presented here he also wanted to include what was released the next year as the “Staircase Infinities” and tripped out material from “Voyage 34” which was released as a single the previous year.

Interesting to see the various opinions ranging on this one. Some praise this album for its prescience of evolving the psychedelic space rock subgenre and others dismiss this as one that is too similar to other surrounding albums being the lesser of the lot. I can see both sides of the debate on this one, however at this point I don't think Wilson had quite developed his space rock sound to the point where it sounds significantly different than his previous workings or other similar bands such as Ozric Tentacles. It is certainly has a Steven Wilson stamp on it but it is one of him at a certain stage of his ever evolving tendencies to add certain sounds here and there. On the other hand I quite enjoy this album even if it may be one of my least favorite of their entire discography. One of the most amazing things about PORCUPINE TREE is that they as a band are incredibly consistent in their quality in both songwriting and production. I find very few peaks and troughs in their music. I find a smooth high quality sound from album to album. This one is no exception. Having said that I do prefer the similar sounding space rock on “Staircase Infinities” a little bit better. The songs are better written and while this is a nice zone out album that you can just surrender and let your intellect dissipate for a while, “Staircase” has more interesting developments for my tastes.