PORCUPINE TREE — Stupid Dream (review)

PORCUPINE TREE — Stupid Dream album cover

Album · 1999 · Non-Metal

4/5 · 2022-06-17
siLLy puPPy

Ignoring the many EPs, live albums and archival releases, PORCUPINE TREE’s canon can basically be broken down into three phases. The first was essentially Steven Wilson’s solo projects that focused on modern sounding psychedelic space rock that took the sounds of Pink Floyd and German Krautrock into the modern era. He hired extra musicians but the band hadn’t quite gelled as a unit yet. From “Signify” to “Lightbulb Sun” PORCUPINE TREE became a true band that retained all the psych rock while incorporating sounds from the 90s alternative rock scene with more streamlined traditional songwriting that focused on lyrical content and accessible melodies without jettisoning the progressive rock characteristics that had gotten them that far. The final stage was when all these elements came to fruition and taken to extremes which resulted in the band’s peak performances from “In Absentia” to “Fear Of A Blank Planet” and included the less popular “The Incident.”

STUPID DREAM was the second album of the second phase and continued the style laid down on “Signify” which focused on accessible pop hooks while integrating grungy alternative rock heft into the psychedelic space rock elements primary delivered by the keyboards and guitar tones. On STUPID DREAM the emphasis was squarely placed on the lyrics which dealt with Wilson’s personal experience with the world at large telling him it’s a waste of time to pursue a musical career due to the fact it is already too crowded and that nobody would ever listen to his music no matter how hard he tried. Of course after PORCUPINE TREE’s rise in popularity manifested the album takes on a whole new meaning of “stick it up yer arse and stick to yer friggin dreams!” but at this point in time in 1999 when the album was originally released, it reflects his frustrations of choosing between his passion and a so-called more sensible avenue of what many of us would call selling out.

This album ratchets up the second phase of the PORCUPINE TREE experience. While “Signify” had debuted the alt rock vs psych, STUPID DREAM took it even further with more streamlined tracks that offered various melodic hooks either via the piano, the guitar or just Wilson’s singing style. This is a pretty cool album in the fact it’s one of the few examples i can cite as psychedelic grunge. While the rock parts are clearly from the contemporary grunge scene of the 1990s mixed with the psychedelic space rock from the first phase of PT, the album is chock full of many other influences ranging from Todd Rungren and Utopia to Jeff Buckley and even Crosby, Stills and Nash in the vocal harmonizing department. There are many aspects of folk music that come and go and several spoken word samples that add some cool intros, intermissions and song endings.

Really everything improved on this album from “Signify” although that was a strong album as well in its own right. The melodic hooks are even catchier here, the sense of dynamics is even more diverse and the production which became one of Wilson’s most sought after talents has resulted in sheer perfection by this point. The meticulous attention to detail would become PORCUPINE TREE’s strongest attribute at this point and STUPID DREAM pretty much signifies the moment when the band came of age. There was no way to go but up from here. Perhaps the strongest trait of all was how the band could alternate moods and musical styles between verses, choruses and bridges all the while adding extra motifs that somehow they manage to slip into the mix. There was also more attention paid to becoming more commercial which for better or worse worked out. The opening “Even Less” for example started out as a 17-minute track that got 10 minutes chopped off.

This is really the album where PORCUPINE TREE mastered the art of perfect transitions between stylistically disparate styles of songwriting much in the vein of Radiohead who itself found its unique mix of psychedelic space rock with catchy pop hooks that took a cue from earlier bands like This Mortal Coil, The Cocteau Twins and Slowdive. While PORCUPINE TREE developed its true style here it still needed a bit more work before it would start cranking out what many would deem masterpieces. Despite the more frequent appearances of grunge and alternative rock, this is still very much a psychedelic experience.

Although this is only the mid-phase of PORCUPINE TREE, it’s still a gratifying experience. Yeah, the metal heft hadn’t quite drifted into the scene until “In Absentia” but the nuts and bolts of the PT experience had truly gelled. What’s lacking here is consistency with a few tracks such as “Stranger By The Minute” not really standing out amongst the rest of the album and with an hour’s playing time, it would’ve behooved the band to nix a few weaker tracks. All in all an excellent album with a significant moral message being delivered but not quite perfect yet. The saxophone solos from guest musician Theo Travis for example sound woefully out of place but his flute performances are spot on. Still not a perfect album but if one lesson can come from this album, it’s that there is no STUPID DREAM to be had since despite all the naysayers, Steven Wilson had the last laugh as not only one progressive rock’s most endearing newbies to the modern prog scene but also as one of the most sought after producer’s in today’s complex digital reality. All in all, great album!