Porcupine Tree discography

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Porcupine Tree discography
Porcupine Tree performing live at Kraków, Poland on 7 July 2007.
Studio albums11
EPs7
Live albums13
Compilation albums6
Singles11
Video albums2
Demo tapes3
Promotional9
Music videos11
Box sets1

The following is a listing of officially released works by the English band Porcupine Tree. The band has released eleven major studio albums and 7 EPs, as well as many limited editions and revamped material.

At the time Steven Wilson was going to sign to the Delerium label, he owned a lot of material recorded during the mid- and later '80s that he had recorded subsequently on three demo tapes - Tarquin's Seaweed Farm, Love, Death & Mussolini and The Nostalgia Factory. He sent copies of those tapes to people he felt would be interested in the recordings, asking them to spread the word. Delerium originally intended to release all of that material in a double debut album, but Wilson decided to just pick the songs he considered the best ones. These songs were mastered to make Porcupine Tree's first studio album, On the Sunday of Life... (1992); all of the leftover tracks would be later released on a compilation album called Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape (1994).

Richard Barbieri and Colin Edwin met Steven Wilson to play on a few songs he was working on. Again, there was a number of songs written that would perfectly fit on a double album, but one of these songs saw the light prior to the release of their second studio album on the Voyage 34 (1992) single, thereafter followed by Voyage 34: Remixes (1993), and the other material ended up on the Staircase Infinities (1994) EP. Finally, ten tracks were chosen for their next studio album, Up the Downstair (1993), which Melody Maker described as "a psychedelic masterpiece".[1] At the end of 1993, Chris Maitland joined the band for live shows and would later record some drums and percussions for three songs of Porcupine Tree's third studio album, The Sky Moves Sideways (1995), an album that made the press refer them as the "Pink Floyd of the nineties". They did not record as a full band until Signify (1996), the first Porcupine Tree album to be performed entirely by the four members. It contained shorter compositions and less improvisation than its predecessors.

The next album was delayed for almost three years as the band was looking for a new record label after finishing their deal with Delerium. In the meantime, they launched Metanoia (1998), a compilation of improvisations recorded during the Signify sessions, some of which were later shaped into songs. Finally, they signed to Snapper/K-Scope and the album Stupid Dream (1999) was issued. The album was a departure in style from all their previous works, in favour of a more song-oriented direction, as a consequence this alienated some older fans but brought a lot of new ones. Its follow-up, Lightbulb Sun (2000), assured the fan base and solidified the ground of its predecessor. For this one, they worked with Dave Gregory of XTC, who provided string arrangements. A collection of EP tracks and out-takes from the previous two albums was launched a year after under the title of Recordings (2001).

In Absentia (2002) became one of their most successful works, remaining a favourite to many fans, charting in many European countries and selling over 100,000 copies in its first year of release.[2] The album was the first release to feature Gavin Harrison, replacing Maitland on drums. Deadwing (2005) appeared the Billboard chart at number 132 of the Billboard 200[3] (which was the first entry the band achieved on the Billboard chart) and was voted the second-best album of 2005 in Sound & Vision, the most widely distributed US magazine in the field of home electronics and entertainment.[4]

Porcupine Tree's next studio album, Fear of a Blank Planet (2007), debuted at number 59 on the Billboard 200,[5] won the Album of the Year award for the 2007 edition of the Classic Rock magazine awards,[6] and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Surround Sound Album category.[7] The album features collaborations with Rush's guitarist Alex Lifeson and King Crimson's Robert Fripp. The title is a play on words relating to Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet album.

On 2007 they collaborated with Yoko Ono on the song "Death of Samantha", in Ono's remix album Yes, I'm a Witch.

In September 2007, they released Nil Recurring, an EP of four leftover tracks from the recording sessions for Fear of a Blank Planet. It was released on Transmission, the band's own record label as a limited edition of 5000 copies that did not take long to sell out through the band's online store, Burning Shed, forcing the band to keep printing more copies. Nevertheless, the EP was reissued on 18 February 2008 on Peaceville Records.[8]

An in-store appearance at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando, Florida from 4 October 2007, was recorded and released on CD under the name of We Lost the Skyline.[9] The title is a reference to the lyrics on "The Sky Moves Sideways (Phase One)". The album was released on vinyl on 21 March 2008[10] and is the first official acoustic live record to be officially released by the band.

A live album from the Fear of a Blank Planet tour, Ilosaarirock, was released in March 2009. It was recorded from their performance at the Ilosaarirock Festival on 14 July 2007. However, this album was only released to members of the Residents of a Blank Planet ticketing club.

On 15 September 2009, the band's tenth studio album was released, titled The Incident, the title track being one solid 55-minute epic. It quickly became the best selling Porcupine Tree album in the world charts to date.

Another live album from the Fear of a Blank Planet tour, Atlanta, was released in June 2010 in order to help raise funds for Mick Karn's treatment for cancer.[11]

The band went on indefinite hiatus in 2010, after which the members focused on their solo work and other projects. In November 2021, Wilson, Barbieri and Harrison announced the reunion of the band, now as a trio with Edwin not returning as a bassist. The eleventh studio album Closure/Continuation, which is the band's first studio album in 13 years, was released on 24 June 2022.[12]

  1. ^ "Porcupine Tree's Digital Releases". Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
  2. ^ Due to steven wilsons rediscovering heavy metal, from 2002 on the band moved forward in a much heavier (and successful) direction. Innerviews-Pt
  3. ^ "Deadwing > Charts > Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - Porcupine Tree". Billboard. 14 May 2005. Retrieved 14 May 2005.
  4. ^ "S&V 2005 Entertainment Awards". February 2006. Archived from the original on 22 November 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2006.
  5. ^ "Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - Porcupine Tree". Billboard. Retrieved 12 May 2007.
  6. ^ "Classic Rock - Oh, what a night!". 6 November 2007. Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  7. ^ "GRAMMY.com - 50th Annual GRAMMY Nominations List". 6 December 2007. Archived from the original on 23 February 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
  8. ^ "The Seaweed Farm: Nil Recurring on Peaceville Records". Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2007.
  9. ^ "The Seaweed Farm: Nil Recurring and We Lost The Skyline released today!". Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2008.
  10. ^ "The Seaweed Farm: We Lost The Skyline vinyl edition". Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  11. ^ "Porcupine Tree – Atlanta". Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  12. ^ "Porcupine Tree return with new single 'Harridan' and 'Closure/Continuation' album announcement". NME. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2022.