Featured Album: Porcupine Tree, Coma Divine

Album: Coma Divine
Artist: Porcupine Tree
Year: Recorded live in 1997, Remastered in 2005.
Masterpiece potential

Live albums are risky. They have great potential, but a lot can go wrong. The recording quality may be poor. The audience noise may be too intrusive. The actual performance of any member of the band may be below expectations. The production quality may be low. The guitar part that sounds great on the studio album may now be sloppy and full of squeaks. The singer may go for the high note and totally biff it. There may be 10 minutes of nothing while Axl Rose tries to get the crowd to move back. Live albums are like a box of chocolates - with a high probability of many coconut covered, toothpaste filled landmines to ruin it.

But when I received this 2-disc live album I fully expected it to sound amazing. Why did I have such confidence, you ask? Because this is Porcupine Tree, and Porcupine Tree's creator Steven Wilson is not only a great musician, but he is also a wonderful producer who believes in music as an art form and not just a means to make money and become famous. (Those are byproducts.)

(You know you're a prog geek if you can hear an album by a great band filled with great songs, but you consider the album to be almost unlistenable because of the poor production quality.)

I was not disappointed. I expected it to be good, and instead it was great. The sound quality is pristine. Better than any live album I've ever heard, and in fact better than most studio albums. Audience noise is pretty much limited to the very beginning/ending of the songs.

This was recorded earlier in their career so all of these songs were new to me except for “Waiting”. This era features a different sound for the band. While their current material has more rock and metal influences, this album is more like psychedelic-blues-jam. Very Pink Floydian with a few splashes of Led Zeppelin every now and then. Quite mellow with a very prominent bass groove. And bongos! I love bongos! Well done bongos can add so much atmosphere to a song.

The only downside is that most of the songs share a similar vibe, so while each individual song may move up and down and progress, the album as a whole is somewhat static. This minor nit-picking is the only thing keeping me from immediately granting this album Masterpiece status. Some time is required to be able to judge its lasting power, so its status may be upgraded later.

The Verdict: Superb! Listen to it at work, while you relax, in the car…

I owe a HUGE “Thank You!” to my wonderful friend Seashells for finding this album for me. I could not have found a better album myself for my November purchase. You’re awesome.

Disc 1
1. Bornlivedieintro (Not really a song. Just a short recording of the band backstage as they are about to go on.)
2. Signify (Instrumental)
3. Waiting Phase One
4. Waiting Phase Two (Instrumental)
5. The Sky Moves Sideways
6. Dislocated Day
7. The Sleep of No Dreaming
8. Moonloop (Instrumental)

Disc 2
1. Up the Downstair (Instrumental)
2. The Moon Touches Your Shoulder
3. Always Never (Almost instrumental)
4. IS…NOT (Instrumental)
5. Radioactive Toy
6. Not Beautiful Anymore (Instrumental)

Featured Album: Nightwish

Album: Once
Artist: Nightwish
Year: 2004
Masterpiece!


I don't hand out the title "Masterpiece" very often. I reserve it for albums that continue to blow me away and leave my jaw hanging even after listening to it dozens of times. Albums that repeatedly surprise me and fascinate me. This album crams so much awesomeness into such a small place that it's a scientific mystery that it hasn't collapsed upon itself to form a black hole.

Not only is the songwriting amazing, but the production is very good too. Each instrument is discernible from the others and doesn't get all mushy in the mix. The individual players are at the top of their game. Jukka's drums are thunderous, yet clear. Marco's bass is bold and aggressive. The symphony is real, not synthesized. In fact the symphonic elements play a critical role in the music, not just thrown in as an afterthought.

As I listen to this album I find myself turning the volume up more and more with each song. Sure there are a few filler songs that don't quite measure up to the magnificence of the others, but luckily those songs are all conveniently located at the end. So it's the most amazing album you've ever heard ... plus a couple other songs that aren't bad either.

This is Nightwish's final studio album with Tarja Turunen as lead singer. It also features bassist Marco Hietala taking the microphone more than their previous albums.

I was going to write a brief description of each song, but almost every one would start out "Ooh, this is one of my favorites. It's so amazing..." So I'll just say that each song is abso-freakin-lutely phenomenal and you should seek out this album.
Warning: You will never listen to music the same way again.

1. Dark Chest of Wonders
2. Wish I Had an Angel
3. Nemo: No it's not about the Disney fish.
4. Planet Hell
5. Creek Mary's Blood: Inspired by the plight of Native Americans, featuring John Two-Hawks, a Lakota musician, on wooden flute, chanting, and reciting a poem in Lakota.
6. The Siren
7. Dead Gardens
8. Romanticide: If your fists are not pumping along at the end of this song, then something is wrong with you.
9. Ghost Love Score: A perfect example of what Symphonic Rock can/should be. A spectacular blend of rock & symphony, complexity & melody.
10. Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan: The polar opposite of most of the other songs. An aria in Finnish with just Tarja and the symphony.
11. Higher Than Hope
12. White Night Fantasy
13. Live to Tell the Tale