Prog Review 16: Grace for Drowning - Steven Wilson

I finally managed to get my head around the new Steven Wilson album and here is my attempt to critically analyse the deluxe edition of "Grace for Drowning".

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Music used in this video:

"Stinkhorn" by Darren Lock
"The Mist Suite" by Darren Lock

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• yt:quality=high
• Steven Wilson
• Grace for Drowning
• cd
• blu-ray
• review
• kscope
• Theo Travis
• Trey Gunn
• Pat Mastelotto
• King Crimson
• prog
• progressive
• rock
• porcupine
• tree
• Progressive Rock
• Porcupine Tree
• grace
• for
• drowning
• 5.1
• surround
• sound
• solo
• record
• Steve Hackett

[lebocharp]

Fantastic review with great humour. I was laughing with tears in my eyes by the time you reached Raider II and the "prog check-list". Keep it up! 

[vrooomuk]

@lebocharp I am glad you enjoyed it and appreciated the video for what it is. Many commenters seem to have a humour bypass at the moment. But yes, I do try and make my audience laugh. You are allowed to enjoy this...

[murdok199]

i dont think this man knows whats hi is talking about

[vrooomuk]

@murdok199 You are probably right. Thanks for the positive comment!

[nunobelo]

Forever alone.

[vrooomuk]

@nunobelo Don't worry - I am sure that one day you'll meet the right person for you. Unless you have chronic bromodosis, that is...

[NeedHeadMusic]

The music is really annoying. great review!

[kjdayton]

I'm a giant PT fan ... BUT PT was NEVER just SW to me. What I find missing from all of his solo work is the ingenuity of other musicians who write better parts for THEIR instruments.

[mightyquaid1979]

for me personally, it depends on whether u are sold on king crimson. my dad, a lifelong crimson fan yawned his way through grace for drowning as he had heard it all before, whereas i found it a breath of fresh air, having never really got king crimson. maybe i should take another look. dunno.. i went to see steven wilson on the grace for drowning tour in shephards bush, and thought live the songs translated really well, apart from raider 2 which went on faaaaaar too long. my score 4/5

[vinvanveen]

I love Porcupine Tree's stuff — most of it, anyway — but I completely agree with you here. "Grace for Drowning" has a great surround mix but the composition is just too derivative at times. "With Theo Travis as Mel Collins" made me laugh, as did the comparison to Marillion's embarrassing "Grendel".

As a suggestion for a review, while not typically considered "prog", how about some Zappa", like, say, "One size fits all"?

[johnfloy]

Dig the prog rock check list! epic ;)

[vrooomuk]

@salming21king I am eating some toast while typing this. Ooops, crumbs on the keyboard... Tell me, what is it like being Steven Wilson's anal bitch? Do you like it when he sticks his fingers up your arse? I bet you do? Thanks for the comment.

[JohnyVirgil]

Good review, great humor. I can't say I fully agree with you, particularly the bit about his work being contrived. I'm going to be honest and admit bias, I'm a Steven Wilson fan, though, I don't think he's flawless like some. You seem like you have a better ear for music than I do, but I try. The thing is, I don't think that repetition of sounds, such as the repeated King Crimson references, means that the artist is disingenuous, it just means they like a sound and want to achieve it themselves.

[TritoneMcgee]

I think Wilson's problem is that he's too prolific. Take everything he produces in two years (including Porcupine Tree) and cut out all of the best bits and you'd have an excellent album. Instead there is a lot of kind of drab stuff, nothing that really catches you.

And are there real mellotrons? Because if they were I might actually be interested.