| CD Reviews Last updated: 1.6.06 Porcupine Tree On the Sunday of Life... Tracklist 1. Music for the Head (2:42) (Music: Steven Wilson) 2. Jupiter Island (6:12) (Lyrics: Alan Duffy, Music: Steven Wilson) 3. Third Eye Surfer (2:47) (Lyrics: John Marshall/Steven Wilson, Music: Steven Wilson) 4. On the Sunday of Life� (2:11) (Music: Steven Wilson) 5. The Nostalgia Factory (7:27) (Lyrics: Alan Duffy, Music: Steven Wilson) 6. Space Transmission (2:59) (Lyrics, Music: Steven Wilson) 7. Message from a Self-Destructing Turnip (0:27) (Lyrics, Music: Steven Wilson) 8. Radioactive Toy (10:00) (Lyrics, Music: Steven Wilson) 9. Nine Cats (3:56) (Lyrics: Alan Duffy, Music: Steven Wilson) 10. Hymn (1:14) (Music: Steven Wilson) 11. Footprints (5:51) (Lyrics: Alan Duffy, Music: Steven Wilson) 12. Linton Samuel Dawson (3:04) (Lyrics: Alan Duffy, Music: Steven Wilson) 13. And the Swallows Dance Above the Sun (4:03) (Lyrics: Alan Duffy, Music: Steven Wilson) 14. Queen Quotes Crowley (3:57) (Lyrics, Music: Steven Wilson) 15. No Luck with Rabbits (0:46) (Music: Steven Wilson) 16. Begonia Seduction Scene (2:20) (Music: Steven Wilson) 17. This Long Silence (5:00) (Lyrics: Alan Duffy, Music: Steven Wilson) 18. It Will Rain For a Million Years (10:49) (Lyrics: Alan Duffy, Music: Steven Wilson) Total: 1:15:45 Introduction: On the Sunday of Life� is Porcupine Tree�s first official album. However, at this time, Porcupine Tree consisted simply of Steven Wilson. He plays most of the instruments on the album, and makes use of a drum machine. On the Sunday of Life� is radically different than any other Porcupine Tree album. A majority of these songs are so bizarre and strange, that the listener would probably think that this album is by some different band. However, a few songs, such as �Radioactive Toy� (a fan favorite) and �It Will Rain For a Million Years� give evidence of Porcupine Tree�s future sound. Synopsis: The album begins with �Music For the Head�, an ambient instrumental that makes adequate use of a flute (at least that�s what I think it is). It fades right into the psychedelic tune �Jupiter Island�. This song is definitely psychedelic. It has strange lyrics and music, as well has unusual vocals; it sounds as if Steven Wilson really made his voice high pitched (we�ll see it even higher later in the album). The song is a decent listen, although the beat from the drum machine can get quite annoying. �Third Eye Surfer� is another instrumental that basically consists of an organ playing over drums, which are really audible here. The title track �On the Sunday of Life�� is another instrumental. This particular track is rather dark sounding, but then the drum machine kicks in, in a crazy, loud way too I might add. �On the Sunday of Life�� is basically an intro for the next track, �The Nostalgia Factory�. This song has a psychedelic vibe to it as well, which may or may not appeal to listeners. The song has really strange lyrics, such as the opening line: �A caterpillar crawled to me one day and said/�Oh what the hell goes on inside your swollen head?�� Now that�s truly psychedelic. �The Nostalgia Factory� is definitely more accessible than �Jupiter Island�, though. �Space Transmission� is up next. This track is definitely a scary listen when in the dark. It�s a spoken word track, but Steven Wilson is whispering the chilling lyrics in a deep, almost demonic voice. It�s not a great track, but really worth listening to. �Message From a Self Destructing Turnip� is a filler track, consisting of a weird voice counting to five, then the drum machine going crazy again. It�s meant to serve as an intro to the next song, �Radioactive Toy�, which is the best song on the album. This song is still played live occasionally. This song has more of a space rock vibe to it, rather than psychedelic. There�s some excellent guitar work here from Wilson, including an awesome guitar solo. The drums here sound much better as well, and the keyboards add an ambient mood to the song. �Nine Cats� is a quieter track, with beautiful vocals by Steven Wilson. There�s a great guitar solo here as well. It�s a nice listen, although a superior version of the song would later show up on the Insignificance demo. �Hymn� is another instrumental, this time featuring some low synths. It�s another filler track. �Footprints� is a really good track, with some good vocals. The verses are really low and quiet, but when the chorus comes in, the vocals and instruments get louder. �Linton Samuel Dawson� is a song many will hate. Steven Wilson�s vocals sound like he inhaled a lot of helium. Yes, it is very high pitched. This is a really strange song overall, with bizarre lyrics and weird, upbeat music to go along with them. �And the Swallows Dance Above the Sun� is an okay song. Steven Wilson says the lyrics at a rather fast pace. It uses several samples, and some of them are downright hilarious. The drum machine is bothersome, though. �Queen Quotes Crowley� is an instrumental that has some backwards vocals in the beginning, as well as some strange, hard to understand samples. The song does have a fairly cool albeit repetitive bass line, though. �No Luck With Rabbits� is a filler instrumental. It�s basically just an organ slowly getting louder. �Begonia Seduction Scene�, another instrumental, has some great guitar work, very spacey. This is probably the best instrumental on the album, although it is rather short. �This Long Silence� has some high-pitched vocals, although not as high as on �Jupiter Island� or �Linton Samuel Dawson�, so this track is the most accessible out of the three. There�s some pretty good instrumental work here too. �It Will Rain For a Million Years� is the final track on the album, and it�s a great closer. It fittingly features rain and thunder effects. Steven Wilson plays some great guitar solos to further create an ambiance, along with the keyboard synths. Highlights: �Radioactive Toy�, �Footprints�, �It Will Rain For a Million Years� Overall: On the Sunday of Life� has some interesting moments, but is for collectors and fans only. This album is rather obscure for the casual listener, and doesn�t really represent the band�s sound for the most part. Final Score: C+ Additional notes: On the Sunday of Life� was re-released in 2004 on Snapper Records in a digipak case with new liner notes by Steven Wilson. Any questions, comments, submissions, or anything related to the site should be e-mailed to me: shadowdragonxx [at] hotmail [dot] com. Don't take anything from the site without permission. |
| On the Sunday of Life... Album line-up: Steven Wilson � Vocals, guitars , drum machine, keyboards... basically all instruments except... Additional Personnel: John Marshall � Drums on �Third Eye Surfer� Solomon St. Jemain � Additional guitar & voice on �Queen Quotes Crowley� Master Timothy Masters - Oboe Release Year: 1991 (Remaster: 2004) Label: Delirium Records (Remaster: Snapper Records) Produced by: Steven Wilson |
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