Via my old schoolfriend Paul Smith, here’s a piece on Dave Ling‘s blog about the forthcoming Porcupine Tree album. Since I can’t see any way to get a permalink to the specific entry, I’m going to quote the relevant paragraph in full:
Yesterday morning I trundled along to Abbey Road Studios for a preview of Porcupine Tree’s forthcoming album, ‘Fear Of A Blank Planet’ in glorious 5.1 surround sound. Before the playback began, band leader Steven Wilson informed the gathered throng that the album is one “continuous piece of music” that lasts for around 53 minutes, explaining that most CDs these days are way too long to hold the listener’s attention. “It’s a very intense album”, he warned, adding that it includes no potential singles – something that hardly seemed to bother representatives from the quartet’s new label Roadrunner Records. And why should it? The album is simply stunning from start to finish; elaborately conceived, brilliantly orchestrated and executed with consummate sophistication. The track that will surely generate most attention is ‘Anesthetize’, which at 17 mins and 42 seconds long features a guitar solo from Rush’s Alex Lifeson. Robert Fripp of King Crimson also offers guest soundscape guitar effects to the penultimate song ‘Way Out Of Here’. But, believe me, the whole album is a stroke of genius.
Amazon.co.uk isn’t showing it as available for pre-order just yet, but according to the PT website it should be out in April. And just to tantalize us still more, “It’s likely that both the stereo CD and 5.1 surround sound DVDA will be packaged together as standard.” Mmm!!