I have a copy of deadwing now, and I listened to the others on YouTube.

I saw it for half price. I had to get it :laughing:

I understand :D So I hope you will like The Incident.
I love it but I know lot of fans somehow didn't get into this album and they think it's boring.
So when you will get it I recommend to listen to it all from the first to last track in order how it is recorded. Personally for me it's a nonsence to shuffle this album or to play only some songs from this.
Hehe, yes, I shuffle some other albums or I play sometimes only my loved songs. But I don't do it with The Incident.

I think every album deserves to be listened to in it's entirity at least 3 times. The first 2/3 times it can be boring/crap. But after a bit (esp. With PT) the albums get amazing. It always take me several listens to get into an album (unless it's some catchy/poppy ****).

Yes, it's true. I also need at least 3 times and with some bands more.
But somehow for me it was easy to get into Porcupine Tree :)

Well, I usually find the albums that have the most "life" are the hardest to get into for me.

Do you mean ones that seem much more accessible and easy to listen to? If so I have that problem as well, I like more complex sounds and such. Don't get me wrong I still love listening to simple music but if I find myself liking the songs too easy I think somethings wrong. Every album does really deserve more than one listen before you can truly decide what you dig and what you don't.

I agree there. But, to make a person want to listen to an album again, it needs to have maybe 1/2 songs with an element of "catchiness".
Back when I was a mainstream wh*re I used to hear a song, like it and then within a week or two, I hated it.
In saying that, there are always exception to "rule". For example, The Killers were the first band I was a proper fan of (during the end of the Hot Fuss era, moving into the Sams Town era), and I still like them today. And they are a very easy band to like straight off.
But then you can take other bands from the same time that I liked (e.g. green Day) who I got sick of very quickly.


I think that, perhaps, more "trained" ears/more intelligent/more aware Music fans share the same opinions. As you find that the mainstream wh*res seem to be able to keep listening to the same stuff. But just because you like that, it doesn't make you dumb, just ignorant to what is really out there. The smartest person I know is a Mainstream listener, but I got him into some more "alternative" stuff and that's broadened him a little. He still likes mainstream though.

Do you think that all good albums have some catchy songs?
For example in my opinion The Incident has only one catchy song (Time Files?) but it doesn't mean it's bad album. For me it was very attractive although after first listening I was little bit like "What is it? All other Porcupine Tree albums are catchier than this new one".

Really interesting topic. I admit that before the time I discovered progressive rock/progressive metal, my music taste was full of mainstream like U2 and R.E.M.
I know what you mean and I share this opinion with you.
Catchy songs are easy to love but also you can forget or hate them after some time easier. But when you love some complicated song, it's probably love for all life or at least for longer time :)
About the smartest person... I don't think that mainstream is for stupid people and I wouldn't say that mainstream listeners are dull or they ignore good music. I still like U2 and R.E.M. although not so much like before. I prefer some progreesive stuff, complicacy, diversity, alternative, experimental, whatever interesting... But I don't forget about music that I liked some time before and in some way I still like it. At least for me it's possible to have easy and complicated music together. You know - when I want to relax, I don't listen to for example Pink Floyd or Tool but rather R.E.M.

So @mrguy as I see your attitude to complicated music, you may like The Incident. But rather don't expect some catchy songs.

Not necessarily, but it is helpful for an album to have one or two. Of course, a band with a reputation doesn't really HAVE to have one. e.g. when I was a Muse nut, I finally got their debut album and nothing stuck. But I kept listening to it because I liked the band so much.


I wasn't trying to say it did make them dull/boring or that they ignore other music, just that they don't even know it exists becuase they haven't stepped outside the nice little bubble of commerical radio. This is what Muse did for me - I got into them at the time they were becoming more popular, but still had less commercial roots.

Okay, cheers

Agreed, but not about albums needing 1/2 catchy songs. I'll listen to an album again if I was interested in what I just heard, even if I didn't like any songs and didn't find them 'catchy'. I will always give it a second chance.

Then again...

I'm a sucker for concept albums and most of the time, with their reoccurring themes, the sound on the album carries all the way through. Leaving very little room to pen a catchy song amongst the overall story/concept. Some artists can release a song from a concept album and it works but when it's taken out of context from the albums story it doesn't always work.

What about 'Drawing The Line'? and 'The Incident' - maybe my idea of 'catchy' is different?

Also... I 100% agree on everything that you said about there being nothing wrong with the mainstream. It gets knocked by all sorts of music snobs that I think may have stopped enjoying music and only enjoy the technique now. Sometimes you want to hear something that you'll get into simply and not scratch your head over.