Composer/Musician Reacts to Steven Wilson - Luminol (REACTION!!!)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.พ. 2021
- Bryan reacts to and talks about his thoughts on Luminol
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Would love to see the reaction for Ancestral from Steven Wilson. This song builds tension like a vulcano.
exactly!
Perhaps his best song
@@jakeharmon542 I am too much in love for Grace for Drowning to agree. But top tier to me.
Totally agree. Monster track
If you do Wilson again, please react to Ancestral, the tension he builds in that song is just oh so splendid.
People, please! Up vote this. This needs attention!
This song is amazing and now you have basically listened to the opener and the closer from The Raven That Refused To Sing. It's funny though that you mention this track being more "standard" Steven Wilson writing because I'd argue that the three tracks you've heard are as much standard Wilson as it comes. I know people argue that his sound is "new" on The Future Bites but I feel that's a bit of denial. Or considering his "true sound" being either heavy prog/metal-tingled Porcupine Tree or his jazzy prog rock solo stuff is simply prog-heads being in denial. The thing is that both pop and atmospheric rock (a la the title track from The Raven...) have been in Wilson's DNA since the very start. If anything, his "true sound" should be space rock and psychedelia as that comprises most of his early work (first bands and first Porcupine Tree era).
His flirtation with jazz spans two of his solo records, The Raven... and his previous double album Grace For Drowning. There are bits and pieces on Hand. Cannot. Erase. and his outtakes record (4 1/2) and on some Porcupine Tree albums, but it's not as prominent. I feel you'd deeply enjoy both The Raven... and Grace For Drowning. Outside that, there are some jazz influences on early No-Man records. No-Man is an experimental pop outfit that has basically made everything from jazzy trip-hop to space rock to ambient to full-blown synthwave and disco.
The atmospheric rock closer is actually a staple for Wilson, most of his solo records (even The Future Bites) and Porcupine Tree albums have an emotional, atmospheric closing track. And Porcupine Tree were pop-rock (Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun albums) before they were metal-tingled prog (In Absentia, Deadwing, Fear of a Blank Planet and The Incident). Sorry for the block of text but I just wanted to emphazise that, IMHO, the biggest constant in Steven Wilson's output (solo or otherwise) is eclecticism.
Great analysis as always, Bryan, and I really feel you should check some stuff from Grace for Drowning (maybe Sectarian) and give The Raven... a full listen. It's definitely worth it, especially if you dig jazzy prog.
Great comment. I agree that psychedelic/atmospheric prog rock is how I'd describe most of his music in general but we've seen over and over again how sometimes he likes to do proggier stuff or jazzy stuff and other times he likes to do more emotional pop sounding stuff.
I came here to basically say this. ^
I'll add that a big part of the reason that Wilson wanted to get away from Porcupine Tree is because he kind of felt confined by their sound. He did it for a long time, but he needed to branch out. And he's always been more of a composer. He's definitely a talented musician, but I don't think he's ever considered himself exceptionally talented at any one thing. He usually ends up playing guitar, but he has mentioned in interviews that he often writes from the perspective of the bass.
I think where he's coming from now, with his more pop-oriented sound, is something that he's always felt has been a part of his music. He really enjoys pop music, but he doesn't really view pop the same way that we often do. From his perspective, almost anything can be pop music, and I think what he's trying to do (and what he thinks is the ultimate goal in music) is creating good pop music that doesn't really sound like anything you've heard before. And I think he's doing a great job. I do wish we had more stuff like this song from Wilson, but if he's not making it... there's probably a good reason. If it's going to sound like Luminol pt. 2, he's probably going to get bored of it. I don't think he likes to repeat himself.
This is 100% of what I was going to say.
Thank you for typing it and saving me time.
Great post, man, and a great summary of Wilson's career and stylistic diversity.
Thank you for summing up Steven's music so coherently. I agree 100% :) I've been fan of everything he has released (not only prog) and have enjoyed his pop side (No-Man, mid-era of Porcupine Tree, Blackfield) and even his ambient and psychedelic tracks (Bass Communion, I.E.M.).
The Aristocrats trio joined steven wilson for raven and hand cannot erase albums. The beast you hear on the drums is Marco Minneman. And the guitar parts are from the guitar god himself, Guthrie Govan. You really should check "The Aristocrats" out. I am sure it will be the best thing you've ever listened
Had to google who was drumming on this album. Now it all makes sense that it was Marco!
I've been recommending The Aristocrats for a while now. Surely the most ridiculously talented trio in jazz-fusion right now. Govan and Minneman especially can lay claim to being the best in the world right now on their respective instruments.
Guthrie Govan guitar, Nick Beggs bass, , Marco Minneman Drums, Adam Holzman keyboard, Theo Travis saxophone and flute and of course Steve Wilson vocals
the live version of this is insane, was taken before the cd comes out
that "synth" is a mellotron, actually the same one that had been used in the famous 1969 King Crimson album, In the Court of the Crimson King. The ominous, bleaker vibe is mostly due to that.
Great ear for that mellotron. Eventually I'll get around to being able to pick that specific tone out rather than using the generic synth group.
Wow, I’m starstruck. Amazing song. This album has been on my to-listen wishlist for awhile, but I’m definitely going to have to accelerate that.
For another great Steven Wilson song, check out Ancestral from the album after this one. Has one of my favorite guitar solos.
You completely nailed the notion of Steven Wilson doing prog with a jazz feel. Basically, all of the musicians he hired to do this (particularly bassist Nick Beggs and keyboardist Adam Holzman) are known for jazz-fusion more than rock, while guitarist Guthrie Govan also does a lot of fusion and shred (drummer Marco Minnemann does a looooot of styles) and he wanted to put together a prog band with jazz musicians. I'd say he succeeds on this album (the song "The Holy Drinker" is pretty damn fusion-y). As for whether this is typical, the only constant with Steven Wilson is change. Next album uses the same musicians and has more or less the same style, including the absolutely FANTASTIC "Routine". But the albums before and after these are different, and even Porcupine Tree went through several phases.
So yeah, the band on this is:
SW: Vocals, rhythm guitars, keyboards (plus a little bass on one track)
Theo Travis: Flute, sax, clarinet
Guthrie Govan: lead guitars
Adam Holzman: keyboards
Nick Beggs: bass (plus Chapman Stick on one track)
Marco Minnemann: drums
Wow... Never did check the band members and did not know Govan was a part of it.
Amazing!
@@lohankarachay476 He played on both "Raven" and "Hand Cannot Erase" as well as the tours for both records. And when he left the band after those records, I'm told he hand-picked his live replacement, Dave Kilminster :)
Adam Holzman was a part of Miles Davis line up back in the days.
So yea, the jazzfeel is deffinetly there.
Holy Drinker! The Watchmaker! Literally anything else from this album please! You know what? You should take a look at Detonation off of his To the Bone album. I am eager to hear what you think of that one especially
A quick bit of googling led to this excerpt: Wilson is a self-taught composer, producer, audio engineer, guitar and keyboard player, and plays other instruments as needed, including bass guitar, autoharp, hammered dulcimer and flute.
Yep. Started by experimenting with psychedelic soundscapes in his bedroom lol
Another impressive multi instrumentalist/composer is Simon Steensland. He always brings in Mats and Morgan. A bit darker than this.
Steven Wilson is known for his production and compositions. Although he’s a decent guitarist, he’s not great. He has a great ear though, and surrounds himself with the best.
If only I could play guitar like Steven Wilson ... I would be very happy !
His "older fans" have selective memory. Steven Wilson has a long history with both pop and electronica His early work, from before he started Porcupine Tree as well as with side projects like Bass Communion are pretty electronica heavy(the latter is more drone than anything else). He specifically started Blackfield to play with pop composition. No-Man delves into both. I think a lot of the people complaining about Steven's latest album are the same people that complain every time he tries something different. They complained when he broke up Porcupine Tree to go solo. Some of them complained about delving more into his jazz influences. A lot of them have complained about the two albums previous to his latest. Best not to worry too much about the people that complain about Steven Wilson.
The thing about Steven Wilson is that likes to explore all of his musical influences both past and present. In his early days he was fairly critical of the entire metal genre, not seeing much worth in it until he worked with Opeth, then immediately started inserting metal elements into his composition. Part of the reason he broke up Porcupine Tree was because some of the members weren't into the genres he wanted to explore(jazz included). Being a fan of Steven Wilson kind of comes with the understanding that you may not get more of a style of his music that you really enjoy because he doesn't really like to stay in one place musically for very long(though there are certainly aspects of his composition style that carry forward to make his music recognizable).
Some recommendations for future samples of his music (that might not typically be recommended) would be (from Porcupine Tree) "Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1," "Russia on Ice," "Mellotron Scratch," and "Sleep Together." There's a lot more I could recommend, but eventually I'd just be recommending everything if I don't stop somewhere.
I agree. Every artist has the right to make crap music when he feels like it.
Though I agree with you about Wilson having experimented with pop/electronica for a long time, I would say that I personally prefer prog/jazz/fusion Wilson to pop Wilson; and I'm a guy that loves pop! I liked To the Bone pretty well, but his recent album just bored me. In Wilson's pop music you can really hear how much he loves the layered approach of XTC, but I just don't think he has Andy Partridge's knack for hooks, which is usually necessary for making great pop music.
I discovered PT a few months ago, and have enjoyed "discovering" all of SW's solo work. I'm kinda glad I wasn't aware of this music 10 years ago, as my musical tastes weren't sophisticated enough to fully appreciate it the way I do now. Similar to how my appreciation of more recent Opeth albums has grown, and not just loving the heavy stuff (which is still legendary). Nice analysis of a great song!
You and I are on the same boat my dad first introduced me to prog and it’s very nostalgic to me it’s just became my interest when it comes to music keep on rocking
His Jazziest album is Grace For Drowning..... Remainder the Black Dog is EPIC
my favourite SW solo album!
Between Wilson's albums, Grace For Drowning and The Raven That Refuse to Sing are definitely the jazziest. As you mentioned, Wilson was remixing many legendary 70s prog records by King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Yes and several other bands of the genre during the period he released both of these albums. Most of the sounds and production on both records are really influenced by the sound of the 70s: besides sax and flutes, and the tones of the bass and drums, you can also find mellotrons, moogs and hammond organs. Hand Cannot Erase is a bit more modern, but still has some of that structure and "advanced musicianship", if you will. His two latest incline more towards modern rock, pop and some trip hop, and he has now taken control more over the playing part, at least for most things guitar, bass, electronic percussion and keyboards/synth. Iirc he plays drums too but casually, not in recent records. I recommended this song because I personally believe it's among his best in every sense. He hired an incredible group of musicians and Alan Parsons as the producer, but the composition, concept and part of the production is essentialy all his. If you want to try something different by him, maybe go back to his second album Grace For Drowning and listen to Remainder the Black Dog or Sectarian (or even the 23+ minutes Raider II).
You mentioned something sinister almost about it, and you're absolutely right. The rest of this album kinda builds towards this song "The Watchmaker" and closes with "the raven" which you already listened. You should really check the watchmaker out. It's a hella evil track.
One of my favorite Wilson songs. I think between the three solo tracks and the Porcupine Tree track you've gotten a pretty good sampling of how eclectic SW is, and there are still aspects of his diversity you've yet to hear, like his early, Pink Floyd-influenced psychedelic/space-rock. This is certainly jazz fusion influenced, especially with Govan on guitar and Minneman on drums, who are two members of one of the premiere jazz fusion trios out there right now with The Aristocrats, whom you also really need to hear. I think it's hard to pigeonhole SW in regards to what his most typical or core sound is. If I had to narrow it down, I'd say SW and Porcupine Tree are the successors to Marillion, who took prog in a more atmospheric/moody/emotional direction in the 80s and early-90s. PT and SW took that and added splashes of psychedelic/space-rock, jazz fusion, pop, electronic elements, and eventually more metal influences (especially late Porcupine Tree when SW was working with Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth a lot). I could also say that SW's poppier side is an attempt to marry XTC's art-pop with his atmospheric/proggier side.
I've been dying for you to react to this song ever since I discovered your channel. This is the song that made me realize just how talented of a composer Steven is and the musicians he's surrounded by. Love that you enjoy it as much as me
Adam Holzman on keys. He was in Miles Davis’ band.
Luminol always stood out to me
Wilson is a multi-instrumentalist. Early Porcupine Tree (first three albums) were basically solo albums. He sang, played guitar, bass, and keyboards, and programmed the drums. They became a full band after that with only one or two lineup changes over the years.
These days on his "solo" albums he surrounds himself with top musicians. He plays guitar and keyboards on his recordings but also has another guitarist and keyboardist in his band. He's a pretty good guitarist but if you hear any real virtuoso playing it's probably not him. On this song it's definitely a live flute played by someone else. Drums and bass on this song are the powerhouse combo of Marco Minnemann and Nick Beggs.
Also if you're interested in something different again check out early Porcupine Tree. The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1 or Dark Matter for something a bit more spacey.
This is such a fantastic song! Stevens harmonization is a thing of beauty
THE WATCHAMAKER LIVE IN FRANKFURT
try "Significant other" from the "Insurgentes" album. Greetings from Chile
Discovering Steven Wilson is a striking gold in a goldmine. Second to none.
Fantastic song from a very versatile master! (Picked just the right musicians as well!)
One of the guitarists on this record is guthree govan)
Drummer is from Pineaple thief.
Dude, and you haven't seen Steven live, this is really perfect, there's everything ... just music
Steven Wilson : Routine. You gonna cry, trust me.
Wouldn't be the first time on the channel, guess I gotta get that in the list. Also, nice throwback for your profile pic. Brings back lots of memories :)
@@CriticalReactions That song really hit me right in the feels.
I vote for Routine as well
I remember watching the video for the first time and thinking "I've never felt so bad for a piece of clay in my life"
@@CriticalReactions Which has made u cry before
Hell yeah Brian, thank you. This song and album are classics. Keep up the good work brother!
Your next reaction to SW MUST be Home Invasion / Regret #9. Then you'll have covered my 2 personal favs (widely accepted favs) Maybe you could say it goes downhill from there, but at such a slight decline that you would hardly notice.
Definitely give the live version of this a watch. It's incredible.
Beggs, Minnemann and Govan. Could not ask for a better trio to add that special sauce to the tracks.
I had forgotten how much old Genesis stuff was hidden throughout this. Good stuff.
i bet that a big band transcription of this song would be epiccc!
When I listen to Luminol I think Herbie Hancock (distorted wha leccy Piano) Brian Jackson on the flute, a bit of Gong and something from the band ID at the end.
Just my personal interpretation.
Also check Routine from Steven Wilson please. One of his best works
Very cool!
FYI its not a regular bass, but a chapman stick playing
I know what Friday's pick is going to be!
You should review Vultures by the band Wheel. Some awesome tool-esque prog rock
it has a jazzy feel but also "darker" elements. the whole album has a ghost theme, and it continues in this one with it seemingly being about a sub par street musician (and luminol is a chemical used to detect blood).
u know its prog when the flute hits
Fantastic. This song was shoved into the background when I first listened to this album by the 'powerhouse' tracks 'Drive Home' and 'The Raven...' but eventually this song became my favourite as it has so much more going on than the other songs. Holy Drinker is also pretty interesting but I don't find myself wanting to listen to it like I do with Luminol.
I know most people will suggest something from Hand.Cannot.Erase for the next react but I don't think that would be representative of how varied Steven's work is, as many of those songs are similar to what you've already heard. I'd much rather see a reaction to 'Raider II', 'Twilight Coda', 'Insurgentes' or the live performance of 'Index'.
Steven embraces a kind of creepy feeling in the first 3 solo albums and the discomfort in some of the songs is achieved in very unusual ways that I wouldn't expect any other artist to attempt. In fact a lot of themes and musical choices that Steven explores in the first two albums would be unusual and VERY risky for any other artist.
Also it's Steven. He doesn't seem to like Steve. And he plays most instruments in the demo versions of his songs himself but works with top talent to achieve the level of virtuosity you hear on the final recording.
Regarding if this can be considered SWs "standard writing" or "standard style"... Steven beeing true to himself means doing something different every time.
Well, everybody has said it but will it hurt if Insaid it too? You have to do Home Invasion/Regret#9 studio version, IMHO not just the best keyboard solo ever played (Sorry Lord, Wakeman, Emerson, I love you guys but Holzman nailed this one hard), but also the best guitar solo... Holzman sets the mood and Guthrie Govan get in for the kill. (Sorry to a looong list of epic guitar players)
Its so interesting how you can find all the great 70s prog bands referenced in it
That's pretty awesome! I don't have the experience or knowledge to catch those easter eggs but it's so cool that Steven drops those little bits of fan service into his music. You can tell the dude is really passionate about that period of music.
@@CriticalReactions Yes. He even borrowed the original Mellotron from King Crimson for the record in this spirit. Also cool that they recorded it in the studio with all the musicians present instead of singular records like todays norm is.
BTW I can highly recommend the live video version of this. Minnemann and Guthrie are performing, it is nuts.
Every track of this album is a ghost story.
The Watchmaker is by far the "DEEP TRACK" of this album. The live version ( available on TH-cam) is exquisite.
SW does play flute... but not here. He plays everything but drums when writing, but hires the BEST for recording and touring.
Oh, and The Holy Drinker
Bryan, in this video you said that "Luminol" is not the style of song that you would put on and jam to. So, out of curiosity, which bands are some of your own personal favorites to play just to jam out to?
Mostly out of habit my rotation is Chiodos, From First to Last, The Used, Periphery, and The Human Abstract. I've slowly been working in some Hail the Sun, Dear Mother, Vintersea, and Cryptodira into my casual listening though. That's just rock/metal related stuff though. I love musicals and soundtracks as well and often listen to the Sweeney Todd soundtrack, Frozen 1&2, or any soundtrack created by Darren Korb or Austin Wintory.
There is a live version on YT.....
Please listen and react to Bent Knee. Something from their latest album maybe. They have amazing live performances to watch.
Friday!
Oh, this is just the beginning.
/cries it's not the live one 😥
A supergroup... Govan, Minneman, Holzman, Beggs. The most retro prog album Wilson has made.
Don’t forget Theo Travis too, all those tasty woodwinds.
So Mr Wilson which genre do you write music in...?
Steven.......Yes!
*Wikipedia:*
Steven Wilson - vocals, guitar, mellotron, piano, other keyboards
Adam Holzman - keyboards
Marco Minnemann - drums
Nick Beggs - bass guitar, stick, backing vocals
Niko Tsonev - guitar
Theo Travis - saxophone, flute, clarinet, keyboards
Excellent personnel list. So Steven did a bunch of stuff but he did also double up on instruments. I've read in other comments that he is a good musician but isn't the best so I wonder how often he did sort of "backup" guitar or keyboard while Adam or Niko did the more technical parts.
@@CriticalReactions I would call Steven Wilson just as great a genius as e.g. Gavin Harrison. However, someone like Gavin focuses his unbelievable talent on only one instrument, which is why Gavin is superhumanly good on drums. Steven, on the other hand, is an all-rounder and divides his skills into many things like composition, lyric, singing, various instruments, sound engineering, mastering and producing. He is not the best in the individual disciplines, but as a whole he is definitely one of the best musicians who have ever lived. In addition, Steven surrounds himself with only the very best specialized musicians in the world, just e.g. Gavin Harrison.
More TesseracT! Do One
ITS SO PROG
Godspeed you 30% + Ozric Tentacles 70% is what I’m hearing. Very nice.
One of my favorite S.W. track
Digg your analyse again.
This is how i count that bassline
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1234567
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1234567
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1234567
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1234567
🤘
I'll have to go back and listen again. Alternating between 3 and 4 in the third bar before shifting to 7/8 (if I'm reading that correctly) is definitely something difficult to pick up on a first listen.
Steven is mostly a composer. He had the most incredible band for this record.
Jazzy prog metal? Try People Passing By by Pain of Salvation. Awesome.
Steven Wilson is probably the *least* jazzy musician who appeared on this album. The obvious choices for those parts would be Adam Holzman, probably followed by Nick Beggs. Holzman was in Miles Davis' band in the 80's. During this part of his solo career SW was enthralled with the idea that what made the classic prog of the 70's work so well (he was remixing a lot of early King Crimson albums around the same time) was that many of them were made by jazz musicians playing rock. Think Bill Bruford, Soft Machine, Zappa's 70's bandmates, etc.
Ancestral would be a great pick :)
Yep marco minneman is always tasty
Finally we know something that Marco does not do enough. The steel brush!
Tough choice, but i must insist that Drive Home has the best guitar solo ever made
I kinda hope he returns to this style, with some twist maybe... the last two albums are still good but a little bit too different and the quality is less consistent
Is it me or (at 9.07 mark in your video) is this not very 'The Free Design' as in the writers of kites are fun etc.. Those vocal harmonies are really reminiscent of that sound.
Man... probably I'm gonna be just one more to say!!! But react do HOMEINVASION/REGRET#9! It is, at least for me, the best rock song of the past 20 years! Nobody did that since floyd times. Just Listen! See ya!
Deadwing. Not the whole album, the title track - one of Steven's best in my opinion!
This is of course from his earlier band Porcupine Tree not from his solo material.