The Raven That Refused to Sing: And Other Stories

I've been a fan of Porcupine Tree for many years, though I only got seriously into their music in 2011 when I saw Steven Wilson's solo concert for "Grace for Drowning." I've been looking forward to this album for months and I'm overjoyed to have it in my hands. I had high expectations, and "The Raven That Refused to Sing (and other stories)" surpassed them. The songs are all based off of folk tales and myths, and I'm interested to look up what they've been based off of.Song by song:Luminol: This might be my favorite on the disc, though it's hard to pick. This is a 12 minute, mostly-instrumental song that blows me away. Sometimes when bands create long songs, they tend to drag on--not so for Steven Wilson. This song keeps you captivated until the end and begs you for a replay. The beat of the drums make it a lot of fun to drive to, also.Drive Home: A beautifully melancholy song. It's one of those sadder sounding songs that doesn't make you feel depressed, but instead makes me feel an almost hopeful kind of longing. I don't like this song AS much as some others on the album, but I do still love it. Good to listen to when you're in a calm mood.The Holy Drinker: This is the one song on the album that's taking a little while to grow on me. I still like it, but not as much as the other songs yet. However, I know from experience with listening to Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson that oftentimes songs that don't catch your ear at first become your favorites. So, we'll see! The song is heavier than Drive Home, and has a driving force behind it. Definitely going to be a headbanger at concerts. Even with a heavier instrumentation to it than the other songs on the album (though Luminol is heavier as well), it still fits in perfectly with the mood and feel of the album as a whole.The Pin Drop: Okay, maybe THIS is my favorite song on the album currently. At 5 minutes long, it's also the shortest. It's an amazingly beautiful, longing, melodic song. At the chorus, as he sings "I tried to be the way that he wanted me to be/I did not hear the pin drop down/I did not hear my heart" it just sounds absolutely perfect. I could listen to this song forever.The Watchmaker: The intro to this song reminds me of the style of "Grace for Drowning" songs. Distant and flowing. The lyrics to this song are heartfelt and bittersweet. I'd especially love to see the stories this is based off of. "I never really loved you but I'll miss you anyway/You were just meant to be temporary while I waited for gold/We filled up the years and I found that/I liked having someone to hold." Absolutely lovely flute (?) in this song as well.The Raven That Refused to Sing: Ah, this song. Such a perfect song. If you haven't seen the music video for it, I HIGHLY recommend it. It brought tears to my eyes. This song is very atmospheric and gentle in a dark way, to my ears. Listening to it while remembering the video just makes it even more heartrending (in a good way!) I can tell this will be a song that I'll be able to listen to a hundred times without getting tired of it.All in all, this album is a 1000/1000 for me. I couldn't have asked for a better group of songs. I'm going to see it performed live in a couple of months and I know it will be incredible.---My one complaint about the album isn't for the album itself, but for Amazon's shipping. When I received the CD, the front of the case had a huge crack that reached to the edge of the case and made the front and back of the case fall apart. Then, after taking out the CD, I noticed that the middle section that holds the CD in was broken also, so the CD will fall out if I try to put it in. I'm not pleased about that, it seems like someone stepped on the packaging or something.

Like many, I probably never would've become acquainted with Steven's solo career if not for my earlier fandom of now-defunct Porcupine Tree. I discovered them in the early 2000s through heavier and less explicitly prog-oriented acts like A Perfect Circle and dredg. PT's work in that era helped expand my musical palette a bit further in the direction of the 70s progressive tradition (Yes/Floyd/Rush), chiefly because Steven -- unlike many of his neo-prog contemporaries -- utilized his childhood heroes' efforts properly as inspirations upon which to build, rather than mere blueprints to be idolized and reincarnated year after year. Even so, I tended to enjoy PT more in spite of the old school prog worship than because of it.Consequently, Steven's increased fixation on his 70s idols (at least, to my ears) over the past decade or so has been a difficult adjustment for me. It seemed to start toward the end of PT's career with tracks like "Time Flies," and has only intensified during his solo career to-date. His liberation from the creative confines of the band paradigm evidently spurred a mad dash to make up for lost time in pursuing jazz fusion, a style he says he could not even dabble in with PT. On GRACE FOR DROWNING (2011), he took this ambition in numerous directions with results than ranged from stupendous to questionable, at least for jazz-ignorant PT holdouts like myself. With RAVEN, these fusion efforts are considerably more polished and strike the ideal balance between virtuosity and palatability. I don't know much about jazz or even 70s fusion (beyond a few Steely Dan radio staples, if that counts!), but I can appreciate this 54-minute display of technical prowess without ever feeling as if the music is being made to serve the players' virtuosity, rather than vice-versa."Drive Home" is a gorgeous entry point for the uninitiated, while "The Pin Drop" is perhaps the most rock-oriented track (plus the shortest) and likeliest to evoke just a tinge of PT nostalgia. My personal favorite, "The Watchmaker," is simply a brilliant multi-movement fusion epic with all the atmosphere and emotional range of good prog. Best of all, the record's loose concept of old-time ghost stories lends to graceful, thoughtful lyrics representing perhaps the best of Steven's career. This is a huge relief, and one of the key reasons I prefer RAVEN over its successor HAND.CANNOT.ERASE (2015), where the hackneyed commentary on social media and other 21st century trivialities requires considerable effort to overlook (a flaw shared even by a lot of the late-era PT material).Make no mistake: RAVEN is the most unabashedly old school 70s prog/fusion record Wilson has made as a solo artist, even down to the analog-sounding production quality. Ironically, as someone who initially took notice of SW only through his metal-tinged work with PT circa IN ABSENTIA (2002), it's also easily my favorite. It may be worlds apart from PT stylistically, but there's a cohesion and purity to this record most music fans will come to appreciate, with an open mind.4.5 stars

Top quality prog is alive and well.

Un disco della maturità intesa come avvicinamento alla forma più probabile di perfezione personale. Con un sentito “lunga vita” al progressive e a chi, pur negandolo, continua anche a quarant'anni dalla sua epopea a tenerlo in vita.

Igła prawie podskakuje nad płytami podczas odtwarzania. Dyski są zniekształcone, szczególnie na brzegach.W opisie oferty brakuje istotnych informacji. Jest to wydanie na dwu standardowych płytach 140-gramowych, które ukazało się w 2021 roku (reedycja). Link do discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/21745492-Steven-Wilson-The-Raven-That-Refused-To-Sing-And-Other-StoriesNie polecam.

Vinyl fan ? Prog rock je ding ? Blind kopen

El disco llego a tiempo y en perfectas condiciones.El arte que incluye es increíble, cada disco incluye su funda con diferentes ilustraciones que engloban el concepto del álbum.La calidad sonora es brutalmente hermosa, Steven Wilson es un perfeccionista y en este disco, que es en mi opinión su obra maestra a la fecha, vuelve a demostrar porque es el digno nuevo Rey del Progresivo.Si piensas en que disco te gustaría tener en este formato, The Raven es un absoluto imperdible.