Porcupine Tree – Stupid Dream
Released: 1999
Track Listing:
1.) Even Less
2.) Piano Lessons
3.) Stupid Dream
4.) Pure Narcotic
5.) Slave Called Shiver
6.) Don’t Hate Me
7.) This is No Rehearsal
8.) Baby Dream in Cellophane
9.) Stranger by the Minute
10.) A Smart Kid
11.) Tinto Brass
12.) Stop Swimming
Stupid Dream is Porcupine Tree’s fifth album, and my personal favorite of theirs. Though not overtly so, it’s a bit of a concept album, drawing on Steven Wilson’s own problems regarding the music industry, particularly the idea of marketing one’s creativity and the “stupid dream” of having an easy, fun lifestyle as a rock star.
Some sad, droning synths, sliding guitar work and that memorable laugh before Even Less starts the album with a loud, guitar-driven bang. In these louder sections, which later contain the chorus, the electric guitar work is some of Porcupine Tree’s most hard-hitting and memorable. In the softer parts, there’s a nostalgic sadness created by Steven Wilson’s angelic voice, string sections, and acoustic strumming. These two sides of the song are balanced with a perfection that keeps the song accessible, and while not particularly inventive, also incredibly gorgeous. Of course, Porcupine Tree throws in the heavy metal hits as well, and it’s appreciated. The closing of the song is particularly interesting to me, though that’s because I actually know about shortwave number stations…for many people, the number station sampling will be boring, but for me it’s haunting.
Piano Lessons is the first single here, and it’s lyrically a nod back to a musical childhood and the “stupid dream.” There’s doubts, with people telling the child “you’d better give up hoping,” and then there’s the fame reality, with “forget your own agenda/get ready to be sold.” The slightly psychedelic atmospheres are wonderful, as is the hard rock riffing…and if there’s any song on this album that summarizes the album’s concept, it’s this one, and that lyricism is really some of Wilson’s best. This is the “stupid dream” right here, moreso than the instrumental Stupid Dream is, of course. I have doubts for the necessity for this extremely short instrumental, but since it just sounds like a pretty outro to “Piano Lessons,” it’s not in any way bad.
The next three songs seem to be the failed romance trio. In Pure Narcotic, Wilson’s protagonist has sunk to a low level of depression and is desperate to be good enough for the woman that has beaten him down. “I’m sorry that I’m not like you” he says in the chorus…and that chorus really strikes me as one of the saddest moments in Porcupine Tree history. The protagonist now blames himself and surmises that he’s just not good enough for the woman he loves. He even listens to Radiohead’s The Bends. Nice touch. The acoustic guitar work is just beautiful, as is the accompanying piano. The melody reminds me a bit of the still-to-come (at this point) “Lazarus.” Next, in Slave Called Shiver, there’s a perverse side to unrequited love. The protagonis is obsessed over lovely lady, and is “falling apart” more every day because of it. But it’s a dark love, it seems, as evidenced by that chilling “mother I need her” chorus, with the distorted vocals. I like the choice to use Colin Edwin’s bass as a lead in the verses with piano backing, and that weird percussion (almost like steel drums or something) in the chorus is a gorgeous touch. I think I can pretty easily say “Slave Called Shiver” is my favorite out of this trio. Don’t Hate Me is an even more extreme unrequited love scenario, with things turning ugly as the protagonist cries “don’t hate me/I’m not special like you.” Apparently the obsession became known to the girl, and she is distressed by this obsessor calling her on the phone. Of special interest here is a flute solo by Theo Travis…and then an even more beautiful sax solo by the same guy. Also essential is the atmospheric section afterward, with that dark, memorable guitar riff being drowned in a sea of synths and flutes.
This is No Rehearsal is a step down in quality, but it’s not bad in the least…just listen to that cool wah-wah guitar solo. The lyricism is sad and gruesome, weaving the tale of a boy taken from his mother and murdered (referring to the murder of James Bulger). The chorus is a bit weak, but oh well.
Steven Wilson said of Baby Dream in Cellophane: “the baby’s kind of singing from the pram if you like, saying ‘well, actually no, I’m not going to go down this path that’s been laid out for me. I’m gonna break out.’ It’s almost like a very surreal teen rebellion song. If you imagine Nirvana, if they wrote about rebellious teenagers, I write songs for rebellious babies.” Bravo, Wilson. I quite like the surreal-ness of this track, with the psychedelic “bubbling” and such, and that rebellious lyricism is just another hash mark for the long list of Wilson’s quality lyrics.
Drummer Chris Maitland apparently does the backing vocals in the poppy chorus of Stranger by the Minute. Actually though, the entire song is pretty poppy, at least for a Porcupine Tree song, and suffers in that area by not being particularly interesting compared to their deeper work, but the song is irreplaceable regardless, because it’s catchy as hell, and the guitar riffage is top-notch. Even the more generic than usual guitar solo is actually quite wonderful. Mix a 70s pop song with Porcupine Tree, and it ends up something like this, I’d say.
And now we come to my favorite moment on the album, A Smart Kid. God, this song is beautiful on so many levels. The longing synth backing, the acoustic guitar riff that opens up the song…just the whole atmosphere really, all put together, is as cold and sad as the lyrics, which tell of a sole survivor after a nuclear holocaust. The chorus is particularly sad, because the protagonist states that he will wait for his love, because…what else can he do? There is no hope, so all he can do is wait. My favorite moments of this song are its intro, its instrumental bridge with the heavy breathing effects and spacey synths, and the absolutely gorgeous closing guitar solo. And the voices that the song fades out on…spooky stuff, very Pink Floyd like, mimicking the closing of “Echoes.”
Those voices move into Tinto Brass, which sticks out like a sore thumb as a very weird instrumental…but also very awesome. I don’t care about the relation to the director (“Caligula” is a terrible movie), but this song just rules. Wilson’s girlfriend speaking in Japanese at the beginning carries a nice effect, and I love how this song uses a phone’s dial tone as a metronome of sorts. There’s cool, heavy bass riffage, spooky flute bits, and some odd percussion effects. The “chorus,” which is more typical Porcupine Tree stuff, isn’t as good as the amazing “verses,” with the flute taking the foreground. I find the slower portion of the song to also be a bit duller…but damn, that flute and percussion, and just the overall weird atmosphere make up for any misgivings. The hard-hitting heavy metal portions are wonderful too.
As for our closer, we have some more moping about, with Stop Swimming. This song can really speak to all of us, I’ve found…we can all get that impulse to “stop swimming,” and to just give up and go with the flow. The depressing lyricism is a real highlight here, as are the interesting jungle-beat percussion and the sad, cinematic string sections. All put together, it’s a very sad song, but it’s positively beautiful, like most of this album.
It should be easy to see why I think Stupid Dream is Porcupine Tree’s best effort. The band is the tightest they’ve ever been, and Wilson’s lyricism is even more heartfelt and sincere than usual. You have the unforgettable apocalyptic ballad “A Smart Kid,” which is easily the best here, but you also have 11 other gorgeous songs…not a single one is less than an A- in my book. Simply put, my friends, this is an amazing album, and a bigger landmark in progressive rock than most other bands ever managed.
Rating: A+
Best Song: A Smart Kid
Worst Song: Stupid Dream (not because it’s bad, just because you don’t even notice it)
