So, Steven Wilson didn't yet have a topic of his own (to my great surprise), he does now. The man needs no introduction, he is one of the most beloved workaholics in prog rock/metal history, both as a solo artist and producer and formerly with Porcupine Tree.

However...

I did not create this thread to simply worhship the man, as much as I wish I could've. Thing is, I almost named this thread: "Steven Wilson - Gift or Curse?" but chose not to, because it would've been too melodramatic. I created this topic so that people could discuss his music of course, but also, because in recent years I have begun to wonder about Steven Wilson and more importantly: I've begun to wonder about the huge influence, that he seems to have over many of his colleagues. This is where the "gift or curse?" element comes in.

For the record, I love much of Steven's music, I consider myself a fan, a pretty big fan too. I own albums from him, I've watched hours and hours of his interviews and I really think he is a great songwriter and a great human being. BUT... almost everyone seems to love him to the point, where they want to be so much like him that in my opinion, it has become something of a burden to many bands in recent years. Maybe I am alone in this, but perhaps not. To give some examples of what I mean:

Opeth. I love Opeth, but I honestly think that they started to become less and less interesting after they teamed up with Steven Wilson. Even I can't deny that as far as songwriting goes, Blackwater Park probably is Opeth's most accomplished album (Still Life gives it a run for its money), but there's just something a little bit too polished about that album and the albums that followed for my tastes, especially when compared to the albums they did with Dan Swanö.

Riverside. I (you guessed it) love Riverside, but their latest album has a stronger than usual Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson vibe in my ears. As I said in their latest album's topic, Riverside should be Riverside and Steven Wilson should be Steven Wilson.

What makes thing worse for me, is that aside from Riverside fans on Youtube (glad about those fans, really) not many people seem to care about Steven's growing influence, some don't seem to notice and many who do, think it's a good thing. I even read a comment on Spock's Beard's latest single "Submerged" on Youtube that read something like: "Reminescent of Porcupine Tree, well done!" It was a non-sarcastic comment too, which had me very confused. Since when is it a good thing, when fantastic bands with an established sound begin to sound more like another established band?

I guess that's it really. I like Porcupine Tree a lot and I like Steven, but he seems to have become too big and this might actually end up harming the genre as a whole. There's also the issue of him re-mixing classic prog albums. I haven't yet looked into that more deeply, but generally speaking, classic albums seem to lose a huge part of their charm, when re-mastered or re-mixed.

So, as always, I await everyone's thoughts on this. What do you think of Steven's solo work and work as a producer? What's Your opinion on his undeniably huge influence over other artists?

No-man's Heaven taste is good shit. It's a wonder that he can do such good stuff.

My main problem with his solo stuff is that there is no soul (don't be a dick, its not the genre). The production is impeccable, its mixed in 5.1 surround card, the artwork is evocative and the instrumentation is world-class but the songs have no character at all. It becomes more and more a problem with his subsequent releases. And I frankly don't know how he can address it.

Written by 3rdWorld on 03.09.2016 at 19:10

My main problem with his solo stuff is that there is no soul (don't be a dick, its not the genre). The production is impeccable, its mixed in 5.1 surround card, the artwork is evocative and the instrumentation is world-class but the songs have no character at all.

Sorry for the later than late reply, but anyway... I agree. I've begun to feel like Steven is much more of a student of prog music than he is a prog musician. His albums have all the technicality of prog, but the wow! factor just doesn't seem to be there, with a few exceptions. And as odd as it may sound, the emotions in his music are either non-existatn, too obvious or seem almost fake. So much of his music is so deliberately and even desperately trying to be melancholy and sad, that it ends up making me feel nothing at all. I always like to compare Steven's "supersad" songs like Routine, Heartattack In a Layby and most of the FOABP album with some of Neal Morse's work in Spock's Beard. The song The Great Nothing isn't at all trying to be emotional and moving, it just IS emotional and moving and while it sounds a lot less melancholy than Steven's works, it can make me cry, whether as Steven's music just can't anymore. A year or two ago I wouldn't have dreamed of saying this, but I actually think Steven is overrated.

Written by Metren on 04.03.2017 at 12:33

Sorry for the later than late reply, but anyway... I agree. I've begun to feel like Steven is much more of a student of prog music than he is a prog musician. His albums have all the technicality of prog, but the wow! factor just doesn't seem to be there, with a few exceptions. And as odd as it may sound, the emotions in his music are either non-existatn, too obvious or seem almost fake. So much of his music is so deliberately and even desperately trying to be melancholy and sad, that it ends up making me feel nothing at all. I always like to compare Steven's "supersad" songs like Routine, Heartattack In a Layby and most of the FOABP album with some of Neal Morse's work in Spock's Beard. The song The Great Nothing isn't at all trying to be emotional and moving, it just IS emotional and moving and while it sounds a lot less melancholy than Steven's works, it can make me cry, whether as Steven's music just can't anymore. A year or two ago I wouldn't have dreamed of saying this, but I actually think Steven is overrated.

No problem with the late reply. Agreed 100%. I think I will just stick to checking out the rest of PT discography as I've only explored the early albums there and I enjoyed them immensely. Still expecting he will revive PT sometime soon in the future. Maybe when his fans stop worshipping his solo wankery and put some sense back into his head.

Is any of his solo stuff actually metal?

I'm a little late to the Steven Wilson party. I literally just discovered him and Porcupine Tree this month. A prog page I follow on Facebook kept putting up memes about him and YouTube video links so I started checking it all out. So far I'm enjoying his work, but agree that he may be a bit overhyped by many. His PT stuff is excellent IMO, yet I've only heard Deadwing and watched some live stuff on YouTube. I've only heard his most recent solo album and I thought it was pretty good (more prog rock and less metal). I'm slowly picking up the albums, but they are well produced with audiophiles in mind. It's good stuff never the less. I too hope PT reunited because IMO that material tops the solo stuff easily.

I think you could easily put together a three disc greatest hits album of everything Wilson has done in his career (if not four) with everything being top class so his contribution to music is pretty unquestionable. Good or bad, he has had a lot of influence on the genre and how people will forever approach making progressive music in the future. That said, most Porcupine Tree albums were a bit unbalanced and never really felt like cohesive wholes, which is somewhat forgivable because that was likely never the aim but it has been a clear weakness throughout his career. As someone who enjoys putting on an album to experience the feel of it, to get inside the artist(s) headspace for a while, it is offputting when some songs feel out of place and kill the flow.

Definitely agree with the criticism that his solo material has slowly lost whatever heart his music once had. His first two solo albums were interesting art pieces with the third, The Raven That Refused To Sing, having some legit emotional impact on me (though, in retrospect, it was mostly the last two songs that made me love the album). However, Hand. Cannot. Erase. was frustrating because, for every good idea that existed, it felt like all the feeling and genuineness was pulled out of it thanks to his growing obsession with producing his music to be "flawless". It's something that he had established a good balance with early in his career but has gone waaaay too far in more recent years.

To the Bone was not that great IMO. He went away from the rock and went on a more pop sound (not modern pop). He made this clear prior to the release so it wasn't a real shock to fans. I really tried to like it, but only enjoyed a couple songs from it. I quit following his fan page on Facebook due to their lack of understanding someone else's opinion different from theirs. Steven was hoping for something chart topping with To the Bone i believe. I don't know how that worked out, but wonder how he'll follow up this album? I'd personally prefer more progressive rock/metal direction but you never know what to expect anymore.

Written by fourrobert13 on 22.03.2018 at 18:37

To the Bone was not that great IMO. He went away from the rock and went on a more pop sound (not modern pop). He made this clear prior to the release so it wasn't a real shock to fans. I really tried to like it, but only enjoyed a couple songs from it. I quit following his fan page on Facebook due to their lack of understanding someone else's opinion different from theirs. Steven was hoping for something chart topping with To the Bone i believe. I don't know how that worked out, but wonder how he'll follow up free download bet365 app android? I'd personally prefer more progressive rock/metal direction but you never know what to expect anymore.

My thoughts exactly!

Written by fourrobert13 on 22.03.2018 at 18:37

Steven was hoping for something chart topping with To the Bone i believe. I don't know how that worked out, but wonder how he'll follow up this album? I'd personally prefer more progressive rock/metal direction but you never know what to expect anymore.

The album did pretty well in the charts, so I guess he achieved that goal. He's also performed on some pretty mainstream TV programs (where the studio audience is as dead as a doorknob) recently.

As for myself, I keep falling out of love with Steven (and PT's) music every day. I find his stuff increasingly bland and emotionless, when compared to superior bands like IQ, Fish-era Marillion, Spock's Beard, Riverside etc etc etc.

Love his music

Just found this document with a list of pretty much everything he has done, the guy is anything but lazy:

http://www.voyage-pt.de/swdisco.html

As far as my opinion of the man; I think I like him best as part of something else (like contributing to Opeth albums) than on his "own".