(Cover photo from BBC.com)

Okay … this one is a bit of a gimme.

To know me is to know what a huge fan of Steven Wilson. One day, I had no clue who he was. The next, he was part of my 21st century musical religion. (An ironic statement, given Steven’s and my view on actual religion. Insert laugh track here.)

The first I heard from Steven was courtesy of his band Porcupine Tree and their album Deadwing. Believe it or not, I bought that album because Adrian Belew made a couple of guitar solo cameos. But before long, I realized that this Porcupine Tree band was pretty damn good!

But Porcupine Tree is for another day. For now, I’m just gonna focus on Steven and his solo works.

Like so many PT fans, I was mildly disappointed to learn Steven was taking some time away from the band to focus on solo efforts. I mean, what could Steven possibly offer us outside the context of his band?

And then I heard The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories). I immediately stood corrected.

From the very first notes, I was positively blown away. Steven had managed to capture a “Golden Age” of progressive rock (the ‘69-‘74 sound so many worship) while still sounding very much like himself.

https://youtu.be/EM-5EBAJ7tA?si=9E04QE18-Lu_ZnP

The Raven was a collection of absolute brilliance. I practically played it on a loop in my house. Let’s just say there were requests to play something different for a change. But it took a while before I could do it. Needless to say, The Raven is my favorite SW album.

As it happened, this was Steven’s fourth solo studio album. I had some catching up to do!

Cover Version is an interesting collection of the music Steven loves, which spans various decades and genres, particularly pop music. I found his take on Prince’s “Sign ‘O’ The Times” to be very interesting, indeed.

https://youtu.be/pC42tGImeKI?si=8wLgliwX5KVLhWr0

Cover Version seems like a good way to get to know Steven personally, since we’re dealing with the music he lived while he was growing up.

When I heard the second album, Insurgentes, I came to realize why Steven needed to step outside Porcupine Tree to bring his songs to life. The music required different arrangements than can be found within the context of a single band. So, Steven decided to call in the musicians he needed to bring each song to life. It was a good call.

https://youtu.be/EM-5EBAJ7tA?si=9E04QE18-Lu_ZnPn

The same can be said for Grace for Drowning, a sprawling two-disc set loaded with prog rock legends, each of them giving the music exactly what it needs. And it was still plenty proggy!

https://youtu.be/XRcV2S1ZaCw?si=l4ebfzBhIPupoLMy

Steven’s follow-up to The Raven …, Hand Cannot Erase, was every bit as powerful as its predecessor, but for different reasons. Centered around the theme of the long-undiscovered death of a kind and popular woman, Steven found a new way to hammer us square in the feels. Day-to-day life moved so quickly these days, details are easily missed. And some of those details are pretty big!

Not only is this a terrific album (probably my second favorite of his solo efforts), it contains 11 of my favorite minutes in Steven’s solo catalog. The power and passion brought into “Home Invasion/Regret #9” is unlike most anything I’ve heard in music. Guthrie Govan’s guitar solo (which is in the heels of some remarkable playing by keyboardist Adam Holzman) is positively sublime.

https://youtu.be/6L1T7tfMQ88?si=Rm811Mi2wp0zjh8f

Needless to say, this album got a lot of airplay around my house.

Steven’s album To the Bone, sent his prog fans into a frenzy. It would seem our prog hero had decided to veer somewhat toward pop music, a style reviled by so many in Steven’s fanbase.

Personally, I didn’t mind the album at all. Granted, it took me a minute to get there, but Steven drove the point home when I saw him in concert during this tour.

Before playing his “Pop” tune “Permanating,” he asked the audience what kind of music artists like Prince and Miles Davis played. Steven saw it as undefinable, meaning a musician should be allowed to go wherever the musical muse takes him. He’s right, of course.

https://youtu.be/K0gryiltJo0?si=O6VRLApgKVbBGOMn

Many of us had to be reminded of a simple truth when it comes to the artists we admire: musicians love MUSIC. Period. Just because an artist is known for one thing, that doesn’t mean said artist is incapable of playing or enjoying anything else. This is hard for some to grasp, but it makes perfect sense to me.

Steven was slick enough to sneak an EP, 4 1/2, on us while I wasn’t paying attention. The small collection presents itself like a collection of b-sides from To the Bone. But much like Radiohead, Steven’s b-sides are just as good (if not sometimes better) than many band’s top shelf tunes. This purge even contains one of my favorite Wilson tunes in “Vermillioncore.”

https://youtu.be/jMh-QDTuGGo?si=G00Nwu-Z3X1yz8ri

This collection concludes Steven’s transition into his next musical venture.

If people were upset by the pop elements in To the Bone, then they were absolutely apoplectic over The Future Bites, where pop dominates the soundscape. I mean, Elton John makes a cameo appearance!

I don’t have the same level of vitriol others have for this album, though it is kind of low on the totem pole relative to the rest of his solo catalog. Still, it finds its way to my sound system every now and then.

https://youtu.be/sX22dFMSNcg?si=ggpWara2zd4fw1Mh

If To the Bone was a transition from Prog to Pop, then The Harmony Codex represents a trip in the opposite direction. There’s still a little pop sheen on some of the tunes, but the songs are longer and more complex. Electronics abound throughout the record, and elements of Insurgentes like to sneak up here and there.

Unlike the timing of the other albums, I’m flooded with new releases from other artists to sample, so I don’t play this album as often as I might have without the reviews of new material. But Harmony is a pretty good record. I just need to make more time for it.

https://youtu.be/qfhasuWvipM?si=LZPllP9tezHLyV4Q

No doubt hardcore Prog fans will see The Overview as Steven’s “return to form.” After all, the album is made up of just two long-form tracks.

Sometimes, I think Steven is giving his fans just a touch of trolling when he creates his pop-oriented releases. It’s as though he was testing the fans to see just how much he could get away with before reeling things back in. Good for him, I say. He has more than earned the right to do what he wants musically. What he does is is choice. It’s our choice to decide whether or not we want to stay onboard.

Steven’s live releases are as choice as they come and rank among my favorites. Get All You Deserve comes from the Grace for Drowning tour. Steven knows how to surround himself with top-tier talent in order to bring his studio gems to life onstage. A couple of his favorite sidemen are keyboardist Adam Holzman and bassist Nick Beggs, who doubles on Chapman Stick. This release is about as proggy as it gets.

Home Invasion, which is centered around To the Bone, slips just a little pop sensibility into the mix. Steven is quick to shut down the audience’s musical snobbery, reminding us that he loves all kinds of music, and we should to. It’s a solid argument.

Even if you don’t agree, there’s no denying the quality of the musicianship sharing the stage with Steven. I’m one of those people who tends to favor live releases over studio works more often than not. I want to watch top-tier musicians work without a net. Steven’s bands never fail to disappoint. I look forward to seeing them in action again this fall.

No doubt the evidence herein explains why Steven Wilson had become one of my favorite musicians of the 21st century. If you haven’t yet boarded the train, there’s plenty of room! Hop on and enjoy!

If you’re already there, tell me about your Steven Wilson experiences.

#cirdecsongs

If you would like to have your music reviewed anytime or have your band photographed while in Chicago (USA), please contact me at cirdecsongs@gmail.com