Track Listing

Disc 1:

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. Smart Kid
11. Tinto Brass
12. Stop Swimming

Disc 2:

1. Even Less [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
2. Piano Lessons [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
3. Stupid Dream [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
4. Pure Narcotic [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
5. Slave Called Shiver [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
6. Don't Hate Me [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
7. This Is No Rehearsal [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
8. Baby Dream in Cellophane [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
9. Stranger by the Minute [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
10. Smart Kid [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
11. Tinto Brass [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
12. Stop Swimming [24 Bit Stereo][Multimedia Track]
13. Bonus Material [24 Bit Stereo][*][Multimedia Track]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76558 in Music
• Brand: Snapper
• Released on: 2006-07-24
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Enhanced, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Import
• Dimensions: .28 pounds

Album Description
2CD Special edition, re-issue of the long deleted 1999 album. Disc one features new Steve Wilson remixes/remastered from the original tapes, whilst disc two features DVDA (Playable on all DVD players) containing the album remixed into 5.1 surround sound. (In DVDA & DTS versions).Also inclded are 5.1 mixes of bonus tracks and photo gallery. Artwork has also been re-designed and beautifully packaged by Carl Glover.

Customer Reviews

Turning point for PTree
This was first released back in 1999, and at the time I considered Porcupine Tree to be a pretty good progressive-rock band. Not necessarily great, but pretty good. I had even skipped over getting their "Coma Divine: Live in Rome" album (thinking that I didn't really need a live album from them), and "Metanoia" (which was described as some extra music they had left over from previous recording sessions, and that didn't sound too interesting...). But after listening to "Stupid Dream", I went back and bought "Coma Divine". And with those two albums, I considered them the best new band of the 1990's.

"Stupid Dream" is a little slower-paced than previous albums, with more intricate, varied and interesting instrumental work on it. Not that their previous music had been bad, but the music here is even better. The music has more of an edge to it, and distances the band a bit more from the "Pink Floyd Sound" that they had on "The Sky Moves Sideways". But the more notable improvement is in the lyrics. Steve Wilson managed to come up with songs that were more about people and personal emotions, instead of "spacy vague trippy topics". Lyrically, the songs here are more of a rock album, instead of the psychedelic lyrics from earlier albums. Mind you, I also liked those psychedelic lyrics, but I can only take so many of those before they seem trite. The songs on "Stupid Dream" are certainly not trite.

You can check out all the lyrics at PTree's web site, so I won't bother typing in all the ones I like. But I personally like "Piano Lessons". It could be a theme song for anyone who is young, talented, and eager to come up with "something new", even though the people around them are very cynical. ``She said there's too much out there. Too much already said. You'd better give up hoping, you're better off in bed. -- You don't need much to speak out. No class, no wit, no soul. Forget you own agenda, get ready to be sold''.

The lyrics are still sparse, so different listeners can fill in the details of the song from their own experiences. "Even Less" is a song about a friend dying, and the feeling that maybe you could have helped him out in some way. "Pure Narcotic" is a song were one person is hopelessly infatuated with someone, but the other person doesn't seem to care all that much. "This Is No Rehearsal" is a parent who has their only child abducted. Note that it isn't a long song about the details of the *abduction*, but just a few sentences which express the feeling of loss. The album ends with "Stop Swimming", about someone who is just too tired of struggling and wants to stop, even if that means they will die. Obviously a number of sad themes there.

"A Smart Kid" is a bit of a throwback to earlier PTree songs like "Radioactive Toy", in that it's more like an excerpt from some science-fiction story. ``Winter lasted five long years. No sun will come again I fear. Chemical harvest was sown. -- And I will wait for you, until the sky is blue. And I will wait for you, what else can I do? -- A spaceship from another star. They ask me where all the people are. What can I tell them? -- I tell them I'm the only one. There was a war but I must have won.''

Okay, so that's the album. If you don't have it, then this is a great album to pick up and listen to. For those who already have the original album, the question is whether this remastered version is worth buying. I think it is. It's obviously worth it if you have a good 5.1-capable DVD-audio system (I don't, but this album might get me to buy one!), due to the second disk with the new 5.1 audio mix. But even the regular stereo CD is a little clearer-sounding in spots. The music isn't much different, in that there's no new solos or anything, and all the songs have basically the same playing time as the original. But some of the details seem a little sharper (IMO), and there were a few spots in the original version where I couldn't quite make out the lyrics, and those spots seem more understandable in this version.

I really think this is one of the best albums of the past ten years, especially for anyone who likes a variety of solid substantial music surrounding short, memorable lyrics. After this album, I switched to pre-ordering any new release from the group. I was confident that these guys really knew what they were doing, and their "Lightbulb Sun", "In Absentia" and "Deadwing" albums released after this one have certainly continued to prove that.

The start of something beautiful
THE BAND: Steven Wilson (vocals, guitar, piano, bass, samples), Richard Barbieri (keyboards, mellotron, Hammond organ), Colin Edwards (bass), Chris Maitland (drums & percussion).

THE DISCS: (1999) 12 tracks clocking in at just over 60 minutes. This is a 2-disc package: Disc-1 is the original 12 track album (remastered). Disc-2 is a DVD-Audio disc containing the same 12 tracks - to be played on your DVD player at home through your 5.1 surround sound system or on your home PC (must have a DVD player installed). Disc-2 has bonus material including a video ("Piano Lessons"), photo gallery, bonus track "Ambulance Chasing" (previously only available on "Recordings"), and the full length 14+ minute version of "Even Less". Included with the discs is a 14-page booklet containing song titles/credits, song lyrics, odd pictures relating to the album cover, and one band photo. Recorded at Foel Studios(Wales) and No Man's Land (England). The album cover artwork has changed... the original guy standing in the white suit in the wafer lab is gone. Initially on Madfish Records (UK) label, this digitally remastered version released in 2006 is on Transmission Recordings' label.

COMMENTS: In my opinion, Porcupine Tree is quite simply the best band working in the progressive rock field these days. "Stupid Dream" is a masterwork and I put it right up there with "Lightbulb Sun" (2000), "In Absentia" (2002) and "Deadwing" (2005) as being my favorite studio recordings from PT. A great album, song for song, with no filler to be found. If I had to list my 2 or 3 all-time favorite songs from PT, the opening track here "Even Less" is absolutely one of them. The song itself is one of their concert staples. Hard to say if the story (about childhood dreams and a friend who commits suicide) or the fantastic guitar that begins the song is the best part (the intro reminds me of something Jimmy Page or David Gilmore might have done decades ago). The original pressing of "Stupid Dream" is now out of print and expensive if you can find it. This new packaging is equally brilliant. The songs are wonderful... "Even Less" a favorite; "Piano Lessons" a happy upbeat song about "tiny hands destroying timeless tunes" as a youngster; some great space jams with "Slave Called Shiver", "This Is No Rehearsal" and "Tinto Brass"; as well as some beautiful acoustic drumless ballads in "Pure Narcotic" and "Baby Dream In Cellophane". Another favorite on "Stupid Dream" is the song "Smart Kid"... starting off as a acoustic guitar and piano ballad with the rest of the band joining in to jam half way through the tune. This is a great album and if you enjoy rock-and-roll music as well as progressive rock - you must have "Stupid Dream". *Note - if you find the song "Even Less" being one of your favorites from PT, look for the full length 14-minute version of the same song on the "Recordings" (2001) release. The digitally remastered sound is brilliantly crisp to a fault. Also look for The Tree's wonderful DVD "Arriving Somewhere" (2006) featuring 2 songs from this album ("Even Less" and "Don't Hate Me"). "Stupid Dream" is a classic disc from The Tree (5 stars).

If you like PT at all, BUY THIS IMMEDIATELY
First of all, the #1 rule of PT collecting is that if something's available, buy it, because it may not be around forever...so this applies in general to all things Porcupine Tree/Steve Wilson. However, this album isn't just a great PT album, or a great PT album, but a desert-island-top-ten album.

I first saw Porcupine Tree on the first leg of the Deadwing Tour, in June '05. I had heard In Absentia and the excellent Stars Die compilation of their early work and had extremely high expectations. But nothing prepared me for my reaction to the show. By the end of it I was ripping my PT t-shirt off to check and see if I could catch another date...alas, it was not to be. I remember asking the lovely blonde lady next to me what was that AMAZING song that they did right before they broke for their encore and she said "Even Less. Wow, you were so into the show and you've never heard anything off of Stupid Dream?"

I called a friend the next day that had been a longtime "Tree Hugger," and the first thing he asked me was "How did you like that song right before the encore? That's from Stupid Dream, the album that blew my doors off a few years back." The song was, of course, Even Less.

In the month or so thereafter, I went from owning 3 Porcupine Tree albums to nearly 50 Porcupine Tree and Steve Wilson-related discs (and seeing 4 shows on the second Deadwing leg), and while it's all a pretty amazing body of work, Stupid Dream is at the apex. It's that good. It shares the "poppy, song oriented era" of Porcupine Tree with Lightbulb Sun, but is far more consistent, and perfectly bridges the psychedelic earlier PT music with the heavier, metal-tinged era of In Absentia, Deadwing, and from the sound of the new material at their LA and San Francisco shows last week, continuing through the next effort. It's more structured than the early material, yet still mostly melodic rather than metallic, with powerful, spare lyrics coupled with complex, yet catchy arrangements and song structure. It gives up more and more with each listen, and while it holds together as a body of work, it also contains a huge variety of sounds and approaches.

The 5.1 mixes are fantastic, and the bonus material is great, but any Tree Hugger should buy this disk solely because it contains the 14 minute "full length" version of Even Less, which appeared on Recordings, a limited edition (read...$300+ on E-bay) of singles, outtakes and b-sides from Stupid Dream/Lightbulb Sun. Whereas the original version has two verses about a suicide, a murder, and horrible childhood memories, and ends with an eerie countown of radio numbers, the "full length" version continues through a long, percussive instrumental build leading to a screaming guitar solo and a DEVASTATING third verse that is a scream of anger at the hopelessness of faith in the face of loss and alienation, a searing indictment of Christianity in particular, and a final coda of giving in and submission to forces beyond our control. It's by far the best "progressive epic" song in years, and will indeed blow your doors off.

If you like any sort of "progressive" music, get this disc immediately, as it's one of the best in the past ten years.