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| Type | Album |
| Year | 1992 |
| Genre | Experimental |
| Style | Psychdelic Rock/Pop |
In the music community, you can often see that the debuts are specially admired. After all, more often than not, the bands are the most inventive, creative and energetic at their debuts. And you can see that when you look at bands such as Metallica, Deftones and... I don't know, Pink Floyd for example. The fanbase is frequently really fascinated by the debuts for their special "young" energy. But the case of this album is kinda different, as the PT fanbase agrees that it is not a good record at all! It's also frequently disregarded by being presented as a compilation album rather than a true long-playing record. And it is partially true, as the album is comprised of a selection of psychedelic rock/experimental track recorded by Steven, often featuring his friends. But after all, it was released as a genuine album... And I think, that this fact hurts this record a lot, so to say.
I really like the sound and the overall atmosphere of DIY, bedroom-made albums. I love bands like Have a Nice Life, Panchiko, I really like early Car Sear Headrest albums, and the deep-cut artists like Starry Cat or Argo Nuff, who created all of the music in their basements or bedrooms, on home-made or flea-market-bought equipment. And early PT was exactly that! If you're reading this, I really recommend you to listen to the actual tapes released under Porcupine Tree moniker before On the Sunday of Life... If you're a fan of low-fidelity hand-made music, you won't regret it... This album is really bleak and uninteresting in comparison to those tapes.
That being said, songs like "Footprints" or "Swallows" really loose when they are professionally mastered. They were made to be drenched in the tape hiss and muffle and when procuced for the album, they just sound weird, artificially "plastic" and empty. Moreover, the album version of "Radioactive Toy", one of the highlights of the record, was ruined by overpolishing and is cleared of the SICK AF "No way!!" adlib before one of the instrumental choruses. Also, one of the versions of this song (specifically the one from the "Limited Edition of One" audio illustrations' CD) features a cool intro sequence, that too was scrapped (although I enjoy the "Turnip" one too!). And there's more! A bunch of amazings track from the demos were just left out. The best ones include: "No Reason to Live, No Reason to Die" "Mute", "The Cross" (a cover of Prince's song!) or Hawkwind-inspired "Out". There's also this era's extremely early version of Russia on Ice, the 1999's Lightbulb Sun track, which features completely different vibe and structure and this banging, trebbly bassline that sounds like something from PT/CC era.
Also, I hate the chipmunk voice that Steven used here, it ruins the experience for me, I can't bare to sit through some of the songs. The absolute bangers like "This Long Silence" and "Nostalgia Factory" were absolutely destroyed by this technique... Not to mention "Linton Samuel Dawson" (this would go hard on a live show tho!!!). I would also add, that the instrumentation seems somewhat lacking on some tracks, e.g "It will Rain for Million Years". It sounds like a poorly improvised pentatonic solo-ing practive. Also, the guitar tone is too scratchy for my taste.
Apart from all of that, the record is full of beautiful tunes like "Begonia Seduction Scene" or "Nine Cats" and a selection of bangers that go hard. And there's also the hautingly creepy "Space Transmission" which I adore for it's scary and menacing vibe. This playful and "fabulous" atmosphere is something that Steven will completely abadon going forward, so we gotta be thankful for this album. It's not great, I could've been better, but it features song that are beyond great! I go back to a lot of songs from this record regurally...
Highlights: