[IPodPJ]

Grace For Drowning
Steven Wilson's 2nd solo project
 
www.gracefordrowning.com
 
There's an audio player with 1 minute clips of each song from the two album CDs (http://www.kscopemusic.com/stevenwilson/gracefordrowning/mp3s/myWimpy.html).  It sounds extremely promising and might be his best work to date (which he is long overdo for; his recent past work has left a lot to be desired in my opinion).  It will be released as a 5.1 channel Blu-Ray disc with music accompanying videos and imagery, and also as a deluxe edition with CDs, Blu-Ray and a 100 page book.  Knowing Steven Wilson and his desire to capitalize on every possible format, there will probably be other editions as well.  Even the low-res audio clips sound quite good, so I'm expecting this album to have great sound quality, especially if it was designed specifically for Blu-Ray.  The last Porcupine Tree album (The Incident) left much to be desired SQ-wise.
 
Steve Hackett (of Genesis) is one of the guitarists on the album, as are some jazz musicians.  The music definitely has an avant-garde/jazzy feel to it.
 
You can sign up here for the Kscope mailing list and receive a download link for a complete 9 minute and 30 second song titled "Remainder The Black Dog" from the second of the two albums:
http://www.burningshed.com/store/kscope/freedownload/45/
 
Release is scheduled for September 26 on Kscope.
 

 
Tracklist for the 2 albums from Grace For Drowning: (http://www.gracefordrowning.com/tracklist.php)
 
Volume 1 - Deform To Form A Star
 
1) Grace For Drowning (2.00)
2) Sectarian (7.45)
3) Deform To Form A Star (8.00)
4) No Part Of Me (5.45)
5) Postcard (4.30)
6) Raider Prelude (2.30)
7) Remainder The Black Dog (9.30)
 
Volume 2 - Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye
 
1) Belle De Jour (3.00)
2) Index (4.45)
3) Track One (4.15)
4) Raider II (23.15)
5) Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye (8.00)
 
 
I have no affiliation with the band or the label (as a person I loathe the man, but love his music), and have posted this information solely for the purpose of sharing the news with SW/PT fans.

 

[Gazza]

Can't wait. I'll probably just get the regular CD version and the inevitable vinyl special edition later.

 

[IPodPJ]

Yeah, I have a Blu-Ray player but not a 5.1 system, and it's a pretty low-end Sony model which is fine for the picture but not for converting audio.  I wound up missing the boat on buying his limited edition deluxe Insurgentes album which wound up selling for as much as $600 on eBay.  So I figured I'd buy 2 of the deluxe versions of The Incident and I'm still sitting here with one unopened one because they can be purchased online for less than we paid for them; they said that would be limited too but they never specified an amount for the CD version like they did for the vinyl version which is probably why it never went up in value.
 
I really have no interest in the deluxe book because frankly I think most of us are a little bored with Lasse Hoile's artwork.  Wilson really needs to try someone new, but I doubt that will ever happen since he feels Lasse always knows what he's feeling and can translate it perfectly into visuals.  That being said, I'll probably buy it if it isn't too expensive so I can have the audio in all available formats.  It seems like it's become more about the marketing and money for SW than the music, which a long time ago he swore he would never succumb to.  We don't need 5 versions of every album project.

 

[Gazza]

Quote:

  It seems like it's become more about the marketing and money for SW than the music, which a long time ago he swore he would never succumb to.  

I'd agree with that if Steven was producing mediocre albums but everything thus far has been excellent. 
 
$600 for the Insurgentes limited edition you say? I have mine sitting around doing nothing. Maybe I should sell it. Hell, I'd be happy to let it go for half of that.
 

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

I'd agree with that if Steven was producing mediocre albums but everything thus far has been excellent. 
 
$600 for the Insurgentes limited edition you say? I have mine sitting around doing nothing. Maybe I should sell it. Hell, I'd be happy to let it go for half of that.
 

 
I doubt you'd get that much for it anymore since it was since released as alternate versions that have both CDs, plus you can download the songs from the second CD as WAV files from his Soundcloud account.
 
I still have an original "Recordings" album from the limited edition run of 20,000 still sealed in shrink wrap.  I think there are only 2 or 3 left in existence that are still sealed.  Those were going for as much as $400 before they re-released it.  Now I'd probably be lucky to get $100 for it.  I have two.  That one, and one that I opened.  I had won a contest a long time ago where I received a bunch of their CDs, and one autographed promotional copy of In Absentia.
 
 

 

[JamesMcProgger]

After my incident with his first album, I'm not sure if I want to try this one. unless is a very different sound.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

After my incident with his first album, I'm not sure if I want to try this one. unless is a very different sound.

Have you read my first post and listened to the samples on the audio player?  That will answer your question, and then you can decide whether you like it or not.
That being said, the audio samples for The Incident were pretty good and obviously the best parts of the album, while the remainder not so much.
However, I have a feeling from these audio samples that Grace For Drowning will be the best work SW has done to date.  I'm very anxiously anticipating it and hope it lives up to my "album of the year" scale.
 

 

[IPodPJ]

Preorders are now being taken on Burning Shed.  I went for the deluxe edition.... ugh...

 

[antiman]

so, out of curiosity... does anybody else think of jeff buckley when hearing 'grace for drowning'?
 
first thing that popped into my head.
 
the album sounds fantastic, i bought 'the incident' fancy-pants version with the book and whatnot. found it kind of dull... i'm SO tempted to get this one, but i'm afraid of the book being boring, as i agree that the lasse hoile stuff is uninteresting. the music is all i care about, so i think i'll pass on this version, but i would like to have it on dvda... i used to buy whatever the guy did, until i heard only the clips of the third blackfield. that didn't sound great, but this sounds wonderful! can't wait!

 

[JamesMcProgger]

I'm gonna wait to see some review (from reviewers not from fanbois) and then decide. I still cant forgive Wilson for the last Blackfield album 

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

so, out of curiosity... does anybody else think of jeff buckley when hearing 'grace for drowning'?
 
first thing that popped into my head.
 
the album sounds fantastic, i bought 'the incident' fancy-pants version with the book and whatnot. found it kind of dull... i'm SO tempted to get this one, but i'm afraid of the book being boring, as i agree that the lasse hoile stuff is uninteresting. the music is all i care about, so i think i'll pass on this version, but i would like to have it on dvda... i used to buy whatever the guy did, until i heard only the clips of the third blackfield. that didn't sound great, but this sounds wonderful! can't wait!

You won't be getting it on DVD-A.  As of now the 5.1 mix only comes on Blu-Ray and with the Deluxe Edition.  There have been no announcements as to when or if the Blu-Ray would be released by itself, but I'm sure it will happen.  There probably won't be a DVD-A though, because Blu-Ray has much better sound quality.
 
I'm sure the book will be boring as hell, too.  I'm sick of Lasse's stupid artwork, but I wanted to get the out-takes CD which only comes with the deluxe edition.

 
Quote:

I'm gonna wait to see some review (from reviewers not from fanbois) and then decide. I still cant forgive Wilson for the last Blackfield album 

I thought the last Blackfield album was okay, but keep in mind that wasn't SW's work.  All but one song was written by Aviv Geffen.  The reason the Incident wasn't that good, and the reason the Blackfield album didn't have much of his own stuff on it, was because he has been working on Grace For Drowning.  SW has put more time into this project than any other to date, and from the previews it sounds like it should be his magnum opus.  I'm really looking forward to all of the AUDIO MATERIAL, which is the ONLY reason I went for the deluxe edition.  I could care less about the book or any other of SW's lame marketing strategies.
 

 

[JamesMcProgger]

Quote:

I thought the last Blackfield album was okay, but keep in mind that wasn't SW's work.  All but one song was written by Aviv Geffen.  The reason the Incident wasn't that good, and the reason the Blackfield album didn't have much of his own stuff on it, was because he has been working on Grace For Drowning.  SW has put more time into this project than any other to date, and from the previews it sounds like it should be his magnum opus.  I'm really looking forward to all of the AUDIO MATERIAL, which is the ONLY reason I went for the deluxe edition.  I could care less about the book or any other of SW's lame marketing strategies.
 

 
Still, I wouldnt take a jump in the dark for Wilson again. and even when he wasnt the main mastermind in the last Blackfield, he was there, and if the album had been a super hit, he would be blamed for it. It's been a downhill since FoaBP and on, IMO.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Still, I wouldnt take a jump in the dark for Wilson again. and even when he wasnt the main mastermind in the last Blackfield, he was there, and if the album had been a super hit, he would be blamed for it. It's been a downhill since FoaBP and on, IMO.

I'm not disagreeing with you.  I've been a PT fan since 1996.  It has been all downhill since FOABP.  Porcupine Tree used to be my all-time favorite band, but now I rarely listen to them.  The fans have been demanding more from him.  They want to know what happened to the SW of old that brought us brilliant albums like Signify and In Absentia.  Sky Moves Sideways, Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun (and Recordings), and Deadwing also were superb.  There hasn't been an epic song like Waiting Phase One, Dark Matter, or Even Less in ages!  In Absentia was without question the best "complete album as a whole" they ever did to date.  But SW started going off on this "concept album" tangent, even though that more or less started with Lightbulb Sun which was about cults.  IA was supposed to be about serial killers, Deadwing was supposed to be the soundtrack to a movie about ghosts which never materialized, FOABP (my least favorite album to date, although the B-sides Nil Recurring wasn't bad) was about troubled youth and the iPod generation.  The Incident was about a mish-mash of chaotic events that happen in our everday lives.... I don't really know what Insurgentes was, but it dealt with the death of the music industry in part.  Grace for Drowning, yet to be determined, but the name of the album includes Drowning.  Starting to see a pattern here?  SW is a manic depressive or at the very least has many dark, twisted thoughts.  Even in his early days, with songs like Radioactive Toy, or the name of the live album for Signify "Coma Divine", reveals that he must have had a really depressing life.
 
His fans embraced his melancholy because there was good harmony being orchestrated from his mind.  But if you've noticed, since FOABP his fan-base has completely shifted.  He sold out.
 
I'll probably always purchase PT/Blackfield/Solo stuff of his just because I'm curious to see what his imagination is spewing forth that year, but I don't eagerly await it with nearly as much anticipation as I used to.  (I never really cared for IEM, Bass Communion, No-Man, or his Cover Versions.)  That being said, I have a feeling GFD will recapture a good portion of that essence he lost along the way and I have very high hopes for it.  If it turns out to be a let down, well then it will probably be bootlegging from here on out.  He's received enough of my money over the years, and nothing has pissed me off more than him releasing 4-5 versions/formats of each album.  For someone who used to claim it was all about the music and not about the money/selling out, he sure has a lot of explaining to do.
 
I personally don't like the man for other reasons as well which I've discussed before, but I'm hanging on to hope that he's pulled a magic rabbit out of his hat this time.  I guess on September 26 we'll know.
 

 

[AceOfWands]

I respectfully and completely disagree with your view on Steven Wilson's mental state/depressing life for reasons I won't elaborate on. 
 

 

[Skylab]

I preordered today on burning shed, along with the new SW remasters of King Crimson's "discipline" and "Starless and Bible Black".