PORCUPINE TREE — The Sky Moves Sideways (review)

PORCUPINE TREE — The Sky Moves Sideways album cover Album · 1995 · Non-Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Warthur
On The Sky Moves Sideways Porcupine Tree is in the midst of its transformation from Steve Wilson solo project to fully-fledged band - and in doing so, the group produce an absolute classic of tranquil, relaxing space rock. Incorporating carefully-chosen influences from the dance music and indie rock of the era whilst keeping the Floydian space rock approach central, Wilson, Barbieri, Edwin and Matland produce vast soundscapes which prove that proggy space rock albums don't have to be about nostalgia or retro-prog revivalism; though this music is clearly descended from the likes of Pink Floyd, it is very much of its era and takes that musical style forward as opposed to wallowing in the past.

When you set this against Pink Floyd's The Division Bell from around the same time, the extent to which the predecessors had fallen behind the times and lost touch with what was happening outside their bubble becomes strikingly obvious; Porcupine Tree, conversely, demonstrate on this album an awareness of a range of popular music forms - rock, pop, dance, trance, etc. - beyond the genre niche they perform in, and yield music which does not spurn the occasional connection to the wider world beyond prog whilst being comfortable in its identity as prog. I heartily recommend the 2CD version of the album; it is extremely unusual for me to bother listening to "alternate versions" of songs at all, let alone be in the mood for listening to one immediately after listening to the second half of the standard version, but in this case the possibilities explored in the title track are so compelling that I'm glad to.
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