''Stupid Dream'' is the fifth studio album by British
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...
band
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became ...
. It was first released in March 1999, and then re-released on 15 May 2006 due to the band's rising popularity on major record label
Lava Records
Lava Records (Lava Music, LLC) is an American record label owned by Jason Flom in partnership with Universal Music Group.
Company history
In 1995, Flom launched Lava Records in partnership with Atlantic Records. For the next decade, he continu ...
with their releases of ''
In Absentia
is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent".
may also refer to:
* Award in absentia
* Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body
* Election in ab ...
'' in 2002 and ''
Deadwing
''Deadwing'' is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released in Japan on 24 March 2005, in Europe on 28 March, and in the US on 26 April. It quickly became the band's best selling album, although it was l ...
'' in 2005. The album, along with ''
Lightbulb Sun
''Lightbulb Sun'' is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in May 2000, and later reissued in 2008 on CD, DVD-A surround sound, and vinyl.
This album, along with their prior album ''Stupid Drea ...
'' in 2000, represented a transitional period for the band, moving away from the band's earlier work in instrumental and psychedelic music, but before they took a more
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
direction in 2002 onwards. The album takes a commercially accessible pop rock sound while still retaining heavy progressive rock influences.
The album's title is a reference to frontman
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...
's view of the music industry; while many aspire to be a musician for fame and glamorous lifestyle, he feels it's a "stupid dream" because it actually leads to a life of hard work and struggle.
Background
Origins
Frontman
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...
explained the transitional period for the band at the time, stating:
Wilson said that the album marked a transition away from "abstract instrumentality" into more "natural songwriting" also due to the influence of the music he had been listening to since the release of their last album, ''
Signify'' in 1996.
These artists included
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
,
Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yama ...
,
Brian Wilson,
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
,
and
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member, ...
.
Recording
The album was recorded at Foel Studios in Llanfair Caerinon,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, and at No Man's Land Studios at
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500.
Developed after the Second World War as a new ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Wilson stated that it was the first time that the band sat down and recorded a whole album in one extended period, rather than sporadically as with past albums.
He contends that this helped the band "experiment and collaborate on a cohesive sound for the album" and that the album "contains our most vertically complex music, as opposed to horizontally complex (whereby the tracks comprise simple sections, but many of them strung together). Here the songs are relatively tightly structured but much more layered than anything we had attempted before."
The band also had a much larger budget than in the past; the album production cost £15,000, compared to only £2,000 for their previous album ''Signify''.
This enabled them to bring in an orchestra to record parts for the album.
Strings were arranged by Chris Thorpe and Wilson and performed by the East of England Orchestra.
Keyboardist
Richard Barbieri
Richard Barbieri (born 30 November 1957) is an English musician, composer and sound designer. Originally a member of new wave band Japan (and their brief 1989–1991 reincarnation as Rain Tree Crow), more recently he is known as the keyboard ...
took a different approach to the album's recording as well:
A much more sophisticated sound and meticulous attention to detail defines my approach on this album. Steven came up with a strong selection of songs and a long process followed during which we attempted to condense as many ideas, flavours and colours into the arrangements as possible. Orchestra, flute and saxophone added further to the eclectic mix and I also feel that we started to focus more of what each other was contributing. Nearly all my work was completed within an intense 7-day session in Wales. Before the sessions we had decided that the keyboards used would be analogue only. Much of my work was spontaneous performance recorded onto hard disk, which allowed me to adopt an approach whereby multiple takes and parts could be recorded and edited and compiled later on - a much more creative way of working than always looking for the one "perfect" take. But the other side to the recording was getting the pre-written parts worked out and played as well as possible, things like the mellotron and Hammond organ parts.
The album was finished in late 1998 and released in March 1999.
[Official Stupid Dream Web Page](_blank)
/ref> The band's next album, ''Lightbulb Sun'', was recorded so closely after the ''Stupid Dream'' sessions that Wilson later reflected that they sounded like "two parts of a double record". Songs from these sessions that were ultimately left off both albums were later compiled onto the b-side album '' Recordings'' in 2001.
Concept
The lyrics of the album were much more personal to Wilson than they had been in previous Porcupine Tree albums. Wilson said the album deals with his own personal "insecurities and feelings" and "the usual singer-songwriter stuff", because he believed the most relatable and affecting lyrics were from a personal point of view. Much of the personal lyrics are also about his relationship and views on the music industry:
The album cover photography, taken by Robert Harding, is linked to the album's concept as well. Wilson stated:
Song details
Singles
Three single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
s were released from the album: "Piano Lessons", " Stranger by the Minute", and "Pure Narcotic". "Piano Lessons" was the first single for the album and was released just a week prior to the album's release. A music video was made in which band members used signs referencing ironic marketing terminology, related to the album's concept of being part of the music industry as a "stupid dream". "Stranger by the Minute" was the second single from the album. The song itself features a harmonization in the chorus, between Wilson and drummer Chris Maitland, his only vocal performance on the whole album. Wilson also plays the bass on the song, instead of bassist Colin Edwin. "Pure Narcotic" was the third and final single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
from the album. This track features acoustic guitars, close harmony vocals, glockenspiel, pastoral piano and lyrics. The lyrics make a reference to Radiohead's album '' The Bends'': "You keep me hating, You keep me listening to 'The Bends'."
Other songs
"Even Less" was originally 17 minutes long, but Wilson decided to only use the first 7 minutes for the ''Stupid Dream'' album version. A separate, second 7-minute section of the song was released on the CD single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
of "Stranger by the Minute", and a combined version of 14 minutes in length was later released on their 2001 '' Recordings'' compilation album. Additionally, a 15-minute demo version of the song with alternate lyrics can only be found in the special edition of the " Four Chords That Made a Million" single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
. At the end of the track a woman can be heard repeating the pattern of numbers: "0096 2251 2110 8105". About these numbers, Wilson stated: "The counting in 'Even Less' is taken from a recording of a shortwave numbers station
A numbers station is a shortwave radio station characterized by broadcasts of formatted numbers, which are believed to be addressed to intelligence officers operating in foreign countries. Most identified stations use speech synthesis to vocal ...
. It is understood that these stations are used by intelligence agencies to transmit coded messages to overseas operatives, although no government agency has ever acknowledged the existence of these stations or what their actual purpose might be. They are virtually impossible to decode without the key since the message and its key are generated at random."
The song "Stupid Dream" is actually only a short, 28 second instrumental piece of a tuning orchestra and sound effects. "Slave Called Shiver", and "Don't Hate Me", according to Wilson, are about feelings of "unreturned love". He said of them, " Slave Called Shivers a very perverse love song, yeah. I mean, it's an unrequited love song. It's a love song with somebody who's obsessed with someone else, but none of that affection is returned. It relates very closely to 'Don't Hate Me', which is a song again about someone who's obsessed with someone from afar. 'Don't Hate Me' is an even more extreme version, because here this person actually begins to follow and make phone calls and, you know, it becomes very unhealthy. 'Slave Called Shiver' is slightly less extreme. It's about someone who's very much in love and obsessed with somebody else. That love is not returned and so there's a slightly violent perverse undercurrent. 'Pure Narcotic' also is very much the same subject". "Don't Hate Me" featured the first use of saxophone in the music of Porcupine Tree, courtesy of Theo Travis
Theo Travis (born 7 July 1964 in Birmingham, England) is a British saxophonist, flautist and composer. He is best known for being a member of Soft Machine which he joined in 2006 while the group was still using the "Legacy" suffix and for being ...
. During live performances, the flute and saxophone solos are replaced by Barbieri's keyboard and Wilson guitar solos respectively.
"This Is No Rehearsal" has been described as a mixture of "semi-acoustic segments with desperate vocals and heavy metal raves". Wilson said it "...was directly inspired by a tragic UK event a few years ago. A child was taken from a shopping mall while his mother was momentarily distracted and was later found dead and tortured near a railway track. The most disturbing thing about the story was that the two abductors/murderers turned out to be children themselves".
"Baby Dream in Cellophane" is a short psychedelic track. Colin Edwin does not appear in this track, Wilson plays the bass instead. Wilson has said of the song, "The baby in the song is basically singing the song: 'I am in my pram'. And it's quite a cynical song because he's basically saying that the boy's life is almost mapped out already as the child is born, it's already predetermined by society and the baby's kind of singing from the pram if you like, saying 'well, actually no, I'm not going to go down this path that's been laid out for me. I'm gonna break out.' It's almost like a very surreal teen rebellion song."
In "A Smart Kid" Wilson returns to a topic he has touched on before in "Radioactive Toy", a track from their first album, ''On the Sunday of Life
''On the Sunday of Life...'' is the debut album of English progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on May 12, 1992. It compiles tracks that Steven Wilson produced and recorded for two cassette-only releases, '' Tarquin's Seaweed Fa ...
...''. The lyrics deal with a sole survivor after a possible apocalyptic war that gets picked up by an exploring spaceship.
"Tinto Brass" is the only song on the album credited to the whole band, not just Wilson, and was named after Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
Tinto Brass
Giovanni "Tinto" Brass (born 26 March 1933) is an Italian film director and screenwriter. In the 1960s and 1970s, he directed many critically acclaimed avant-garde films of various genres. Today, he is mainly known for his later work in the Erot ...
. The track is an instrumental, with the exception of a spoken word
Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...
part. Regarding that part of the song, Wilson said: "Oh, yes, it's spoken in Japanese! It's my girlfriend who's Japanese and she's got a film book. I tell you it's so difficult to find anything on Tinto Brass in England. He's completely unknown... And then my girlfriend... found this little biography: where he was born, the films he made. So she said, 'well, should I translate that for you?' (because I wanted it to be spoken in the track) and I said 'No, it's great' — I thought — 'I'll have it in Japanese'. So she just read it in Japanese. But it's just a list of his films and where he's from... It's nothing interesting".
The album is closed with the track "Stop Swimming". Wilson said of its meaning, "I found that when I was writing the music for this album a lot of the songs were about me and my relationship with the music industry and how I felt about where I was going in the music business and all that. Things like 'Stop Swimming'... maybe it's time to stop swimming... and this kind of whole impulse to just give up and go with the flow can be very strong sometimes. I mean I've never given into it. I never will." Additionally, from the ''Warszawa
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
'' live album liner notes, he said, "This is a very sad song, but if you're like me, I always find the saddest music is also the most beautiful and this is one of my favorite songs that I've ever written"
Reception
Reception for the album has been generally positive. '' Billboard'' praised the album, saying it contained some of Wilson's best lyrics, and favorably compared the album to the work of the band Radiohead. Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
praised the songwriting and dynamics of the album, stating "Wilson as a songwriter and singer both sounds recharged and more ambitious, while the group collectively pours it on. The loud passages feel truly sky-smashing, the calmer ones perfectly close, and the overall sense of build and drama -- "A Smart Kid" is a fine example—spot-on." In 2005, ''Stupid Dream'' was ranked number 339 in ''Rock Hard
"Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...
'' magazine's book ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''. ''Classic Rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...
'' listed the album at No. 61 on its "100 Greatest Albums of the 90s."
In October 2011, it was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association
The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), originally the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, is a non-profit trade association established in 2000 to help European independent record labels represent their agenda a ...
(IMPALA), which indicated sales in excess of 75,000 copies throughout Europe.
Track listing
All songs written by Steven Wilson, except "Tinto Brass", which is credited to all four band members.
;2006 Re-release
The re-release was in the form as both a 2 disc CD/DVD-A
DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format.
The st ...
set, and double vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
LP. The double vinyl LP was only available through the band's official store, Burning Shed
Burning Shed is an independent record label established in April 2001 by musicians Tim Bowness and Pete Morgan.
The label was envisaged as an artistically focused, online extension of labels such as 4AD, Factory, ECM, DGM and Mute.
Burning Sh ...
. The CD contains a new mix of the album by Wilson, and the DVD-A contains a 5.1 surround mix, the video for "Piano Lessons", and two bonus tracks, the full 14-minute version of "Even Less", and "Ambulance Chasing", both previously released on ''Recordings'' in 2001. The Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
n edition of ''Stupid Dream'' included the "Piano Lessons" video as well.
Personnel
;Band
*Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...
– vocals, guitars, piano, samples, bass on "Baby Dream in Cellophane" and "Stranger by the Minute"
*Richard Barbieri
Richard Barbieri (born 30 November 1957) is an English musician, composer and sound designer. Originally a member of new wave band Japan (and their brief 1989–1991 reincarnation as Rain Tree Crow), more recently he is known as the keyboard ...
– analogue synthesizers, hammond organ, mellotron, piano on "Even Less", glockenspiel on "Pure Narcotic"
*Colin Edwin
Colin Edwin is an Australian musician, specialising in fretted and fretless bass guitar, double bass and guimbri.
Edwin first came to public attention as a member of the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, in which he was bass playe ...
– bass guitar, double bass on "Stop Swimming"
*Chris Maitland
Chris Maitland (born 13 May 1964) is an English drummer.
Maitland was born in Cambridge, England. After being the drummer for No-Man on their Autumn 1993 tour (and playing on two tracks on their ''Flowermouth'' album), Maitland was asked b ...
– drums, percussion, backing vocals on "Stranger by the Minute"
;Guest musicians
*Theo Travis
Theo Travis (born 7 July 1964 in Birmingham, England) is a British saxophonist, flautist and composer. He is best known for being a member of Soft Machine which he joined in 2006 while the group was still using the "Legacy" suffix and for being ...
– flute on "Tinto Brass" and "Don't Hate Me", saxophone on "Don't Hate Me"
*East of England Orchestra – strings (conducted by Nicholas Kok)
;Other
*Produced by Steven Wilson
*Recorded by Elliot Ness & Chris Thorpe
*Mixed by Dominique Brethes
References
;Other sources
*''Aural Innovations'', issue 7 July 1999
*''Progression Magazine'', issue 30, Winter/Spring 1999
*Biography, Snapper, Spring 1999
*''Classic Rock'', May/June 1999
*''Wonderous Stories'' issue n. 12
*''Hard n'Heavy magazine'', France, Issue 49, May 1999
*''Record Collector'': November 1996, issue 207
External links
Porcupine Tree Official Website
''Stupid Dream''
at Snapper Music
Snapper Music is an independent record label founded in 1996 by former head of Castle Communications Jon Beecher, Dougie Dudgeon and funded by Mark Levinson from Palan Music Publishing. In 1999, Snapper broke away from its Palan parent company ...
{{Authority control
1999 albums
Porcupine Tree albums
Snapper Music albums
Kscope albums