I didn't discuss the lyrics at all in this video, as I was concentrating on the harmonic structure. Now that I have read them and heard the song, the "melancholy" section I noted makes perfect sense. The writer is reminiscing of a summer love, brought in and out by train. I live near a major train line, and I often wonder about the people whisking by, who they are, and where they are headed. Great song!

Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize - PLEASE VOTE!

The piano over the track was on point. Awesome

The "little background stuff" that lends PT tracks so much depth and atmosphere - that would be the magic of Richard Barbieri. Often overlooked between the genius of Steven Wilson, the wizardry of Gavin Harrison and the ever-smiling rock solid foundation Colin Edwin provides on bass, but nonetheless a key element of what makes PT such an amazing band.

Arriving Somewhere but not Here is my favorite Porcupine Tree song. It’s so atmospheric and beautiful. I would highly recommend that song if you haven’t heard it.

This whole album is fantastic. The sound of musak is great. It's in 7/4!

If you are looking for more Porcupine Tree songs to react to, I would suggest Arriving Somewhere But Not Here. Easily one of Steven's most intense and emotional songs (and that's saying something!).

I loved Doug's added piano, amazing arrangment with 0 preparation ... what a skill!

I’m learning a lot from your reactions, thank you. If you don’t know much of Porcupine Tree’s material, their masterpiece is “Anesthetize” and the live version is definitely the one to see; it doesn’t have Alex Lifeson’s solo from the record, but it has one of the great rock drumming performances by Gavin Harrison.

Anesthitize, Live in Tilburg is an absolute MUST. Such an amazing version, and your response would be incredible. Love your channel, thank you so much!🤘🤘

"clapping instead of drums" i was in the crowd in 2005 when they filmed this song in Chicago for their live DVD. the entire audience clapped. it was magical!

I don't want to belittle the role of Steven Wilson in this music, because it's huge, amazing, he's a tremendous composer and musician AND genuinely incredible live performer, but a slight shoutout should also go to mr Richard Barbieri who is heavily responsible for this spacious synth atmosphere. He's apparently considered one of the best in the world at what he does.

"Arriving somewhere but no here" and "heartattack in a Layby" ;-).

Doug, one of the things I’ve always loved about P/T is the way they have a sort of “cool down” to end many of their songs. Never a fade out or drum crashing Grand finale which always seems sort of awkward or lazy to me like they can’t figure out how to end the song. Trains is a good example with the banjo and hand clapping to sort of let you breath again after they’ve just rocked your world. I think it’s a great example of SW’s attention to detail like you were saying about the little things in the background that opens up the song and makes it sound orchestral. I’m happy to see you really appreciate PT and SW’s music. I’ve been a fan for many years and it’s delightful to see the look on your face as you discover all the little nuances that come together to form a great song. I’m not a musician so it’s fun to watch the little things you pick out, notes, chords etc in a given song (that’s an A minor, that’s an F) that I don’t know about. I’ve learned a lot about music watching you analyze the songs. Thanks🙏

I still remember the day we discovered one of my sons had perfect pitch. I was tuning one of my guitars (using a tuner) and he told me I had gotten the a-string wrong. He was nine or 10 years old. We had just had our piano tuned, so we walked over to it and found he was dead on. Many years later, he’s now studying music composition and mandolin at Belmont in the commercial music program. I discovered porcupine tree about two years ago and went on a Steve Wilson bender the past two years

You called out Steven’s engineering abilities. If you have access to a Dolby Atmos set up, definitely check out his new solo album “The Future Bites” on Blu-ray. It also has hi res mixes in different formats such as stereo and 5.1, but the Atmos mix will blow your mind.

That solo always gets me, the way he sells that nine is amazing.

Porcupine Tree : "Anesthetize" from the "Fear of a Blank Planet"; "Blackest Eyes" (In Absentia) Doug, the vocals in Anesthetize will blow you away.. the most unorthodox way to blend and rhyme lyrics.. it's a three-part song, and it's brilliant.

Dude! When you started playing @ 9:00, that introduced that extra emotion that brings tears to a music lover's eyes, with quickened breath. Thank you.

Don't worry about the "playing over it part". I think it's important as a musician to not only listen, but feel the music. I thought that it added a little special something for us who heard the song like a million times by now. Please don't be afraid of it. If I can recommend something by PT it would be "My Ashes" or "Arriving somewhere but not here"

Trains is simply one of the best rock and pop songs ever written, not considering how it never charted much.

Jethro Tull was a forerunner of playing acoustic guitar in the foreground while the heavier stuff was mixed down in the background. It gives great texture and depth to the songs.

The Porcupine Tree songs I would like to see you react to: 1. Arriving Somewhere but not Here 2. Fear of a Blank Planet 3. Hate Song 4. Anesthetize 5. Russia on Ice

Other Porcupine Tree songs you might consider: - Start of something beautiful - Cheating the polygraph - Gravity eyelids - What happens now? And yes, Arriving Somewhere and Anesthetize :-) I bet it takes a lot of effort to make each of these videos, I appreciate your sharing this, Doug! Be well!

I’ve been watching your reactions for a while and really enjoy them, especially that you cover a lot of Prog, this is the second time I’ve watched this reaction to “Trains”. Lots of spot on comments, I’ve always called the time change solo a ‘banjo waltz’, and counted it in 3/4, you mentioned 6/8 quickly in passing.

That was the song that got me into Porcupine Tree. Love watching you explain the theory behind what the average listener like me just says, 'ya that sounds cool' too

Thanks for doing Porcupine Tree stuff. Some suggestions for further analysis : Arriving somewhere but not here, The start of something beautiful, Anesthetize, Fear of a blank planet (the song from the same name album). Live versions of them are also amazing. I’m sure others have good suggestions too.

Love Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree. Great to see you at the piano. More of that.

I don't blame you for wanting to play along. It is spectacular.

Trains is one of those songs that feels like it's about half of its actual length

Great choice of track (Porcupine Tree are awesome) and compliments on your nailing the accompaniment! Trains appears to be a straightforward song, but there's a lot going on there (the production is also superb). Really enjoying your musical explorations.

One of my absolute favorite songs. Also one of the songs that inspired me to pick up a guitar and learn it a bit. Used to be my favorite song to play drums to a long time ago when I still played drums.

i honestly want a video of you just jamming on the piano over this song. fits so well

Huh, this popped into my head while watching. When you pointed out the clapping in reference in to the chorus, it made me think of the sound a train makes riding on the tracks...

I said on the Foo Fighters video, but I'll repeat: I really like this piano approach to explain how the song structure. I tried to do this myself with songs I like - using a virtual keyboard though - and for my surprise I could find some notes and riffs. Still don't get much of key signatures, scales and chords, but it's something.

I might also recommend the guitar solo from Voyage 34 phase 2. The entire thing is a 30 minute space rock trance so focusing on the solo would probably be best. Its one of my favourite Porcupine Tree moments. Also "Angel gets caught in the Beauty Trap" from Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness project No-Man. No-Man is ridiculously underrated even among Wilson fans. It was one of his first projects and it has a early Trip-Hop, Lounge and disco sound that is hard to categorize. "Kiss me stupid" is also wonderful. As is "Days in the trees" And the Mick Karn basslines of Sweetheart Raw (EP version especially) is also very good. The soundscapes in No-Man are highly developed and has a creepy upsetting quality that contrasts with the cheesy croony vocals. They really are a hidden gem (the early stuff especially) and the soundscapes keep blowing me away on repeated listens. There is a sense of this beautiful and even embarassingly cheesy exterior contrasting with the really twisted psychedelic soundscapes. This contrast of darkness, horror with light or even precious cuteness is kind of a hallmark of Steven Wilson's music. Even Trains paints this idyllic picture but when you dig into the lyrics. Its heavily implied to be about cousin on cousin incest between two minors.

Porcupine Tree? There is a whole universe to discover.

In terms of acoustic, Wilson loves to overdub many layers of identical guitar strums to make it sound incredibly great

That was a beautiful reaction with the piano accompaniment. Your gift of understanding music is on a level I find enviable. It’s interesting to hear you break these things on that level. I have what I consider to be a fairly developed ear so I can appreciate when others can attach terminologies to the things I’m hearing. That type of understanding leads to being able to play with the most incredible musicians around and that to me is one of the most ultimate conversations to have with another human being. Great content, try your ear on some Allan Holdsworth for something completely unique. A song like “Looking Glass” should peak some interest. Keep em coming!

Must listen to Sound of Muzak from Porcupine Tree.....gorgeous vocal harmonies and cool time signature

The piano addition sounded most lovely! Btw, I'd like to suggest something for a reaction, that I think you'll like. It's a British band Earthside, playing cinematic progressive metal, mostly, instrumental, but the song i'm suggesting features Lajon Witherspoon on vocals (clean and beautiful) & Moscow Studio Symphony Orchestra. The song is called Mob Mentality. They don't have a huge fanbase like some other bands you've reviewed, so they really appreciate any exposure and are generally just nice guys who make beautiful music.

There are few people that can ever take Porcupine Tree to a new level of awesome. You sir hold that title. The piano work made the hair on my arms stand up. Sounded great!

In terms of Steven's solo work, I'd love to see you react to _Salvaging_ from his first solo record. Total journey of a track, jampacked with intricacies. Another standout track from _In Absentia_ I think you'd really enjoy is _Collapse The Light Into Earth._ In case you've not heard it yet. Would also make for a great reaction video.

Anesthetize and Arriving Somewhere But Not Here. So many Porcupine Tree songs are great, but from a compositional standpoint, those are the standouts.

The next song? All of them? Such a great band. I was fortunate to see them live a few times. Anesthesia is always recommended by them, but I'd try Open Car or Deadwing.

From porcupine tree I would suggest "Arriving somewhere but not here", "Anesthetize", "The sound of muzak" and "The start of something beautiful". Even if you can't do a react of all them just listen to them, they are great ones!

As a Porcupine Tree fan, I'd recommend Time Flies, or Luminol from Steven Wilson's solo work.

Relative pitch, and playing along to songs I've never heard, etc was my party trick in college 😂🤣

Beautiful melodies on piano. Bravo Doug. Have a good weekend.

Hey, I'm all for a version of this song where you just add in a full-fledged piano track. The parts where you play along sound awesome!

Speaking of Steven Wilson, he produced and saved the recording of the double album Deliverance & Damnation which the label split into two separate releases. The overlying concept was Deliverance being the hard side of Opeth and Damnation being the soft side of Opeth (no extreme metal or growling whatsoever, instead going for a very melancholic prog style with ballads). The most tragic story beyond the at the time in-band issues and troubled recording sessions is when Mikaels grandmother was killed in a car accident while they were recording both albums: "Damnation was recorded during the same trouble-plagued sessions at Nacksving Studios and Studio Fredman. The majority of the recording of both albums was done, save for most of the Damnation vocals. For those parts, Åkerfeldt flew down to Wilson's studio No Man's Land in the UK, just a day after his grandmother's funeral." It's a beautiful album with some amazing tracks inspired by 70'ies prog (inspired, not recreated). They made heavy use of mellotrons as well. "Loudwire listed Damnation as the second best album of 2003. Mike Portnoy, ex-drummer for Dream Theater, put the album on his list of best albums of 2003." I'd love to see a reaction to the first track off their album named Windowpane: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mLmgpK-iqJ25Zps.html ...or the song "Death Whispered a Lullaby" with lyrics by Steven Wilson which has some of Opeth's trademark quirks: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qaelf5Zy2OCtmXk.html The instrumentation, the vocals, the mood, the chord/root note progressions are beautiful, showing just how these people aren't bound to a set formula.

Its interesting how the layers of sound and various instrumentation give you the sense of going on a trip (especially the "Banjo"), and those scenes out the window whizzing-by. And then the crescendo of heavier riffs (that give me shivers) and that line; "Always the summer, are slipping away". Its basically reminding me of riding on trains, and living around railroads in parts of my life as a kid and an adult. This was my 1st album from Porky Tree. I first heard them on the TV Series "Smallville", as they featured up and coming musicians and added them as part of the soundtrack. I heard the track (at the moment, can't remember) and thought "Wow! That was kinda' Proggy!", and at the end of the show, they showed the cover and said the bands unusual name. The very next day, not even looking for it, I was at a Record Store I'd eventually work at, and I recognized the cover (and on the original record label "Lava") and it was only $9.99. Took it home, and I was hooked, been a fan ever since. "Sound of Muzak" is my next fave track, as its all about what is missing from AOR/FM Radio (since 1997 for me personally), and an anthem much like "Spirit of Radio" from Rush. But the whole album is moody, dark, and atmospheric (not like their earlier albums, but a more melancholic one). Especially because of the "concept" behind it, as some have pointed out. Doug, try; Sound of Muzak, "Arriving Somewhere Not Here", "Deadwing", "Time Flies" (it may be obvious who this one sounds like, if you _know_ the certain album by a certain band ;). And be sure to checkout the LIVE version of "Trains" . . . its "hilarious", but the guys are so damn tight.

Dope man, so dope!! You are one of my favorite reactors, keep it up my man, thanks!

Just found your channel. Refreshing take on the typical “reaction” video format. Nice job!

Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize :)

This is the song I've most recently learned how to play on the drums, so I've been listening to it in an entirely different way. Thank you for the opportunity to hear it in a new, fresh way! I LOVE what you did with the ending. Beautiful.

Really well recorded. This song and the whole album as well just sounds amazing.

Fun fact: Steven Wilson has worked a lot with Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth. They have a project together called Storm Corrosion. I'm going to have to suggest again that you listen to something from Epica. My recommendations are Kingdom of Heaven, The Phantom Agony, or Cry for the Moon.

Fantastic content Doug, I love your insight. I am younger than you and I have much less theoretical knowledge, being a mostly self-taught player and songwriter, however it's so amazing to find out that I do so many of the same things you do (in regard to finding notes quickly through relative pitch and sometimes just being like "that sounds like an A"). And your playing is great, really expands on what's there in the track. I'm here to stay, cheers!

This was amazing! really shows how talented you are. More of this

Thank you for this, was awesome to hear with the piano, wonderfull work. As a PT fan, there are many songs to..."Lightbulb Sun" would be awesome...or "Routine" from SW.

The live version of Anesthetize in Tilburg is quintessential, if you want to dive right into the deep end

one of my favourite Porcupine Tree songs that is oft overlooked Russia On Ice, from the Lightbulb Sun album

Hoo boy - if you loved Raven you will adore Routine. I'm no expert but it's one of the most interesting compositions I've heard in modern music, and it's sooo beautiful.

Hey Doug! Cheers from Brazil. Just found your channel recently and I am loving it. Your indepth analysis of the Heavy Metal songs so far is really captivating and my favorite videos. As a Brazilian Heavy metal and Classic Music fan I'd Like to call you attention to some Metal pieces that are some of my favorites. And it would be a real delight to watch you review any of them when you have the time. Angra is a Brazilian Heavy metal band that made some really interesting musical pieces in the begining of their career by combining heavy metal with typical brazilian rythms. Some of which one would not imagine would work so well together. Part of which was definitely because of André Mattos (The original Lead Vocalist) musical back ground. Andre Had an amazing voice, reach and skill, he sadly past in 2019. From Angra I recommend: Carolina IV - With Andre's Vocals Then moving on a little to the future of the band and with new lead vocals By Edu Falaschi: Hunter's and Prey - (There is an English version and a Portuguese version of this song) I'll leave the rest of the exploring of this brazilian band to your own taste, but before I end my already long comment on your video I'd like to move away from Brazil to recomend one last song (and probably my favorite), which is: Ghost in the moon - By avantasia. A really nice song with many interesting elements and a captivating story that involves some fantasy and mystery. Hope you can check these songs out. Stay safe.

Thank you For Doing this, I dont recommend anything like others you are doing a Great Job, keep going!

Great again!! I like so much Porcupine Tree! In this video you answered one question I asked earlier today while watching other video. So you don't have perfect pitch but a very good relative pitch. Well done!! I have to start practicing to "catch the chords" like you do. I have a good relative pitch and I study solfege but I have a hard time figuring out the chords on the fly like this. Well, great job again!

You're just an amazing talent! Congratulations from Brazil.

Porcupine Tree really needs to be listened to with the live versions. They were the rare band that was better live than in the studio.

It's kinda funny that the very first interval you've played made me think "Oh! It's Fear Of A Blank Planet!"

Mr. Wilson is impossibly killer. The first time I encountered PT was in the early 90's on an ambient compilation album that had a version of Voyage 34 Part 3 sans voice samples. Thought they were an electronic ambient band as a result, so was a bit of a surprise to discover they were a prog rock band. Whilst V34 is probably still my most favourite from Wilson I've not heard an album I've not been daft about.

Exhaustive list : Arriving Somewhere bit not Here - Start of Something Beautiful - Lazarus - Blackest Eyes - Sound of Muzsak - Piano Lessons, and all his stuff with Blackfield as well :3

Thank you!! This was so amazing. I too found Porcupine Tree because I first found Steven Wilson! I suggest Anesthetize for your next song (it's wild! And so complicated). Dark Matter is great too!

Found your channel through the Harvest video, was hoping for a little more breakdown of the chords in the chorus! Maybe some other screen recording software would let you pause and resume? Anyways, hit that subscribe button real fast, pretty excited to spend all day watching your other videos :D

Great choice. Love the channel!!

Im the same regarding relative pitch from 40 plus years of playing guitar and learning my favourite songs by ear ,its great, isn’t it Doug!!!

Really enjoy your video! Good job!

As others have stated, Anesthetize was probably their magnum opus, but I would also suggest Radioactive Toy.

PT has several long tracks over ten minutes in length, and it's hard to find faults in any of them. PT material from 2002 onward, in which drummer Gavin Harrison jumps on board, is some of the best in their catalog. To me, the absolute best is "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here". "Anesthetize" is seventeen minutes in length, but is a close second place, and that song is a trip. I've seen Steven Wilson three times in concert, and he played "Arriving Somewhere" in the third show, purely epic. Cheers from Philly!

Cool song, Steven Wilson is a genius. Porcupine Tree are amazing live & their live sound is crystal clear. Definitely check out 'Hatesong' live from the Arriving Somewhere... dvd, it's an incredible performance.

Awesome. Best music reacts on KZfaq!! Keep going there good work. Hugs From Portugal 🇵🇹 (Lisbon)

The piano towards the end was sooo beautiful!

I wouldn’t mind seeing you do an improve over some tracks more often. Was cool what you did there at the end.

Id suggest "Fadeaway" by Porcupine Tree. Its really beautiful and is very interesting in the ambience departement.

Please make entire version of this song with your piano !

I wholeheartedly approve of this format. I knew you were knowledgeable and had a great ear, but instead of just talking about things, when you are demonstrating your thoughts "sonically" with an instrument at hand it's so much better, and even you "interrupting" a given song by playing chords, sequences of certain intervals or whatever is immensely useful for us less educated but aspiring musicians. Huge thumbs up from me, from Sweden. For me, this particular song by Steven is one I've known for at least a decade, every little part of it, and it's not particularly complicated to begin with. Yet hearing your perspective still immediately taught me something, just like that.

"...they're little things but..they make the track just sound atmospheric, it opens it up, all this background stuff its really amazing" Yeah you've nailed exactly what makes Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson's extended universe special. Whenever it approaches a dull moment the aliveness the ambience brings always makes up for it.

Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize - Live in Tilburg. Must see. :)

If you like this song give these a try: Time Flies Arriving Somewhere But Not Here Anesthetize Normal Way Out of Here Even Less (Full Version from RECORDINGS album) There's so many good ones TBH!! PT is one of my favorite bands of all time ad I'm so happy you got around to them. Cool stuff.

Wow i love Porcupine Tree...and know this song well, you just put another layer on to this track, and made it sound massive....👏👏👏

try Anesthetize. the guitar solo has been played by alex lifeson, Rush

superb - thank you so much - love it.

Excellent. Steven Wilson's solist Drive Home is other of my fav!

Anesthetize is my personal favorite from them. The live version is very powerful

Great reaction Doug !

Great video as always! I recommend doing "Way out of here" or "Anestethize" next!

Brilliant as usual

A few recommendations from a porcupine tree fan :) 1. Arriving Somewhere But Not Here 2. Dark Matter 3. Lazarus Absolutely amazing songs

One of my all time favorites. This is like the "Watchtower" progression, there's a G in there... as we know, a very emotive progression. So, in C it's going from the VIm to the 5, then the IV, then back again. Very atmospheric treatment. And yes, that is a banjo with clapping. Wilson's amazing use of timbre.

Thanks Doug. I have never heard of Porcupine Tree. Nice song. Nice guitar. David Gilmour acoustic on Animals is great.