Porcupine Tree
(1987-)

PT is my favorite prog band playing today. I saw them debut The Incident in its entirety last year, one of the best concerts I've ever been to. What I think the tier should look like:

On the Sunday of Life... (1991)
Up the Downstair (1993)
The Sky Moves Sideways (1995)
Signify (1996)
Stupid Dream (1999)
Lightbulb Sun (2000)
In Absentia (2002)
Deadwing (2005)
Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)
The Incident (2009)

I'd have it more like this:

On the Sunday of Life... (1991)
Up the Downstair (1993)
The Sky Moves Sideways (1995)
Signify (1996)
Stupid Dream (1999)
Lightbulb Sun (2000)
In Absentia (2002)
Deadwing (2005)
Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)
The Incident (2009)

The Sky Moves Sideways is soooo good. I'm not a huge fan of everything post Lightbulb Sun. One question though: Should Fear of a Blank Planet really get red over any of the albums from Stupid Dream through Lightbulb Sun? I think your list is good Quince, but I think FoaBP could just be bolded.

do these guys need an orange, let alone 2?

In Absentia definitely needs an orange.

I have to get into them properly. My friends just keep praising this band all the time and I'm pretty interested to hear more of their music, seems like pretty promising band.

Absolutely.



Probably not.

On the Sunday of Life... (1991)
Up the Downstair (1993)
The Sky Moves Sideways (1995)
Signify (1996)
Stupid Dream (1999)
Lightbulb Sun (2000)
In Absentia (2002)
Deadwing (2005)
Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)
The Incident (2009)

Nice to see this thread and others bumped up to the first page.

Shouldn't Signify be bolded?

It's a damn fine album. Probably my favourite of PT's early material. Having said that, though, I don't think we should overwhelm the list with bolds. I'd certainly recommend it to newcomers to PT, but only after they've checked out the others.

isnt that the whole idea for the bold ?

There's nothing in PT's discography that I would discourage people from listening to. However I would recommend things in a set order. In Absentia followed by the two albums preceding and succeeding it - Lightbulb Sun and Deadwing. Then I'd get them to check out The Sky Moves Sideways because its great but radically different. The Fear of a Blank Planet and Stupid Dream. After that I'd have a pretty good handle of what the person likes and thus what to recommend. If they liked the latter period stuff like Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet I'd advise them to check out The Incident. If they liked the more psychedelic pop of their mid period I'd tell them to check out Recordings and Signify. If they liked the ambient soundscapes of earlier PT more I'd tell them to check out On the Sunday of Life... and Up the Downstair.

are they anything remotely like Dream Theater ? ive never heard anything by them but a song called trains ... which i liked...but if im to expect anything like DT, i'll pass ...

i really hated the incident and thought FoaBP was meh. but, steven wilson is actually a good songwriter when he wants to be, whereas dream theater are a bunch of wankers of the highest order.

i only find myself listening to early PT anymore, not a fan of their post deadwing stuff at all.

no, they're actually musical, soulful, and interesting.