Saturday Deluxe / 10 June 2017
Yesterday evening I was fortunate enough to attend an ‘official fan playback’ of Steven Wilson‘s forthcoming album To The Bone.
Back in May, if you pre-ordered the (now sold out) box set edition from Steven’s site, then you were entered into a prize draw for the playback, which I’d totally forgotten about until an email landed in my inbox on Monday (I was later assured that I had just got lucky and wasn’t there because of SDE). So I joined around 30 other fans at London’s Sarm Studios for the playback event.
Phones were confiscated, beers/nibbles were provided and album was played in full. Afterwards, a ‘surprise’ guest arrived, as Steven joined us for a short Q&A. Fan: “What’s happening with Seeds of Love?” Steven: (gesturing towards me) “Ask Paul, he wrote the sleeve notes!”.
It’s a bit too early to make any judgements on the album, although predictably it was sonically stunning. Even though there was only the lucky few present, the event was impressive and it underlines Steven’s understanding of the fan/artist relationship. Yes, some of this will feed into the social media and promotional campaign for the album (they were filming/interviewing fans) but it was the details that impressed. Not only did the artist make the effort to turn up, but every person got 12-inch card with the album cover printed on one side and “Steven Wilson: Official Fan Playback” on the other. These were all individually numbered and Steven met everyone in person and signed their cards in front of them.
Great stuff. This activity was all being coordinated by Steven’s new label Caroline International, who are part of Universal. He was previously with Kscope.
Read more about Steven Wilson’s To The Bone
SDE helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.
Related Content
News
I’m a big fan of The Shopkeeper in ‘Mr Benn’, how he’d just appear out of the blue, ‘as if by magic’….
Well… it’s happening, folks! Got a message from Mr Draper on my FB wall yesterday. Mansun, Six, Wilson, 5.1 DTS, Double Vinyl 20th Anniversary Box Set. 2018.
Enjoy!
Excellent news all round… but no sign of Steven remixing Mansun’s ‘Six’ into 5.1 DTS, in time for the 20th anniversary next year?
Incredible that the Deluxe Box set has sold out and still two months until the release date !
Steven Wilson keeps on bouncing back and forward between releasing the CD and BR individually or together. Make up your mind.
Add to the fact that I haven’t seen the BR in most markets.
New label has probably influenced this
Lucky Paul i ordered the deluxe édition of to the bone a show in 2018 at the RAH but wasnt choose for this happening ..coming from France Nice by the way .i really love the first three tracks he gives away
Thanks for the review Paul.
SW rarely puts a foot wrong.
Delighted you were there even in an ‘unofficial’ capacity.
Mike
The songs I have heard so far in this new upcoming Steven Wilson album are not good in my opinion. I heave virtually everything he has produced up to now. This may be one of the first I don’t buy.
Not a fan of the musical style or heavy use of female vocals.
I’m with Fat Old Bloke. I have all of Steve’s stuff and been a fan 14 years but these first three singles are atrocious. The falsetto on Asylum actually made me laugh out loud. First time I am not auto-buying his work.
With you Dave and Fat Old Bloke. I also don’t find his new stuff that engaging. Holding off to hear the whole record before buying (and just like Dave, it’s the first time for me not auto-buying SWs stuff too).
I have said this many times here; one of the best parts of this blog is that you learn about albums and artists you didn’t know much about. Steve Wilson is a prime example of that. Once I read about him here, I listened to his stuff on YouTube and love it. Will definitely be buying his new album. Thanks Paul.
Thanks. Always great to hear this kind of thing…
did he mention which XTC album is getting the 5.1 treatment next ?
Thank you Paul!! you’re the best man!!
Steven seems like a thoroughly good egg, an excellent musician and talented music engineer. I just can’t bring myself to enjoy his records too much, as I am not a fan of his singing voise.
Re Jimi:
Oh, the days of reasonably priced 5+ disc SDE’s of popular artists with hi-res included! The trend is now £50-100 as opposed to the £30-50 of those TFF boxes. Some don’t even include hi-res and still want around a ton…. Def Leppard are you listening? The record co’s are starting to bleed the loyalty of fans dry.
Hi Paul, the first two TFF Super Deluxe Box sets seem to only be available at very expensive prices from third-party sellers these days – is it right to assume they’re no longer being produced and are unlikely to be re-released? Cheers
Yes!
Aw, that’s a shame – missed out on them at the time! I’ll have to keep an eye out just in case I spot a bargain online! Cheers!
Hey Paul, I have a question regarding the “Hurting” box. The “Big Chair” box had the numerous vidclips on one of the DVDs…on the “Hurting” box, the 3 vidclips of “Mad World”, “Pale Shelter” and “Change” were not included in the DVD, just the concert film “In My Mind’s Eye”. Why not?? They should have been, and now the only way to get them is on a video compilation. Including them would have saved the trouble. Just saying. I still need the “Big Chair” box as I have been waiting for prices to drop, and looking forward to the “Seeds Of Love” box as well. What about the 90s records “Elemental” and “Raul & The Kings Of Spain”…are those getting the same treatment??
A 2CD deluxe editon of Elemental is planned.
Nice to meet you last night. Looking forward to the new Steven Wilson, based on what we heard, almost as much as Seeds of Love…;-)
Likewise!
“What’s happening with Seeds of Love?”
Hi Paul yes please “What’s happening with Seeds of Love?”
Any news as yet or still waiting on Curt and Roland to coincide with new material. Here’s hoping there is a box set to equal Sgt.Pepper50 in deign and format
The short answer is “I don’t know”. Probably 2018. The format will be consistent with the others (The Hurting, Songs From The Big Chair) – it was designed ages ago and looks great! If Universal issue what Steve Hammonds and I put together, it will be a stunning box set!
So what your saying Paul is that they are still sowing the seeds then?
I’ll let myself out.