NewsSteven Wilson / Transience 2LP
This September, as he kicks off the second leg of his Hand. Cannot. Erase. tour, Steven Wilson will issue Transience, a limited edition ‘three-sided’ double vinyl set via KScope Music.
This new set is a personally curated compilation of songs recorded between 2002 and 2015 and the idea was to highlight the more ‘accessible’ side of the musician and songwriter’s output.
It features three songs from the recent Hand. Cannot. Erase. album, including a previously unreleased single version/edit of Transience (which is actually longer) and a new five minute edit/mix of Happy Returns (different from the ‘radio edit’ on the HCE blu-ray).
Other tracks on Transience include two numbers from The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) and a new recording of the Porcupine Tree classic Lazarus based on a live recording, subsequently overdubbed and edited in Wilson’s studio.
The double album comes packaged in a gatefold sleeve, with black & white portraits of Steven Wilson by Joe Del Tufo and Susana Moyaho. The fourth side features an etching of the original handwritten lyric sketches for Happy Returns.
Transience is a strictly one-off limited release and it’s out on 11 September in the UK and on the 2 October everywhere else. The second leg of Steven Wilson’s Hand. Cannot. Erase. kicks off on September 15 in Lisbon – details here.
- • Amazon UK Pre-order: Transience
- • Amazon GERMANY Pre-order: Transience
- • Amazon ITALY Pre-order: Transience
Side 1:
1) Transience – single version (3.10)
2) Harmony Korine (5.07)
3) Postcard (4.27)
4) Significant Other (4.31)
5) Insurgentes (3.54)
Side 2:
1) The Pin Drop (5.01)
2) Happy Returns – edit (5.11)
3) Deform to Form a Star – edit (5.53)
4) Thank You (4.39)
Side 3:
1) Index (4.47)
2) Hand Cannot Erase (4.13)
3) Lazarus – 2015 recording (3.57)
4) Drive Home (7.33)
Side 4: Etching
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The new version of Lazarus is available on the CD ‘David Gilmour & Friends’ that comes ‘free’ with the October Edition of Mojo Magazine.
Although I have collected SW’s music for a long time I will not be purchasing this.I think this album has been concocted to sell on his current tour which continues again in the autumn because he needs a new album to sell on tour.There will be 100 copies signed by SW available to preoders made via Burning Shed.SW is a wonderful artist who’s craft I give a lot of respect to.This album is just pointless.
SW seems to be loaded with edits and alternate mixes and stuff. He could probably release a 10 CD box set [all at or near 80 minutes] and still have room for another box set.
As for this release, when they say limited, don’t be surprised if it is re-released in a few years. Many of his limited releases are like that. Unsure why he would release some of his most “accessible” music to a limited market. If anything I’d suspect a CD and/or FLAC and/or MP3 releases at one point.
BTW I preordered this SW is of my favorite artists.
I love to listen to vinyl. I think a good system with a turntable including a cartridge of higher quality is a great investment. I play a lot of my old albums which sound fantastic and buy new stuff on vinyl from my favorite artists.
I really appreciate my music in 20 minute slices. Then putting thought with participation from friends and family into what we will listen to for the next 20 minutes. The sound is warm and the experience richer in my opinion.
What bothers me is the releases where they put 10 to 12 minutes on a side.
Actually Steven Wilson does have history of this kind of thing. ‘Metanoia’ by Porcupine Tree was originally a 10″ vinyl-only release, which came out on CD a few years later. The ‘Cover Version’ series all came out on two-track CD singles, later to be collated on to one single disc. There was a fan version of two Porcupine Tree live tracks which eventually appeared on a CD reissue of ‘Coma Divine’ (so I sold my limited CD for £50 on eBay, thanks very much). There’s probably other instances.
I’m not against small print runs of things, but those are usually for people who collect the formats rather than (or as well as, really) the music (I’m one of them with certain artists), so why not release it on CD as well, then collectors can have both and people who just want the music can have it.
When this was first put up for pre-order, it was promoted as an ‘introduction’ to his solo work for the unitiated. That seems a bit disingenuous to me, if you truly wanted to build a fan base, surely releasing it on a niche format is a strange way to do it.
I’ve ordered it as both a SW and vinyl fan, but this seems a restrictive commercial venture targeted at completist people like me who have everything but will buy anyway, not an opportunity to expand with ‘accessible’ material.
It is impossible to be a “completist” with Wilson. Or do you have those Uri Geller CDs, Justin? ;-)
I am somewhat ambivalent about this release. But admit that I have ordered it.
You’re right Phil, it’s almost impossible!
My real point was about the initial marketing, it just doesn’t make sense.
Nothing wrong with vinyl, played on good equipment it is the best music experience and you don`t have to spend a fortune, IMHO, OOAA.
BUT I agree fans should be given a CD option.
This will be coming with a download code, so you do get digital as well… To be fair there was a multitude of options with “Hand. Cannot. Erase.” so it’s not like SW has a history of ‘forcing’ vinyl on people!
128 MP3 file or vinyl , no contest, vinyl wins every time
But the contest is not between 128 kbps MP3 and vinyl is it? We have cd, Dvd-a, bd-a and FLAC files these days. And from someone like SW who releases bd-a’s of his solo work it does seem a bit strange. In a few years time we will probably see a rerelease on cd.
It seems to me kind of Bowie “Heroes” sleeve, grey tones, “blank mindless hypnotic stare and strange hand thing going on”.
…and yes, I don’t want any vinyl, otherwise, why not return to phonograph cylinders?
BluRay+CD (David Gilmour understood it)
Also, the sleeve is too weird for me. It has that blank mindless hypnotic stare and strange hand thing going on. The guy looks more like a cult leader than a musician.
Knowing Wilson, that’s almost certainly the effect he was going for.
Your right on the money John.
Vinyl is purely a nostalgia product for those old enough to remember it being the only option and a hipster product for those too young to have experienced it before.
Vinyl is not the best option to buy or experience music.
agreed i seem to recall this stuff wearing out and sounding like shite eventually . why the hell would you want to go back there ? maybe the future was always in the past ha.
“I need to leave my past behind. I need to leave my behind in the past.” ~ B52’s from “Detour Through Your Mind” and the album Bouncing Off The Satellites.
Stick vinyl where it belongs in the past.
No CD = no buy
What is going on with all these vinyl-only releases? Vinyl is a tiny market. There must be something else going on here.
i buy the VERY occasional piece of vinyl now and again, usually to accompany an older 70’s or 80’s collection; but no CD in this case means i’m not buying it.
I received an email from Burning Shed last night to tell me that the release date has slipped a little to September 11th.
Thanks. I’ve updated to reflect…