Deadwing
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| Deadwing | ||
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| Studio album by Porcupine Tree | ||
| Released | March 28, 2005 (Europe) April 26, 2005 (US) May 10, 2005 (DVD-A) |
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| Recorded | 2003-October, 2004 | |
| Genre | Progressive rock | |
| Length | 59:35 (Europe/Original edition) 69:34 (US edition) |
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| Label | Lava | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Porcupine Tree chronology | ||
| Lazarus (2005) |
Deadwing (2005) |
XMII (2005) |
Deadwing is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in March 28, 2005. It quickly became the band's best selling album to date. The album is based on a screenplay written by a friend of Steven Wilson, and is essentially a ghost story. Given its narrative, most fans have dubbed this a concept album. Wilson has expressed the intention to eventually have this film script made into a movie. All songs were written by Wilson except "Halo" and "Glass Arm Shattering" (Wilson/Barbieri/Edwin/Harrison) and "Start of Something Beautiful" (Wilson/Harrison).
The album includes collaborations with King Crimson's Adrian Belew (who plays guitar solos on tracks 1 and 4), and Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt (who adds vocal harmonies on tracks 1, 3 and 5, as well as the second guitar solo on track 5).
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Europe Edition (Original Edition)
- "Deadwing" – 9:46
- "Shallow" – 4:17
- "Lazarus" – 4:18
- "Halo" – 4:38
- "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" – 12:02
- "Mellotron Scratch" – 6:57
- "Open Car" – 3:46
- "The Start of Something Beautiful" – 7:39
- "Glass Arm Shattering" – 6:12
[edit] American edition
- "Deadwing" – 9:46
- "Shallow" – 4:17
- "Lazarus" – 4:18
- "Halo" – 4:38
- "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" – 12:02
- "Mellotron Scratch" – 6:57
- "Open Car" – 3:46
- "The Start of Something Beautiful" – 7:39
- "Glass Arm Shattering" – 11:12
- "Shesmovedon" – 4:59
The US version contains an 11 minute version of "Glass Arm Shattering" that includes 5 minutes of silence at the end to follow to the bonus track "Shesmovedon", which is a re-recorded version of the song originally released on Lightbulb Sun. This brings the US version of Deadwing to "69:34".
[edit] DVD-Audio
It was also released as a DVD-Audio disc on May 10, 2005 by DTS Entertainment. The disc contains 5.1-channel surround versions of all the tracks from the US CD, plus three bonus tracks, "Revenant", "Mother & Child Divided" and "Half Light". A new recording of the song "Shesmovedon", originally from the album Lightbulb Sun, is also included as an unlisted extra track.
[edit] LP
The album is also available as a double vinyl LP with two bonus tracks, "So-Called Friend" and "Half Light".
[edit] Unreleased Tracks
Steven Wilson (as well as other band members) have stated in interviews that fifteen songs were recorded for the Deadwing release, however, only nine made it to the album, eleven on the DVD-A release, and two more released on the Lazarus single.
During a gig for Blackfield, Steven Wilson played one of the unreleased songs solo, and the song is titled 'Christenings'. It was subsequently included on the album Blackfield II.
The fifteenth song is still unknown.
[edit] Concept
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The complete concept and story has never been entirely announced by the band, and this is likely due to Wilson's intentions of attempting to turn this into a movie, and not wanting to spoil any portions of the story. Many fans have listened intently to this album and have seen it as a story that begins with a man living alone in his house. A ghostly apparition appears night in and out, and he begins to wonder why this is happening to him. Starting from the second and third tracks and continuing on from there, the story of the ghost is told, who is revealed to be a girl who was seemingly murdered by a man. Who this man is specifically has yet to be deciphered, but most believe that it was the man getting haunted by her. And the man himself is either her lover that is mentioned in the majority of the tracks or the killer himself. Most believe that the killer and the lover are the same person, though the thought has come that they are two different people, with the killer taking a lustful revenge on the girl because he feels it was God's request of him (as illustrated by "Halo"). As for the killer and lover being the same person, this can be explained as the lover starting to hate her for his own reasons and taking his revenge on her by stealing her life, or through the explanation that he is schizophrenic. The schizophrenia theory can be explained with the clue that the man being haunted does not understand why he is being haunted, as he does not even realize that a part of him took over his body and killed the woman he loves. Though there is no official theory or explanation, the aforementioned are likely the most common explanations.
[edit] Script Release
On September 1, 2006, Steven Wilson announced in his blog that Mike Bennion (Co-writer of the Deadwing screenplay) had released the first ten pages of the story. It is available for reading on Mike Bennion's myspace blog located *.
The filmscript thus far has made several connections to the album in various ways. Such as a reference to the line in Mellotron Scratch 'A tiny flame inside my hand' and to the artwork in the album's cover insert. (Most specifically the page with the lyrics to Halo scrawled in it).
[edit] Chart Positions
Billboard Top 200: #132
Billboard Top Heatseekers: #4
[edit] Charting Songs
| Song | Mainstream Rock |
|---|---|
| Shallow | #26 |
