The Incident (album)
Encyclopedia
The Incident is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock
band Porcupine Tree
. It was released on September 14, 2009 by Roadrunner Records
. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album
and reached the Top 25 on both the US and UK album charts.
On June 12, 2009, the details of The Incident were revealed on the Porcupine Tree website: "the record is set to be released via Roadrunner Records worldwide on September 22, as a double CD: the centre-piece is the title track, which takes up the whole of the first disc. The 55-minute work is described as a slightly surreal song cycle about beginnings and endings and the sense that ‘after this, things will never be the same again’; the release date was later moved to September 15. The self-produced album is completed by four standalone compositions that developed out of band writing sessions last December - Flicker, Bonnie the Cat, Black Dahlia, and Remember Me Lover feature on a separate EP length disc to stress their independence from the song cycle." On July 13, the first preview of the album was posted at both Roadrunner
and band's MySpace pages. The track Time Flies, described by Steven Wilson as "sentimental" and the "centerpiece" of the album, became a music video directed by usual Porcupine Tree collaborator Lasse Hoile
, along with an edited single.
A DVD-A edition was released on the Transmission
Label as Transmission 11.1 through Burning Shed. On April 12, 2010, an acoustic version of "I Drive the Hearse" was released through the Roadrunner website. On July 9, 2010, a music video for "Bonnie the Cat" was released.
Readers of the Teraz Rock
Polish
magazine voted Steven Wilson as the "Best Foreign Instrumentalist/Musician of 2009" surpassing other widely known artists, in the likes of The Edge
, Jerry Cantrell
, Jack White
, Kerry King
, Kirk Hammett
, More Gore, Tom Morello
, Mark Knopfler
, and Omar Rodríguez-López
.
Classic Rock
magazine critics voted Porcupine Tree #1 "Best Band", The Incident as #1 "Album of the Year" (a reader's poll took the album to #2); The Incident tour was voted #4 and Gavin Harrison gained the #2 place for "Best Drummer"; Steven Wilson achieved #4 as "Best Guitarist" and was chosen #1 "Prog Icon of 2009".
Once again, a Porcupine Tree song was chosen as "Song Of The Day" by NPR
. "Drawing the Line" is the second NPR's pick on the band since "Sentimental" from Fear of a Blank Planet
in 2007.
India
n newspaper
The Hindu
commented on "Time Flies" by asserting, “The epic 11-minute track is simply one of Porcupine Tree's best. Embodied in melodic simplicity with a rhythmic strumming pattern the piece undulates with cascading crescendos, a rumbling mid-section and a propulsive finish.”
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
. It was released on September 14, 2009 by Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album
Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album
The Grammy Award for "Best Surround Sound Album" was first awarded in 2005, as the first category in a new "Surround Sound" field.-Nominees::*An Evening With Dave Grusin...
and reached the Top 25 on both the US and UK album charts.
History
The band started recording the album in February 2009. This was confirmed by the band, posting this message on their official website: "Writing for the next PT studio record is well underway, with the band recently spending 2 weeks scheduled in the English countryside working on new tracks. Recording of these pieces and a new 35-minute song cycle [written by Steven Wilson] were due to start in February..." A tour has been announced on the band's website and MySpace, along with dates, following release of the new album. Around March and April, Wilson commented the 35-minute song kept evolving, becoming a 55-minute song occupying the entire disc.On June 12, 2009, the details of The Incident were revealed on the Porcupine Tree website: "the record is set to be released via Roadrunner Records worldwide on September 22, as a double CD: the centre-piece is the title track, which takes up the whole of the first disc. The 55-minute work is described as a slightly surreal song cycle about beginnings and endings and the sense that ‘after this, things will never be the same again’; the release date was later moved to September 15. The self-produced album is completed by four standalone compositions that developed out of band writing sessions last December - Flicker, Bonnie the Cat, Black Dahlia, and Remember Me Lover feature on a separate EP length disc to stress their independence from the song cycle." On July 13, the first preview of the album was posted at both Roadrunner
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
and band's MySpace pages. The track Time Flies, described by Steven Wilson as "sentimental" and the "centerpiece" of the album, became a music video directed by usual Porcupine Tree collaborator Lasse Hoile
Lasse Hoile
Lasse Hoile is an acclaimed artist of mix media, photographer, graphic artist writer, film-maker/director, and cinematographer. Recognized for his unique vintage style intertwined with a modern day twist, Hoile is best known for his close work with Steven Wilson and his projects Porcupine Tree and...
, along with an edited single.
A DVD-A edition was released on the Transmission
Transmission (record label)
Transmission is an independent record label set by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree in 2003. It was named after an information service by mail of the same name the band had during the nineties...
Label as Transmission 11.1 through Burning Shed. On April 12, 2010, an acoustic version of "I Drive the Hearse" was released through the Roadrunner website. On July 9, 2010, a music video for "Bonnie the Cat" was released.
Concept
The concept of The Incident emerged as Wilson was caught in a motorway traffic jam whilst driving past a road accident:Reception
In January, 2010, Eclipsed magazine critics named The Incident their "Album of the Year", and also gave some credits to the band for "Best Concert of The Year" while "Time Flies" achieved #5 in the "Best Song of The Year" category.Readers of the Teraz Rock
Teraz Rock
Teraz Rock is a monthly hobbymagazine in Poland about all kinds of rock music . It was founded in 2003 by Wiesław Królikowski, and Wiesław Weiss...
Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
magazine voted Steven Wilson as the "Best Foreign Instrumentalist/Musician of 2009" surpassing other widely known artists, in the likes of The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
, Jerry Cantrell
Jerry Cantrell
Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with the grunge/metal band Alice in Chains, as lead guitarist, backing and co-lead vocalist, and co-lyricist. He performs lead vocals on his solo projects, and is part of Alice in Chains' harmonizing...
, Jack White
Jack White (musician)
Jack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor...
, Kerry King
Kerry King
Kerry King is an American lead and rhythm guitarist. He is best known as the lead guitarist and cofounder of American thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and has been a member ever since...
, Kirk Hammett
Kirk Hammett
Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, More Gore, Tom Morello
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
, Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
, and Omar Rodríguez-López
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-López is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, writer, actor and film director who was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico...
.
Classic Rock
Classic Rock (magazine)
Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of...
magazine critics voted Porcupine Tree #1 "Best Band", The Incident as #1 "Album of the Year" (a reader's poll took the album to #2); The Incident tour was voted #4 and Gavin Harrison gained the #2 place for "Best Drummer"; Steven Wilson achieved #4 as "Best Guitarist" and was chosen #1 "Prog Icon of 2009".
Once again, a Porcupine Tree song was chosen as "Song Of The Day" by NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
. "Drawing the Line" is the second NPR's pick on the band since "Sentimental" from Fear of a Blank Planet
Fear of a Blank Planet
Fear of a Blank Planet is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree and their best selling . Released by Roadrunner on 16 April 2007 in the UK and Europe, 24 April 2007 in the United States through Atlantic, 25 April 2007 in Japan on WHD and 1 May 2007 in Canada by WEA...
in 2007.
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
commented on "Time Flies" by asserting, “The epic 11-minute track is simply one of Porcupine Tree's best. Embodied in melodic simplicity with a rhythmic strumming pattern the piece undulates with cascading crescendos, a rumbling mid-section and a propulsive finish.”
Disc one
Disc two
These two bonus tracks were recorded in Tilburg, The Netherlands, in 2008 for the live DVD Anesthetize.DVD-A edition
Band line-up
- Steven WilsonSteven WilsonSteven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
- vocals, guitars, keyboards - Richard BarbieriRichard BarbieriRichard Barbieri, is an English synthesiser player, keyboardist and composer. He was educated at Catford Boys' School, Catford, South East London...
- synthesizers, keyboards - Colin EdwinColin EdwinColin Edwin is a member of the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, where he plays both fretted and fretless bass guitar as well as double bass and guimbri. He joined the band in December 1993...
- bass guitar, double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2... - Gavin HarrisonGavin HarrisonGavin Harrison is a British drummer and percussionist. He is best known for playing with the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree which he joined in 2002. As of 2008, he also plays with the band King Crimson....
- drums, percussion
Production
- Arranged & Produced By Porcupine Tree
- Engineers: Steve Orchard, John Wesley (engineered guitars)
- Mixing: Steven Wilson
- Mastering: Jon Astley (stereo), Darcy Proper (5.1)
Charts
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Albums Chart | 5 |
| Polish Album Chart | 5 |
| Billboard Rock Albums | 7 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 11 |
| German Albums Chart | 17 |
| Switzerland Album Chart | 20 |
| Canadian Album Chart | 23 |
| UK Albums Chart | 23 |
| Billboard 200 | 25 |
| Australian Record Industry Association | 35 |
| Austrian Album Chart | 45 |
| Belgian (Vl) Album Chart | 79 |
| Belgian (Wa) Album Chart | 40 |
| French Album Chart | 35 |
| Italian Album Chart | 35 |
| Norwegian Album Chart | 19 |
| Spanish Album Chart | 77 |
| Swedish Album Chart | 23 |