Up the Downstair is the second studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 progressive rock

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...

, first released in May 1993. It was originally intended to be a double album

Double album

A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....

 set including the song "Voyage 34

Voyage 34

"Voyage 34" is a single by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. Although it was originally thought to be a song for the album Up the Downstair, making it a double album, this idea was later rejected so it was released separately....

", which was instead released as a single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 in 1992, and other material that ended up on the Staircase Infinities

Staircase Infinities

Staircase Infinities is a studio EP by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in December 1994 as a limited 2,000-copy 10" vinyl by Lazy Eye and reissued on CD by Blueprint in the UK in October 1995...

EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 (1994). In 2005, it was partially re-recorded, fully re-mixed, remastered and re-released along with the Staircase Infinities EP as a double album. The re-release contains a new mix by Steven Wilson

Steven Wilson

Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...

, along with recorded drums by Gavin Harrison

Gavin Harrison

Gavin 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....

 that replace the electronic drums of the original version. Steven Wilson has stated that the title of the album came from a line in the song "Voyage 34." There is still a title track however. Another re-release on double vinyl was pressed on August 14, 2008 on Kscope records. This is identical to the 2005 release, except it is printed on coloured vinyl and the Staircase Infinities disc contains the song "Phantoms".

Side one

1. "What You Are Listening To..." – 0:58
2. "Synesthesia" – 5:11
3. "Monuments Burn into Moments" – 0:20
4. "Always Never" (Wilson, Alan Duffy) – 6:58
5. "Up the Downstair" – 10:03

Side two

1. "Not Beautiful Anymore" – 3:26
2. "Siren" – 0:52
3. "Small Fish" (Wilson, Duffy) – 2:43
4. "Burning Sky" – 11:06
5. "Fadeaway" (Wilson, Duffy) – 6:19

2005 Remastered And Remixed Edition

Many songs differ a little in length in the revamped edition.

Disc One - Up The Downstair

1. "What You Are Listening To..." – 0:57
2. "Synesthesia" – 5:16
3. "Monuments Burn into Moments" – 0:22
4. "Always Never" (Wilson, Duffy) – 7:00
5. "Up the Downstair" – 10:14
6. "Not Beautiful Anymore" – 3:25
7. "Siren" – 0:57
8. "Small Fish" (Wilson, Duffy) – 2:42
9. "Burning Sky" – 11:36
10. "Fadeaway" (Wilson, Duffy) – 6:19

Disc Two - Staircase Infinities

Staircase Infinities

Staircase Infinities is a studio EP by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in December 1994 as a limited 2,000-copy 10" vinyl by Lazy Eye and reissued on CD by Blueprint in the UK in October 1995...

1. "Cloud Zero" – 4:40
2. "The Joke's on You" (Wilson, Duffy) – 4:17
3. "Navigator" – 4:49
4. "Rainy Taxi" – 6:50
5. "Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape" – 9:36

Personnel

Performed by Steven Wilson

Steven Wilson

Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...

, except:

• Colin Edwin
  Colin Edwin
  Colin 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 on "Always Never"
• Richard Barbieri
  Richard Barbieri
  Richard Barbieri, is an English synthesiser player, keyboardist and composer. He was educated at Catford Boys' School, Catford, South East London...
  
   – Electronics on "Up the Downstair"
• Suzanne J. Barbieri – Vocals on "Up the Downstair"
• Gavin Harrison
  Gavin Harrison
  Gavin 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 (Disc 1 2005 edition only)

Reviews

Professional reviews:

• Melody Maker
  Melody Maker
  Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
  
  - They've embarked upon a mission impossible: to create a truly Nineties progressive rock soundscape, utilising modern technology but avoiding prog pomposity. And they've managed it with room to spare. It's a strange and wonderful brew, taking in Orb ambience, FSoL dub, Metallica steel and all points in between. Ambient space dubs, technological cut-ups and Gregorian chants texture the sound, but the fire at the heart of the noise comes from good old guitar. Be warned, there are solos here, but they're played with a force and a purity that defies indulgence.

• Organ
  Organ (magazine)
  Organ is an independent music magazine based in London, covering a variety of rock, alternative, punk, progressive, metal and experimental music. The magazine was founded in 1986 as a handmade fanzine and has evolved many times over the last 20 years...
  
  - "Up The Downstair" is an LP that hides many surprises for the attentive listener. After a few spins you realise that even the sounds mixed into the background and he vocal interventions from old "drug" records all play a part in this warm, soothing lysergic tapestry that contains sparse, but matching lyrics. When I wrote an article on Porcupine Tree last year (published in Crohinga Well 2) I predicted that this act would become a "third way" in New British Psychedelia (the first and second being the psychedelic rock of Bevis Frond and the spacey festival sounds of Ozric Tentacles, of course). This record only confirms my statement. "Up The Downstair" is a record to get incredibly stoned to (and you will...)!

• CMJ - Up The Downstair retains the band's willowy roots in Albion psychedelia but expands the brief, dropping its cheesy self-consciousness while infusing some contemporary dance auras (from acidic mesmerism to almost funky syncopation) with more 'group-like' interaction.

External links

• Porcupine Tree Official Website
• Up the Downstair at Snapper Music
  Snapper Music
  Snapper Music is an independent record label founded in 1996 by former head of Castle Communications Jon Beecher, Dougie Dudgeon and funded by the late Mark Levinson from Palan Music Publishing. In 1999 Snapper broke away from its parent company in an MBO in association with ACT and CAI venture...