Stupid Dream

Porcupine Tree: Steven Wilson (vocals, guitar, piano, samples); Richard Barbieri (Hammond B-3 organ, Mellotron, synthesizer); Colin Edwin (bass); Chris Maitland (drums, percussion).Additional personnel: Nicholas Kok (conductor); EasotofEnglandOrchestra (strings); Theo Travis (flute, saxophone).Porcupine Tree's first album for K-Scope/Snapper starts out with a definite bang -- "Even Less," with some of the quartet's biggest, blasting rock epic music yet, yet also shot through with the gentler, acoustic side that makes Porcupine Tree so intimate and lovely. The net result easily calls Yes to mind, but Steven Wilson's not so high-pitched as Jon Anderson and Richard Barbieri completely avoids Rick Wakeman's extreme idiocies -- prog that knows when less is more. With that as a fine signal for the album as a whole, Stupid Dream takes it from there -- Wilson as a songwriter and singer both sounds recharged and more ambitious, while the group collectively pours it on. The loud passages feel tr