Fear of a Blank Planet
| Fear of a Blank Planet | ||||
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| Studio album by Porcupine Tree | ||||
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Publication |
2007 |
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| Label (s) |
Roadrunner Records (Europe) Atlantic (USA) |
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
6th |
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running time |
50 min 48 s |
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Porcupine Tree |
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Studio (s) |
No Man's Land, Bourne Place, New Rising, The Artillery, Nightspace, Mark Angelo, Red Room Recorders, DGM, Angel Studios |
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Fear of a Blank Planet ( English for: "Fear of a desolate planet", abbreviated FOABP ) is the ninth studio album by Porcupine Tree . The title is based on the album Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy.
Music genre
On FOABP, the individual tracks merge and should immerse the listener into another world. Furthermore, with these, compared to individual songs, larger "pieces" of music, a reference to the music of the 70s is placed and a new level of the "Porcupine Tree Way" is created. With "Anesthetize" you can already see the style of the follow-up album The Incident . This title in particular is later referred to by Wilson himself as a "finger exercise" for the follow-up album.
In general, the album is determined by melodic titles that can be found in the area between rock and metal. The guitar is often in the foreground, underlined by complex drums and textures created on the synthesizer.
History of origin
“[…] You can take the title quite literally. My fear is that the current generation of kids who're being born into this information revolution, growing up with the Internet, cell phones, iPods, this download culture, 'American Idol,' reality TV, prescription drugs, PlayStations - all of these things kind of distract people from what's important about life, which is to develop a sense of curiosity about what's out there. "
“You can take the title [note: of the album] pretty literally. My fear is that the current growing generation of teenagers who were born into this information revolution, who are growing up with the internet, cell phones, iPods, this download culture, American Idol , reality TV, prescription drugs, PlayStations - all of these Stuff distracts people's attention from what's really important in life and that is developing a curiosity for what's out there. "
The concept of the album is mainly inspired by the novel Lunar Park by the writer Bret Easton Ellis . Some of the texts on the album are taken directly from the novel, such as B. in "My Ashes". Wilson addresses behavioral disorders and the isolation of young people from reality through excessive consumption of electronic media.
Visual appearance
The design of the artwork comes from Porcupine Tree long-term collaborator Carl Glover with photographic material from the Danish photographer and filmmaker Lasse Hoile. Lasse Hoile also took on the creation of the films shown during the live performances. The cover shows a close-up of a boy's eye area in blue light, which is supposed to be the light of a switched-on television at night.
Track list
- Fear of a Blank Planet - 7:28
- My Ashes - 5:07
- Anesthetize - 17:42
- Sentimental - 5:26
- Way Out of Here - 7:37
- Sleep Together - 7:28
Publications and chart successes
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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The album has been released in different editions. In addition to the standard CD edition, "Fear of a Blank Planet" was also available as a limited CD / DVD-V special edition including a 5.1 surround mix of the album and a 40-page booklet as well as a 2LP edition with an alternative tracklist (combines the album tracks with the tracks of the "Nil Recurring" EP, later also released on CD). The 2LP edition was also released as a limited edition with additional artwork . “Fear of a Blank Planet” was also released as a Grammy-nominated, audiophile DVD-A version, which contains the high-resolution 5.1 surround mix of the album and the “Nil Recurring” EP as well as additional video material.
No singles were released.
Guest musician
Other well-known musicians, especially those from the progressive rock scene, also played on the album:
- Alex Lifeson from Rush plays a guitar solo on "Anesthetize"
- Robert Fripp from King Crimson is on "Way Out of Here"
- John Wesley is generally involved in the background vocals
reception
The album was nominated at the Grammy Awards 2008 in the category "Best Surround Sound Album", but lost the award to "Love" by the Beatles . In June 2015, the journal Rolling Stone voted the album at number 39 of the 50 best progressive rock albums of all time .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Porcupine Tree Discography. In: porcupinetree.com. Retrieved January 5, 2011 (English, publications).
- ↑ a b c Chris Harris: Porcupine Tree's Wilson Talks Complex New LP, Project With Opeth's Akerfeldt. Frontman ponders the impact of information technology on today's generation. In: mtv.com. March 23, 2007, accessed January 5, 2011 (Interview with Steven Wilson).
- ^ Porcupine Tree . In: Sysyphus Verlags GmbH (ed.): Eclipsed . October 2009, p. 28-36 .
- ^ A b c Scott Kahn: Steven Wilson: Fear of a Blank Interview. In: musicplayers.com. 2007, accessed January 5, 2011 (English, interview with Steven Wilson).
- ↑ Porcupine Tree: Fear of a Blank Planet (Booklet) . Roadrunner Records, 2007, p. 12 .
- ↑ Charts DE Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
- ↑ a b PT Grammy nominated! (No longer available online.) In: porcupinetree.com. June 12, 2007, archived from the original on April 19, 2010 ; accessed on January 5, 2011 (English, news). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 2008 Grammy Winners. In: cbsnews.com. Retrieved September 11, 2014 .
- ↑ Jon Weiderhorn: 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time - Porcupine Tree, 'Fear of a Blank Planet' (2007). In: Rolling Stone . Wenner Media, June 17, 2015, accessed on September 30, 2015 .
