Porcupine Tree: The Sky Moves Sideways (UK Version) 1995

The Sky Moves Sideways was the first Porcupine Tree album to be released in the US (albeit with an altered track list), and the first on which Porcupine Tree was actually a band rather than simply a pseudonym for Steven Wilson.

This transition took place while the album was being recorded, so two of the tracks – namely “The Moon Touches Your Shoulder” and “Dislocated Day” – are performed entirely by Wilson, while the full band appears on the remainder of the album (including “Stars Die”, a UK single which was added to the US version of the album). In 2004, a new, two CD version of the album was released, featuring newly recorded drums by Gavin Harrison on these two tracks.

There are thus three distinct versions of this album – the original UK version, the US version, and the 2004 remaster – no two of which feature the same track list, or the same version of “Moonloop”.

The Sky Moves Sideways was the first Porcupine Tree album to be released in the US (albeit with an altered track list), and the first on which Porcupine Tree was actually a band rather than simply a pseudonym for Steven Wilson. This transition took place while the album was being recorded, so two of the tracks - namely "The Moon Touches Your Shoulder" and "Dislocated Day" - are performed entirely by Wilson, while the full band appears on the remainder of the album (including "Stars Die", a UK single which was added to the US version of the album). In 2004, a new, two CD version of the album was released, featuring newly recorded drums by Gavin Harrison on these two tracks.

There are thus three distinct versions of this album - the original UK version, the US version, and the 2004 remaster - no two of which feature the same track list, or the same version of "Moonloop".

Wilson remixed elements of "The Colour of Air" for use in the track "Fuse the Sky" during the Signify era on an ambient compilation; it later appeared on Stars Die: The Delerium Years 1991–1997. The guitar progression of "Spiral Circus" would be reused by Wilson project No-Man for "Something Falls," a b-side for their 2001 album Returning Jesus.

( AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett

Though Porcupine Tree's permanent lineup was in place by the time Sky Moves Sideways was complete, it was actually a combination of old and new, with a number of tracks once again done by Wilson on his own. Regardless of the provenance of one song or another, though, it was another fine release under the Porcupine Tree name, continuing the excellence of Up the Downstair while achieving a new liquid sense of drama and overall flow.

Barbieri's keyboard skills alone made for a wonderful addition to the ranks, easily capturing the slow sense of unfolding atmosphere and elegance combined from earlier Porcupine Tree work while adding his own touches here and there, a touch of playfulness and improvisation. The Edwin/Maitland rhythm section sound like they were born to work together, able to both set slow, spacy moods and quick gallops and dance-skewed approaches both.

Wilson, meanwhile, is still himself, calling to mind strange lyric images of rural collapse and romantic connection in his ever stronger, commanding but never straining vocals. As for guitar, there's subtle delicacy and headbanging overload and plenty of space in between for more. Overall, there's not much in the way of immediate sonic difference from Up the Downstair, more a sense of exploring and establishing styles, almost as if the bandmembers were getting used to working with each other.

The tripped-out title track bookends the album (perhaps in a not so subtle nod to a similar sequence on Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here with "Shine on You Crazy Diamond"). The real winners, though, are the jazz-touched acoustic/electric dreamscape of "Stars Die," with a great lead melody and overdubbed chorus from Wilson, and the immediately following "Moonloop," an instrumental calm then rocking jam that's credited to all four members.)

TRACKS

1.   "The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1"

I.   "The Colour of Air"

II.  "I Find That I'm Not There"

III. "Wire the Drum"

IV.  "Spiral Circus"    18:37

2.   "Dislocated Day"    5:24

3.   "The Moon Touches Your Shoulder"    5:40

4.   "Prepare Yourself"    1:54

5.   "Moonloop"    17:05

6.   "The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 2"

I.   "Is...Not"

II.  "Off the Map"    16:46

Total length:  65:31

Steven Wilson: vocals, guitar; keyboards, tapes, programming and mix engineer

Colin Edwin: bass

Richard Barbieri: keyboards; electronics, programming

Chris Maitland: drums

Additional Musicians:

Ricky Edwards: additional percussion

Theo Travis: flute on “The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1”

Suzanne J. Barbieri: vocals on “The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 2”

Gavin Harrison – drums on “Dislocated Day” and “Moon Touches Your Shoulder” (2004 expanded remaster only)

Released: 30 January 1995
Recorded: June 1993 - July 1994
Genre: Progressive rock, space rock, psychedelic rock
Length:    65:31
Label: Delerium
Producer: Steven Wilson

THE SKY MOVES SIDEWAYS (Phase One)  LYRICS   

We lost the skyline

We stepped right off the map

Drifted in to blank space

And let the clocks relapse

We laughed the rain down

Slow burn on the lawn

Ghosts across the lawn

Swallowed up the storm

Sometimes I feel like a fist

Sometimes I am the color of air

Sometimes it's only afterwards

I find that I'm not there

In the dream dusk

We walked beside the lake

We watched the sky move sideways

And heard the evening break

Sometimes I feel like a fist

Sometimes I am the color of air

Sometimes it's only afterwards

I find that I'm not there

DISLOCATED DAY  LYRICS   

   

A dislocated day

Peers in to the ether

Counts the stars inside the sky

And flies in to the never

Looped around my eyelids

A thousand shining flecks

Pale against the canvas

Which hangs around my neck

Dislocated day

I will find a way

To make you say

The name of your forgiver

Stood beside an inlet

A starfish leads a dance

It dreams it is a human

And falls into a trance

A hole inside my body

Is wired up to a charge

Chemical imbalance

Tells me who you are

Insects hide the silence

November brings deep rain

Between the flow to freezing

And yesterday's sustain

MP3 Size: 151 MB
Flac Size: 355 MB 

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