Porcupine Tree – Fear Of A Blank Planet: Deluxe Edition [6 Disc Boxset]

Steven Wilson is the curator of his own back-catalogue. He is also a highly sought-after music producer, especially in relation to spatial audio remixes of existing material. So it is of no surprise that he has been in charge of the newly remastered mixes for some of his own past material too. These have already included Porcupine Tree albums, In Absentia, and Deadwing, with these newer box-set presentations being released in 2020 & 2022 respectively. The third in the series of these classic Gavin Harrison era Porcupine Tree albums, is Fear Of A Blank Planet, which is often viewed by their most avid fans as the finest studio album that the band ever made. And now we have a box-set of that album, which includes both stereo & 5.1 surround mixes of the main studio material from that era, as well as several other discs containing demo versions, live versions, radio sessions, and lots of other goodies that any hardened Porcupine Tree fan would love to get their hands on.

This is a 6 disc box-set that comes in a hardback ‘book’ style format, with 108 pages of photos and information from the 2006 – 2007 era, when the album was written, demoed, toured, recorded, and finally released. The digital version I’ve been sent to review only has the first 5 standard stereo audio discs. Disc 6 is the Blu-ray disc, which contains the newly remastered 5.1 surround mixes of Fear Of A Blank Planet along-side the Nil Recurring EP. The Blu-ray also includes the promotional videos that accompanied 3 of the tracks, 3 live videos from a 2007 concert, a couple of specially shot films that were played on a rear-screen during live shows to accompany songs, as well as a 47 minute documentary of the band looking back on that particular era, which includes lots of never seen before footage. As I don’t have the Blu-ray then I can’t really make much comment on the 6th disc, and this review will focus on the 5 discs worth of content that I actually do have in my possession.

CD 1: 2024 Stereo Remaster of the Fear Of A Blank Planet

This isn’t a new mix as such, with instruments and vocals being individually attended to, and readjusted separately. This is a ‘remaster’, with the difference being that the entire overall mix is overhauled, going back to the stereo master tapes, and then well-calculated tonal & compression elements are adjusted to hopefully enhance the final listening experience. The reasoning behind this is that the original was done 17 years ago, and not only has technology advanced since then, but how & where we listen to our music has also changed over the years. I’ve compared the 2 mixes sided by side, and there are differences. The new remaster darkens down the aggressive edge on the guitars, tightens any flabbiness on the bass guitar, makes the cymbals sound more pronounced, and well as the snare drum now having a bit more crack to it. It stands to reason that some people are going to prefer the original version, and yet I’ve no doubt that some will really like this slightly cleaner sounding newer mix. Here’s an easy way to look at it. If you’re a big guitar fan, you’re probably going to like the original more, and if you love listening to Gavin Harrison’s superb drumming, then the 2024 remaster will likely be right up your street, as this version allows the drums to breathe a bit better.

CD 2: 2024 Stereo Remaster of the Nil Recurring [EP]

The Fear Of A Blank Planet album contains 6 songs, and was first released in mid April 2007. However there were another 4 songs from that same recording period, and these were mixed and released as a 29 minute EP, just 5 months later. Truth is that these extra songs very likely could have been squeezed on to the FOABP album, but that was not the vision that Steven Wilson had for his masterwork back then. He wanted to keep it to around the 50 minute mark, making these 4 extra tracks very much a part of the concept and recording process during the exact same time period. It is essentially a mini ‘sister’ album to FOABP, and is just as important in their canon of work from those times. And rightfully it has also been given a full 2024 remastering. Again with the same modern audio adjustments that the main album has been given. As a bonus track to this edition, there is the intro music that was used for their live shows. Played as the band made their way on to the stage, and would be followed up with the band then starting to perform Fear Of A Blank Planet as their opening number. Nothing really of any note to rave about here. Just a 2 minute sound design bonus recording for the completist fans out there.

CD 3: Fear Of A Blank Planet Demos

The writing process for the album took place during the first 6 months of 2006. The band then got together to flesh out the idea, and these demos were recorded during July & August of the same year. They are the 6 songs intended for the album, and listed in the same order as the final release. The huge difference is track number 5, which is Cheating The Polygraph. This was fully intended to be a part of the FOABP album, yet after testing the song out on a tour that Autumn, they felt it no longer fitted, and instead wrote a brand new song to replace it with. On this disc you have those 6 band demos that were originally destined to be on the main album, plus a couple of bonus tracks with a pair of Steven Wilson demos that to this day have never previously been released. Why it’s taken 17 years, I’ve no idea? I suppose they could have been added to the Nil Recurring EP to make it a 6-track mini album, but I think Steven Wilson liked the idea of a stand-alone 4-track EP, and stuck with that plan. So these 2 tunes have been in the vaults all this time, yet have finally been given a public airing at long last.

Track 7 on disc 3 is Always Recurring. It’s a beautiful haunting song, that is primarily piano led, with a big spacey sounding lead vocal. Harmony vocals on the chorus sections, and luscious string keyboard sounds from the 2nd verse onwards. This song sounds very different from anything else on FOABP or Nil Recurring, so I can fully grasp the reasoning why it was omitted from both of those releases. Yet it’s a great song, and one of the highlights of this entire box set. Track 8 is titled Hey Sleeper. This starts off with Steven Wilson playing acoustic guitar and singing on this slow-paced number, that just like its predecessor probably sounded too out of place in comparison to the other recordings intended for the album. This tune is a little darker in feel, with perhaps a touch of Syd Barrett influence creeping in. I particularly love the mellotron style soaring keyboards that come in towards the back half of this tune. I’d say that this number feels more in line with Porcupine Tree’s Lightbulb Sun era. Another marvellous song that has taken such a long time to surface. I’m very pleased that both of these songs are now being officially released to the public. They are 2 hidden gems.

CD 4: Live At The Garage In Saarbrücken – 23rd September 2006

During the Autumn of 2006, Porcupine Tree undertook a 20 date tour to promote their recently released live concert DVD, Arriving Somewhere. The band also very bravely took that opportunity to preview the brand new 6 songs that were intended for their next studio album. Rather than scatter them among previously released material that the audience would be familiar with, Porcupine Tree took the very bold move to open up their entire show with material that the crowd had never heard before. Performed in the exact same order as their 6 song demo recordings, and also including Cheating The Polygraph, which never made it to the final version of FOABP. This would take up the first half of their show, after which there would be a brief interval, and the band would return to perform some fan-favourites, and promote songs included on their latest DVD release. This recording captures Porcupine Tree performing the 6 songs in embryonic form, as the band would not venture into the studio to record them properly until after the tour had finished.

To be honest, on both the demos disc, and this live disc, the songs structures are already pretty much mapped out. There really isn’t that huge a difference between them with regards to the song-writing, or even the song lengths etc. Demos were recorded, the band went straight out on tour very shortly afterwards, and what you hear in these live recording is the band playing the songs as they had just recently learned them. Of course there’ll be small musical nuances, different drum accents, perhaps the odd musical note difference here & there, but nothing that really stands out. The main 2 differences that I could hear were the closing section of the title track, which in this form had no lead vocal at all, and also the lengthy Anesthetize which has no guitar solo at all. Both are clearly left void at this stage of testing out the material live, and likely not until they finally got in to the studio to record them properly, were the final touches made to the songs, including the superb guitar solo by Rush’s Alex Lifeson, Considering that these live recordings were only made on the 8th date of the tour, then even at this stage, they do capture the main essence of what was eventually laid down on the FOABP album.

CD 5: BBC Radio Session Maida Vale | Orlando in-Store Performance

This disc contains 2 sets of performances. The first batch being 5 songs recorded at the BBC Maida Vale Studio on the 13th April 2007, featuring Blackest Eyes, Halo, and 3 songs from the FOABP album. These are ‘live’ in the studio sessions, which have the live vibe of a band performing together, yet in a more controlled studio environment. These versions may not sounds as polished as their original recorded counterparts, yet they do have a little more fire & energy to them, with the band members feeding off each other during the performances. Fear Of A Blank Planet and Sleep Together sound really fresh, as this would have been the first time the band had performed these live since recording them for the album. The third song from FOABP is titled The Pills That I’ve Been Taking, which is actually the hard-rocking middle section from Anesthetize. This is my favourite track out of this batch, because you can hear that the band are properly gelling together just beautifully, and really kicking ass on this number. This was always the finest section of the 3-part epic song, and the band collectively are on amazing form here.

The 2nd collection of tracks all come from an in-store session at Park Avenue in Orlando, on the 4th October 2007. The first 3 songs are essentially one-man solo performances by Steven Wilson, with the opening songs, tracks 6 & 7 on the disc, featuring him on electric guitar and lead vocals. First up is a gorgeous laid-bare version of The Sky Moves Sideways, which sounds amazing. Steven Wilson playing a clean electric guitar with lots of reverb & delay on it, bringing in these huge chord swells. The 2nd of these is Even Less played in an almost Billy Brag style, which surprisingly works well in that brasher manner. Steven then dons an acoustic guitar and plays Stars Die, to be soon joined on stage by fellow band member, guitarist John Wesley, to play Waiting. It’s fantastic to hear these early era Porcupine Tree songs being played with these stripped-back arrangements. John then remains on stage for the rest of this short set. Up next we have a version of Normal, which had only just been released back then on the Nil Recurring EP, and is also introduced by Steven Wilson with him recalling a great Robert Fripp story. After that it’s one of my all-time favourites, Drown With Me. I adore this song … how could it possibly have been left off In Absentia? And finally wrapping things up you have renditions of Lazarus and Trains. This is a superb selection of tunes, they sound brilliant, and in my opinion, this should have been officially released ages ago.

This entire package contains some great material that fans are going to love. And if they already own the In Absentia and Deadwing box-sets, then they are 100% going to want to own this one too. Discs 3, 4 & 5 are the really nice bonuses that make this collection worth getting, as well as the awesome book that accompanies it all. I actually did manage to view the book as it was sent along with the audio material, in digital form. The stereo mix remasters are going to be quite divisive, as obviously so many fans will already have the existing material from the album & the EP, and may end up preferring to stick with those original mixes. As for disc 6, this contains newly remastered 5.1 surround mixes… NOT Dolby Atmos mixes. Once again, 5.1 mixes for both the album & the EP already exist, so the lure of getting yet another version of the same material, might not be so appealing.

This full book-bound box-set, if you hunt around for pre-order deals is priced around the £80 – £90 mark. For the hi-fi audiophiles, they’ll enjoy hearing these remasters in spatial audio, or even with the extremely high resolution stereo remasters that are also included on the Blu-ray disc. The completists will want to own this collection because this does have some great material on it, that even if they’ve been heard previously in some kind of bootleg form, the fans are absolutely going to love hearing them this way, beautifully reproduced from the original sources. The book has some damn fine reading material in it with detailed accounts and quotes from band members, of the times that surrounded the run up to, recording, and touring of the Fear Of A Blank Planet album. As well as lots of images from that era, using shots from the photos sessions for the album that were never used back then. Plus lots of live photos from that same period.

I’m still at a loss as to why this doesn’t contain a Dolby Atmos mix, when Steven Wilson is one of the main pioneers in the field of spatial audio, and the regular go-to-guy for those wanting their classic albums reproduced in Dolby Atmos for anniversary releases, etc. Perhaps there’s something in the works up ahead for 25th anniversary issues of In Absentia, Deadwing and Fear Of A Blank Planet … who knows? Will the much maligned The Incident album from 2009 eventually get the box-set treatment? – as logically it is the next album in line from the classic Gavin Harrison era of Porcupine Tree. With Steven Wilson being the curator, then I suppose it’s all entirely up to him what projects lie on the horizon. But for those that want to wallow in the golden era of Porcupine Tree, then this new collection should keep them very happy indeed.

TRACK LISTING
CD 1: Fear Of A Blank Planet (2024 Stereo Remaster)
01. Fear Of A Blank Planet (7:28)
02. My Ashes (5:09)
03. Anesthetize (17:52)
04. Sentimental (5:26)
05. Way Out Of Here (7:37)
06. Sleep Together (7:28)

CD 2: Nil Recurring (2024 Stereo Remaster)
01. Nil Recurring (6:15)
02. Normal (7:08)
03. Cheating The Polygraph (7:10)
04. What Happens Now (8:24)
~ Bonus track
05. Fear Of A Blank Planet (live intro music)

CD 3: Fear Of A Blank Planet Demos
01. Fear Of A Blank Planet (Band) (7:01)
02. My Ashes (Band) (5:09)
03. Anesthetize (Band) (16:49)
04. Sentimental (Band) (5:03)
05. Cheating The Polygraph (Band) (7:26)
06. Sleep Together (Band) (7:26)
07. Always Recurring (Steven Wilson) (3:49)
08. Hey Sleeper (Steven Wilson) (3:36)

CD 4: Live At The Garage In Saarbrücken – 23rd September 2006
01. Fear Of A Blank Planet (9:05)
02. My Ashes (5:44)
03. Anesthetize (17:12)
04. Sentimental (5:07)
05. Cheating The Polygraph (6:58)
06. Sleep Together (8:11)

CD 5: BBC Session, Maida Vale, 13 April 2007
01. Blackest Eyes (4:27)
02. Fear Of A Blank Planet (7:29)
03. Sleep Together (7:20)
04. The Pills I`m Taking (5:58)
05. Halo (5:42)

Live In Store Performance, Orlando, 4 October 2007
06. The Sky Moves Sideways [4:02)
07. Even Less (3:27)
08. Stars Die (4:34)
09. Waiting (3:52)
10. Normal (4:52)
11. Drown With Me (4:09)
12. Lazarus (4:06)
13. Trains (4:28)

Blu-ray
5.1 Mixes
01. Fear Of A Blank Planet (7:28)
02. My Ashes (5:09)
03. Anesthetize (17:52)
04. Sentimental (5:26)
05. Way Out Of Here (7:37)
06. Sleep Together (7:28)
07. Nil Recurring (6:15)
08. Normal (7:08)
09. Cheating The Polygraph (7:10)
10. What Happens Now? (8:24)
11. Fear Of A Blank Planet (Video) (4:19)
12. Way Out Of Here (Video) (4:17)
13. Normal (Video) (3:52)
14. Sleep Together (Live Visual Film) (7:32)
15. Anesthetize (Live Visual Film) (17:14)
16. Fear Of A Blank Planet (Video – Live at Palladium, Koln, 4 December 2007) (8:37)
17. Anesthetize (Video – Live at Palladium, Koln, 4 December 2007) (17:14)
18. Sleep Together (Video – Live at Palladium, Koln, 4 December 2007) (8:03)
19. The Making Of Fear Of A Blank Planet (Documentary Film) (48:23)

MUSICIANS
Studio Recordings & Demos
Steven Wilson – Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Keyboards
Gavin Harrison – Drums & Percussion
Richard Barbieri – Keyboards, Synthesisers
Colin Edwin – Bass
~ With:
John Wesley – Backing Vocals
Alex Lifeson – Guitar Solo (Anesthetize)
Robert Fripp – Soundscapes (Way Out Of Here) | Lead Guitar (Nil Recurring)
Ben Coleman – Electric Violin (What Happens Now)

Live & Radio Sessions
Steven Wilson – Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Keyboards
Gavin Harrison – Drums & Percussion
Richard Barbieri – Keyboards, Synthesisers
Colin Edwin – Bass
John Wesley – Guitars, Backing Vocals

ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Burning Shed
Country of Origin: U.K.
Date of Release: 1^st November 2024

LINKS
Porcupine Tree – Website | Facebook | YouTube | X | Instagram