JapanSylvian.com

sisterlondon wrote:

Barbierian wrote:Regarding any further UK dates being added to the tour, it'll just be my luck that they'll choose November 22nd when I have a pre-existing date with my daughter and the Jonas Brothers

No worries, they play in Madrid that night. And Barcelona the day after (and I hope I'll be there!)

I think that also Lightbulb Sun and Stupid Dream are your albums if you like mellower stuff. Funny enough I liked better the heavier stuff when I first discovered him. My first PT cd (the Lazarus EP) has 2 mellow tracks and one heavier one, and liked the latter better!

Phew, thank goodness for that - now lets hope they actually announce some more dates for the North West. In the meantime, I'm gonna get ordering some music

I'm into RTC (of course) but never liked PT. Still don't, too sympho for me! Only like No Man's "Schoolyard ghosts" a bit. But I don't see any connection with Japan/Solo stuff at all, apart from Richard being their keyboardplayer. Though I like all solo stuff by the Japan guys (also thought Richard's last solo album was really great), I would never ever go to a PT concert just because Rich is their keyboardplayer!! Japan was something really something special.. Won't happen again, i'm afraid..

must admit ,they are not my cup of tea

yeah I've tried to listen to them but something just doesn't click

Stupid Dream is by far their best effort. I think the newer stuff ie: In Absentia, Deadwing and The Incident are really geared toward commercial airplay. Dont get me wrong they have some great moments but the dark metal guitar crunch sound really annoys me to no end. Blank Planet is a piece of shit

I just wish SW would drop his quest for billboard chart recognition and get back to writing again and forget about the teenage adolesent market. Oh... and the artwork as of late is absolutely dreadful.

You should check them out live. They have really become an awesome live band.

I won't say I disagree about the artwork But how is The Incident ANY commercial?

ScottR wrote:I just wish SW would drop his quest for billboard chart recognition and get back to writing again and forget about the teenage adolesent market.

Quest for billboard chart recognition? Steven Wilson?!? I think that if he was doing that he'd be writing totally different songs and collaborating with totally different 'artists'. And I think that if anybody told adolescents what Blank Planet is about and SW should find himself amongst them, he wouldn't get out alive.
Anyway, whatever we think of the music PT are producing, it's a band affair, it's not just Steven Wilson bossying everybody around.

Quest for chart recognition...absolutely. You guys need to pay closer attention. He frequently solicits fans to buy during the first week of release, and actually refers them to preferred sellers. He then follows up with chart positions etc, etc. If he didn't care, than he wouldn't care. Simple as that.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with making money. It just comes at the expense of the music.

ScottR wrote:Quest for chart recognition...absolutely. You guys need to pay closer attention. He frequently solicits fans to buy during the first week of release, and actually refers them to preferred sellers. He then follows up with chart positions etc, etc. If he didn't care, than he wouldn't care. Simple as that.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with making money. It just comes at the expense of the music.

I wouldn't be able to refute that. Personally, I haven't noticed it (except invitations to buy from Burning Shed and Headphone Dust, which is quite obvious), but I've never seen PT live so that doesn't count much. Maybe SisterLondon might help on this argument, she's seen them once or twice. I have heard Richard Barbieri say, in an interview, that their latest record (I'm not sure if it was The Incident) had sold more than the previous one and he thanked the fans, but it ended there.
I can guess that a record that has sold a certain amount of copies leads the band to a better deal for tours (like having a bus with an incorporated loo instead of a broken-down van that won't start after you've stopped to wee behind the bushes).
As for the music, my opinion is that the path they're walking along, although very distant from the starting point, is its natural continuation. And not far from the bushes.

Once or twice, LMAO!

Well, that's right, they have been trying to get bigger numbers (actually the last 2 albums were not on sale on Burnigh Shed in the beginning to help increasing the sales, cause BS doesn't count on the lists). But that's understandable, if you make more sales, you get more gigs and that's something that I can understand. Better getting to a bigger audience and to more countries to play. I am glad of that I can tell! PT didn't want come to Spain cause in 2005 the audiences were too small. In 2008 they sold out the venue in Madrid and changed to a bigger one (same as DD played in 2005 btw). In 2009 they played in a bigger venue in Barcelona and SW was very very pleased with that. As a fan I am glad they get bigger, cause it is more likely they get to countried where they couldn't have gone. And also it's a thrill seeing them play for 6000 people in Amsterdam!