Deadwing

Deadwing is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in March 28, 2005. It quickly became the band's best selling album to date (though was later surpassed by Fear of a Blank Planet). The album is based on a screenplay written by Steven Wilson and Mike Bennion, and is essentially a ghost story. Given its narrative, most fans have dubbed this a concept album. Wilson has expressed the intention to eventually have this film script made into a movie.

The album includes collaborations with King Crimson's Adrian Belew (who plays guitar solos on tracks 1 and 4), and Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt (who adds vocal harmonies on tracks 1, 3 and 5, as well as the second guitar solo on track 5).

Track listing

All songs were written by Wilson except where noted:

Europe edition (original edition)

1. "Deadwing" – 9:46
2. "Shallow" – 4:17
3. "Lazarus" – 4:18
4. "Halo" – 4:38 (Wilson/Barbieri/Edwin/Harrison)
5. "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" – 12:02
6. "Mellotron Scratch" – 6:57
7. "Open Car" – 3:46
8. "The Start of Something Beautiful" – 7:39 (Wilson/Harrison)
9. "Glass Arm Shattering" – 6:12 (Wilson/Barbieri/Edwin/Harrison)

American edition

1. "Deadwing" – 9:46
2. "Shallow" – 4:17
3. "Lazarus" – 4:18
4. "Halo" – 4:38
5. "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" – 12:02
6. "Mellotron Scratch" – 6:57
7. "Open Car" – 3:46
8. "The Start of Something Beautiful" – 7:39
9. "Glass Arm Shattering" – 11:12
• (Final 5 minutes consist of silence)
10. "Shesmovedon (2004)" – 4:59

Loudness war

Steven Wilson put a message on the record sleeve that reads as follows: "Please note that this record may not be mastered as loudly as some of the other records in your collection. This is in order to retain the dynamic range and subtlety of the music. Please, use your volume knob.

Formats

The US version contains 5 minutes of silence after "Glass Arm Shattering" to follow to the bonus track "Shesmovedon", which is a re-recorded version of the song originally released on Lightbulb Sun. This brings the US version of Deadwing to "69:34". A special edition version of the album in a 72-page hardback book package is available exclusively from the band's online store (Burning Shed). This version contains the US tracklisting (with "Shesmovedon") and a DVD-V disc with the album in 5.1 Surround Sound. The DVD does not include a high-resolution audio layer, and has no bonus tracks or video material. The book contains lyrics to all of the songs and expanded artwork by Lasse Hoile.

DVD-Audio

It was also released as a DVD-Audio disc on May 10, 2005 by DTS Entertainment. The disc contains 5.1-channel surround versions of all the tracks from the US CD, plus three bonus tracks, "Revenant", "Mother & Child Divided" and "Half Light". A new recording of the song "Shesmovedon", originally from the album Lightbulb Sun, is also included as an unlisted extra track.

LP

The album is also available as a double vinyl LP with two bonus tracks, "So-Called Friend" and "Half Light".

Unreleased tracks

Steven Wilson (as well as other band members) have stated in interviews that fifteen songs were recorded for the Deadwing release, however, only nine made it to the album, twelve on the DVD-A release, and two more released on the Lazarus single.

During a gig for Blackfield, Steven Wilson played one of the unreleased songs solo. The song is titled "Christenings" and it was subsequently included on the album Blackfield II.

Soundtrack

The song "Shallow" appeared in the movie Four Brothers. It can be heard as background music in a bar.

Concept and storyline

The complete concept and story has never been entirely announced by the band, and this is likely due to Wilson's intentions of attempting to turn this into a movie, and not wanting to spoil any portions of the story. Some fans have speculated at the plot based on extensive listening to the album, though there has been no official statement regarding its true meaning.

Wilson said it is a surreal "ghost story," and "the idea's ultimately that this album will form a kind of companion with the feature film. He stated that David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick were major influences for the filmscript.

On September 1, 2006, Steven Wilson announced in his blog that Mike Bennion (Co-writer of the Deadwing screenplay) had released the first fifteen pages of the story. It is available for reading on Mike Bennion's myspace blog and on the Deadwing microsite (albeit in a near-illegible format. Unfortunately the site was closed down at the end of September 2007). The filmscript thus far has made several connections to the album in various ways; such as a reference to the line in Mellotron Scratch 'A tiny flame inside my hand' and to the artwork in the album's cover insert (more specifically the page with the lyrics to "Halo" scrawled in it).

Awards

Deadwing won the "Best Made-For-Surround Title" award for the Surround Music Awards 2005, competing with Nine Inch Nails's With Teeth in the same category, and was voted number 2 album of 2005 in Sound & Vision, which is the most widely distributed US magazine in the field of home electronics and entertainment. In addition to this, the album won the "Album of the Year" award for the 2005 Classic Rock magazine awards.

Chart positions

Chart	Peak Position
Billboard 200	#132
Top Heatseekers	#4
Top Internet Albums	#6
United Kingdom	#113
Netherlands	#56
Germany	#52
Poland	#9
France	#100
Sweden	#26
Greece	#19

Charting songs

Song	Chart	Position
"Shallow"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	#26

Personnel

• Steven Wilson - vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards, hammered dulcimer, bass guitar on 1,3,5 (middle section), 7
• Richard Barbieri - keyboards and synthesizers
• Colin Edwin - bass guitar
• Gavin Harrison - drums and percussion

Guest musicians:

• Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) - Vocals on 1, Backing vocals on 1,3,5, Second guitar solo on 5
• Adrian Belew (King Crimson) - Solo guitar on 1,4

References