Porcupine Tree – Octane Twisted

“This tour has not been as much fun as it used to. If we sound tired on stage it’s because we are. With “The Incident”, it feels for the first time like, artistically, we are treading water, frustrated with not being able to come up with enough good songs, in desperation I had instead linked several half-songs together into a 35 minute suite in the hope that doing so would give it some compositional weight. That way everyone might overlook the fact that the material wasn’t as strong as it has been”

These are Steven Wilson's own words on Porcupine Tree’s “The Incident” and the following world tour to be found in his autobiography.

I for one found “The Incident” to be a little disappointing, blaming that on the comparison with the stellar “Fear Of A Blank Planet”. “The Incident” is not a bad album by any means, but it was obvious that it can be considered a lesser work compared with other albums Porcupine Tree had released.

So, its live counterpart “Octane Twisted” is not usually counted among PT’s best live albums, as “Arriving Somewhere…” or “Anesthetize” are.
Yet there are brilliant moments in it, like PT’s staples such as “Hatesong”, “Stars Die”, “Even Less” and my favourite “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here”, but PT being the otherworldly musicians they are, even their average moments are outstanding and the main corpus of the recording- the integral performance of “The Incident”- has also plenty of great moments. “Occam’s Razor” and “The Blind House” give the opening blast setting the mood that will be kept up by “Drawing The Line” (Wilson’s most annoying chorus?), while “Kneel And Disconnect” or “The Séance” brings the more intimate and atmospheric side. The pop is represented by “I Drive The Hearse” and the title section brings the electronic PT to the main stage once again. And while “Time Flies” is far from being Wilson’s finest long song, it’s equally true that it has an interesting development and I think it's a solid central piece.

If not essential, “Octane Twisted” testimonies the end of an era for PT, showing how even when not at their peak, these extraordinary musicians could pull off a worthy show

A great concert/s and a stunning package with excellent production values. Easily creams the earlier bootleg vinyl edition with good tonality and spatiality. I'm stoked to have this. Highly recommended.

Absolutely amazing pressing. I had the odd pop and crackle, but nothing I couldn't fix. Otherwise this is absolutely stellar. If you dig The Incident, you need this in your collection.

DR10 -3.34 dB -19.84 dB 2:17 01-Occam's Razor
DR15 -0.09 dB -18.33 dB 5:57 02-Blind House
DR14 -1.13 dB -18.34 dB 1:26 03-Great Expectations
DR10 -7.97 dB -23.16 dB 2:03 04-Kneel And Disconnect
DR14 -0.01 dB -17.15 dB 4:42 05-Drawing The Line
DR13 -1.12 dB -18.42 dB 5:19 06-The Incident
DR13 -2.69 dB -18.85 dB 1:55 07-Your Unpleasant Family
DR10 -12.41 dB -27.31 dB 2:01 08-The Yellow Windows Of The Evening Train
DR13 0.00 dB -16.99 dB 12:04 09-Time Flies
DR11 -1.33 dB -18.69 dB 1:45 10-Degree Zero Of Liberty
DR14 -0.22 dB -17.47 dB 5:02 11-Octane Twisted
DR13 -6.51 dB -22.84 dB 2:39 12-The Séance
DR13 -0.04 dB -14.80 dB 2:34 13-Circle Of Manias
DR15 -1.65 dB -21.13 dB 6:45 14-I Drive The Hearse
DR14 -1.00 dB -17.47 dB 10:06 15-Hatesong
DR14 -0.48 dB -18.28 dB 5:46 16-Stars Die
DR14 0.00 dB -18.12 dB 15:09 17-Russia On Ice / The Pills I'm Taking
DR14 0.00 dB -17.71 dB 6:10 18-Bonnie The Cat
DR16 -0.10 dB -20.25 dB 14:31 19-Even Less
DR16 0.00 dB -19.49 dB 7:18 20-Dislocated Day
DR17 0.00 dB -21.38 dB 12:46 21-Arriving Somewhere But Not Here

Is the Burning Shed that is included with the vinyl purchase a high-res version of the album or same 44,1/16 version that is with the CD/DVD version?

Edit: Got a reply from Burning Shed that the included code is for mp3. So no hi-res, not even FLAC.

My supplier let me know that there’s a delay with this release on the morning it was supposed to be released 16th April; they claim their supplier now saying 23/04/2021!!! Anyone else heard the same or got theirs yet? Would be grateful for a second opinion on the heads-up I received abysmally late. 🤬

how does this sound and it's 4 LP's?? Anyone go to this show?

Looks like we finally have an official vinyl release being pressed

https://burningshed.com/store/porcupinetree/porcupine-tree_octane-twisted_quadruple-vinyl

A good live album but considering the number of live releases by the band, this one is fairly inessential. The artwork and packaging are as usual, fantastic!. A shame that only a couple of the tracks were from the fantastic Royal Albert Hall show (the venue wanted to charge the band a small fortune for the releasing more content). My gripes with this album are that the sound is not quite up to the usual (very!) high standard I've come to expect and also, the incident was never one of my favourite's by the band so the tracklist is not their best. However, the incident plays very well as a live album (possibly better than the studio version?) and the live DVD is a great extra, even if the production is minimal.

This is a bootleg, as I'm sure you are all aware.