The Overview by Steven Wilson

I am going into this album completely cold. I haven't read anything about it. I am just going to listen to it and give my first impressions. Of course, first impressions are largely wrong when it comes to prog albums. It took me about three years to realise that Can-Utility and the Coastliners was one of the best Genesis songs, for example, after completely ignoring it.

The first song is 'Objects Outlive Us' and it's twenty-three minutes long. First thing to say is that it's clearly Steven Wilson, with the complex harmonic turns and rhythms you expect. But there's something quite new about the vocal delivery. I can't quite pin it down yet, but it's something sharper, more focussed. Wilson is known for those beautiful washy vocal arrangements, but this is more direct. And it's great.

The whole song is absolutely fizzing with musical ideas. In terms of the song's structure, it's more of the 'good bits stitched together' school of prog rather than the 'consistent world theme and variations' school, but then personally I think Tony Banks is about the only person who's managed to pull the latter off, and even then only a few times. It doesn't matter. It works, it's convincing, there's nothing out of place or anachronistic, nothing jarring. The musicianship is second to none.

I'm listening to the album on Amazon Music, and the track listing has track 1 as Objects Outlive Us and track 2 as The Overview, but then the same music but split out into individual songs. This means the album is twice as long as it should be. I guess this is a nod towards the way people listen to music nowadays. To an old progger like me it's completely unnecessary, but I see the point.

How do I summarise this album? Well, if you've paid any attention at all to Steven Wilson's career trajectory, it's style is not really going to come as a surprise. It manages to synthesise all sorts of things that he has tried over the years into a convincing whole. But you might be surprised at just how good it is. Like the Raven That Refused To Sing, this might be the defining album of progressive rock for years to come. Wholeheartedly recommended.

Reasons to listen:

  • You like progressive rock
Reasons not to listen:
  • You have an attention span of less than twenty-three minutes and nineteen seconds

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