Porcupine Tree: Anesthetize BD/DVD

Ron Temple

There have been several threads about this band over the last few years. I've contributed to most of them. They've released a BD/DVD combo of their 2007/8 show featuring the Fear of a Blank Planet album....not their most recent The Incident. It's backordered on Amazon, but you can get it immediately from Burning Shed, their UK store, like I did, if you're in a hurry.

The concert live that I went to had a poor venue and the bass distorted the midrange. These disks correct that and with HD, the camera work and the music, this is a must have for PT fans. For those that haven't discovered them, it will be an eye and ear opener. The musicianship, vocals and presentation are astounding if your a fan of prog...with a tendency to get fairly hard. However, you will get sucked in by this bands songwriting styles (actually it is only Steven Wilson), lyrical prowess, vocal harmonies and blistering ability. They play the whole FOABP including a couple of bonus songs as a first set. The 2nd hour is a mixture of old and fairly recent songs that lead up to a killer version of Halo...which ends it. There's also a selection of the Lasse Halle videos which are performed in concert as Extras. They are very cool to watch with the band playing behind them.

DTS Master HD lossless...it doesn't get any better. To get the blacks to come correct on the BD version, you must force your player in PC-RGB mode. It was an error in authoring, but if you can do this, it's much better.

audio_alan

+1000!!!!

Ron - I was recently introduced to Porcupine Tree (3-5 months ago?), and let me tell you, I can't get enough of them! Within that time I have already bought most of their albums, a few of their EPs, and their first DVD plus their new BD release, Anesthetize....

Regarding the Anesthetize BD - awesome PQ and SQ! It doesn't get much better than that. (Ok, some people could nit-pick, but all-in-all, an incredible performance and the audio sounds equally as great!).

I've been listening to "The Incident" in 5.1 recently. WOW! If you don't have "The Incident" and "Fear of a Blank Planet" in 5.1, you should go to Burning Shed .... now! They are ridiculously cheap right now. Once they are gone, good luck finding them for less than $30-$50+.

P.S. I saw Anesthetize at Best Buy a couple days ago. Looks like PT is finally getting some traction in the States....

cristo

I just listened to the Anesthetize DVD a week and a half ago (and sent the BluRay
disc to my brother - he has a BR player and I don't). Awsome concert - a little heavy
on the teen angst and on the metal but that reflects the gist of the last few albums.
I actually liked "Arriving Somewhere", their first DVD (2006) better for the song choices
even though the production was a little coarser than Anesthetize, but if you like PT
half as much as I do you'd better get both of these DVDs.
(I have 15 PT CDs, Michael Wilson's solo Insurgentes, two Blackfield and 4 No Man Cds,
so I might be a little biased, but I think he/they've been putting out great stuff since the early 1990s)

audio_alan

Cristo - Yeah, I think Arriving Somewhere had a better set list as well. Even so, Anesthetize is still a great video with amazing sound quality (thanks to the DTS-HD Master track). I haven't gotten into much of Steven Wilson's solo stuff yet except for the 5.1 Insurgentes CD. How do you Blackfield and No Man compare to P.T.?

Ron Temple

I have all the DVD As, the 2 concerts and a couple of CDs. I tend to go through PT streaks and for awhile one of their albums becomes my fav. I think The Incident is the best "concept" composition of them all, but there are many stellar songs on each and every CD they've put out over the last 17 years. Insurgentes, I gave to a friend, just a tad slow and too experimental for me. Blackfield is ok, but I don't like the rest of the band, ie the other singer, much. No Man = no way.

cristo

I agree with Ron, except I think No Man is ok, but quite different from PT.

I really like the "Blackfield" video. The idea behind the video is simple and repetitious, but it works for me.
I wonder who the woman is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeSr9gtfDiY

AsSiMiLaTeD

I finally got around to watching the blu ray last bight.

The sound quality and picture are superb, but some of the mixing I didn't like. I KNOW, you can't say that with a Stephen Wilson project!!!! Its not bad really, I just think there's a little too much separation with the instruments and it kills the imaging for me.

All in all a great BD though.

Also, Gavin is a beast on the drums.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Also, in terms of a live concert capturing the exact sound of a studio album, this one is near the top