Porcupine Tree - Closure / Continuation (5.1/Dolby Atmos) 24-Jun-2022

[sjcorne]

Despite being a long time fan, Steven Wilson started to lose me with the overhyped and overpriced release of The Future Bites, and this trend has only worsened with PT/CC.

TFB overpriced? There was a standalone Blu-Ray with 5.1 & Atmos for $20.

 

[Bill B]

... After listening to many of the online interviews with Wilson solo and with the band, there seems to be a bit of hubris and maybe even resentment creeping into his discussions of PT and the music business in general. His practical actions have been to make his releases more expensive and less generous and I think this may reflect his actual attitude toward his fans. While he certainly has every right to say whatever he wants and market his "product" any way he wants, as consumers and fans we also have every right to be disappointed in this development. None of this detracts in any way from his undeniable skills as producer, mixer and musician but, at least for me, it does temper my enthusiasm for what he does and what I buy....

Sounds like you could be talking about Roger Waters in 1978.

 

[martin russell]

Would anyone be able to tell me who authored the Blu-ray? I'm liking the album so far (in stereo via streaming) but as the TFB Blu-ray didn't function properly on my Oppo I'm anxious not to pay that amount of money and end up with a coaster...

 

[marpow]

Really digging this release with my ripped BD-A in Atmos.
Growing on me fast. FWIW I find the simplicity of seven tracks real nice for a change, don't have to bother with all the stuff.

 

[knifeman]

No prior problems with ImportCD myself. Don’t want them or anyone else improperly maligned.

Not my intent to malign anyone. ImportCD gets plenty of my business, and has for years. My point is, if you want the best price be prepared to wait. This isn't the first time I had something pre-ordered, and it goes straight to back ordered on it's release date. I'm good with it because of their prices. I just hope the wait isn't too long.

 

[The56Kid]

Not my intent to malign anyone. ImportCD gets plenty of my business, and has for years. My point is, if you want the best price be prepared to wait. This isn't the first time I had something pre-ordered, and it goes straight to back ordered on it's release date. I'm good with it because of their prices. I just hope the wait isn't too long.

I hear you. Not sure how or why a new release would immediately go on back order but I can wait it out.

 

[sjcorne]

I hear you. Not sure how or why a new release would immediately go on back order but I can wait it out.

With the exception of some major label-backed titles like The Beatles or The Band SDEs, this has happened with nearly every surround release since the start of the pandemic - they simply don't manufacture or stock enough of them to fulfill all the pre-orders, likely due to supply-chain issues. Remember how it was near-impossible to get Ultravox's Vienna at time of release, then most online retailers had it for less than retail just a few months later?

 

[SHB]

I sincerely appreciate importcds. The price and the shipping cost can't be beat in my opinion. From time to time I get stuff from them by release date. Now a days it's a little tough. I hope one day, stock and shipping will run with more efficiency. Until then, I am trying to hang tight

 

[gene]

Amazon USA doesn't have the CD or boxset in stock. Don't know if they every did. My order still hasn't shipped or even given me a shipping date.
Did the US not get any copies of this album?

 

[minimumtumbleweed]

It’s interesting to read people complain about the three bonus tracks not being included on the Blu-ray disc and the price of the deluxe edition set being too expensive.

IMO, Steven doesn’t owe his fans anything. He can mix and release whatever music he wants and sell it for as much money as he wants. And Steven understands his fans enough to know there is a high demand for his music and they are willing to pay a premium to hear his music at the highest quality. If you believe his deluxe editions are too expensive, don’t buy it and support it. And complaining about it AFTER you purchase it accomplishes nothing.

Am I disappointed that the three bonus tracks weren’t included on the Blu-ray disc? Sure. But I can’t really complain when I get to listen to a brand new (and incredible) PT album that most of us didn’t think was even a possibility just eight months ago. I will gladly take seven new PT songs mixed in 5.1/Atmos over zero new songs. And I’m happy to pay a premium for those seven songs especially if that encourages Steven and PT to release more great music in the future.

Sorry, don't agree. He's not some god that we worship here and are content with scraps thrown to us from his cloud on high. Does he "owe" me anything? No, of course not. But, if he wants to sell me an overpriced deluxe edition of his album, then yes, he does need to provide. And for someone who toots the horn of surround so fiercely, it is very hard to understand why he neglects so much of his own material. As other have mentioned here already, Porcupine Tree albums pretty much all had 5.1 versions of bonus tracks (everything post-Stupid Dream), but there is a plethora of his own solo material and now, this new PT album, with three new tracks that may never see surround versions. Add to that that you must buy the super deluxe edition to even get the surround versions (sorry, I don't have any Apple devices, and apparently Tidal can't host the Atmos version of this album because... reasons?), and I'm feeling a little soured by his approach lately. To be honest, this album isn't even all that good, but this just makes it worse.

 

[AYanguas]

It is interesting to read the different opinions about what Steven Wilson should do or how he should sell his work.

Taking into account that the Steven Wilson products are not Necessity Goods, free supply and demand rules are normal in our current world. I agree with this kind of opinions.

Other opinions seem to suggest that the artist is something like a servant to our service that must do what we want at the price that we dictate. I don't agree with those.

 

[colsky]

It is interesting to read the different opinions about what Steven Wilson should do or how he should sell his work.

Taking into account that the Steven Wilson products are not Necessity Goods, free supply and demand rules are normal in our current world. I agree with this kind of opinions.

Other opinions seem to suggest that the artist is something like a servant to our service that must do what we want at the price that we dictate. I don't agree with those.

I agree with you. Its just economics, its up to the artist what they sell their product for, and its up to the consumer whether they purchase or not. The artist doesn't owe the consumer a bean.

I do feel though that there's nothing wrong with the consumer still having a moan about the price! I purchased the "deluxe" box set of this, because I love PT's & SW's music and I love SW's surround mixes. There's not many artists where I'd pay £55 for a single, not particularly long, and no extras, surround release. So I will moan (I'm an ageing man, that's what we do!) that SW has put a hefty premium on this product compared to other similar releases, and I'm saddened that's he's done so. And just to prove it, here's a sad face !

 

[AYanguas]

So I will moan (I'm an ageing man, that's what we do!) that SW has put a hefty premium on this product compared to other similar releases, and I'm saddened that's he's done so. And just to prove it, here's a sad face !

I just received this morning the Deluxe Edition 2xCD & Blu-Ray + EXLUSIVE BOOK. Good, fine. I started to read the book..... And I started to moan also. Difficult to manage on hands (No hard covers). No interesting content. The pictures are blocked by the white squares... WTH!

Actually I only bought it for the Surround/Atmos HI-Res content, and, of course, because I'm a PT/SW fan. So I'm happy and I pay for it. No problem.

Now the interesting work for this afternoon: Ripping the Blu-Ray, looking for the different angles and Easter Egg that I have read in previous posts.

 

[colsky]

I just received this morning the Deluxe Edition 2xCD & Blu-Ray + EXLUSIVE BOOK. Good, fine. I started to read the book..... And I started to moan also. Difficult to manage on hands (No hard covers). No interesting content. The pictures are blocked by the white squares... WTH!

Actually I only bought it for the Surround/Atmos HI-Res content, and, of course, because I'm a PT/SW fan. So I'm happy and I pay for it. No problem.

Now the interesting work for this afternoon: Ripping the Blu-Ray, looking for the different angles and Easter Egg that I have read in previous posts.

If you find any Easter eggs tell me please! I didn't think anyone seriously said that there were any, but I hope I'm wrong!

 

[marpow]

I just received this morning the Deluxe Edition 2xCD & Blu-Ray + EXLUSIVE BOOK. Good, fine. I started to read the book..... And I started to moan also. Difficult to manage on hands (No hard covers). No interesting content. The pictures are blocked by the white squares... WTH!

Actually I only bought it for the Surround/Atmos HI-Res content, and, of course, because I'm a PT/SW fan. So I'm happy and I pay for it. No problem.

Now the interesting work for this afternoon: Ripping the Blu-Ray, looking for the different angles and Easter Egg that I have read in previous posts.

Yeah, let us know about your ripping. I found no Easter eggs and was unsuccessful at Angle 1 which is the video and I was successful at Angle 2 which was the audio.
I might try again and rip the Atmos (TRU HD) only of both Angle 1 & 2 at the same time and see if I can get a merge.

 

[fetchmybeer]

I know I pre-ordered this ages ago, but now I can't remember from who and I've received no notification. Apparently, it wasn't amazon or burningshed.

 

[César]

I also got my SDE boxset today. I'm not going to complain more about the contents of the box, enough has been said. But the video accompanying the images, OMG. It's just cheap, repeating animations that make you sick. Glad they incorporated the Angle button option to quickly toggle between video and no video.
I hope I'll end up enjoying the music, but I feel completely cheated and disappointed. TFB was pointing to this direction, but all Steven's deluxe editions until TTB were fantastic. Fame and exposure make you greedy? Or is the deal with Sony forcing him to reduce costs and maximize revenues?

 

[AYanguas]

If you find any Easter eggs tell me please! I didn't think anyone seriously said that there were any, but I hope I'm wrong!

Actually, there isn't any Easter Egg. It was a joke from @Perpendicular about the missing three bonus tracks in the Blu-Ray, that only exists on the second bonus CD, and Streaming.

Yeah, let us know about your ripping. I found no Easter eggs and was unsuccessful at Angle 1 which is the video and I was successful at Angle 2 which was the audio.
I might try again and rip the Atmos (TRU HD) only of both Angle 1 & 2 at the same time and see if I can get a merge.

I have ripped the Blu-ray as an ISO image (with AnyDVD), to fully play from network with my players Oppo/Dune. It just works activating on/off the video animations via menu option or toggling the Angles.

I do not use MakeMKV or others and I don’t know how they manage the different angles/video files.

This BD structure is just two 000XX.m2ts files for each song. XX= 00, 01 for the first, XX=02, 03 for the second, etc.

One contains the video animation and the other a blank video. Both files contain all audio tracks (Atmos, 5.1, 2.0)

I can play in the PC with or without video each file with all Audio tracks, each. So using MKVToolNix to merge/select tracks should be easy.

 

[AYanguas]

I also got my SDE boxset today. I'm not going to complain more about the contents of the box, enough has been said. But the video accompanying the images, OMG. It's just cheap, repeating animations that make you sick. Glad they incorporated the Angle button option to quickly toggle between video and no video.
I hope I'll end up enjoying the music, but I feel completely cheated and disappointed. TFB was pointing to this direction, but all Steven's deluxe editions until TTB were fantastic. Fame and exposure make you greedy? Or is the deal with Sony forcing him to reduce costs and maximize revenues?

Yes. I'm afraid I have to enjoy the Atmos listening, turning off the video animations. Even powering OFF the TV.

And the "EXCLUSIVE BOOK" will rest inside the Box forever. Hard to read the FULL CAPITAL letters, that seem without punctuation. If I need lyrics or whatever, better to google around.

I do not know if it is a "reduce costs" issue, or the Steven's artistic idiosyncrasy.

 

[rtbluray]

Just in case anyone was curious, here's how I rank the songs:

1) Herd Culling
2) Chimera's Wreck
3) Dignity
4) Of The New Day
5) Harridan
6) Walk the Plank
7) Rats Return

Oh and I think this release is also a '10'