Steven Wilson Steven Wilson: New album 'The Overview' for early 2025

[Thonolan]

In anticipation of the new record rather than going back to the albums I love (Hand Cannot Erase, Raven) I decided to really give his more recent releases a fair chance and I’m so glad I did. I’ve been absolutely loving To The Bone lately. In my opinion it’s pretty much a perfect album, whereas before I thought it only had a couple really great songs. Permanating is an infectious pop masterpiece, and the title track is stunning. I’ve been listening to the album both in 5.1 and stereo in the car!

I love To the Bone from start to finish too, but I'm a bit weird when it comes to SW solo albums, because I never truly warmed up to Hand. Cannot. Erase, which seems to be the universal fan favorite. I'm a huge fan of his first 3 albums and To the Bone. Why I don't love HCE, I have no idea. I think I should, but I don't. I do appreciate a few songs greatly, though, but since I tend to be an album guy rather than a song guy, most of the times I end up listening to other releases.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying The Overview more and more. Can't wait to listen to it losslessly when the Blu-ray arrives.

 

[DoctorO]

Same here . When I got the shipping notice on Wednesday, I thought maybe I'd have it by release day. Oh, well.

Me too. Starting to worry something has gone awry...

 

[Bobby Martini]

Huge SW fan here. Got the blu-ray yesterday. My initial impressions, in order:
1. This is the best sound design/Atmos mix I've ever heard. He really utilizes the height channels like never before, and the entire mix puts the "I" in immersive.
2. I also was underwhelmed by the regular 2 track album. At times the vocals are very difficult to comprehend, unlike previous SW recordings. The album didn't seem to have a flow. It had its excellent moments, but not sustained in my opinion.
3. I almost gave up after listening to the entire regular album, but decided to give the "instrumental" version a spin, not expecting anything other than what I had heard minus the vocals. All I can say is WOW!!! The instrumental version is one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard, and combined with the Atmos mix, may be the best thing I've ever heard (future listening sessions TBD). It was everything I was hoping for in this release and more! So why is the instrumental version a game changer? In my opinion, in the regular version, the vocals seem to step on the music at times, obscuring the underlying music, and also breaking up the flow. Do not judge this album without a serious listen to the instrument only version.
4. Surprisingly, the streaming versions of the album that I have listened to so far (Qobuz & Apple Music) do not include the instrumental version. Maybe it's just the blu-ray that contains that version. But whatever you do, make sure you listen to the instrumental version at some point.

I did the same thing and.....Wow....this album works so well as an instrumental piece. Incredible production and musicianship all round