Top 10 Porcupine Tree Songs

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The first time I heard the band Porcupine Tree, I said to a friend “If Porcupine Tree had started releasing their albums in the early 1970s instead of the 1990s, they would have been just as big as Pink Floyd and Yes.” That’s not to say that Porcupine Tree has not become a well-known band over the past twenty years. We are just talking about how big Pink Floyd and Yes were in the 1970s. Those bands composed and recorded groundbreaking progressive music in the 1970s that went beyond cult status and permeated mass culture. We think Porcupine Tree would have done the same thing; they were just 20 years to late.

For those fans like ourselves who discovered the band Porcupine Tree and the talents of Steven Wilson, we feel a burning passion to help spread the music of this phenomenal band. We have attempted to list 10 Porcupine Tree songs that we believe will easily sway anyone who listens to these tracks to go out and buy their music. It’s amazing stuff!

# 10 – Russia On Ice

We start out our Top 10 Porcupine Tree songs list with a track from our favorite Porcupine Tree album. The incredible piece of music “Russia On Ice,” was released on the Porcupine Tree album Lightbulb Son. This song captures your attention right at the beginning. Echoes of Pink Floyd easily abound upon first listen. But there are also the sounds of progressive fusion like The Mahavishnu Orchestra clicking underneath. Is that John McLaughlin playing those strings? No of course not, it’s the very talented Steven Wilson.

Just when you thought you were about to be captured by a jazz fusion riff, an intense guitar lick that resembles Pink Floyds’ “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” changes everything.

# 9 – Dark Matter

The Porcupine Tree song “Dark Matter,” was released on the band’s great progressive rock album Signify. The Signify album was released in 1996. The song “Dark Matter,” was the closing track on the album.

# 8 – The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1

The Porcupine Tree album The Sky Moves Sideways was Porcupine Tree’s third album. At the time Porcupine Tree was still pretty much a solo Steven Wilson project. The track we have chosen from the album for this Top 10 Porcupine Tree Songs list is the album’s opening suite “The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1.”

# 7 – Way Out Of Here

Oh, do we love the Porcupine Tree album Fear of a Blank Planet. The great record was the band’s ninth album release. The album was issued in 2007 and became one of the band’s biggest-selling albums. The Porcupine Tree song “Way Out of Here,” was released as the second single off the record.

# 6 – Time Flies

The musical piece “Time Flies,” is an eleven-minute movement from the “Incident Suite.” Disk one of the album is composed of one long musical suite entitled “The Incident.” The Incident album was released in 2009. It was the band’s final studio album.

# 5 – Arriving Somewhere But Not Here

Porcupine Tree’s eighth album Deadwing had been based on a ghost story that Steven Wilson and Mike Bennion had written as a screenplay. The album also featured guest appearances by Adrian Belew who had been a member of King Crimson and worked with Frank Zappa. The song from the album we have chosen to represent the work is the haunting “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here,” track.

# 4 – Lazarus

For many Porcupine Tree fans, the great track “Lazarus,” is the ultimate Porcupine Tree song. We won’t argue against them. This phenomenal song starts out with a tender vocal by Steven Wilson surrounded by piano and soft strings. The song continues to expand beyond its soft opening becoming more emotionally beautiful and just simply daunting. It leaves the listener wondering why more music fans don’t know about this incredible music.

# 3 – Trains

The song “Trains,” was released on the Porcupine Tree album In Absentia. The album In Absentia was released in 2002. Steven Wilson’s great guitar strumming echos 1960s’priogressive rock psychedelia. As usual, the band kicks in and takes the track to a whole new level.

# 2 – Anesthetize

The epic track “Anesthetize,” was released on the band’s Fear of a Blank Planet album. The 17-minute plus track also featured Alex Lifeson of Rush on guitar. This is a progressive rock masterpiece. If you have never heard this track, take a seat and be prepared to be blown away in the same fashion you were when you first heard the classic Pink Floyd, Yes, and Genesis songs of the early 1970s.

# 1 – Lightbulb Sun

We close out our Top 10 Porcupine Tree songs list with the title song from our favorite Porcupine Tree album Lightbulb Son. The album was released in 2000. The song “Lightbulb Son,” was the album’s opening track. I still get chills every time I hear that stunning guitar riff at the beginning of the song.