Up the Downstair

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Up the Downstair
Porcupine tree up the downstair.jpg
Cover art by Nop and Win Machielse
Studio album by
Released7 June 1993 [1]
RecordedFebruary 1992 – January 1993
StudioNo Man's Land (Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England)
Genre
Length47:59
Label Delerium
Producer Steven Wilson
Porcupine Tree chronology
On the Sunday of Life...
(1992)
Up the Downstair
(1993)
Spiral Circus
(1994)
Cover art for 2004 remaster Upthedownstair.webp
Cover art for 2004 remaster
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
MMMDI (8/10) [3]

Up the Downstair is the second studio album by English progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in June 1993. It was originally intended to be a double album set including the song "Voyage 34", which was instead released as a single in 1992, and other material that ended up on the Staircase Infinities EP (1994). In 2005, it was partially re-recorded, fully re-mixed, remastered and re-released along with the Staircase Infinities EP as a double album. The re-release contains a re-mix by Steven Wilson incorporating newly recorded drums by Gavin Harrison that replace the electronic drums of the original version. Another re-release on double vinyl was pressed on 14 August 2008 on Kscope records. This is identical to the 2005 release, except it is printed on coloured vinyl and the Staircase Infinities disc contains the song "Phantoms". [4]

Contents

According to Wilson, Up the Downstair channeled "the Orb and the Future Sound of London, but also Floyd and Ozric Tentacles. If I liked it, I didn't give a fuck." [5]

Track listing

All music written by Steven Wilson.

Side one
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."What You Are Listening To..." 0:58
2."Synesthesia"Wilson5:11
3."Monuments Burn into Moments" 0:20
4."Always Never"Alan Duffy6:58
5."Up the Downstair" 10:03
Side two
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Not Beautiful Anymore" 3:26
2."Siren" 0:52
3."Small Fish"Duffy2:43
4."Burning Sky" 11:06
5."Fadeaway"Duffy6:19

2005 remastered and remixed edition

Many songs differ a little in length in the remastered edition of Up the Downstair.

Disc one – Up the Downstair (2004 version)
No.TitleLength
1."What You Are Listening To..."0:57
2."Synesthesia"5:16
3."Monuments Burn into Moments"0:22
4."Always Never"7:00
5."Up the Downstair"10:14
6."Not Beautiful Anymore"3:25
7."Siren"0:57
8."Small Fish"2:42
9."Burning Sky"11:36
10."Fadeaway"6:19
Disc two – Staircase Infinities
No.TitleLength
1."Cloud Zero"4:40
2."The Joke's on You"4:17
3."Navigator"4:49
4."Rainy Taxi"6:50
5."Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape"9:36

Personnel

Porcupine Tree

Additional personnel

Reviews

Professional reviews: [6]

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References

  1. Porcupine Tree - Up the Downstair on delerium.co.uk Retrieved 12 May 2019
  2. Raggett, Ned (2011). "Up the Downstair – Porcupine Tree". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  3. "The Music Made Me Do It : Lucid Dreams's review of Up The Downstair by Porcupine Tree". musicmademe.com. 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  4. Porcupine Tree - Official Website
  5. Simpson, Dave (24 August 2017). "Steven Wilson: the prog rocker topping the charts without anyone noticing". The Guardian . Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  6. "Delerium Records: Porcupine Tree - Up The Downstair". Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 18 April 2008.