Steven Wilson – Transience

1. "Transience" – This is a different edit of the same mix from Hand Cannot Erase. It starts at full volume rather than fading in, but the intro is shorter here: there are only two repetitions of the guitar figure before the synth enters (as opposed to the three repetitions, faded in, as on the album). A brief section immediately preceding the vocal is edited out (the deep, bubbly synth at about 23.5 seconds on the album version). However, Transience contains an additional chorus which was removed from the album version, coming after the "Tristessa departs/it's only the start" verse. The remainder of the song is essentially the same beginning from the synth preceding the "filigree circles", except that Transience has the indecipherable spoken lines at the end mixed a bit louder, and it fades out a tiny bit sooner than Hand Cannot Erase. Transience is mastered 2 dB quieter, but the mastering itself is virtually identical otherwise.

2. "Harmony Korine" – Although listed as being the 2016 remaster, Transience has noticeably different EQ, with more pronounced midrange and treble than the darker, more relaxed-sounding Insurgentes remaster. Tonally, this sits between the original 2008 Andy VanDette mastering and the 2016 remaster: it mimics the grit and bite of the original mastering, but with the much-improved dynamic range of the remaster. (Technically, this is 0.11 dB more peak limited than the real 2016 remaster, but that difference is negligible in practice.)

3. "Postcard" – Transience is about 2 dB louder than Grace For Drowning (with peak limiting as necessary). The EQ is clearer and less murky, with the vocals and drums especially improved. However, the added peak limiting is very noticeable, with the drums not nearly as punchy or prominent as the original mastering despite the new EQ highlighting them.

4. "Significant Other" – Like "Harmony Korine", this has more midrange and treble EQ compared to the 2016 Insurgentes remaster, which gives the song a bit more bite, although the EQ difference is much more subtle here. Also, unlike that song, Transience actually has the slightly more dynamic mastering, by 0.36 dB this time.

5. "Insurgentes" – As with the other songs from that album, this has a bit more midrange and treble than the 2016 Insurgentes remaster, but there appears to be a narrow reductive EQ filter at 15.5 kHz on Transience. It's also mastered about 3.2 dB quieter here than on the remaster. There are a few select peaks on the album remaster which make that waveform look more dynamic, but it's due to EQ rather than any sort of compression; outside of the mild EQ difference, the two are very similar sound-wise.

6. "The Pin Drop" – The track on Transience is reduced in volume by 0.5 dB, but when the volume is adjusted, the mastering is identical to that of The Raven That Refused To Sing And Other Stories (outside of a microscopically early fade on Transience to maintain the pace and flow of the songs).

7. "Happy Returns" – This is an edit of the Hand Cannot Erase mix. To shorten the intro by about 27 seconds, it fades in with the stuttering synth into the tremolo-effected peal of thunder, and then transitions immediately into the first acoustic guitar strum, bying the piano-only portion of the intro entirely. Everything is mostly identical from then on for the bulk of the song, until the quiet break between the instrumental section and guitar solos; on this edited version, the middle repetition of the melody (with harmony vocals, but no bass guitar) is removed. Finally, the cymbal crash at the end of the second guitar solo fades out to silence, rather than ushering in the synth choir from the "Ascendant Here On..." coda. The mastering is 0.1 dB quieter, and a null test reveals that the effects on the vocals, kick drum, guitar solos, and one particular synth line are ever-so-slightly different (possibly due to outboard gear used during the mixing process), but for all intents and purposes, it sounds exactly the same as Hand Cannot Erase outside of the edits.

8. "Deform To Form A Star" – Like with "Postcard", this is louder than Grace For Drowning (by about 3 dB this time), with an EQ improvement in the midrange and treble but less impact during the denser and louder sections due to peak limiting. This, however, is an edited version of the same mix. The quiet 37-second intro has been removed, and one repetition of the main piano chord sequence immediately preceding the first line of lyric has been dropped. The next edit occurs immediately after the second chorus (at 4:53 on the unedited album version): the first half of the guitar solo is cut, shortening it by about 18 seconds. Another 24 seconds are removed from the quiet age between that solo and the final cathartic chorus (this edit happens at 6:53 on the full-length version; following the first three tremolo guitar lines, the edit jumps straight into the wordless vocals). One last edit at 6:47 trims out about 7 seconds (the first repetition of the "ya-da-da-da" vocal line), and then the song begins fading out 20 seconds after that, shortening the ending jam by about 20 seconds (two measures of music and the final chord).

9. "Happiness III" – Transience has virtually identical mastering to the 4½ EP.

10. "Thank You" – Apart from dither noise, Transience has virtually identical mastering to the 2014 Kscope Cover Version CD. The 24/96 of Transience appears to use a 16/44.1 up-sample for this track.

11. "Index" – About 1.6 dB louder than the Grace For Drowning mastering, with improved EQ but slightly lessened dynamic range.

12. "Hand Cannot Erase" – On its parent album, this song has always sounded very forward in the midrange and lacking in bass compared to its other songs, especially during the dense guitar sections. On Transience, the EQ balance is much more in line with the other songs on Hand Cannot Erase, and in my opinion sounds significantly better; the trade-off is that this improved version is 1 dB louder, and thus has more peak limiting. That said, it's still highly dynamic, and in fact, this song on its parent album was actually a little bit quieter than the others. If you slot this mastering into the Hand Cannot Erase album, it will probably sound more consistent in of both level and EQ!

13. "Lazarus" – This is a brand-new recording unavailable elsewhere, so there's no technical comparisons to be made. It sounds like it could fit perfectly on Hand Cannot Erase, from a production and performance standpoint. The arrangement not particularly different from the original Porcupine Tree version from Deadwing.

14. "Drive Home" – Bit-for-bit identical to the mastering on The Raven That Refused To Sing And Other Stories: same volume, same fade, same index points, same everything. The only thing different between the two is the metadata.

Happy with my copy. Sound is good. Bought a few records recently that sounds worse than the Tidal versions.

This one beats the Tidal copy. It suffers from a slight warp. The sound is really good. There is depth and almost a 3D effect.

Recommended.

Bad pressing, full of cracks and noice. But maby i have bad luck, because i read no reviews with the same problems.

After weeks looking for this LP in local stores, I finally found it, I'm so happy!
It is a superb pressing for an amazing collection of beautiful songs!

Someone should a picture of the etching, please! Thanks!

100 of these were signed by Steven Wilson if you placed a pre-order at the label's website. The signed LP's were distributed randomly amongst all the pre-orders. Luckily I got one :)