Description

Porcupine Tree includes: Steve Wilson (guitar).
Recorded in 1992 and 1993.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Voyage 34, originally a two-volume EP series from 1992-1993, was expanded into “The Complete Trip” after Steven Wilson remixed and added production for its eventual re-release seven years later. Documenting the ill effects of an acid trip by a frequent user (the first 33 were fine), the four-phase work begins with a straight-laced narrator explaining the events leading up to the trip, with straight-ahead (though slightly exploratory) guitar work by Wilson over a mid-tempo drum section. Thankfully, the album gradually moves into more ambient climes, with trippy vocal samples framing the mood throughout the final phases. Including a thick booklet with most of the narration repeated alongside surreal artwork, Voyage 34: The Complete Trip is a bit self-serious and pseudo-mystical even without the music to add to it, an intriguing experiment but hardly a work to stand on its own. ~ John Bush