Steven Wilson! What is arguably the best sounding studio album ever recorded by a rock act?

Have you listened to the progressive rock album “The Raven That Refused to Sing” by Steven Wilson?

Steven is a huge producer. In addition, Alan Parsons did the sound engineering for this album. Alan has been involved with the production of several significant albums like Abbey Road (1969) and Let It Be (1970) of The Beatles and The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) of Pink Floyd.

Which aspects should we consider to judge the best produced album?

Can we say all the instruments should be at their right place, well recorded, crystal clear and mixed in a way that you get a correct sound spectrum, depth, atmosphere and feelings for a specific song? If so, then this album is an extremely good candidate. I’ve listened to it on professional audio systems and headphones hundreds of times and still listening as I’m writing this. Its huge in my opinion.

Just take the track “The Watchmaker” as an example. All Guitars, Vocals, Back Vocals, Bass, Drums, Piano, etc. sound match, perfectly recorded, mixed and produced. “The Holy Drinker” is another good track.

Why is he so underrated?

I believe Steven Wilson is so underrated in the world of music. May be a reason is the fact that he writes heavy stuff. Musically, emotionally and intellectually. He writes long, detailed and extreme. Each of his songs has tons of small details to enjoy, appreciate and think about. Have you listened to his song Raider II? It is 23 minutes long, so harsh, many ups and downs, so complicated. Took me hours of patience and thinking before I started appreciating it. And now I love it so much!

Unfortunately, seems like there are not many who want to put the time to get to know and understand this man. Kudos to him!

Experience his music:

You can find some of his beautiful records as a solo artist as well as his bands and projects like Porcupine Tree, Blackfield (With Israeli Rock singer Aviv Geffen) and Storm Corrosion (With Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metal band Opeth) in the playlist “Rock & Metal Progressive Walk“.