To the Bone (Steven Wilson album)

To the Bone
Studio album by Steven Wilson
Released 18 August 2017 (2017-08-18)
Recorded December 2016 – April 2017
Studio Strangeways, London
Genre Rock,[1] progressive pop
Length 59:46
Label Caroline International
Producer Steven Wilson, Paul Stacey
Steven Wilson chronology
4½
(2016)4½2016		 To the Bone
(2017)
Singles from To the Bone
  1. "Pariah"
    Released: 9 May 2017
  2. "The Same Asylum as Before"
    Released: 2 June 2017
  3. "Song of I"
    Released: 9 June 2017
  4. "Permanating"
    Released: 30 June 2017
  5. "Refuge"
    Released: 3 August 2017

To the Bone is the fifth studio album by English recording artist Steven Wilson, released on 18 August 2017 on Caroline International. It was recorded two-and-a-half years after the release of Hand. Cannot. Erase. (2015), and one year after his mini-album, 4½ (2016).[2] According to Wilson, the album is inspired by the progressive pop records of his youth, such as Peter Gabriel's So, Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, Talk Talk's The Colour of Spring, and Tears for Fears' The Seeds of Love.[3]

History

In late 2016, Wilson announced that he had returned to the studio to record his fifth album.[4] During the first months of 2017, Wilson released two work-in-progress studio clips to his YouTube channel. On 5 January, he released a clip of "Pariah" and on 12 February, he released a clip of "To the Bone", featuring harmonica player Mark Feltham.[5][6] Wilson continued to tease various images and small album details until 8 May when he revealed the track listing on his Instagram account and released the single "Pariah".[7][8] The following day on his Instagram, he announced the album and an upcoming 2018 European tour, and the following week, on 18 May, a music video was released for "Pariah".[9][10] Four further singles have been released to date: "The Same Asylum As Before", "Song of I", "Permanating" and "Refuge". A video for "Permanating" featuring a Bollywood dance troupe was released online on 21 July.[11] A video for "Nowhere Now" was released on 19 September.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic77/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
Classic Rock
Drowned in Sound4/10[14]
Mojo
Planet Rock[15]
PopMatters[16]
Q
The Quietus[17]
Sputnikmusic4.5/5[1]

To The Bone has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Metacritic, a review aggregator, has given the album a normalised rating of 77 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on reviews from 12 critics.[12]

Uncut magazine stated "Wilson's fifth solo LP is a lush and ambitious piece of progressive pop music. Hitting on some heavy influences, including Peter Gabriel, Depeche Mode, Bends-era Radiohead, and Todd Rundgren's electronic ballads, this insistently melodic, 11-song set is an old-school, sum-of-its parts experience".[18] Planet Rock rated the album five stars, commenting that "Steven Wilson delivers his progressive masterpiece".[15] Jordan Blum of Rebel Noise magazine said: "To the Bone is both a great album in its own right and a perfectly appropriate addition to Wilson's vast body of work".[19] Sputnikmusic rated the album 4.5/5, stating: "Steven Wilson proves that an artist can venture into uncharted musical waters, even 30 years into their career, for ambitious and vibrant results like these".[1]

The Quietus' Antonio Poscic criticised the album's "edgeless approach ... underlined by the warm, lush production that tries to recreate the fondly and wrongly remembered organic sound of old records. ... Ironically, the song that will surely be most controversial among his fans, 'Permanating', is a self-contained, resounding success ... To the Bone would have been a better album if it had completely embraced this sort of levity."[17] Drowned in Sound's Benjamin Bland felt Wilson "focused more on the idea of writing a pop record than on actually delivering the goods. There are hooks here, but they are scattered and often attached to tracks that come worryingly close to mediocre exercises in MOR."[14]

Track listing

All tracks written by Steven Wilson, except "To the Bone" with lyrics by Andy Partridge.

No.TitleLength
1."To the Bone"6:41
2."Nowhere Now"4:03
3."Pariah"4:46
4."The Same Asylum as Before"5:14
5."Refuge"6:43
6."Permanating"3:34
7."Blank Tapes"2:08
8."People Who Eat Darkness"6:02
9."Song of I"5:21
10."Detonation"9:19
11."Song of Unborn"5:55
Total length:59:46

Personnel

Additional personnel

Production

Charts

Chart (2017) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[20] 30
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[21] 7
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22] 14
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[23] 9
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[24] 28
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[25] 34
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[26] 4
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[27] 1
French Albums (SNEP)[28] 24
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29] 2
Irish Albums (IRMA)[30] 43
Italian Albums (FIMI)[31] 14
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[32] 5
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[33] 15
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[34] 14
Scottish Albums (OCC)[35] 2
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[36] 15
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[37] 26
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[38] 4
UK Albums (OCC)[39] 3
US Billboard 200[40] 58
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[41] 3
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[42] 8

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kuettel, Ben (10 August 2017). "Review: Steven Wilson – To the Bone". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  2. ↑ "STEVEN WILSON's New Album "To the Bone" Out on August 18". progsphere. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  3. ↑ "To the Bone - Steven Wilson". stevenwilsonhq. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  4. ↑ "Back in the studio..." Instagram. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  5. ↑ "Steven Wilson - Pariah (Work in progress studio clip)". YouTube. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "Steven Wilson - To The Bone (Work in progress studio clip)". YouTube. 12 February 2017.
  7. ↑ "Track Listing Reveal". Instagram. 8 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "Pariah (Listening Video)". YouTube. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "After many months of writing and recording, I'm pleased to finally announce details of my new album To The Bone, and a major European tour in early 2018..." Instagram. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "Steven Wilson - Pariah ft. Ninet Tayeb". YouTube. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "Steven Wilson meets Bollywood in Permanating video". Prog. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  12. 1 2 "To The Bone - Steven Wilson". Metacritic. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  13. ↑ Jurek, Thom. "To the Bone - Steven Wilson". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  14. 1 2 Bland, Benjamin (15 August 2017). "Steven Wilson | To the Bone". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  15. 1 2 "The First Review for 'To the Bone' – "A Progressive Masterpiece"". StevenWilsonHQ.com. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  16. ↑ Ezell, Brice (17 August 2017). "Steven Wilson | To the Bone". PopMatters. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  17. 1 2 Poscic, Antonio (29 August 2017). "To the Bone". The Quietus.
  18. ↑ "Uncut Magazine has a Steven Wilson feature! • r/stevenwilson". reddit. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  19. ↑ "Steven Wilson - 'To the Bone'". www.rebelnoi.se. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  20. ↑ "ARIA Australian Top 50 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  21. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Steven Wilson – To the Bone" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  22. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Steven Wilson – To the Bone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  23. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Steven Wilson – To the Bone" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  24. ↑ "On The Charts: August 27, 2017". FYIMusicNews. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  25. ↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201734 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  26. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Steven Wilson – To the Bone" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  27. ↑ "Steven Wilson: To the Bone" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  28. ↑ "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums – SNEP (Week 34, 2017)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  29. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Steven Wilson – To the Bone" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  30. ↑ "Irish Albums Chart: 25 August 2017". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  31. ↑ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 34 (dal 2017-08-18 al 2017-08-24)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  32. ↑ "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  33. ↑ "VG-lista – Topp 40 Album uke 34, 2017". VG-lista. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  34. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  35. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  36. ↑ "Top 100 Albumes — Semana 34: del 18.08.2017 al 24.08.2017" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  37. ↑ "Sverigetopplistan – Sveriges Officiella Topplista". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 25 August 2017. Click on "Veckans albumlista".
  38. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Steven Wilson – To the Bone". Hung Medien. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  39. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  40. ↑ "Steven Wilson Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  41. ↑ "Steven Wilson Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  42. ↑ "Steven Wilson Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
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