Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, Storm Corrosion) is one of the modern era's great proponents of vintage prog rock and his work to date has played a large part in keeping the genre alive. This unfortunately automatically relegates him to cult hero status as the mainstream trends lie very far away from his peculiar tastes and style. On the back of three excellent and well-received solo albums, Wilson has released Cover Version as a way to blow off a little creative steam – part cover album, part new material. The original tunes are evenly spaced out with songs by Abba, Donovan, and The Cure among others. Shockingly, some of these renditions are very faithful to the original versions, especially Morissette's 'Thank You' that opens the album. Cover Version largely revolves around a simple trio of sounds: acoustic guitar, keyboard, and Wilson's own voice. This makes for a very sparse, sedate album and a far cry from the expansive bombast he usually employs. The upshot of this is when he chooses to introduce something meatier (like the electric guitar and bass combo on Prince's 'Sign O' the Time') it has maximum impact. As for the new Wilson tunes they are tremendously quaint and represent the prog savant showing off his songwriting prowess. Again, this is distinct change of pace from overdosing the audience with over-the-top compositions. No song on this album runs for longer than seven minutes which should already clue you in to the less formal, easy-access nature of this record. Cover Version is far from essential listening but any Wilson fan will enjoy this sneak peak into his world. I can only fully recommended this to die-hard fans and completionists.
Rating: C+
Recommended track: Sign O' the Times
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