Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| ARTISTdirect | |
| Drowned In Sound | (8/10) |
| Pitchfork Media | (6.7/10) |
| Sound and Vision | |
Reception for the album has been largely positive. Classic Rock magazine described the album as "an album of stunning songs and startling musicianship… breathtaking." Allmusic praised the album's quality and its more commercial direction, and called the tracks "Feel So Low" and "The Rest Will Flow" "flat out two of Wilson's best tunes anywhere." ArtistDirect warned that while it is different than later Porcupine Tree releases such as Fear of a Blank Planet, and conventional progressive rock in general, "Porcupine Tree achieves something altogether more enjoyable here. And, while audiophiles may find the dense harmonies and musical arrangements intriguing in surround sound, the strength of Lightbulb Sun is in melancholic melodies that would sound every bit as good in mono." The Real Musician music website echoed similar sentiments, and considered it to be "the last 'old' Porcupine Tree cd" (prior to their move into a more metal direction with 2002's In Absentia), and continued "Out of that old band, Lightbulb Sun is the very best album they created".
Many reviewers felt the album sounded similar to the work of Pink Floyd. The album has also been praised for being more accessible than most progressive rock, with Bill Kopp of Musoscribe stating "Lightbulb Sun is, like all (Porcupine Tree), really, very accessible stuff. In many ways, Porcupine Tree can serve an a listener's entree into a heretofore unexplored genre: if you're a rock fan but not so into prog, (it) can ease you in gently. If...you're no metal fan, the band ... can show you the benefits of that genre without going all Metallica on you."
Read more about this topic: Lightbulb Sun
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)