For all you PT fans out there, I just ordered this last week;

 https://www.burningshed.com/store/porcupinetree/product/169/4174/

This special edition of Octane Twisted includes a bonus DVD video of The Incident performed live in Chicago.

Porcupine Tree's live double cd release Octane Twisted features The Incident in its entirety, recorded in Chicago.

The second CD contains highlights from the band's landmark show at Royal Albert Hall.

Love the Tree and all it works at portraying!!!!   

I lived through the exact same situation, so the song does mean a lot to me as well.  Interestingly enough, another track on the album reminds me of the relationship as well - Remember Me Lover.  Here's an excerpt:

It's so hard to get along, I always know what you're going to say.
And this too, I hated you, I wish you learn to keep your mouth shut.

I've been through this with you about a hundred times.

Agree to disagree, start again with our lives.

And every single morning I wake up and you're still there, but tomorrow you will be alone and that is all you deserve.

NIce. I need to get jump-started on Porcupine Tree. Any suggestions for a first CD?

NIce. I need to get jump-started on Porcupine Tree. Any suggestions for a first CD?

The soundtrack of my heart tonight. A painfully beautiful song.

For my ears, Porcupine Tree is the best rock band currently active.  Their music evolves, but it's always great.

Thanks, man! I saw both shows in Chicago, and also count myself among the blessed. I feel a little like one of those lucky bast___ who got to see another obscure English band back in '74 do something called "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway..." They'll probably never play the whole song cycle again, so this was really quite special.

We got Hatesong and Stars Die for part two of the show this second time around, and the final encore was Blackest Eyes and (of course) Trains.

A lot of interesting takes here on the meaning of this song.  From someone who tried to patch together a bad relationship for many years, here are my thoughts (for what it's worth): This song shows the lengths a person will go to to protect him/herself when things get bad and go beyond your control.  You lie to yourself, your friends and your family - deny that there is a problem.  You withdraw hoping things will change or magically get better.  You keep silent knowing that no matter what you say or do it will not change the other person and that silence is a powerful tool.  You realize that you made a mistake and now you are paying the price - a price that will haunt you for a long time.  You realize that the other person will blame you for his/her problems regardless of what you try to do to make it better.

I find this a terribly sad but truthful song.

A lot of interesting takes here on the meaning of this song.  From someone who tried to patch together a bad relationship for many years, here are my thoughts (for what it's worth): This song shows the lengths a person will go to to protect him/herself when things get bad and go beyond your control.  You lie to yourself, your friends and your family - deny that there is a problem.  You withdraw hoping things will change or magically get better.  You keep silent knowing that no matter what you say or do it will not change the other person and that silence is a powerful tool.  You realize that you made a mistake and now you are paying the price - a price that will haunt you for a long time.  You realize that the other person will blame you for his/her problems regardless of what you try to do to make it better.

I find this a terribly sad but truthful song.

We must have been beside each other, leaning on the rail just above stage level 30 feet from the stage.  A cold beer in my hand and PT blowing my mind on stage.  I actually met Colin Edwin and Richard Barbieri behind the venue earlier in the evening as Richard was having a smoke outside an open door.  Thanked them for the all music they've given us.  What a great venue for a show, $25 and 2 hours of musical bliss.  

Saw them Saturday in TO as well, another amazing show without some of the technical glitches of the Buffalo one. 

Well read. Well stated.

I saw them in Buffalo this week. I was 30 feet away from the band at eye level. It was perhaps the best concert I've ever seen. They played "Buying New Soul" which is one of my favorites along with Stars Die and Mr. Wilson again has touched a nerve. He is such a great artist!

This is a great song "I Drive the Hearse" and really relates to Steven's loss of hope and the reconciliation of that loss. Again, my interpretation, but nonetheless a fitting end to a very emotional and powerful song cycle. If you saw them for the Incident Tour, you were very lucky. I saw them twice for this tour and count myself doubly blessed. They are such a powerful band and a joy to see live.

Well read. Well stated.

I saw them in Buffalo this week. I was 30 feet away from the band at eye level. It was perhaps the best concert I've ever seen. They played "Buying New Soul" which is one of my favorites along with Stars Die and Mr. Wilson again has touched a nerve. He is such a great artist!

This is a great song "I Drive the Hearse" and really relates to Steven's loss of hope and the reconciliation of that loss. Again, my interpretation, but nonetheless a fitting end to a very emotional and powerful song cycle. If you saw them for the Incident Tour, you were very lucky. I saw them twice for this tour and count myself doubly blessed. They are such a powerful band and a joy to see live.

I could not find Drown with Me on any other CD/download, so that is why I bought this on the PT/Burningshed store. They played it live the first time I saw them in Albany in 2007 so that is why I was in dire need of it. So I believe that's 3 songs from this little album, or half the songs. More songs than Nils or CD 2 from the Incident, not a bad value for 5 pounds, I think.

It is probably worth a listen if you don't have it yet. Orchidia and Futile are very good songs. Futile is very strong. See ya.

Hmm. I think the "given cash I speak the truth" line is about the struggle an artist drawing from painful emotional experience has with making money from those experiences. "Silence is another way / of sayin' what I want to say" points out that the fact that the loss is too painful for him to speak of directly, and that kind of speaks for itself. Ultimately I think the song is about how you carry grief with you over the long term, and how it impacts your relationships and emotional state.

I could see passive-aggressive in the context of one of the ways the character is unconsciously sabotaging his relationships: I don't think "sleeping with my ball and chain" is referring to the one he's with but the one he lost.

"I drive the hearse" is one hell of a way of putting it. In a way I think Steven is touching on the cause for that high divorce rate. We are too conditioned to think we'll live happily ever after, say "I do" and run laughing from the church while they roll the closing credits. Marriage doesn't really work that way, does it? Well, neither does grief. You don't get over it, there is no such thing as closure, and some days you are going to find yourself back in that moment when you realized what was gone. Marriage takes commitment and work, and living with loss takes work too.

Bet you thought you were opening up an entirely different can of worms, didn't you?

This is all, by the way, only my opinion. I have no knowledge of Mr. Wilson's personal life or any idea how much of his writing comes from experience or imagination. But if you set out to deliberately write something that would get to me, you couldn't do much better than this song cycle. Great music can touch anyone through their own personal experiences, making the universal personal. I think this fits the bill.

"given cash I speak the truth."  "You were always my mistake."  "Silence is just another way, of saying what I have to say." 

Perfect example of most dysfunctional relationships with a passive aggressive male counterpart.  Sorry to hear it takes cash to speak the truth though.

50 percent of marriages in America end in divorce.  Wonder why.

You know Bill, I really like this song. But I've noticed you tend to play a lot of Porcupine Tree. Not that I mind, I'm just curious why?