OFF: Porcupine Tree

[Nick Medford]

On Mon, 10 Dec 2001 16:31:17 -0000, Wright, Mike <wrightm at BRE.CO.UK> wrote:

>I have used paypal, with no problems. My only complaint is that they claim
>no charge is made to me to pay money out, but always what appears on my
visa
>statement is 5-35c more than I have paid out. I have not complained about
>this, because I am british (dammit). I like it because it is so quick and
>easy, and lots of non-professional Ebayers use it. If they included a
method
>of paying in £ as well as $ it would be better.
>
>Mike w

Thanks for that. Although... there were loads of posts on Usenet at the
weekend about some kind of "paypal scam", but I ignored them as I assumed
they were a hoax or part of some scam themselves.

Having just re-read the somewhat complicated instructions on the Ubutique
site, I realise it is actually possible to pay by sterling cheque from the
UK. So maybe I'll just do that. I do gag a bit at paying $7 for shipping,
but I suppose when the CD itself is only $10, it's a reasonable swings-and-
roundabouts equation.

Back on Porcupine Tree- I see there are all sorts of PT obscurities/out-
takes/limited editions being re-released. I've cooled on PT, so I find it
hard to get too excited about this, but one that did catch my eye was
"Staircase Infinities", recorded around the same time as "Up the
Downstair"- easily their best album IMHO. I'm confident some folks here
have that one - is it in a similar style to UtD or is it more in the later
poppy mode?

Incidentally, why does everyone cite "Stupid Dream" as the album where the
major shift of style occurred? 'Cos to me, "Signify" is the one where
everything changed. Yes, these changes become crystallised on the
subsequent albums, but "Sky Moves Sideways" to "Signify" is more of a
departure than "Signify" to "Stupid Dream", surely?

NM