Even though it's been a few months since "Stupid Dream" came out, this review is still worth printing, if only for the fact that, (in my opinion anyway) the latest "Porcupine Tree" project was the best album released in 1999. Steven Wilson and company may have sacrificed the focus on atmospherics that marked their early output for a more structured, song-based approach, but their fans shouldn't complain - despite the shift, the band retained that lucid, dreamy quality that marked previous efforts like 1996's "Signify."

For the uninitiated, the most obvious comparisons would be Pink Floyd, and more recently Radiohead. It's an analogy bandleader/guitarist/songwriter/vocalist Wilson apparently doesn't shy away from, as he acknowledge Thom Yocke's crew on "Pure Narcotic" by singing "You keep me listening to 'The Bends'." To write "Porcupine Tree" off as a Pink Floyd rip off misses the point, however. Instead, while they share the same concerns about the sonic qualities of their music, "Porcupine Tree" has an edge to their music that neither Pink Floyd or Radiohead can match.

While it was more pronounced on previous albums, on "Stupid Dream" that edge is best captured in songs like "Tinto Brass" and "Baby Dream in Cellophane." On the surface, the songs are completely different, with the former being a languid composition and the latter an "Ozric Tentacles" styled romp, complete with blaring horns section. The link between the two - and one of the things that set "Porcupine Tree" apart from the aforementioned bands - is Colin Edwin's killer bass groove, driving both songs deep into the memory banks.

As brilliant as the music is, Wilson's lyrics are just as good, resulting in an incisive and sometimes caustic lyrical stew. The opening track, "Even Less," wonders ironically about how a suicide brings more 'respect' than living a solid and productive, if unremarkable, life, "And I may just waste away from doing nothing/ But I'm a martyr to even less."

Later on, it's the wry commentary of "Piano Lessons." "I remember piano lessons/The hours in freezing rooms/Cruel ears and tiny hands/Destroying timeless tunes, and the (open to interpretation) post-apocalyptic scenario of "A Smart Kid," "Stranded here on planet earth/It's not much but it could be worse/Everything's free here, there's no crowds/Winter lasted five long years/No sun will come again I fear/Chemical harvest was sown."

"Stupid Dream" is just a brilliant statement all the way around, a definite "must" for Pink Floyd and progressive rock fans, and anyone else yearning for smart, expressive rock music.