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Brady you sonuva... Can't believe you'd diss me like that, I'm offended.

/Joke

Modern musical settings are good so long as they don't mess with the lyrics. She does miss the best verse though...

(It's my favourite hymn too.)

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It's such a good piece of music. You mean V3? V2 is def my favorite and she uses it and doesn't change the gendered language (which is written the way it is for a scriptural reason obv)

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Anyone who changes that language is probably a heretic. I don't make the rules. And yeah, V2 is awesome (it all is) but I do love V3.

Be thou my battleshield, sword for the fight.

Be thou my dignity, thou my delight.

Thou my soul's shelter, thou my high tower,

Raise thou me heavenward, oh power of my power

I do appreciate that she doesn't add the extraneous "and" in V2 to make it scan, and sings fa-ather instead like it's supposed to be.

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Agreed on all points.

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Great recommendations. Love Steven Wilson - the whole Raven album is just incredible.

I'll never forget seeing SW live, and him introducing The Raven Who Refused To Sing as simply 'the best song I ever wrote'... before giving a flawless, tearjerker performance. Awesome.

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Thanks!

Yeah I really think prog rock in the Floyd mold peaked with the Raven album. It sort of feels like the last word on the genre. Not that people shouldn’t play more of it and write more of it but I just would be blown away if anyone topped it. One of the few masterpieces in recent years. I’ve not seen Steven live before, sounds great though.

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It's hard to top. I have to assume someone will do something just as good eventually, but SW is someone who's really dedicated his life to music, he was the right kind of person to make it.

Highly recommend if you ever get a chance!

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I'm not the biggest fan of Steven Wilson's solo stuff (or Blackfield, for that matter) but Porcupine Tree is one of my favorite bands 🤘

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I would say that Wilson is a very inconsistent artist but when he hits it's transcendent. I agree PT is his best work but I also really really love Raven front to back.

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Guess that means I better give it a listen 🎧

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Def recommended. I think as I said I'll do a long form review of it sometime. I have some other albums I want to review first but it's a stellar record. Plus he's a really good engineer and the vinyl mix is really good if you can track it down. You probably know this but he did some of those early-middle period Opeth records and they sound amazing. Blackwater Park is a watershed for prog metal imo

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Came to note that “Fineshrine” is not only a gorgeous pull and excellent needle drop in Letterkenny but is just a gorgeous song all on its own. You really nailed the feel of the vocals and lyrics together; somehow artistically manages to make you feel the desire and possessiveness of lovers without ever resorting to cheapness to get the point across. Great work as always sir.

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