Customer Reviews

Signify

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This album, along with Stupid Dream, was among the first works I heard of Porcupine Tree. This was also the first time in which Steven Wilson worked with a full band for an entire album.

Experimental, eerie, psychedelic, it's like they took all of the progressive rock influences, put them in a blender, added a little ambient sounds and electronica, and let it rip. This album represents a mix of what Steven Wilson had been doing as basically a one-man band, and what they will eventually become.

Sleep of No Dreaming, and Sever are some of the darker, harder tracks, and gives you a harbinger of things to come with the direction Porcupine Tree would eventually take. This album is also full of atmospheric, ambient instrumental tracks like Idiot Prayer, Intermediate Jesus, and Light Mass Prayers. Darkmatter, the final track, is one of my all-time favorite Porcupine Tree songs. Signify is definitely an album worth listening to.

For those of you who were introduced to Porcupine Tree through In Absentia and Stupid Dream (as I was), this album will go beyond your expectations.Porcupine Tree has a much different sound in these older albums. The music is driven mostly by instruments in this album (very little vocals), with some of the best instrumentals I've ever heard: Waiting Phase Two, Idiot Prayer (my personal favorite on the album). Waiting Phase One and Darkmatter are also classic. Although the sound is much different - this album is essential to any Porcupine Tree fan. I personally listen to this more often than In Absentia and Stupid Dream. In this album, Porcupine Tree sounds very similar to Pink Floyd, so it will be a treat of Pink Floyd fans as well.

Signify is an album about significance. Hence the title. People who are going to buy this album are probably already big into Porcupine Tree much like myself when I bought it. If you are a fan you will not be dissapointed in the least. It is a bit heavy on the instumental side but that's no a bad thing in this case. It is a very atmospherical cd. The flow is excellent and each song has something interesting about it. The only exception to this I would say is Pagan. It's a short trippy piece but there isn't to much that stands out. It's more of a song connecter between The Sleep of No Dreaming and Waiting Phase One. If you are even thinking of buying this album then you should. This is however my opinion just like the other people who rated it as they did. From Bornlivedie to Dark Matter the work on this cd is simply excellent.

'Signify' is a record which heralds a new direction for Porcupine Tree, and sees them cohere as a band, crafting accessible yet subtely complex songs, although this album is nowhere near as straightforward (and, I suppose, as good) as something like 2002's wonderful 'In Absentia'.
Steven Wilson has an undeniable knack for churning out eerie, startlingly sombre melodies, which populate the bitesize, perfectly crafted nuggets of pop-psychedelia that make up about half of this album. A number of features of this record appeal to me immensely. Porcupine Tree found their own musical niche with this record, mixing unabashed psychedelia, flirting with Wilson's interest in 70's prog and the like, as well as plugging in the guitars for some overt thrash metal. What makes 'Signify' so strong is the fact that diverese influences coalesce to engender a record that is very focused yet treads ground that lesser bands would never even consider. Wilson's lyrics are also strong and idiosyncratic, dealing with horror and boredom in life around the late 1990s.
The songs themselves are uniformly strong. The title track , which opens the record after 'Bornlivedie' tantalises us with a minute or so of phone noise and effects (the way the phone goes off the hook then melds into the track is supremely cool) is heavy and dense, an instrumental that sounds like the band is aiming at a full on metal album. Its a fine cut, and when the band segue effortlessly into the lush, low key 'Sleep of no Dreaming' which has a perfect, melancholy chorus, things are taking shape nicely. I love 'Waiting', with its intensely singable chorus, while the second part of the song has some excellent bass playing and is supremely atmospheric. With songs like 'Intermediate Jesus' and the excellent 'Idiot Prayer' the band attacks more experimental, lengthy instumental ideas, sounding more like they did in their early days. Wilson gets to flex his pop muscles with gems like 'Sever' and 'Every home is wired', satirising late 20th century life and churning out gorgeous melodies in the process. The unidisputed highlight is, however, the epic finale 'Dark matter', a song which pulls the entire sound and ethos of the album together and places them into the most lucious, low-fi, moody closer imaginable.
As both a testament to the bands progression, and a fine record in its own right, 'Signify' is one of the finest albums by Porcupine Tree I have heard so far. Some of it takes repeated listens to kick in, but one of the great attractions of this album is that cuts like 'Waiting' are just instantly accesible and had me hooked into this dreamy world from the outset. As its a kind of 90's Pink Floyd, psychedelic progressive rock thrash metal album with a social conscience, its not going to appeal to everyone (was that ever an understatement) but if what you hear tickles your fancy, I guarantee you wont go wrong with 'Signify'.

"Signify" album is Porcupine tree's one of the most popular works.highly rated by critics and fans it remains one of their most interesting works (although still their best albums are "Stupid dream" and "In absentia" in my opinion).
Steven Wilson abandoned the Long art-rock teritory after bombastic "Sky moves sideway" which was the good album but many people started to compared his band to modern era Pink Floyd.
that's why Steven formed a real band and recorded something that cannot be really putted on one shelf. "Signify" represents the real Porcupine tree style.

Heavy instrumental title track is featuring more straight-forward rhythm section and guitars.it signals the riff experiments on later works.it also signals bigger simplicity.
"Signify" contains a few great songs beside instrumental track.
the famous song from here is "Waiting" (part 1) - their popular single hit with etheral vocals and atractive melody."Sleep of no dreaming" and "Sever" are containing very dark sound but they are catchy too.my favourite is "Every home is wired" - psychedelic beatles meet David gilmour here - great acoustic riff and wierd drum outro..."Dark matter" is a good song too,many fans claim that it is one of their best songs ever.

"Signify" is a very good Porcupine tree album and it holds many strong points.although a bit flat production and some pretentious moments on instrumental tracks are making it a bit weakere to be a 5 stars work it still remains huge piece of amazing music.Steven Wilson can't be wrong - this is art!

Wanted to buy this album but I took Metanoia album by mistake at the music store. Metanoia is great but wasn't what I was expecting. Too much the same from start to end and I was just getting tired of it after a couple of songs.

When I finally found Signify, I couldn't care less about the $60 injected (the 2 albums together) to find such wonder. Ironically, the songs I love the most, are similar to Metanoia's style.

"Waiting phase two" is my favorite, nice tom tom beat at the begining, after a minute he adds the bass and some piano notes here and there. At the third minute, tom tom is softly subsituted by a drum (transition is so well done) and then the addition of the etheral guitar.

Second favorite is "Intermediate Jesus" with a nice and strange gurgling bass that fit well with the drum and all other ambient sounds.

"Sleep of no dreaming" is a beautiful song. "Signify" is quite energic and original, more in "In absentia" album way. "Waiting phase one" is more accoustic.

This album is now top 1 on my chart

Okay, I'm an avowed PT fan so it is hard for me to be objective, but this is just a great release and I recommend it to all PT fans, even if you own an earlier version. I have the Ark produced earlier release and I'm sure those of you who own it will agree that the production needed a bit of work. It sounded good when you cranked it up, but was below par compaged with In Abstentia and Stupid Dream. Steve Wilson has gone back and remastered all the tracks and the result is worth the import price. I hear subtleties on this one I never noticed on my old copy, and it sounds great.

Not only do you get a better version of the original great album, but you get the Insignificance Demos as a bonus disc, also remasterd. It was a limited edition release back in 1997 with alternate Signify tracks and others that didn't make it onto the album. Plus it has an acoustic version of Nine Cats....who wouldn't want that??? Thanks for sharing these tracks with us Steve, they rock!

Overall, a great purchase, as I'm sure fellow fan and graphic designer Woofbear would attest. For those of you who don't own a single PT CD, this is a good place to start, though I'd recommend Lightbulb Sun and Stupid Dream as perhaps better introductions. If you enjoy melodic, spacey and somewhat dark rock with clever, introspective lyrics; then you should definitely give this double CD a listen. This isn't my favorite PT CD, I'd give it 4 stars when compared with the rest of their discography. But compared to most groups out there, this is a 5 star release, and thus my rating.

* A really worthless CD, don't waste your time.
** A CD that has some good stuff, but some major defects. Don't bother unless completeing a collection.
*** An OK CD that will please fans of the artist in question but may not convert new listeners.
**** An excellent CD that represents the best work of the artist in question and can be bought with confidence.
***** An absolute classic that is the best, or among the best, of its genre. Your collection should start here.

Okay, I'm an avowed PT fan so it is hard for me to be objective, but this is just a great release and I recommend it to all PT fans, even if you own an earlier version. I have the Ark produced earlier release and I'm sure those of you who own it will agree that the production needed a bit of work. It sounded good when you cranked it up, but was below par compaged with In Abstentia and Stupid Dream. Steve Wilson has gone back and remastered all the tracks and the result is worth the import price. I hear subtleties on this one I never noticed on my old copy, and it sounds great.

Not only do you get a better version of the original great album, but you get the Insignificance Demos as a bonus disc, also remasterd. It was a limited edition release back in 1997 with alternate Signify tracks and others that didn't make it onto the album. Plus it has an acoustic version of Nine Cats....who wouldn't want that??? Thanks for sharing these tracks with us Steve, they rock!

Overall, a great purchase, as I'm sure fellow fan and graphic designer Woofbear would attest. For those of you who don't own a single PT CD, this is a good place to start, though I'd recommend Lightbulb Sun and Stupid Dream as perhaps better introductions. If you enjoy melodic, spacey and somewhat dark rock with clever, introspective lyrics; then you should definitely give this double CD a listen. This isn't my favorite PT CD, I'd give it 4 stars when compared with the rest of their discography. But compared to most groups out there, this is a 5 star release, and thus my rating.

* A really worthless CD, don't waste your time.
** A CD that has some good stuff, but some major defects. Don't bother unless completeing a collection.
*** An OK CD that will please fans of the artist in question but may not convert new listeners.
**** An excellent CD that represents the best work of the artist in question and can be bought with confidence.
***** An absolute classic that is the best, or among the best, of its genre. Your collection should start here.

Being a big fan of prog-metal, and some prog-rock, I must say this was the stupidest excuse for music I have ever heard. If you like bands such as DT or even Spock's Beard, you'll be dissapointed. I have heard good things about this band, but they were obviously bias views. The entire album is eerie sound effects, that don't even come close to giving you that feeling of pure enjoyment. Music to me consists of a band utilizing their skills in song writing and playing their instruments, not making random creepy symphonic sounds with some lyrics. Only if you're interested in the traits in which I listed, DON'T BUY THIS ALBUM!

I heard very good reviews for this band from many places so I went out and bought it and I was deeply disappointed! This is probably the worst album I ever bought. First of all, most of the tracks are filled up with nothing but noise, the lyrics are pathetic and there are no REAL dynamics to any song, just constantly repeating notes. Many people told me this was music genious. I would not even call this music. Playing really slow notes with a bunch of symphonic noise behind it doesn't make you a music genious. This album doesnt belong anywhere near the rock genre.