| | Porcupine Tree Signify CD Porcupine Tree Discography of CDs
 (3 Customer Reviews)
The first proper album by the full band, Signify was the next great step forward for Porcupine Tree, a distinct advancement in how well the foursome could completely rock out as well as find its own narcotic style of ambient exploration. The title track signals intentions clearly after the fragmentary sample-collage start of "Bornlivedie" kicks things off. Based on a storming riff from Wilson, the Edwin/Maitland team provide a crisp, driving beat, while Barbieri throws some intriguingly aggressive keyboard work, nervy and unsettling, to offset the calmer parts he also adds to fill things out. Everyone gets to show a little bit of individual flair as the album progresses. Edwin punctuates the epic surge of "Sleep of No Dreaming" with some plucked double bass as well as electric, while Maitland himself takes over on (wordless) vocals and full composition for "Light Mass Prayers," a minimal, entrancing piece. One thing that hasn't noticeably changed much is Wilson's general songwriting and ear for arrangements -- good, but there's little in the way of distinct change in style, leaving it to the performance of the band as a whole to provide the album's own unique stamp. For all that Wilson may once again be singing obliquely on the pressures and nature of end-of-century life, he still does so in an engagingly left-of-center way. Consider the portrait of an incipient Internet/cyberpunk world in "Every Home Is Wired" or the snap-or-not? dilemma of "Darkmatter," which closes the album on a subtly tense note, besides being the best song Peter Gabriel-era Genesis never wrote. The often gripping instrumental pieces which are as much a band trademark as anything else appear throughout, including the combination drift and charge of "Idiot Prayer," littered with intriguingly curious samples, and the amusingly titled, hellfire and brimstone preacher-punctuated "Intermediate Jesus." ~ Ned Raggett
Recording information: Doghouse; Katrina & The Wave's Studio, Cambridge, MA; No Man's Land; No Man's Land, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England; the Doghouse; The Doghouse, Henley; The Waves' Studio Cambridge; Waves' Studio.
Photographers: Rob Crossland; Chris Kissadjekian; Jim Douglas.
Unknown Contributor Role: Steve Wilson.
Personnel: Steven Wilson (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, organ, Mellotron, keyboards, chimes, drum programming, sampler, tapes, music box); Richard Barbieri (piano, synthesizer, electronics, sequencer, tapes); Chris Maitland (keyboards, drums, cymbals, percussion, background vocals); Colin Edwin (double bass, electric bass); Steve Wilson (music box).
Audio Mixer: Steven Wilson.
Alternative Press (2/97, p.67) - 3 (out of 5) - "...SIGNIFY marks Porcupine Tree's fourth attempt to weave their concentrated, symmetrical drones into more people's waking consciousness..." Signify Music | List Price | $13.95 (You save $2.56) | | Category | Rock Albums, Dance CDs, Rock/Pop, Progressive, Post Rock | | Label | ARK 21 | | Orig Year | 1997 | | All Time Sales Rank |  2550  | | CD Universe Part number | 1207059 | | Catalog number | 810013 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | Mar 07, 2000 | | Studio/Live | Studio | | Mono/Stereo | Stereo | | Producer | Steven Wilson | | Engineer | Katrina; Steve Stewart | | Recording Time | 61 minutes | | Personnel | Steven Wilson - vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, organ, Mellotron, keyboards, chimes, drum programming, sampler, tapes, music box
Richard Barbieri - piano, synthesizer, electronics, sequencer, tapes
Colin Edwin - double bass, electric bass
Chris Maitland - keyboards, drums, cymbals, percussion, background vocals
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Porcupine Tree Signify Songs Signify Music Review Average Rating: (4.7 out of 5 stars)   Possibly their best effort
A classic! Porcupine Tree is my favorite band right now and I have most of their catalog. I like aspects of all of their releases, but Signify is quite possibly their best effort. The tracks flow into each other effortlessly and beautifully and yet each holds its own taken separately.
Signify begins and ends rather quietly and has moments of meditative dreaminess, biting cynicism, and powerful, visceral rock. The track, Signify, is an explosion of mighty guitar, keyboards, drums, and bass. Sleep of No Dreaming is plaintive and simultaneously strong and emotive. Waiting, phases one and two has a mesmerizing thump, thump, while taking the listener on a mystical jouney, floating along on tasteful guitar and keyboard licks. The rest of the tracks take the listener to different places along a road touched by anger, contemplation, and inquiry before ending in the climactic Dark Matter, the album's best track, with its disturbing lyrics set to a beautiful and haunting melody melding into the mighty guitar work of Steven Wilson and back down into the calm waters layed out by Richard Barbieri, Colin Edwin, and Chris Maitland on keyboards, bass, and drums, respectively. Be sure to leave the disc spinning for the little comically dark sound bite at the very end.
I hesitate to use this word, generally saving it for the likes of The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper, but Signify is a masterpiece, and a grossly underrated one at that. The quality of the recording with its nice little psycho-acoustic touches, the craftwork of the musicians and the songwriting are above par and this album would go in my top 10 desert island collection.
Submitted by a reviewer (San Francisco, CA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
 Not quite In Absentia, but very good
I enjoy this CD very much. The instrumental Signify is a good start to lead into the rest of the tracks.
Some of my favorite tracks...
Waiting Phase 1/2 (great tune)
Every House is Wired
Idiot Prayer (instrumental)
DarkMatter (awesome)
I would have given 5 stars but that is only reserved for CD's I think are great top to bottom, this CD has a couple throw away tracks like
Light mass prayers and bornlivedie.
Submitted by howdyfeller (South Lyon) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
A classic
To me this is their true masterpiece. It includes several of my favourite PT tracks: Waiting (both phases), Idiot Prayer, Every Home is Wired and Dark Matter.
Submitted by Frank (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No | Have you heard this album? |  |
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