Insignificance (album)
Encyclopedia
Insignificance consists of a series of demos, unused songs and outtakes by British
progressive rock
band Porcupine Tree
. It was the second promotional item sent to subscribers of the band's "Transmission" information service, in 1997, in the form of a 50-minute cassette and limited to 500 copies. Insignificance was remastered and re-released in 2003 as the second disc of the expanded edition of Signify
, with a slightly different track listing.
Side B
Steven Wilson wrote this on the sleeve notes:
Wake As Gun I/II: This song was demoed in various incarnations. It always sounded like it should be a part of something bigger and longer but I never found a happy home for it. At one stage it was part of another "Signify" unreleased track "Cryogenics" (never recorded but performed live once at the Roadmenders, Northampton – anybody have a tape of that show?).
Hallogallo/Signify: "Signify" was supposed to be P.T. play Krautrock, so much so that the demo actually starts off as a faithful (reasonably) cover version of the Neu! Classic "Hallogallo" (one of my top 5 desert island discs) – however clearly something went horribly wrong about 3½ minutes in and "Signify" was born.
Waiting: My original demo.
Smiling Not Smiling: Not used either.
Neural Rust: Later reborn as "The Sound Of No-One Listening". Richard Barbieri thought this sounded like a seventies spy theme so while I was trying to work on the drums with Chris he was jumping around the studio control room performing TV stunts and Starsky + Hutch impressions. He was probably right though – I think it’s the funky wah-wah guitar that does it.
Sever Tomorrow (or just "Sever" as it was to become): The demo version – seems slightly mellower + more melancholic than the album version...it’s certainly slower, like most of my demos.
Door To The River: This is a track that was originally improvised in the studio + then "recomposed" later (or decomposed). The piano, lead gtr and major processed bass were added later. Intended as an EP track (it still could be).
Insignificance: This is pure improvisation – just me, Colin + Chris, extracted from a 45 minute long jam recorded late one night at The Doghouse in Henley. The basic backing track for "Intermediate Jesus" comes from the same jam.
Nine Cats: Not strictly speaking a "Signify" out-take of course. This "On The Sunday ..." LP track gets more than a few requests at gigs. Unfortunately the band don’t play an arrangement of it, but bowing to audience pressure in Italy (late '95) I played it twice as an acoustic number. It sounded ok so I recorded it like this thinking it might be suitable as an EP track.
United Kingdom
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progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
. It was the second promotional item sent to subscribers of the band's "Transmission" information service, in 1997, in the form of a 50-minute cassette and limited to 500 copies. Insignificance was remastered and re-released in 2003 as the second disc of the expanded edition of Signify
Signify
Signify is the fourth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in September 1996. It was the first album that frontman Steven Wilson recorded with a full group of musicians on board from the beginning. Previously he had been recording albums primarily as a...
, with a slightly different track listing.
Original 1997 cassette release
Side A- "Wake As Gun 1" – 3:24
- "Hallogallo/Signify" – 6:53
- "Waiting" – 6:45
- "Smiling Not Smiling" – 3:40
- "Wake As Gun 2" – 3:42
Side B
- "Neural Rust" – 5:47
- "Sever Tomorrow" – 6:01
- "Door to the River" – 4:17
- "Insignificance" – 4:54
- "Nine Cats (Acoustic Version)" – 4:03
CD 2 of the 2003 Signify expanded edition
- "Wake As Gun 1" – 3:29
- "Hallogallo" – 3:37
- "Signify" - 3:28
- "Waiting" – 6:56
- "Smiling Not Smiling" – 3:49
- "Wake As Gun 2" – 2:06
- "Neural Rust" – 5:53
- "Dark Origins" - 6:54
- "Sever Tomorrow" – 6:04
- "Nine Cats (Acoustic Version)" – 4:08
Track details
The bonus CD on the Signify expanded edition removed the tracks "Insignificance" and "Door To The River", but later appeared as bonus tracks on the reissue of Metanoia.Steven Wilson wrote this on the sleeve notes:
Wake As Gun I/II: This song was demoed in various incarnations. It always sounded like it should be a part of something bigger and longer but I never found a happy home for it. At one stage it was part of another "Signify" unreleased track "Cryogenics" (never recorded but performed live once at the Roadmenders, Northampton – anybody have a tape of that show?).
Hallogallo/Signify: "Signify" was supposed to be P.T. play Krautrock, so much so that the demo actually starts off as a faithful (reasonably) cover version of the Neu! Classic "Hallogallo" (one of my top 5 desert island discs) – however clearly something went horribly wrong about 3½ minutes in and "Signify" was born.
Waiting: My original demo.
Smiling Not Smiling: Not used either.
Neural Rust: Later reborn as "The Sound Of No-One Listening". Richard Barbieri thought this sounded like a seventies spy theme so while I was trying to work on the drums with Chris he was jumping around the studio control room performing TV stunts and Starsky + Hutch impressions. He was probably right though – I think it’s the funky wah-wah guitar that does it.
Sever Tomorrow (or just "Sever" as it was to become): The demo version – seems slightly mellower + more melancholic than the album version...it’s certainly slower, like most of my demos.
Door To The River: This is a track that was originally improvised in the studio + then "recomposed" later (or decomposed). The piano, lead gtr and major processed bass were added later. Intended as an EP track (it still could be).
Insignificance: This is pure improvisation – just me, Colin + Chris, extracted from a 45 minute long jam recorded late one night at The Doghouse in Henley. The basic backing track for "Intermediate Jesus" comes from the same jam.
Nine Cats: Not strictly speaking a "Signify" out-take of course. This "On The Sunday ..." LP track gets more than a few requests at gigs. Unfortunately the band don’t play an arrangement of it, but bowing to audience pressure in Italy (late '95) I played it twice as an acoustic number. It sounded ok so I recorded it like this thinking it might be suitable as an EP track.