Calm (After The Storm), The - Peter Hammill

Advantages: Cool
Disadvantages: none

...I first "discovered" one of the bands during their very own "second coming" at the height of the Britpop era. It was on October 28th 1996, at The Mayfair (god rest its soul) in Newcastle. I was at the Mayfair to watch Ocean Colour Scene play, and being only 17 (and the gig only open to 18yrs +), me and my mates planned that if we got there early we'd have a better chance of getting in (even though we pre-purchased our tickets). That night a band supported OCS, called "The Real People " from Liverpool. I still remember they were absolutley awesome and the very next day i went to my local HMV to purchase a CD. Tho only CD in-stock featuring the Real People was a "semi-compilation" CD called "Liverpool: the calm before the storm". Featuring not only The Real People but also another Liverpool band called "Rain" - Not "the rain... Read review

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Advantages: Contains the original version of "A Louse is not a Home"
Disadvantages: Contains "The Lie" & "Wilhemina" which tend towards dirges

...This is Peter Hammill's third solo album. Recorded in 1972 and released in the same year, it features seven tracks. All the usual Hammill stuff is here, isolation, paranoia, alienation and a huge vocabulary. Lets take the tracks as they appear:- 1. Modern. Electric guitar and piano based song all about cities. The up- and down-sides of urban living, as witnessed by inhabitants of Jericho, Babylon and Atlantis. Strange? Certainly. But no-one has ever tackled this subject matter in a song before (as far as I know). 2. Wilhemina. Piano based song. It's a warning from an older (and wiser?) person to the young girl of the title. All about how to enjoy life while you're young because later on as life takes its toll, people turn out to be bitter disappointments. No doubt heart felt but a bit dirge like in places. 3. The Lie... Read review

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Advantages: Pretentious Art Rock
Disadvantages: A Chalenging and Rewarding Listen

...Who the hell is Peter Hammill you say, well he was the front man for the best prog rock band ever is one of the answers to your questions, that prog rock band was Van Der Graff Generator answers the next of your questions. This album Incoherence was inspired by the impossibilities of language, and contains element of musical and lyrical incoherence to illustrate it. Wow a little bit of pretentious art nonsense there but this is prog rock and it is meant to be high brow and pretentious. The Album consists of 14 different pieces which is meant to be taken as a whole.............. 1. When Language Corrodes It starts off with somber keyboards and flute weaving in and out of the tune, complimented by a violin. There are probably some complex chords here and lyrically it deals with the subject of what happens to comprehension when... Read review

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