Hammill Flac

Peter Hammill fans should be warned that Loops & Reels is a bit of an experiment, and not comparable to any of his other releases (Hammill himself calls this album an abnormal work). Originally an inadequate-sounding, tape-only release in 1983, it has since been remastered as a CD, which obviously helped clear up the muddy sound…

Through the 1970s, Peter Hammill was something of a regular on John Peel's BBC radio show, both solo – recording five sessions – and as a member of Van Der Graaf Generator (seven more). Many of these latter sessions have since seen release, either officially or otherwise; Hammill's solo sessions, on the other hand, have proven very difficult to pin down, with even this collection omitting his first two outings in July 1973 and March 1974…

Even longtime diehards will admit that, over the course of 30 solo studio albums, Peter Hammill has occasionally switched on the autopilot – which still ranks him higher than a lot of his contemporaries, but does mean there are occasional bursts where his albums are more or less interchangeable. That is not a problem here. Last time out, Thin Air caught him riding the momentum of the equally spellbinding Van Der Graaf regeneration, and Consequences simply picks up where it left off. Sonically, its closest relative is probably pH7, back at the end of the 1970s…

Hammill began work on The Fall of the House of Usher back in the early '70s, yet it didn't see the light of day until the early '90s as a hard-to-find European import. He didn't feel it was completely finished until 1991; hence its elongated delay. This rock opera is comprised of six acts, and is based on an Edgar Allan Poe tale with small changes to the story here and there…

As the title suggests, Calm After the Storm is a companion volume to the simultaneously released Storm Before the Calm compilation. But whereas that set highlighted the fiery operatics for which the (predominantly) 1970s-era Hammill was best regarded, this package takes the opposite tack, and isolates the gentle ballads that have always been a major part of his persona…

Peter Hammill is a prolific songwriter, singer, and co-founder of Van Der Graaf Generator; he has also released dozens of solo recordings on a series of labels and later on his own Fie! Records. Though he never attained the public profile of fellow countryman David Bowie, Hammill's recording career has proven just as groundbreaking and uncompromising…

Peter Hammill's solo work never surpassed the material he helped create with prog giants Van Der Graaf Generator, and in fact he really never came close…

2009 two CD live archive release from the Van Der Graaf Generator leader. This Berlin concert took place at The Passionkirche in Berlin in April 1992…

All That Might Have Been, issued in the same year as Other World, is Peter Hammill's excellent duet offering with guitarist Gary Lucas, and it's among the most intellectually challenging, conceptually sprawling, and musically satisfying offerings in his career. Given its heft, it is more than likely that this is a record he couldn't have made when he was younger. It is the work of a master in full control of his vision. Described by Hammill as "cinematic by design," it features 21 tracks which were deliberately edited to be incomplete. Taken together they create a conscious narrative; its scenes are sonic episodes that move backwards and forwards just as an actual film would. This is not the same thing as creating a soundtrack without a movie, this is both: a soundtrack and an aural movie. Hammill wrote and recorded the songs in full, then slashed them apart, and stitched the story together from the fragments…