Peter Hammill

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…

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…

The usual Hammill combination of musical excellence and the deepest emotions this side of hell…

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…

With the exception of the final track ("Magog"), this is a very good example of early Hammill solo work, ably assisted by David Jackson's haunting sax…

One of the best of Hammill's early solo albums. The thought-provoking, questioning lyrics of "Forsaken Gardens" and "A Louse Is Not a Home" query the fundamental premises of modern society (a theme later continued on The Noise) while "Rubicon" is a truly sensual love song…

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…

The apparently impenetrable sprawl of Peter Hammill's back catalog is one of the most challenging propositions facing any novice entrant to his world, near-annual albums ranging across so many musical shades and shadows that, as soon as you think you've got a handle on his direction, he immediately sweeps off somewhere else…