Peter Hammill

Peter Hammill is one of the formative characters of the progressive rock scene to date. In the beginning of the 1970's he recorded four cumbersome mysterious albums with his band Van der Graaf Generator which never could reach the commercial heights of cognate bands like Genesis or Yes due to their musical intransigence. After several visionary but difficult to access albums, Hammill reformed the quartet for another four albums which introduced a more earthy but not less complex sound. After the band's second end in 1978, on solo albums like "The Future Now", "ph7" or "A Black Box" Hammill experimented extensively in the studio and acquired the latest techniques like i.e. early forms of sampling; one of the most breath-taking results being the 20 minute long soundscape 'Flight'…

Peter Hammill has been at it for almost 40 years now, and yet, since the early 2000s, he has been on a new way up, creatively speaking. Clutch (2002) and Incoherence (2004), his previous two studio albums, had both hit high artistic marks, but that is only one of the main reasons why Singularity was so highly anticipated by the fans. It was also the Thin Man's first studio album since remastering his '70s LPs for EMI, his first since the re-formation of his old group, Van der Graaf Generator. Yet, most importantly, especially for a man of words like he is, it was his first studio release since his heart attack two years earlier. Were all the expectations generated by these "firsts" met? Surprisingly, yes. Singularity stands among Hammill's best albums of the past 25 years.

Peter Hammill again plays the same trick as he did in 1978-1979, when, after the strange, experimental The Future Now LP, came the more straightforward pH7. The same relationship exists between A Black Box and Sitting Targets…

Peter Hammill's seventh album has been recorded with the same lineup as The Future Now (with the singer handling most instruments,David Jackson on sax, and Graham Smith on violin) but yields very different results…

This is how it came about: Prior to the effort in question, Hammill and Roger Eno chose a key in which to begin, and a specific time at which their performances would start. Then, sitting in their respective studios, miles apart, and with no communication whatsoever, they began to improvise, using various instruments. After one hour exactly, both ceased performing…

Originally a limited-edition vinyl bootleg released in the late '70s (now one of THE great Hammill collectibles), this soundboard recording of a February 1978 solo show at All Souls Unitarian Church in Kansas City was always the best of the pitifully few live documents available from this most spellbinding of performers. Reissued across two CDs, with six bonus tracks recreating the entire concert, it stands as an essential addition to his canon…

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…

‘In a Foreign Town / Out of Water 2023’ is a new project by Peter Hammill. which features new reworkings of two of Peter’s landmark albums originally released in 1988 and 1990 respectively.