Peter Hammill (lyrics, instrumental, albums, 1969)

Mark Lint · 12-12-2008, 10:17 PM

Any Peter Hammill/Van Der Graaf Generator fans out there?

Peter Hammill is one of those guys that I have some serious problems with stylistically, and that I find sort of embarrassing, in that most of his albums I won't play around other people, but I find him intriguing enough that I own virtually everything album he's put out, which is something close to one a year since 1969.

He's got this overblown Shakespearean vocal delivery and a very distinctive way of constructing instrumental parts, including his route to prog, which seems to be taking a somewhat abrasive riff in, say, 5/8 and repeating it over and over.

This doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, but a lot of his stuff is really strikingly beautiful and/or tough as nails, and the lyrics are consistently thoughtful if sometimes (especially in the 70s) on the pretentious side.

12-12-2008, 10:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
Mark Lint Groupie Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 16	Peter Hammill Any Peter Hammill/Van Der Graaf Generator fans out there? Peter Hammill is one of those guys that I have some serious problems with stylistically, and that I find sort of embarrassing, in that most of his albums I won't play around other people, but I find him intriguing enough that I own virtually everything album he's put out, which is something close to one a year since 1969. He's got this overblown Shakespearean vocal delivery and a very distinctive way of constructing instrumental parts, including his route to prog, which seems to be taking a somewhat abrasive riff in, say, 5/8 and repeating it over and over. This doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, but a lot of his stuff is really strikingly beautiful and/or tough as nails, and the lyrics are consistently thoughtful if sometimes (especially in the 70s) on the pretentious side.