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Killers, Angels, Refugees
Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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About the author
Peter Hammill
5 books14 followersPeter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano. He also acts as a record producer for his own recordings, and occasionally for other artists.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 9, 2017
Peter Hammill is one of the greatest songwriters and singers of his own material in the history of rock music. Not only has he influenced myriad artists and performers who achieved greater fame, while acknowledging his importance to them - such as David Bowie, John Lydon, Bruce Dickinson, Marc Almond and many others - but his work, both with Van Der Graaf Generator and solo, has a unique and inimitable flavour in terms of its ambition, content, dynamic, range, and literacy. This book, originally published in 1974 when he and VDGG collectively only had seven albums under their belts - as opposed to something like 37 or 47 now - was originally envisaged both by its author and publisher as an introduction to a powerful lyrical talent and an opportunity to read some of his non-musical poetry and prose work.
This second edition was published in 1980, by which time the author had developed his style, and the maturity of his focus. However, in his introduction, Hammill acknowledges that there is no point trying to rewrite or deny his past work, however inadequate it might later have appeared to him, and thus allowed it to stand as was. This was right and honest. The best of his work is extraordinarily good. The less good is, well, less good - but it is interesting to see where all of it comes from. And perhaps I should admit at this point that, having lost or lent out my original, 1974 first edition of "Killers, Angels, Refugees", a good mutual friend of both myself and the author arranged, back in 1980, for me to receive a signed, dedicated, and numbered (#2) copy of the second edition !
I think, therefore, that I need hardly establish myself further as a fan of Peter Hammill's music and writing. I would have loved to have given this book either 4 or 5 stars, but in honesty I cannot because the best work in it - Hammill's lyrics to some of his solo and Van Der Graaf songs - relies on the reader knowing the music intimately. This is not to say that poems (yes, *bona fide* poems) like "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" and "A Louse Is Not A Home" do not stand on their own, but they do so with gaps - gaps that are filled by the extraordinary music both of Hammill's instrumental collaborators and his own remarkable and unique voice. By contrast, the poems that appear without lyrical reference or precedent are poor, immature things, relying I suspect on their writer's adolescent angst and cleverness rather than the artistic inspiration of his later song lyrics.
And this is the unfairness - if such it be - of a book dedicated to the work of a great songwriter as though he were a great *general* writer. As I have said, I suspect the poems *qua* poems to be juvenilia - which would hardly be surprising, given that Hammill would have been in his early-to-mid 20s at the time of original publication - and the short stories which make up another section of the book to be an ambitious, but misbegotten attempt at diversification. Interestingly, the main fault of the poems is a lack of specificity (in favour of a kind of adolescent abstract philosophising), whereas the readability of the stories is seriously hampered by an excess of unnecessary physical detail.
So there we have it. After 43 years, my views on a book which, 43 years ago, I would certainly have received differently, albeit probably with the same greatest praise reserved for the most deserving sections. I suspect Peter Hammill himself would also hold similar views. Either way, I remain a fan, and recommend this volume as a fascinating insight into the early development of a unique, original, and unparalleled songwriting genius.
This second edition was published in 1980, by which time the author had developed his style, and the maturity of his focus. However, in his introduction, Hammill acknowledges that there is no point trying to rewrite or deny his past work, however inadequate it might later have appeared to him, and thus allowed it to stand as was. This was right and honest. The best of his work is extraordinarily good. The less good is, well, less good - but it is interesting to see where all of it comes from. And perhaps I should admit at this point that, having lost or lent out my original, 1974 first edition of "Killers, Angels, Refugees", a good mutual friend of both myself and the author arranged, back in 1980, for me to receive a signed, dedicated, and numbered (#2) copy of the second edition !
I think, therefore, that I need hardly establish myself further as a fan of Peter Hammill's music and writing. I would have loved to have given this book either 4 or 5 stars, but in honesty I cannot because the best work in it - Hammill's lyrics to some of his solo and Van Der Graaf songs - relies on the reader knowing the music intimately. This is not to say that poems (yes, *bona fide* poems) like "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" and "A Louse Is Not A Home" do not stand on their own, but they do so with gaps - gaps that are filled by the extraordinary music both of Hammill's instrumental collaborators and his own remarkable and unique voice. By contrast, the poems that appear without lyrical reference or precedent are poor, immature things, relying I suspect on their writer's adolescent angst and cleverness rather than the artistic inspiration of his later song lyrics.
And this is the unfairness - if such it be - of a book dedicated to the work of a great songwriter as though he were a great *general* writer. As I have said, I suspect the poems *qua* poems to be juvenilia - which would hardly be surprising, given that Hammill would have been in his early-to-mid 20s at the time of original publication - and the short stories which make up another section of the book to be an ambitious, but misbegotten attempt at diversification. Interestingly, the main fault of the poems is a lack of specificity (in favour of a kind of adolescent abstract philosophising), whereas the readability of the stories is seriously hampered by an excess of unnecessary physical detail.
So there we have it. After 43 years, my views on a book which, 43 years ago, I would certainly have received differently, albeit probably with the same greatest praise reserved for the most deserving sections. I suspect Peter Hammill himself would also hold similar views. Either way, I remain a fan, and recommend this volume as a fascinating insight into the early development of a unique, original, and unparalleled songwriting genius.
July 9, 2016
Great book for those of us who cannot make out all the words in Van der Graaf Generator's early albums or Hammill's first solo album "Fool's Mate".
It reads best if you have the music running through your head though. Play https://play.spotify.com/album/076avU... to get the flavour.
It reads best if you have the music running through your head though. Play https://play.spotify.com/album/076avU... to get the flavour.
March 7, 2013
We are talking about Peter Hammill here! I will be subjective
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews