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Peter Hammill: every album every song
The British singer, songwriter and musician Peter Hammill is one of the key figures in the history of progressive rock. As the leader and main creative force of Van der Graaf Generator, he was behind some of the most powerful and compelling rock music of the 1970s, and since VdGG reformed in 2005 has continued to lead the group down a unique musical path. But Van der Graaf Generator are only part of the Peter Hammill story. Beginning with 1971's Fool's Mate and continuing all the way to 2021's In Translation, Hammill has carved out a lengthy solo career consisting of some 35 albums, plus a number of live albums and collaborations. The range of styles in evidence on these albums is remarkable, from baroque progressive rock to snotty proto-punk, angular new wave, delicate ballads, electronic experiments and even a full-length opera. This is the first book to offer an in-depth exploration of Peter Hammill's solo discography, revealing the sonic intensity and emotional turmoil that lie at the heart of his work. The book is an invaluable companion to Dan Coffey's Van der Graaf Generator: every album, every song, already published by Sonicbond Publishing.
- GenresMusic
160 pages, Paperback
Published April 8, 2022
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June 17, 2023
There are several circles of Peter Hammill fans. The broadest circle is simply Van der Graaf Generator fans- as one of the preeminent "first-wave" prog rock bands, VdGG has a healthy following, if not of the same size as King Crimson or Yes, and Hammill is the band's frontman and principal songwriter.
A narrower circle is formed by those VdGG fans "in the know," who appreciate Hammill's first five solo albums, which are inextricable from his work with VdGG- they feature, alongside more personal, stripped-back songs, material in the VdGG style, and intended for Van der Graaf, but which did not make it onto the band's records, as well as material that the band played live, and all of the group's members make regular appearances on these albums; Nadir's Big Chance in particular is a VdGG album in all but name, with every band member playing on every track, albeit in a style mostly removed from VdGG's characteristic neurotic prog. (Hammill's sixth solo album, Over, also receives comparable attention, though it is decidedly less related to his work with VdGG.)
The narrowest circle of PH fans is the small but dedicated group invested in his ongoing, post-VdGG oeuvre. He's put out approaching 50 albums, studio, live, and collaborative, since 1978, and has continued to produce new solo work since VdGG reunited in 2004. It's a daunting body of work, and only the most dedicated are familiar with some releases. This is a book by such a dedicated fan, and for people in this "inner circle" of devotees, and it covers all of his albums up through 2021 (which means it's still up-to-date, as he hasn't yet released any further material). It does, of course, cover his earliest, most VdGG-adjacent work, but it doesn't cover his work with VdGG.
Personally, I fall somewhere between the second and third groups. I love Van der Graaf Generator. I'm very familiar with and fond of Hammill's solo work up through the mid-80s (roughly up through his fifteenth album, the live album The Margin), but only intermittently familiar with his work after that- it is, as I said, a body of work daunting in its size, and one I expect I'll chip my way through gradually. This means that my familiarity with the material discussed falls off somewhat less than halfway through the book- and the rest thus has little immediate value to me, as reading track-by-track commentary on music I have not heard is obviously pointless.
I do not envy the author having to write a paragraph or more of text on every single track on every single album; but his intimacy with and love for the music, as well as his knowledge of it, means he is up to the task. He's good at communicating his enthusiasm, and avoids either simply providing exegesis of the lyrics, or descriptions of the music. He sometimes describes his own emotional response to songs that affect him particularly, and he's willing to call out Hammill's rare duds. This is, as a result, probably the ideal companion and guide to Hammill's capacious discography, short of such a work produced by Hammill himself. A very useful work.
A narrower circle is formed by those VdGG fans "in the know," who appreciate Hammill's first five solo albums, which are inextricable from his work with VdGG- they feature, alongside more personal, stripped-back songs, material in the VdGG style, and intended for Van der Graaf, but which did not make it onto the band's records, as well as material that the band played live, and all of the group's members make regular appearances on these albums; Nadir's Big Chance in particular is a VdGG album in all but name, with every band member playing on every track, albeit in a style mostly removed from VdGG's characteristic neurotic prog. (Hammill's sixth solo album, Over, also receives comparable attention, though it is decidedly less related to his work with VdGG.)
The narrowest circle of PH fans is the small but dedicated group invested in his ongoing, post-VdGG oeuvre. He's put out approaching 50 albums, studio, live, and collaborative, since 1978, and has continued to produce new solo work since VdGG reunited in 2004. It's a daunting body of work, and only the most dedicated are familiar with some releases. This is a book by such a dedicated fan, and for people in this "inner circle" of devotees, and it covers all of his albums up through 2021 (which means it's still up-to-date, as he hasn't yet released any further material). It does, of course, cover his earliest, most VdGG-adjacent work, but it doesn't cover his work with VdGG.
Personally, I fall somewhere between the second and third groups. I love Van der Graaf Generator. I'm very familiar with and fond of Hammill's solo work up through the mid-80s (roughly up through his fifteenth album, the live album The Margin), but only intermittently familiar with his work after that- it is, as I said, a body of work daunting in its size, and one I expect I'll chip my way through gradually. This means that my familiarity with the material discussed falls off somewhat less than halfway through the book- and the rest thus has little immediate value to me, as reading track-by-track commentary on music I have not heard is obviously pointless.
I do not envy the author having to write a paragraph or more of text on every single track on every single album; but his intimacy with and love for the music, as well as his knowledge of it, means he is up to the task. He's good at communicating his enthusiasm, and avoids either simply providing exegesis of the lyrics, or descriptions of the music. He sometimes describes his own emotional response to songs that affect him particularly, and he's willing to call out Hammill's rare duds. This is, as a result, probably the ideal companion and guide to Hammill's capacious discography, short of such a work produced by Hammill himself. A very useful work.
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