IN CAMERA

"In Camera" was my first touch with a Peter Hammill solo album. It's also acclaimed as one of his best solo works (only "The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage" is better), and it could be called a Van Der Graaf Generator record, specially because of the appearance of David Jackson and Guy Evans. Only the miss of Hugh Banton is the reason for beeing a clear Hammill solo effort. The music reminds very much on VdGG throughout the record, specially the dark atmosphere of the songs. The only reason for me not giving 5 stars to this record is the final track "Gog Magog (In Bromine Chambers)", which starts awesomely, but loses the line after seven minutes and comes close to pure disaster. I am not frightened of experimental parts, but ten minutes full of strange sound-collapse is not for the faint of heart and simply pulls down the overall impression I have about this album, which could be a masterpiece, but this final track destroys it. The other songs are all excellent, with superb instrumentation and a Peter Hammill in top form, so it's a highly recommended record for fans of VdGG and Peter Hammill.

Rating: 8.5/10 points = 85 % on MPV scale = 4/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

Excellent addition to any prog music collection