SKIN

The 80's were difficult years for prog. It is seen (heard) in the reviewed album, "Skin" by Peter Hammill, which (an album) is infected by the mainstream tendencies and synthetic sounds in songs like "Skin" or "Painting by Numbers". However, Hammill always has been out and beyond the time, depending mostly on his own musical and lyrical values, instead of ones dictated by the contemporary fashion. Each Hammill's album has a number of great tracks, and "Skin" is not an exception. "After the Show", the song about the actors' (read: "the artists'") soul, musically can be easily imagined as if it was written in the 70's. "Shell" and "Four Pails" (the latter is written by Chris Judge Smith, one of the founders of Van der Graaf Generator, and Max Hutchinson) are mellow melancholic songs, traditionally appreciated not only by the Hammill's fans. And finally, "Now Lover", the best track in the album. This long (almost ten minutes) track has several style shiftings. It begins in a mid tempo, with no recognisable (for me, at least) style; let's call this section "Always". The next section, the slow one, sounds like a typical VdGG piece (especially when Jackson enters with his distinctive saxophone, (remember, this is a 1985 year album)); it may be called "Then". And, naturally, "Now" -- the fast section with the 80's synthesizers; all this ends with the total mess of weird sounds. The progressive nature of Hammill is displayed even in the "bad" 80's, for example, by using amongst the instruments in this album a didjerido, wind-instrument of the Australian aborigens (the "barking" drone in "Now Lover" is the didjerido sound); this fact, by the way, makes him, probably, the only musician outside the circle of pure folk artists, involving this instrument in an album (worth checking). "Skin", the uneven album, which still requires listening and exploring.