CHAMELEON IN THE SHADOW OF THE NIGHT

Although Hammill's prolific career has maintained a high standard, I personally maintain a preference for the initial four solo albums. "Chameleon", the second release, offers a unique blend of acoustic and experimental electric art rock. Not as symphonic as heavy weights like Pink Floyd or Genesis perhaps, but Hammill's intelligence and pragmatic scepticism combines poetry with musical passion.

A great record that emphasises many of pH's strengths: his incisive lyrics, his understanding of dynamics and his ability to create memorable melodic phrases without then repeating them ad infinitum. The album is also relatively free of the more over-the-top maudlin stuff that can mar some of his other records. The only problem here is the mastering of the CD: it sounds dreadful, particularly in comparison to the LP. A proper remastering job is essential in all pH's Virgin albums.

Very much superior to the preceding one , this came in between VDGG era but if you look at the musicians on this album , you may get fooled that this is a full-fledge Hammill solo. Some of this stuff would could've easily been on a VDGG album albeit rearranged for the group. If the opening three numbers are not that good, from track 4 onward , the rest of the album is almost flawless, my faves being In The End anf What It's Worth but also the Graafesque Blackroom/Tower..

Arguably the best PH album ever, it comes really authentic, differing strongly from anything he'd done before with VdGG. Songs like "In the end" & "Easy to slip away" are among the best vocal & piano perfomances, not forgetting the astonishing sax of David Jaxon.

I love the PH songs. But as I am getting older I have some difficulties to listen to them. It is the same case with the books of Dostojevskij. I love them but I rather deny reading them, why? They are full of very serious matters, and when your life is as well full of serious events, you rather look for something jolly, merry and bright. And with PH I guess it is the same. I am amazed by the strength of his songs, especially this album is one of his absolute peaks, but I find it too serious and deppressive. After listening Chameleon, Over and Silent corners, in line, you must find yourself in a very dark mood.To conclude, I like this album very much, like I like the dark silent night alone in the forest. It is nice to experience it but not too often.

The second work announced in 1973 "Cameleon in the shadow of the night". Music becomes long, and is dramatic overall. It becomes avant-garde musical to make VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR thought in the final tune. It is a masterpiece to invest energy and the idea. It is an aria of the poet of apart from others.

This is the first record by Hammill that I heard. It was 1982 and I went into a store that was having a clear-out with many LPs in the bargain bin. When I saw the cover I was intrigued (never heard of him before that time). When I carried it home and gave it the first spin I was instantly hooked. The vocal delivery, the madness, the complexity, the guts to dare almost any experiment in the music, everything was perfect. All the songs are excellent. 5 stars.

This was Peter Hammill's second solo album and IMHO one of the truly most remarkable moments for Hammill. With over two-thirds of the album basically plays like a musical solioquay, as Hammill congers up some pretty sparse and dark imagery put to his emotive voice with gentle guitar and piano accompaniment. The other third of the album features the cast from VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR with Hugh Banton (organ, bass), David Jackson ( sax, flute) and Guy Evans (drums) and takes on a slight more classic VDG vibe. I love the deep personal and soft delicate approach this album takes remaining highly acoustic and quite cerebral. Musically this album hosts some pretty classic moments with tunes like "What's It Worth" and "Slender Threads".

This Record is Peter second solo release but it is his first release as a solo Artists and so in many ways it marked a debut of sorts. Slender Threads ,In the End ,What's It Worth Easy to Slip Away and Dropping the Torch are all certainly Hammil solo efforts and have a pretty minimal instrumentation on them. Deeply personal songs, which you will either love or not get. German Overalls, Rock and Rôle and (In the) Black Room/Tower are a very different story. These three tracks could be described quite truthfully as VDGG music and make this record a must buy for all Van der Fans. German overalls sounds very vdgg even though the instrumentation is just hammill, he recalls that it started life intended for the band. The new Cd makes the Guitar on this track a little hard on the ears but it is still a masterful piece of Prog. Rock and Role is a excellent tune with strange off beat sound, he would repeat this style a few more times on later records but this is a good example of a PH/VDGG rocker as you will find. The real Meal comes with the final cut the Black room is awesome easily on a par with the very best of VDGG's work and has the full band firing on all cannons. A true tour de force Black room alone would be worth the purchase price the rest of the Lp is also excellent but may take a number of plays to truly enjoy. This is a very fine record and is only let down a little by its rather odd mix. The extras are OK but nothing really special. The CD release was a disappointment so its really good to hear the new re- issue which is a vast improvement. This CD actually sounds better than the Vinyl.

The main figure of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR had two parallel careers.One with the band and one on his own (however helped by some VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR members).His first solo release ''Fool's mate'' (1971)contains material from the band's early days,while the sophomore effort ''Chameleon in the shadows of the night'' is a nice collection of post-70's material.The intensity and haunting atmosphere of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR's sound is present again,an expected fact,as Hammill was the main composer of the group.Unfortunately there are also plenty of differences.Gone is the psych and trully progressive atmosphere created by the really heavy use of saxes and flutes in VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR's albums and the slow-tempo interplays (in fact they are very limited).The album follows a song-oriented path dominated by the expressive vocals of Hammill and the mono-instrumental atmospheric passages created by his mellow yet deep piano and guitar work.After a couple of listens this work sounds quite boring to my ears,as the same atmosphere dominates every track.Not a bad album by any means,but not my cup of tea for sure.I would recommended only to fans of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR and vocal-led art rock.

Hammills second solo album is hes first masterpiece out side of VdGG, this album is nothing like VdGG its much softer most tracks are acustic and very beautiful and sad. The opener German overals paint up the images of a boring rainy day, Slender Threads is more of the same a beautiful song. Rock and Rôle is yust as the title sugest a rock song the only one on the album and very good heavy guitars and some nice sax playing, In the End is another acustic beautifly song that goes torugh some diffrent sections. What's It Worth a very tuching ballad very sweet, Easy to Slip Away is more down bit and depresing but allso soft, and allso Dropping the Torch goes in the same style then comes the final song the epic of the album (In the) Black Room/Tower a real prog masterpiece the song shift from many diffrent melodys and is much havier then the other songs with some typical hammill vocals no doubt the best song on the album a song that whuld have fited in on any VdGG album, and a awsome way to end it. This album toghter with "In Camera" are so far my favorite hammill solo works and worthy of 5 stars if you like prog folk this album is for you much beautiful acustic guitarplaying and sining from hammill, my 2005 ramastered editon have 3 very good bonus track the previusly unrealsed Rain ram is a very good song and also an almost ballad very beautifull sining again and the other 2 are live versions of Easy to Slip Away & In the End, not that diffrent form the studio version but still nice. Highly recomended 5 stars.

Even if Peter is surrounded by his VDGG friends (all of them, even Potter is holding the bass), it is not to be noticed in the start of this "solo" album.

To be honest the first couple of songs are nothing too fancy. These fully acoustic tracks are rather dull. My interest started to raise during "Rock & Role". Jackson's input on the sax, the heavier music, the tortured Hammill do relate this song to the band's ones. This song could have been featured on a VDGG album without any problem.

One can also feel all the majesty of Peter's vocals during the intimate and dark "In The End". Again, the atmosphere of "Still Life" is very close and those melodic vocal lines are really touching. I am often moved by Peter when he is responsible of such poignant song writing. An excellent song. I wonder how a full VDGG interpretation of this track would have sounded like.

In his second role (fluting), Jackson is backing up Peter during the acoustic and very soft "What's It Worth". I would have liked him to be a bit more on the forefront, but I guess that this would have led to a more "VDGG" oriented album. Probably what Peter wanted to prevent..

It is still the few pieces that can have some relation with the band that I prefer the most here. "Easy To Slip Away" is another good example of a collaboration between Peter and his mates. Fine mellotron as well played by him. Another fine moment.

No wonder either that one of my fave from this album is the closing number. "Black Room" does bring you into the VDGG world. The power and the might are there, the vocal extravaganza is there, the furious sax notes are there, the tortured vocals are there, the "loose" improvisations are there. What else is needed? The highlight.

If there were not those few weaker songs, I wouldn't have hesitated for the four star rating, but as it is, three stars sound more appropriate. A good album.

Peter Hammill himself says that "Chameleon..." "was my first proper solo album". He does get help from his VDGG mates on this album, and the full band on two tracks,but this is mostly Peter playing solo with acoustic guitar, piano and vocals.This was the first solo album he released after VDGG broke up. This is a sad and passionate album with Peter's usual emotional, ranting and theatrical vocal style.

"German Overalls" is lyrically about how bad it had become for VDGG when they toured prior to their breaking up. The lyrics are so sad : "Mannheim : rainy Saturday with no money nor friend...Hugh spends his last mark on coffee and cheese". The song opens with acoustic guitar and vocals. Both get aggressive after a minute. Peter would use harmonium on this track as well. Love the organ after 4 minutes. Some interesting experimental sounds to end the song. "Slender Threads" is a little brighter with reserved vocals and strummed guitar to open. He reminisces about a girl he used to know. A reflective and sad tune.

"Rock And Role" is the first song with the whole band of Evans, Jackson, Banton and Potter. In your face strummed guitar to open as sax, drums and bass come in. One of my favourites. Piano before 4 1/2 minutes but sax is what dominantes the sound for the most part. Amazing tune. "In The End" reveal some of Peter's thoughts about the bands breakup. Mostly piano and vocals. A sad tune really. Interesting the line "No more rushing around, no more travelling chess". PARALLEL OR 90 DEGREES' Andy Tillison would name one of their albums "No More Travelling Chess", a tribute to Hammill. "What's It Worth" is mostly Hammill on vocals and strummed guitar with Jackson adding some flute melodies.

"Easy To Slip Away" opens with piano and reserved vocals. It's about losing friends over the years. Peter plays some mellotron 3 minutes in. Sax comes and goes. Some real passionate and emotional sections in this one. "Dropping The Torch" is a sad look at life really. Reserved vocals and acoustic guitar to start. They both get louder at times. "(In The )Black Room / Tower" is the other song with a full band sound. Actually "Black Room" was a song VDGG were playing on their last tour and it would have been on their next album. It never happened though so Hammill uses it here. It opens in bombastic fashion before setteling down with vocals and piano.The contrast of loud and mellow continue. Such a fantastic song. Sax before 3 minutes. A great instrumental section 4 1/2 minutes in. Incredible sax work and drumming. The second part "Tower" starts after 5 1/2 minutes. It begins with piano,flute and vocals. Outbursts of sound come and go starting before 7 minutes. Intense 8 1/2 minutes in. Passionate ending after 10 minutes.

This is the first of Hammill's classic trilogy. Easily 4 stars and a must for VDGG fans.

Emotion, and words. When you strip away everything else from an album, when you take off all the context, all the innovation, and all the gimmicks, all the production, that's what's left over. Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night is basically an album built on these two. It's mostly just a man, his guitar, his piano, his words (plus ten minutes of personal epic, but then I did say 'mostly'). The result: the finest singer-songwriter effort I've yet heard. Pure personality. The production may be rough, the structures might verge on simplicity, every now and then a repeat or a 'slip' jars a piece, but all these 'failings' simply add to the personality, the raw, overwhelming emotion entrapped and enshrined in this record. So touching. So powerful. So human. Essential.

The uncategorisable German Overalls opens the album with a pun and a flood of emotion. The acoustic melodies are all memorable creatures, and the vocal is confidently diverse, switching between uncertainty, surety and something in between frequently. The four-track system provides one or two self-harmonies and sound effects a bit more like Hammill's later musique concrete experiments. The lyrics are autobiographical, and I suppose you'll like them if you like Peter Hammill and you probably won't if you don't, but I don't know. A harmonium provides a full wall of sound towards the end, a bit of cathartic electronic/electric flow rounds off the piece. More importantly, the song contains a rare moment of pure electric-guitar rock in the middle, and that remains, after all the various forms of music I've picked up since first getting into it, one of life's simplest and most life-affirming pleasures.

The deeply moving Slender Threads follows this up as the first of three acoustic guitar pieces, and much as the music is top notch, including a couple of extremely neat interludes and an absolutely perfect main melody, the emphasis is on the philosophical and beautiful lyrics. The vocals include occasional moments of harshness and highness, but are by and large a very low-key feature. Subtle, and understated, and beautiful.

Rock And Role smashes in after this, a more Van-Der-Graaf-Generator piece with just a dash of punk, featuring a sharp electric riff and strong performances from Nic Potter, Guy Evans and David Jackson. Tasteful piano additions and ambiguously quiet electrics mark the piece, including an extended, cleverly arranged instrumental conclusion and bridge. Lyrically, it teeters between high-brow philosophising and emotional rawness, and manages to capture both. Classy stuff.

In The End is a piano-and-voice piece, with a great deal of emotion conveyed through the strength of the voice and the piano, and through the lyrics, which are predictably enviable in insight and expression, a sort of clean wailing that Hammill seems to have saved up for his solo material. The vocal is pretty, but nonetheless rather edgy and full of venom and desperation and hope whenever the words require it. And they are such good words.

What's It Worth is perhaps the most musically captivating of the pieces here, with a startlingly beautiful flute from Jaxon, a simple main acoustic melody and a charming, laid-back little acoustic-electroacoustic thing lying in wait at the end of the verses. Though the lyrics are again intelligent and moving in a sort of, the vocal performance accompanying them is so very strong that it almost escapes them, making every use of his high, fluctuating, stylised and backboned (I know what I mean, you probably don't :p) clean vocals, along with one incredibly beautiful harmony. A piece that crept up on me unawares, and pure delight for the ears.

Easy To Slip Away is entirely different. Another piano piece, and this time almost an emotional force in and of itself. The lyrics are simple, autobiographical and yet so damn universally true, Hammill's vocal delivery (I maintain that anyone who can fit that much emotion in 'Susie!' is a virtuoso singer) is heartfelt, powerful and clear, and even a soulful saxophone and an incredible outpouring of mellotron and piano only serve to remind of the vocals.

Dropping The Torch is the album's last acoustic guitar song (and indeed, the last of the singer-songwriter pieces), and is again a simple outpouring of personality. The vocal is clean, moving and well-arranged, the lyrics are universal, well-written, true and affect me on a personal level, and really you need no more than that to make a song. The acoustic is a rather nice, moving thing, and it almost carries along the listener.

In The Black Room (I) bursts in with a stab of dirty, powerful sax/organ wailing, and the full band is back for a concluding monstrosity of personal-songwriting-gone-mad with chaotic keyboard effects, whirling flutes, roaring saxes, imaginative percussion, lots of vocal harmonies, and an always-rather-prominent shocking piano. The lyrics are stunning, creatively arranged, and would fit in as much with the theme of Pawn Hearts as the personality of Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night. The Tower takes the atmosphere to an even rawer level, with one of David Jaxon's finest saxophone performances, a mass of juxtaposed ideas hinged on the piano, and some thunderous cascades of sound. The vocals exhibit all of Hammill's talent. The return of the In The Black Room theme comes with extra punctuating cymbals, and yet more arrangement complexities, and the ambiguity is retained even when all this force comes cascading out. An extremely impressive piece of complex music that balances chaos/control and expresses the conventionally non-expressable. Could well have been arranged a bit more sharply, I guess, but it nonetheless does a surprisingly good job of fitting the album. I'm sure that it'll be the highlight for a lot of the listeners, and I'm sure it deserves more review space, but I'll leave those for whom it is the highlight to explain the merits.

The live piano-and-vox rendition of Easy To Slip Away is probably my favourite of the bonus tracks, not suffering at all from not having many of the elements that made up the original piece, and so soaringly emotional and energetic. The version of In The End is equally superb, with an improvised piano introduction, and all the many strengths of the original, while being different enough to merit inclusion (a bit of not-entirely-serious-vocals, perhaps comparable to some of Peter Gabriel's work... Willow Farm and Harold The Barrel, particularly). Rain 3 AM is also an interesting piece, though I'm not quite sure what I think of it yet. Still, it's only a bonus track, and the other bonus tracks alone are amazing enough (in my opinion) to merit a re-buy, and I feel like putting up a review now rather than later, so, yeah, I might fill you all in on that one later.

So, it won't be cleanly and perfectionistically (is that a word? I guess not) produced enough for some, and it won't be complex enough for others, and it'll be too lacking in gimmicks for others still, and a few people won't like the slow bits, and a few more won't like the fast bits, and Hammill will be too noisy and too obscure for some, and not noisy enough and too emotionally revealing for others. But that's what it is, and I love it.

Rating: Six stars if you're me; five Stars if you like Peter Hammill; three if you don't. I'm rounding to five. Favourite track: I simply cannot choose. Any of the tracks. Maybe Slender Threads, maybe Mannheim Overalls, maybe What's it Worth? Essentially, whichever track I'm listening to at the moment.

Author's note: I'm sure I've confused musicians at some point, since I can't be entirely certain who's playing on which track. Ah well.

Although Peter is surrounded by his VdGG brethren this varies a good deal from the band's sound. Really besides the obvious meant for VdGG (In The)Black Room/Tower and some moments of Rock and Role little of this will probably appeal directly to fans.

What is the same? Besides the previously mentioned tracks the atmosphere stands most akin to VdGG. It's a dark album which makes it sometimes difficult to listen to due to the thick sheet of depression and isolation swept over you as the tracks unfold. Peter paints a bleak picture of life on the road, and his ability to inject such emotions into a lay audience is phenomenal.

Most of the songs here aren't so much different from some sort of an indie singer-songwriter writer's album. Mostly just Peter's voice accompanied by an acoustic guitar or piano. His voice seems to not be as theatrical or dramatic on this album for the bulk of the songs, probably to capture that simplistic one man and a guitar aesthetic. On that level he does a fairly good job, but I do think the quality of the album suffers as a whole from some more generic singing than per the norm for him.

Although I enjoy the album some of the acoustic tracks fail to hold my interest. They slip into the background of my mind as some sort of study music instead of demanding my attention and grabbing me into their own world. The standout tracks are fantastic and the rest are really only good. Higher quality and more original material would follow.

Hammill tries to find his own voice and starts on his long journey of creative and intensely emotional music outside of the Van Der Graaf territory.

This album has such a thin production that I didn't listen to it for years and didn't know what to make of it. (Luckily the 2006 remaster improved this problem a lot.) The problem is that the acoustic guitar and piano, that are the driving forces in most of the songs, sound so thin and flimsy that they mess up much of the potential listening enjoyment. Which is a real shame considering how strong some of Hammill's songs are on this album.

As on the first solo album, Hammill added some Van Der Graaf left-overs (Rock n Roll and Black Room) to complete the album. They are both strong tracks but come out a bit demo-like and unfinished.

In other words, this album tempts us with many gripping moment but there a few songs that don't leave room for improvements. Luckily Hammill is not so much about stylistic perfection as he is about intensity, creativity and integrity. And of those, this album has plenty.

Peter Hammill's second solo album, Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night is the first of a three classic albums, all very much in the sound of Van Der Graaf Generator. The majority of songs on this album are just Peter Hammill with his piano or guitar, no complex dissonance like The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage and In Camera here, despite some small exceptions.

First, I'd like to mention that this album is very consistent. There are no bad tracks on it at all. The true solo performances, with just Peter and him playing only one instrument, vary from good to incredibly haunting and intense. And example of the first is for example "Slender Threads", not a stand out song, but it's very nice. An example of the second, the haunting, intense music, are songs like "In The End", and the magnificent "Easy To Slip Away". Truly dark and astonishing songs.

There also are some clear similarities with Van Der Graaf Generator on this album though. The first is "German Overalls", which most of the time contains just vocals and guitar, but now and then is joined by sax and organs. A great song, slightly better than the fierce "Rock And Role". The song is very diverse, exciting and striking; a brilliant piece of music. The biggest highlight of the album is the longest song, (In The) Black Room/The Tower. (In The) Black Room has some of the best composed verses ever that when combined with the marvelous VDGG like instrumental parts sounds incrediblily striking and stunning. The Tower is less instrument based, but is more ambient and features some powerful expression by Peter Hammill. The song ends with a brief reprise of the Black Room verses, though slightly different.

This is a great album from Peter Hammill. The album has some very emotional minimalist songs, while others are extremely bombastic and epic. This album is not quite a masterpiece in my opinion, but is not far from that.

I have a reverse type of connection to Van Der Graaf Generator since I originally started by listening to Pawn Hearts which I didn't think much about and basically gave up the idea of ever liking the band. Then I've got a recommendation of listening to the Peter Hammill trilogy that starts with this album and ends with In Camera. This recommendation proved to by highly successful for me since I now consider myself a fan of Van Der Graaf Generator.

This album starts on an acoustic note which took quite some time to get into but after a couple of re-listens I got more acquainted with the sound. Some of the numbers still don't work for me to this day but the general feel of this release has definitely improved.

The biggest highlight of Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night is the 11 minute Van Der Graaf Generator composition (In The) Black Room/Tower which is an epic in true sense of the word! This track has to be experienced by all the fans creative progressive rock compositions.

Overall this album is not as good as the two other parts of the Peter Hammill trilogy but I definitely recommend everyone experiencing (In The) Black Room/Tower since it's classic Van Der Graaf Generator at the hight of their career!

***** star songs: (In The) Black Room/Tower (10:56)

**** star songs: German Overalls (7:05) Rock And Rôle (6:41) In The End (7:24) Dropping The Torch (4:11)

*** star songs: Slender Threads (5:01) What's It Worth (4:00) Easy To Slip Away (5:21)

One of the most unique and outstanding songwriters and singers in progressive rock, Peter Hammill, has recorded his second studio album in 1973. It was his first album in years after Pawn Hearts and before Godbluff, both considered to be two of VDGG's greatest achievements, and one could say that Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night was his first true studio album, where he really began to exploit his full potential.

Chameleon is a much more accomplished work than Peter's previous studio album, Fool's Mate. It contains eight great compositions that vary in style, and lyrics are much deeper, cleverer, filled existentialism and Hammill's classic genius.

The first piece, German Overalls, is quite experimental, expressing band members' apathy after VDGG broke apart for the first time. Slender Threads is a very touching, intelligent acoustic balade, and Rock and Role a very good, complex hard rock piece of music where Hammill plays electric guitar. In the End is a heart-breaking and dramatic song, where Hammill is alone with his piano and produces one of his best vocal performances ever. What's it Worth is another beautiful acoustic balade with great lyrics and vocals. Easy to Slip Away goes back to the spirit of In the End as it is another dramatic and almost tragic piece of music about long-lost childhood's friendship. Dropping the Torch is perhaps the most tender and naive song of the entire album, but beautifully manages to calm the listener and prepares him for the final act. That is without a doubt the best song on the album, (In the) Black Room/The Tower, a classic VDGG-like masterpiece (no wonder as all VDGG members perform on this piece). It is very dark, variable, with Hammill's lyrics and vocals and their absolute peak. It is one of the pinnacles of Hammill's genius.

Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night may not be Peter Hammill's best solo album ever, as some of his latter works are even more accomplished, but it is Thin Man's first solo masterpiece and therefore a must-listen for anyone who appreciates the music Van der Graaf Generator and/or Peter Hammill's solo works.

When Van der Graaf Generator split up for the first time following Pawn Hearts, the musicians involved didn't part ways, instead working as session musicians to record Peter Hammill's solo albums - thus giving them a chance to play together without having to undertake the expense of touring as a band.

Hammill's first solo album of this strange VdGG-in-all-but-name career describes a blueprint which I think was perfected with his next album, but is still damn fine here. Seven of the eight songs find Hammill in what is effectively a singer-songwriter mode, putting his lyrics to an acoustic guitar or piano accompaniment with the occasional instrumental interjection from one of the other musicians. Of course, Hammill is no Neil Young or Leonard Cohen - these pieces manage to be as complex, mysterious, and evasive as the best VdGG tracks, despite the change in instrumentation, developing an essentially completely new sound for Hammill's mostly-solo songs. The album is rounded off with (In the) Black Room/Tower, in which the whole of Van der Graaf Generator returns to play the track in their classic style. Roaring, emotive, and raw, it's a great end to a fresh start for Hammill's career. Whilst I do think The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage is a superior rendition of this particular formula, Chameleon is a very, very fine one indeed, and a perfect companion piece to the latter album (and its successor, In Camera, which shakes the formula up a bit).

Peter Hammill - Chameleon in the shadow of the night (1973)

With Van der Graaf Generator on hold after some significant artistic successes Peter Hammill and the other VdGG bandmembers returned in the studio accompanied with bass-player Nic Potter to record the second Peter Hammill 'solo' album. But where to go from the frenzied and intensely innovative 'Pawn Hearts'?

On 'Chameleon' the focus lays on Peter Hammill performing solo in intimate, but not less intensive settings. Instead of heavy instrumentation the impact of the use of a context of silence is exploited. Other bandmembers often play background roles, whilst Hammill openly explores his vocal capabilities in a pioneering fashion. Additional he uses some reverb and delay effects for maximum impact. The song-material is extremely intensive with great harmonic findings and great sounding lyrics and an often dissonant and dark vibe. The song structures are complicated and sometimes troubling in order to get the maximum out of the psychedelic style. Melodically the music shows a strong link with VdGG, but you won't find many slightly distorted organs and impressive drums. Instead the acoustic guitar en the piano play major roles. When present sax and flute player David Jackson has brilliant, yet subtle contributions.

Every song on this album is quite good, but all tracks have moments of excellence. The material is extremely moody and expressive, so it won't be an album friends and family will enjoy - this is the treasure for fans of Peter Hammill. Perhaps I will never know myself what makes the confronting style of Hammill so fascinating, but the music and its expression definitely sound 'relevant' to my ears.

Conclusion. Hammill at his best and his most pure. I'll have to throw around some yellow blinking pentagrams here.

Following the landmark recording Pawn Hearts, Van der Graaf Generator was feeling the strain of being a successful band expected to tour non-stop and still have enough energy left over to write and record new material that met or exceeded the already high standard they had set for themselves. The strain eventually became too much to handle, and the group broke up. Peter Hammill, the primary voice and creator behind VdGG, took this opportunity to reinvent himself as a solo act, and this predicament turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Hammill found the low-profile arena more conducive to his creative process, and his decision to cultivate his own self-sufficiency (recording and producing his own material) meant a new level of creative freedom he had only dreamed of before.

The first fruits of this new identity for Hammill was this album, released in 1973. It sits roughly halfway between the extremes of heart-on-sleeve singer/songwriter material and the grand bombast of Van der Graaf's recent material, making it a transitional effort that paved the way for his future direction.

The opener "German Overalls" is kind of his "Solsbury Hill" -- a personal account of the factors leading up to the band's breakup. The arrangement is performed on an aggressively strummed acoustic guitar with minimal overdubs. The lyrics are very direct, very little left open to interpretation, and they employ sharp visual imagery of the hopeless, lost feeling of finding yourself in one lonely town after another, too exhausted (and broke) to find any comfort, a "servant in the Fame Game". It's a well-worn theme in rock and roll, but as usual, Hammill's imagery is so vivid and his delivery so compelling, it's hard not to feel his pain. "Slender Threads", "What's it Worth", and "Dropping the Torch" also feature Hammill alone on acoustic guitar; intimate portraits of loneliness, distance, isolation, and identity crisis. "In the End" and "Easy to Slip Away" show Peter moving to piano, and singing in such an intense manner you can almost imagine his Van der Graaf buddies cheering him on. "Easy to Slip Away" is my pick for favorite song on the album, an open letter to his friends with whom he's lost touch as a result of his fame. Peter adds some Mellotron here for a truly eerie effect, and I think I hear David Jackson's sax way in the background too -- this song is the most direct link between this album and the more fully fleshed out Silent Corner and the Empty Stage released the following year. Excellent track.

There are also two tracks on the album which feature the other members of Van der Graaf Generator: the fierce "Rock and Role", with Hammill on a newly acquired electric guitar, bashing out sharp chords and spitting out spiteful lyrics like "I am the automated arrow, homing on the heat of pain". Jackson and Guy Evans (drums) make memorable contributions here. Finally, the album ends with the Van der Graaf leftover epic "In The Black Room / The Tower", which is sure to please fans of Pawn Hearts, though the production is clearly more simple and spartan than on that multi-layered LP. Its inclusion here feels a little out of place, though it is nice to have another full-band number to balance the solo tracks.

I'm among the Hammill fans who actually prefer his solo work to the group work. It feels a lot more personal and believable, and has a homemade quality that only seems to give his experimental urges a more enthusiastic buttress on which to blossom. This being his first solo flight following the dissolution of the band, it shows Hammill still getting his feet wet and learning how to make an album by himself, so it's no masterwork, but it's fascinating glimpse into his mind and his creative process, and prepares the listener for the even greater works ahead, including the eventual reformation of Van der Graaf itself.

The duality of Van Der Graaf Generator and the solo career of PETER HAMMILL may seem arbitrary on the face of it since often the lineup of the albums of both monikers is identical in most cases, however HAMILL has explained that the main difference between the split personalities of what could theoretically be called "PETER HAMMILL & Van Der Graaf Generator" is that of the democratic nature of the band efforts whereas in comparison the solo endeavors offered complete control and the ability to pursue more commercial sounds not suitable for the legendary sound of the band. The results of which found the band VdGG finding richer band participation and the solo albums finding the proper backup opportunities for HAMMILL's often less complex foray into the extremities of progressive rock. Nevertheless HAMMILL was and always has been the primary songwriter / lyricist / performer of both aspects of this bizarre combo package but in the end found the perfect way to deliver this Jekyll & Hyde dichotomy in haunting beauty.

Following the enervating days that surrounded the album "Pawn Hearts," HAMMILL and his VdGG experienced complete burnout with incessant recording sessions, non-stop touring schedules and frustration by the lack of financial success despite the critics and hardcore proggers raving about the innovative and boundary pushing sounds that emerged from one of prog rock's most revered bands. As of August 1972, HAMMILL broke up VdGG in order to focus on a less hectic solo career. While the first solo album "Fool's Mate" emerged during the "Pawn Hearts" days, it was more of a musical exorcism of sort where HAMMILL finally unleashed the pop oriented songs he wrote in the late 60s and laid them down on tape before they became utterly irrelevant as he evolved into new chapters of his musical development. With no more VdGG to swallow up his days, HAMMILL was free to focus exclusively on his own musical visions. The first "proper" solo album in this regard CHAMELEON IN THE SHADOW OF THE NIGHT emerged in 1973 in lieu of the VdGG album that never came to be.

CHAMELEON IN THE SHADOW OF THE NIGHT however was much more than a solo album but more like a giant VdGG reunion party where everyone was invited displaying the maturity of the band and that no ill will resulted from the breakup but merely a consensus of egalitarian enervation. HAMMILL was joined not only by the classic VdGG lineup of Guy Evans (drums), David Jackson (sax) and Hugh Banton (keyboards) but by early member Nic Potter on bass as well. While this sophomore effort was not only liberating from the overwhelming responsibilities of the VdGG behemoth, it was also the point where HAMMILL created his own sonic laboratory and started the arduous journey of learning how to produce his own albums, therefore this album has a very homegrown quality to it however being the perfectionist he is known to be, HAMMILL entered the properly equipped Trident Studios to add all the final touches. Elegant and darkly different from the cheery sunshine pop of "Fool's Mate," HAMMILL reverted back to the brooding and poetically charged lyricism that had made VdGG stand out from the pack.

The album is quite the wealth of diversity. Not only does HAMMILL strut his folky singer / songwriter roots on tracks like "German Overalls" and "Slender Threads" but also entertains his garage rock leanings sounding like a more possessed version of Neil Young with jazzy touches on "Rock And Role." The opener "German Overalls" evokes the "Space Oddity" era of David Bowie and brusquely narrates the final days of VdGG and the pressures that were cast upon the unsuspecting proggers who forever upped the ante to complete burnout. Likewise the expected piano dominated tunes are in full swing on tracks like "Easy To Slip Away" although the piano is for the most part eschewed altogether as HAMMILL opts to exercise his acoustic guitar playing skills as evidenced by the album cover. Look very closely, he's there in that circle in full folk mode. While the album lacks a consistent flow in continuity, it is saved by the strength of the respective tracks on board.

The best track on board in terms of progressive rock chops is the closing 11-ish "(In the) Black Room/Tower" which was played live on the "Pawn Hearts" tour and intended to be included on the followup to that album that never came to be. And much like that album, the track entertains a dizzying diverse palette of schizoid time signature frenzies, multi-suite attacks and HAMMILL's most dramatic emotive vocal utterances on the album that have been described as "a mosaic of schizoid warblings." However the track only hints at what the proper followup to "Pawn Hearts" could've been as HAMMILL channels the dynamisms and thundering freneticism into a more personal direction that would ultimately lead to the more progressive exorcisms experienced on future releases beginning with the following "The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage." While CHAMELEON IN THE SHADOW OF THE NIGHT may not come off as the most cohesive album and pales when place amidst the magnanimous nature of the albums that follow, it is indeed a stellar collection of tracks that finds HAMMILL feeling more comfortable in his own skin as the sole decision maker and much like "Fool's Mate" has to be accepted on its own terms in which it shines brightly.

Peter Hammill's second solo album represents one of the absolute masterpieces in the history of author rock for three factors: the songwriting, which features existentialist texts of a complexity and depth that only very few can afford; the musical score, both in terms of writing and arrangements; the performance of the musicians, in particular the superlative vocal performance of Hammill.

The incipit, "German Overalls", seven minutes, is slow, prudent, guitar and vocals. Intimate. But even when he is romantic, Hammill breeds embers if not magma ready to explode and in fact the song passes from serenity to neurosis to anguish. The vocal performance is superb and leads the piece to high peaks of pathos, the musical arrangement is perfect and refined in its sobriety. The song proceeds always with the same melodic line but enriched by the harmonic variations of the singing; there is mostly voice and guitar arrangement but with a hieratic solo of existential prog organ (thank you, Hugh Banton!) in the middle. This music is prog folk written by an existential philosopher. Masterpiece. Rating 8.5/9.

"Slender Threads", five minutes, is the second fok song, acoustic guitar and vocals, in the wake of the first, but more narrated; there are more melodic variations but overall it's calmer than the previous one, less original, more conventional. Rating 7,5.

After two acoustic folk songs, comes "Rock and Rôle", almost six and a half minutes of rock music, with drums (Guy Evans), bass (Nic Potter) and electric guitars in the foreground. Good rhythm, great arrangement thank to the sax played by Jackson, powerful song. It fades away very slowly, maybe the final tail is too long. Rating 8+.

Fourth song: "In the End"; seven and a half minutes made of piano and voice. Beginning muted, brooding, then, after one minute of shy piano music, arrives Hammill's reflective voice. At the second minute the voice become dramatic, and then after 5 minutes there is a pause. After that, starts the grand finale, final rush, voice that comes magnificent, impressive, produces a great pathos, a wonderful climax. Then, final tail fade. Rating 9. Masterpiece.

End of A Side.

Second side opens with "What's It Worth", a folk song that lasts four minutes. Acoustic guitar, wonderful flute (thank you, Dave Jackson!), voice and little else. Relaxed, blissful, pastoral piece. Rating 7,5.

"Easy to Slip Away", almost five and a half minutes, is another wonderful piano ballad. It reaches the climax thanks to Hammill's voice performance towards two minutes, after a beautiful progression, when Hammill sings: "Susie!" Then there is an instrumental piece almost dissonant, very proggy; after about four minutes resumes the voice. Final very dramatic: "It's so easy to slip away." Rating 8.5.

"Dropping the Torch", four minutes, is a semiacoustic song very dragged, slow and melancholy; it's the weaker piece of the album, rating 7,

Then starts with the piano "(In the) Black Room/Tower", eleven minutes, a piece typically Van Der Graaffy, certainly the progger song of the Lp, with the whole group that repeats paranoid and obsessive phrases, and changes of rhythm that recall "Pawn Hearts". In any way, the instrumental variations rest on a clear melodic line, evident even in the continuous variations of tone executed by voice and rhythm section and sax. Towards the middle the piece becomes paroxysmal, repeating the same rhythmic phrase until it fades. There is a dramatic theatrical pause, piano and voice, then screams accompanied by dissonances on the sax, finally a threatening rhythmic progression that leads to a pause (perhaps not necessary) before returning to the original melodic theme, repeated with enthusiasm until the grand finale. Historical piece. Rating 8,5/9

This record is the album of a talented folksinger-songwriter (songs 1, 2, 5, 7); it's the album of one of the most gifted vocalist of prog rock, author of wonderful piano music (songs 4, 6); it's the album of great composer and arranger of prog rock music (songs 3 and 8, but even song 1).

Very inspired album. Absolute masterpiece of progressive rock.

Medium quality of the songs 8,16. Rating 9,5. Five stars.

Officially this was Hammill's second solo album (his first, Fools Mate, having been released in 1971 shortly before the final first wave Van Der Graaf Generator album Pawn Hearts) but some have argued that it's actually his third, as the first VDGG album was recorded as a solo effort and finally issued as a group album simply due to the machinations of the music biz (and, bizarrely, in the United States only where the group had precisely no fans at the time. Count them Zero!). The man himself, however, in his sleeve notes to the 2006 remastered CD, states that Chameleon was his 'first proper solo album'.

Confused?

Well, what can be said without fear of contradiction is that Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night was Hammill's first release following the break up of VDGG in mid 1972. Having broken up the band who did he ask to play on his solo record? His three old pals from Van Der Graaf, of course, plus part time Van man Nic Potter, so from a certain perspective, Chameleon is a fully fledged VDGG reunion!

For an artist setting out on a solo career this album casts many a backward glance thematically and his former band casts a large 'shadow' across proceedings. There is at least one song written for VDGG and played live in the final phase of the band - (In the) Black Room/The Tower - and there are songs about the band and a sequel to a Van Der Graaf song. A parallel might be drawn with the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album. Both records see the artist looking back at his former band and trying to find a way forward. Interestingly, for a man so often accused of being a solipsistic misery guts, Hammill's record is the less self pitying, more outward looking and ultimately more optimistic of the two.

The songs divide into piano led, acoustic guitar led and full ensemble. The opener, German Overalls, concerns an episode when VDGG ran out of money while on tour. It's a sort of diary entry, or snapshot from the touring photo album, driven by thrashy acoustic guitar with a dash of Harmonium and some surreal sound effects. The pianistic psychodrama In The End manages to be about mortality and the end of the band simultaneously.

In fact, themes of break up run throughout the album. The gentle acoustic guitar ballad Slender Threads is a meditation on a former lover and the immensely affecting Easy to Slip Away is a sequel to the VDGG anthem Refugees. That song was about a group of friends in the late 1960s, in flight from the values of mainstream society, but bonded and made optimistic by their friendship. But now the friends have drifted apart and the only sliver of hope is that perhaps one day they will be reunited. The elegiac piano mood is enhanced by mellotron and plaintive saxophone. What's it Worth and Dropping the Torch (the latter solo acoustic guitar and the former acoustic guitar elevated by a 'mellifluteous' Jackson) are reflections on choice and responsibility.

Rock and Role is a full band effort, with PH on electric guitar for the first time in his recording career, and one of the highlights of the record. It sound less like Van Der Graaf and more like a weird jump cut to the warped beat music Hammill would be purveying in the early 80s with the K Group. The grand finale, (In the) Black Room/The Tower, is pure VDGG - epic, barnstorming, packed with incredibly exciting ensemble playing and dynamic contrasts, overflowing with emotional and psychological intensity and finally cathartic, with Hammill ending the record exclaiming ecstatically that he's 'feeling like a kid again'. He's spent the entire album trying to make sense of past experience and now he's ready to move on.

In an early interview Hammill was quoted as saying that his ambition was to become 'the Hendrix of the voice'. Quite an ambition but he certainly made a very creditable stab at it. He introduced an entirely new set of tricks and tropes to the rock vocal repertoire and is on fine, if somewhat thinly recorded form, on this platter: soaring high angelically, growling low menacingly, whispering intimately, screaming frenziedly - and very often all within the same song. Hammill turns the act of singing into a theatrical event. He doesn't so much sing these songs as become them. At this stage of his career he was, if not a non musician exactly, then certainly a primitive, and the songs are essentially created by and around his voice. For all the accomplishment of his collaborators the star instrument on this album is Peter Hammill.

Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night was the start of an intensive recording period for Hammill - four groundbreaking albums in less than two years. These records established many diverse threads, both lyrically and musically, which he has spent the last half century extrapolating. It was also important for a very specific reason as it marked the start of his home recording which was eventually to ensure the continuation of his career as a recording artist. The basic tracks were recorded on a TEAC four track tape machine Hammill had purchased and then worked on at Rockfield and Trident Studios. As Hammill notes the guitar sound throughout the album is somewhat scratchy and the whole production a tad eccentric (well he was on a learning curve, and anyway, technical perfection has never really been his raison d'être).

The 2006 CD remaster includes solo live versions of Easy to Slip Away and In the End recorded in Kansas City in 1978 (taken from the bootleg album Skeleton of Songs) featuring a fully unfettered Hammill, and also a recording of a very early Hammill song, Rain 3am, made around the time of Chameleon.

So, an intensely personal album expressing the concerns of a young man (he was a mere 24) at a crossroads in his life. But, as with all of Hammill's best work, the intensely personal is transmuted into the universal. Whether you catalogue it as his second album, third or whatever number you prefer, Mr H is undoubtedly right - the real Peter Hammill solo story starts here.

"Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night" is the 2nd full-length studio album by UK progresive rock artist Peter Hammill. The album was released through Charisma Records in May 1973. It´s the successor to "Fool´s Mate" from July 1971, but the two solo albums are bridged by the release of Hammill´s at the time main project Van der Graaf Generator´s fourth full-length studio album "Pawn Hearts" from October 1971. As a consequence of the pressure of touring Van der Graaf Generator disbanded in mid-1972 and Hammill opted to pursue a solo career. Some of the material which ended up on "Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night" was originally written to be included on the (not to be) successor to "Pawn Hearts" (1972). "(In the) Black Room/The Tower" was even rehearsed by the band in the months before they split and all members of Van der Graaf Generator plus ex-member Nic Potter (bass) contributed to the recording of "Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night".

If you expect that Hammill picks up where Van der Graaf Generator left off with "Pawn Hearts" (1971), you won´t for the most part get what you expect with "Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night". Except for the 10:53 minutes long "(In the) Black Room/The Tower", which as mentioned above was written while Van der Graaf Generator were still active, and therefore sounds unmistakably like that band, "Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night" is predominantly an experimental singer/singwriter album featuring quite a few tracks where the main ingredients are Hammill singing his paatos filled and dramatic vocal lines over stripped down instrumentation of either a guitar or a piano (sometimes both). A few tracks like "Rock and Rôle" and "Easy to Slip Away" stand out as they feature more "regular" rock instrumentation (drums, guitar, bass), which provide the album with some variation and a slight psychadelic touch.

Hammill has a distinct sounding voice and an extremely expressive delivery, and it´s usually a strength and a great asset to the projects he is involved in, but his original vocal style and the sound of his voice can also be difficult to listen to over a longer period, and when the instrumental parts of at least half of the tracks on the album are as stripped down and raw as they are here, I´m often left a bit frustrated with the bareness of the backing and lack of climaxes. Tracks like "German Overalls" and "Slender Threads" seem to go on forever and go nowhere. It´s a harsher evaluation than I had planned, and maybe also a bit too harsh, as I still enjoy parts of those tracks and the relatively anarchistic nature of the songwriting, but just a few more melodic hooks or interesting instrumental parts would have made the songs more complete and listenable.

To my ears the greatest attraction of "Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night" is definitely "(In the) Black Room/The Tower". Maybe because it´s the most progressive and adventurous track on the album or maybe because it sounds so much like Van der Graaf Generator. It´s quite the dynamic, compositionally progressive, and well written track, which could well have fit on the last couple of preceding albums by Van der Graaf Generator (not surprisingly since it was written during that era). "Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night" is a relatively well produced affair, but I´m not a huge fan of the cold and harsh sound of the guitars or the sound of the drums. So upon conclusion "Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night" is a bit up an down in quality (and listening enjoyment) and it´s not the most stylistically consistent release either. It´s through and through the bold sound of Peter Hammill though (and praise must always be given for the man´s unending creativity and uniqueness) and while the album may not be perfect in all departments a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.