I Talk To The Wind: Prog Blog and Reviews

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Over, Peter Hammill, 1977

It's quite hard to write about Over in a
positive way... which is odd because I love this album.
Commenting on the musical variety, technical qualities and details of
the album seems demeaning to
its raw emotionality and vice versa. It's Hammill's most personal album,
which some will probably
find either difficult or distasteful, and for me, it's his most
powerful. Over is about sustained
moods more than bursts of fire, and while reviewers here have picked up a
lot on the darker and more
miserable side of the album, I personally think its appeal lies also in
its hopeful, ironic,
self-deprecating, speculative and resigned content and if you
acknowledge the one element without
the other, the overall effect will probably be quite depressing.
The
vocals are, of course, extraordinary and innovative. Aside from some of
Hammill's best
lower-register work and higher-register work, this contains his most
obviously powerful conventional
performance. I have never heard anything like the singing on any of the
songs here before and the
detail, emotion and harmonies in each performance are without parallel.
The production of the vocals
matches up to this. The music is individual to the pieces and remains
excellent but, in isolation
from the vocals and lyrics would be somewhat pointless.
Crying
Wolf ? from the first notes you can feel the fragility of the album.
Some of the many
particular musical features of this song are the dense layering, Guy
Evans' delicious hi-hat (I
think) work near the opening, the various awesome low-in-the-mix
keyboards and the vocal development
of the main riff. Hammill's guitar solo as usual is strictly devoted to
the mood and not to
impressing people.
Autumn: the versatility of this album is not
solely in the personnel and style but also in the kind
of perspective offered. The speculative mood of Autumn enhances a simply
exceptional self-duet from
Hammill (the vocals sound so old).
'I simply don't know what it
all means... this pointless passage through the night, this Autumn
time, this walk upon the water.' 
Time Heals is the most
immediately eye-catching thing on the album and there are a couple of
extraordinary live versions out there as well so I'll try not to
over-introduce it. Guy Evans and
Nic Potter's rhythm section is unshowy and supportive and yet entirely
unique to this album.
Alice (Letting Go)... the album's most
stripped down singer-songwriter piece. Deliciously bitter and
well-produced acoustic sound (which is something, I confess, that the
very charming In Camera's
pieces didn't have), extraordinarily heart-rending and detailed vocal
contrasted with almost spoken
bursts. The jolts of directness in the writing are something that makes
this album and in particular
this song so unique and honest, 'cause I don't wanna just be your
friend.'
This Side Of The Looking Glass... if you have ever
doubted Peter Hammill's ability to sing
extraordinarily well in a conventional manner, you should listen to this
song and repent your sins.
The orchestration is rich and individual and a unique excursion by
Hammill into territory unknown
for a striking centrepiece to an individual album.
Betrayed has a
much more ferocious and snarling Graham Smith as well as some utterly
acidic acoustic
guitar. An especially angry, desperate and despondent piece but so well
executed as to be of
interest to anyone who doesn't find that notion unbearable. The
conclusion is wonderful.
(On Tuesdays She Used To Do) Yoga
features the single most evil sound I can think of (and I have no
idea what it is but you'll know it when you hear it). The echoed vocals
are heart-breaking and the
writing has both menacing edges and ironic ones to its basic honesty.
Lost
And Found is the album's catharsis, and its fragile yet definite
optimism is entirely crucial
to understanding the album. It is amazing.
Well, I'm sure I've
said this about three or four Peter Hammill albums by now (In Camera, )
and I'll
probably say it about a couple more, but the thing about those many
times I say that the vocals on a
particular Peter Hammill album are in my honest view the best ever is
that A) trust me: I mean it
and B) I feel that the vocals on Over are so amazing for different
reasons to those on Hammill album
y or z. Hammill's ability as a singer to emote and to communicate
emotions in different ways is now
so self-evident to me that I can neither really recall the bemusement
with which I first heard the
quirky vocals of Sleepwalkers nor can I really fathom those who as a
rule find his vocals unpleasant
either in general or especially on this album.
So, five stars.
Though Over is probably only going to be a life-changing album for those
who are
already self-avowed fans, it remains one of the site's most
extraordinary albums and should come
early in the Hammill collection expansion process.
Rating: 15/15,
or thereabouts
Favourite Track: Lost And Found, I think 
---
Yeah, just going to go and edit up the Passion Play review
Next up, no idea I'll go for.