What about Peter Hammill Voice?
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=122847
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Topic: What about Peter Hammill Voice?
Posted By: softandwet
Subject: What about Peter Hammill Voice?
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 07:03
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What do you think about it? Just drop your opinions. ------------- So don’t evade the surgeon’s blade Cos the answer could be in your mind Maybe one cut and we’ll find We’re just a wavelength behind But we are entwined And I know what you need |
Replies:
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 07:19
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‘The Hendrix of the voice’ as I read somewhere. The way he articulates every word, phrase and mood - unbelievable. Can go from soft to guttural in a split second, can be absolutely bonkers at times. He writes intelligent lyrics and the music is mostly adventurous and unique to match. He’s not everyone’s cuppa, but one of the greatest of our time. |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 07:21
| All good for me. His rasp and gravelly off-kilter way of singing is unique. |
Posted By: Mascodagama
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 07:24
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Quite useful if you need to clear mice or other small rodents from an outbuilding. Permanently. ------------- Soldato of the Pan Head Mafia. We'll make you an offer you can't listen to. http://bandcamp.com/jpillbox" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp Profile |
Posted By: dougmcauliffe
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 07:37
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It is one of the most unique voices i've ever heard. The thing is, the dude can actually sing, but he moreso uses his voice as an instrument. He also was sort of doing those somewhat gutteral vocals far before they were expanded on in genres like death metal. Same can be said for the singer of Comus. ------------- The sun has left the sky... ...Now you can close your eyes |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 07:39
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I love it, but in the beginning it took some getting used to. I think he sometimes overdoes the shouting, he is better when he doesn't. Also he has on some albums that I think he mixed himself not presented his voice in the best possible way (I actually think he should have left the mixing more to others). |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 07:57
Hi, When ANYONE can specify how they feel, be it in song or film, or theater, it doesn't matter what their "voice" sounds like. People didn't like Joe Cocker either, and yet a lot of concert goers ended appreciating someone that really had the quality and the chops to be where he was. The same thing goes for Roger Chapman, who was capable of doing soft stuff as well as the harder stuff. It has nothing to do with the "voice" ... it has to do with their delivery and quality of delivery, and PH is one of the best about telling us about his feelings, and his honesty shines all over each and every word he brings out. Sad that people get stuck on the voice and can not HEAR the words and their quality! Just separates the rotters from the music appreciation society!
------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
softandwet wrote:Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 07:58
You must be listening to Yoko One a bit too much!  ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: twosteves
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 08:04
| pretty horrible---I'm neurotic enough lol don't like neurotic voices or music---what especially bothers me is put on voices---I like a singer to open their mouth and sing and the natural sound to come out and not be too pretentious. |
Posted By: jamesbaldwin
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 08:07
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I think there is a great difference between 1969-71 records and 1975-77 records. I love Hammill's voice in Aerosol / The Least / H to to He / Pawn Haerts: in these Lp he touches the higher notes with an angelic and wonderful voice (Refugees) and he touches the more dramatic notes with an expressionist voice. Instead in Godbluff (partially) /Still Life / World Record (most of all) / The Queit (partially) he is not able to catch the higher notes and so he sings with an hoarse and strangled voice that it is difficult to listen to. ------------- "Happiness is real only when shared" |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 08:14
| I like his vocals a lot, very expressive vocalist. I enjoy classic VDGG quite a bit. |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 08:14
 there are simply no words.------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Mirakaze
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 08:32
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I really couldn't stand it at first but it gradually grew on me |
Posted By: Mascodagama
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 08:50
------------- Soldato of the Pan Head Mafia. We'll make you an offer you can't listen to. http://bandcamp.com/jpillbox" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp Profile |
Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 08:54
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I'd rather listen to nails scratching down a blackboard for a week. ------------- A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life. |
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 09:03
| Not really my favorite, though he is a good singer, with good technique. I just don't like his tone. |
Posted By: friso
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 09:23
Yeah I feel very much the same way about this! Enjoy the later VdGG albums as well, but nowhere near as much as the earlier albums and Peter Hammill's debut. ------------- I'm guitarist and songwriter for the prog-related band Mother Bass. Find us at http://www.motherbass.com. I also enter stages throughout the Netherlands performing my poetry. |
Posted By: Run Home Slow
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 20:29
Can't say it better... ------------- If you got ears, you gotta listen — Captain Beefheart |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 20:39
If I may paraphrase Charles Baudelaire (who was originally referring to Wagner): I love Hammill, but the vocality I prefer is that of a cat hung up by its tail outside a window and trying to stick to the panes of glass with its claws. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: progmatic
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 21:20
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On some songs I love him, others I don't. ------------- PROGMATIC |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 28 2020 at 21:22
| I have no problem with him. One of the best singers in prog imo. |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 00:25
Well, rats are known to avoid places from which other rats have fled with fear  .Back to topic: The ultimate example of an acquired taste. He is a great vocalist, though few might believe that at first hearing. ------------- 
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Posted By: Spacegod87
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 02:52
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It's an interesting one. He puts great emphasis on certain words, and the emotion he conveys is incredible. I love it, but I can definitely see why others wouldn't. There's something honest about the way he sings, it's bizarre and difficult to describe.
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Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 03:03
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Waaaay back when I was first getting into prog rock as a niche, his voice turned me off. I couldn't get past it. Because of this, VDGG remained shelved for years for me. After a certain amount of exposure and personal taste, VDGG and Peter became a top 5 prog rock band for me. I love his voice! ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 04:15
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A very unique performer, and I love his voice. I can understand why some don't though. ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 04:48
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A stranger, a worldly man, a stranger, a worldly man, a stranger, a worldly man......Hysterical !! And on Fripp’s Exposure album - Disengage..........unhinged 🤪 Only PH can get away with the controlled uncontrollability. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 07:45
Hi, My thoughts are that some of those folks have never heard anything except the school choir and some kind of lollipop music with cheap vocals that were enhanced with various utilities so you can't tell that the voice is not right, or perfect. I find it strange that someone says that about a singer, or any "orator" at all ... because it is all about their delivery and ability to make their material shine ... instead of hitting the right notes on the scale. No one ever said those kinds of comments about Olivier, Burton and many others on the stage, and some voices are down right .... goodness ... but it made the work come out strong ... and a different voice or singer is no different, except that now the "audience" has the right to kill them! Something is wrong with the perception of the whole thing ... and I think that the top ten mentality is the problem ... funny he didn't say this about Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and others! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: jiminyCrikett
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 08:10
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Classic Peter Hammilll might be the best singer in prog even if an acquired taste.. That latest album he did with Isildur's Bane was just awful though. It was sad to hear him struggle.
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Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 10:30
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An acquired taste that, unfortunately, I have had a great deal of difficulty acquiring. ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 14:00
| Well there is a reason why Scorched Earth gives me goose bumps every time I hear it. The guy is not pissing about. |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 14:12
I was thinking how to answer this thread, yet your answer sums my thoughts perfectly. |
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 14:36
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Lush I like everything he's done on record, I did find him a bit overwrought live at NF in 12. ------------- Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/ |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: April 29 2020 at 16:41
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A wizard of the voice, research master extraordinaire. ------------- |