A strange view of Peter Hammill
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Topic: A strange view of Peter Hammill
Posted By: USAGirl
Subject: A strange view of Peter Hammill
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 03:05
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Jean and Friede are currently trying to convince me of Peter Hammill. Now while I am still at odds with his voice, I noted something interesting, probably because I tried to listen to anything but the voice in the music: He is an excellent rhythm guitarist! The way he throws in the occasional dissonant chord or syncopates the rhythm adds a lot to his music. This is especially notable on the live albums. Has anyone else noted this too?
------------- Peace on Earth |
Replies:
Posted By: RaphaelT
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 04:04
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Hammill is an excellent guitarist, worked with Robert Fripp (that name rings a bell, doesn't it? What is great about Peter Hammill is that small details, small tunes, little changes of dynamics or melody, small tunes in the background create so magnificent mood. Try listen to latest Van Der Graaf Generator album "Present", Hammill plays guitar a lot there. ------------- yet you still have time! |
Posted By: Rocktopus
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 04:04
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Yes, I've noticed it too. VdGG's 'Meurglys III' even has him playing guitar solos. And its good fun. Hope the Baldies are not trying to convince you by playing that awful rock opera (The Fall of the House of Usher).  He's also my favorite artist/vocalist. The first track I got into was 'Sleepwalkers'. ------------- Over land and under ashes In the sunlight, see - it flashes Find a fly and eat his eye But don't believe in me Don't believe in me Don't believe in me |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 04:20
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Hi Bea, Give it time!! I had been at odds with his voice for over two decades, but I finally got around it by listening to his solo album Over and especially that superb track Time Heals and there from there on it started clicking together I previously had tried Aerosol Grey Machine, another thing that certainly helped me seeing the live DVD Godbluff and even more the TV special on the same DVD As for his guitar playing, I am not convinced (pulling a 7 minutes reggae guitar solo in Meurglyss III does not mean you are a top guitarist ), but I do not apreciate the people who say he is execrable lectric player either. ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
USAGirl wrote:Posted By: Rocktopus
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 04:35
I don't know if you think that's what I meant? I love whole the song including the reggae parts, and I think all his playing in Meurglys is good fun. I'm not calling him a guitar God or anything.  *And, I wrote the bit about 'Usher' (I know its a favorite of theirs) just before I saw the thread about their car accident. I was just trying to be funny. Should I try to remove it? Is it tasteless or ok?  ------------- Over land and under ashes In the sunlight, see - it flashes Find a fly and eat his eye But don't believe in me Don't believe in me Don't believe in me |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 06:11
No I was not aiming at anyone in this thread, but if you read the reviews on this album, there are some who go to that extreme. Too late now!!! I think Jean and Friede are thick-skinned, but I do not know if Bea is, though!!! ------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: Fragile
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 09:47
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His voice is uniquely belligerent,beautifully soothing,it can shake the rafters and can rip barn doors off at a 100 yards.Besides, his most telling of God given talents he is also a very good guitarist/pianist.Although Jon Anderson is my favourite singer it is Hammill who has the best voice in rock.Enjoy the forum USA Girl and don't let the Baldes get you into wild experimentation. |
Posted By: Jaimeantonio
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 14:08
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Hammill has passed thru several satges.. being the Godfather of dark and so on. He's had a very long carreer. If you likoe his guitar playing get SOON the album "over". If the acoustic guitar lines do not make you cry then you have no heart. Hammill is not easy USAGirl. A tormented and twisted guy in his early years he has become a solitary poet(although reconciled with life). Recommended Over Black Box PH 7 Out of Water Fireships Skin
See you |
Posted By: The Wizard
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 19:08
Peter Hammil is a great guitarist. Reminds me of a toned down Syd Barrett the way he plays rythm. But his true attraction is his voice. At first I found it awkward, but now I worship it. Incredble stuff. He also inspired me to take up poetry.  -------------  
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Posted By: video vertigo
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 19:10
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When I first got into VdGG (2 months ago) I was at odds with his voice but I was so impressed with the organs/keyboards and saxophone/flute I didn't pay a bit of attention to Hammill. Now I love Hammil as well. ------------- "The rock and roll business is pretty absurd, but the world of serious music is much worse." - Zappa |
Posted By: greenback
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 20:34
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hammill is just overrated, if we condider both guitar playing and singing. ------------- [HEADPINS - LINE OF FIRE: THE RECORD HAVING THE MOST POWERFUL GUITAR SOUND IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF MUSIC!> |
Posted By: Eddy
Date Posted: March 22 2006 at 21:28
| i never really have gotten used to his voice either. he sounds just like dream theaters vocalist, and i dont like his either. I'm happy(sorta) with the music of vg(and dt!!) but i think his vocals bring the music down. I think vg puts to much emphasis on vocols, i would have likw then more if it had less.... |
Posted By: RaphaelT
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 01:54
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you probably just don't like vocals and not quite appreciate importance of lyrics. That's problem of my friend who hates Genesis with Gabriel.
Hammill is magnificent!!! ------------- yet you still have time! |
Posted By: martinprog77
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 03:09
 ------------- Nothing can last there are no second chances. Never give a day away. Always live for today. |
Posted By: Wilcey
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 03:34
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When i first heard Hammill I didn't really get the voice
thing going on! But I saw him at the Royal Festival Hall, about 16 yrs ago, one bloke and a large piano, it was absoloutely captivating, really fantastic! I can find his voice difficult to hear sometimes, but in the right mood he is just the right voice to hear! Way back in the '80's when I was struggling to get into him, I got a copy of "Love Songs" a compilation of his solo stuff, that really helped and is probably still in my top 20 albums of all time. PC x |
Posted By: Fragile
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 06:10
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How can you compare the guy in Dream Theatre to the sheer magnificence of Hammill;It's like comparing a fillet steak to a spam fritter |
Posted By: yeppp
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 07:57
Well he's totally better as a singer. Not a bad guitar
player either though.. He's playing style is pretty rough and original
so i like it 
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Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 08:32
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Being at a Hammill solo-concert is certainly what he would call a "peak experience". It is absolutely overwhelming. I didn't think this experience could be topped until I saw VdGG at the Royal Festival Hall last year. The energy of them is just incredible; many people around us had tears in their eyes, and so did I. As another online-reviewer put it: "I knew I would enjoy the concert, but I didn't realise that VDGG would
grab me by the scruff of the neck, rattle me around, hold me over a
precipice and leave me dangling there screaming for my life. (...)
They make King Crimson look like a bunch of lavender-wearing, effete pansies on a Sunday School Picnic". He hit the nail on the head!
-------------  BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: leirbagaze
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 08:58
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I agree, Hammill is a great artist using his voice, guitar, piano or pencil.
I disagree with the common opinion here in this group that prog artist HAVE to be virtous, HAVE to show an excellent technique in his instrument.
And I have read a lot of disgusting comparations, based in stupid factas as: "this guitarrist plays faster than the other one".
I don't thin complication means better. Nor in poetry, nor in painting, nor in prog. Somo of the best prog masterpieces are very simple, and easy to perform songs. I prefer to listen to Hammill singing and playing piano alone performing A plague of light house keepers live (23 mins) , just he and his piano, than a very complicated and virtuous top prog keyboardist, showing the world how many music classes he took.
Gabriel |
Posted By: RaphaelT
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 10:26
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If music is nothing but emotions, then Hammill is the greatest musician ever!!! ------------- yet you still have time! |
Posted By: Firepuck
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 10:37
Hear! Hear! ------------- Kryten : "'Pub'? Ah yes, A meeting place where humans attempt to achieve advanced states of mental incompetence by the repeated consumption of fermented vegetable drinks." |
Posted By: bluetailfly
Date Posted: March 23 2006 at 11:05
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Actually, I too had an aversion to Pete Hammill's voice at first, thought it was too theatrical or melodramatic and that the music suffered because of it. Then what happened was I caught the band live and saw how inspired he was and how committed he was to communicating his poetry and that was when I began to appreciate his voice. It's like I had to get a sense of his personality to allow myself to appreciate it. Strange. ------------- "The red polygon's only desire / is to get to the blue triangle." |