FOOL'S MATE

I have had this many many years so sometimes that makes it harder to write a review as over the length of time we are talking it has peaked and troughed in my star rating but we will go with as I hear it now.

Hammill does have a unique voice as in instantly recognisable. Some may say it is well suited to VDGG and their darker/angrier moments, others think it is a brooding menace that gives his more stripped back acoustic songs another layer to unwrap. This, his first solo album, could be called his hippie/Kevin Ayers effort. Imperial Zeppelin, Sunshine and Happy could slot on any of his albums. But then you add Hammills voice and it this album is a little bit more. Child is the track that does the shivers/spine thing for me. I Once Wrote Some Poems does too...although this could be on another Kevins (Coyne) lp and you wouldn't bat an eyelid. Viking is haunting prog/folk. Reawakening is perhaps the most VDGG like although I pick up a bit of Brian Auger in it. Solitude could also be Michael Chapman.

None of this is meant to suggest it is derivative, I am looking for reference points for the review. It isn't meant to say it is a bit all over the place...because the above mentioned unique voice ties it all together. I prefer the differences track to track rather than 12 variations on a theme.

So where do I stand with it now, having had it playing whilst I type? Been a while I must confess but shame on me for that omission. A definite 4++ he says swatting away another lighthouse keeper...