OUT OF WATER

More droning from Hammill's spotty, frustrating post-'70s work. A thin, plastic sound to all the instruments is the weakest element, an apparent hangover from the digital-age production ethic that was favored by many '70s prog artists who continued into the '80s. But what about the songs? There aren't many that one could call classic Hammill. Many come off as a kind of meeting point between New Age and Contemporary Adult Pop. Not good. Credit where it's due, Hammill sounds as pained and passionate as ever, but the material isn't that memorable. Not even familiar Hammill cohorts David Jackson and Stuart Gordon can save the lackluster songs. (And I wonder, is credited bassist Nic Mozart actually occasional Van Der Graaf Generator bassist Nic Potter?)

After wading through the first 6 songs, which are trying, dreary kinds of things, Hammill busts out two excellent pieces to end on a high note. "On The Surface" is stark and doesn't succumb to as many production flaws as the more dense material before it. He rides out his vocal choices, melodies hanging loosely in the air, an excellent showcase of his still powerful delivery. It's got the highly-emotional conviction that marks some of his most moving performances, and this quality is given an even brighter spotlight on album- ender "A Way Out". Helped by excellent lyrics, "A Way Out" is simply wonderful--a tragic and fragile piece. Hammill pulls difficult moods out of the listener with the ease of a professional therapist. It could almost be too depressing to handle if you listen with the wrong mindset. At other times, it's beautiful enough to draw tears. It's just too bad you have to wait so long to get to the good stuff on this mostly unremarkable album.

In '97 I got the 'PH fever': for the first time I studied any artist's discography thoroughly in the Internet (and printed lyrics), and I started to get his albums. My expectations on Out Of Water were high as it was described having "long, calm, ethearal tracks" or something like that. But no sooner than in '01 I finally bought it.

Two first songs - mediocre pop - were nearly a shock to my expectations. 3rd, 'No Moon in the Water', was an ethearal and somewhat meditative track but boring. With 'Our Oyster' and 'Something About Ysabel's Dance' it calmed down further... hmmm, not bad. Then another crappy faster pop song, and then 'On The Surface' which dragged me deeper into Hammill's gloomy inner world, but very differently than VDGG does. The machine-like cold instrumentation felt disturbing to go on over 8 minutes. All in all I was very baffled about the plastic sound and very uneven songs.

But the highlights I grew to like more and more, including Oyster and Ysabel; in the latter Stuart Gordon's violin is nearly a solo instrument. And the disturbance of 'On the Surface' is exactly the point (though it's not for casual listening). 'A Way Out' is a stunning passionate song with spellbinding lyrics. One of his best ever. These things are enough for 4 stars despite some songs I usually skip.

After two «true» solo albums, Peter is again surrounded by some of the Graaf gang and I won't complain. I was rather disappointed with his last album ("In a Foreign Town") and I was looking forward to get a full band "solo" album.

But if one is expecting a partial VDGG effort, let me tell you that you find it here. Even if "No Moon In The Water" fully brings us back into this world, it is not yet enough to be impressive. And the least I can say is that both opening numbers aren't really thrilling either.

The listener has to wait for "Our Oyster" to feel that the great man is back. Weird lyrics, subtle backing band and Peter's delicate voice. A well known combo. But it works damned good.Just as the fine violin play during "Something About Ysabel's Dance". Well done Stuart.

"Green Fingers" is probably the first song during which one realizes that Jackson is on board. Not that his sax play is over-invading but just because you can finally hear the big man. Which is always a pleasure to my ears. One of the best track of this album.

The album ends on two longer songs, but the repetitiveness of "On The Surface" is not convincing. Eight minutes of the same notes are too long and offers little to be laudatory about. Backing vocals remind me some "Talking Heads" ones (but it is not the first time that I could find some similarities between them). Still, the guitar work in the last section does convey a nice feeling.

The story is different with "A Way Out". This one is a fantastic Hammill song: grandiose vocals and a perfect band to raise this song to the masterpiece status. Peter on the keyboards is extremely emotional; but what to say about his brilliant vocal performance? THE highlight of this album, no doubt.

The sort of songs which is raising the level of this album which otherwise would only be an average one. As such, three stars.

After the 80's sounding Foreign Town album, Hammill continues using the same overproduced and swollen vocals and plastic-synth sound.

On the Surface and A Way out have some potential but Hammill's vocal indulgences make them stray off the path a few times. Something About Ysabel's Dance would be the only track worth recommending to anyone who is not an devoted fan.

I feel that, with another producer, acoustic drums and other sound choices, some of Hammill's early 90s albums could have been a lot more interesting, but instead they just ended up being something that varies between good, generic, predictable, and terribly dated. It's still Hammill and in that respect still unique, but it's not what we came to expect. Nadir's very dead and buried here I'm afraid.

I have mixed feelings about this album. The lyrics and the songwriting are bith very good throughout this album. They are not the best from Peter Hammill, bet they are easily not the worst. And his performance is somewhat subdued. There is very little of the screaming, over- emoting Peter Hammill that can sometimes make his work difficult to listen to.

My problem with this album is the heavy reliance on synthesizer sequences, which after all of these years, sound pretty cheesy at times. Ah well, at least it's another Peter Hammill album, and there can never be anough of those.

My favorite tracks on this one are the weird Evidently Goldfish and Green Fingers. This is a nice album if you can get past the above mentioned sequences.