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Peter Hammill - pH7 CD (album) cover

PH7

Peter Hammill

 

Eclectic Prog

3.65 | 246 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
3 stars "They may not be normal, but they're people just the same"

According to Mr Hammill, calling this album "PH7" when it is in fact his 8th solo album was intended as a joke. Apart from the obvious numbering discrepancy, the humour is also based on the neutrality of the PH number seven in chemical terms, being neither acid nor alkaline. As he says on his website, " these recordings are neither neutral nor balanced".

With VDGG having apparently run its course, Hammill dispenses with the band format all together here, with just Graham(e) Smith and David Jackson contributing violin and sax respectively.

After the deceptively melodic opening track "My favourite", complete with string accompaniment, things start to take shape with the manic frenzy which is "Careering". The uncontrolled sounding backing only serves to heighten the disturbing nature of Hammill's vocal. The chaos continues on "Porton down" but things are brought back within relative control for the softer "Mirror images", the troubled lyrics bringing out one of Peter's fine emotional performances. The song had previously appeared on the VDGG live album "Vital", Hammill being not fully satisfied with that rendition.

"Handicap and equality" deals with a sensitive issue in a forthright and pragmatic way. The lyrics here should be emblazoned across billboards world-wide. "For all their grunts, their stumps, their tumours, their eternal wheelchairs; we're the freaks, we're the inhumans if we close our eyes and turn aside, pretend that if we do they'll not be there".

After a dedication to the late Keith Ellis ("Not for Keith"), an important working companion of Hammill's, "The old school tie" seems to focus on the lyrical jobs for the boys message at the expense of the song itself.

A couple of consecutive tracks see Hammill using songs, or at least lyrics, which are not his own. Chris Judge Smith's "Time for a change" is a rather curious acoustic piece, which extends Peter's vocal range to the full. The lyrics for "Imperial walls" are taken from an inscription in the Roman Baths in Bath in the south west United Kingdom. The melody, which for Hammill came first, has a military feel, complementing the tale of abandonment well.

The closing suite is actually two separate tracks, "Mr. X" and "Faculty X" segueing together. Peter cites the piece as his first real attempt to write a VDGG style epic for his solo career. The frantic vocals and offbeat rhythms are undoubtedly an acquired taste, which many will find just a little too bizarre.

This was to be Peter's last album for Charisma records, which was perhaps a relief to both parties. It certainly was not the commercially orientated product the label were hoping for, but Hammill saw it as an honest representation of where he was and where he was heading. For fans of Hammill's unique style of writing and delivery, this is a worthy album. For those less familiar with him as an artists should approach with some caution, this is not an easy listen for the curious.

Easy Livin | 3/5 |

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