This is an album by Peter Hammill

Peter Hammill

Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano...

, released on his Fie! label in 1998. There is a large variety in the compositions, ranging from the minimalism of the final song, "The Light Continent", to the rough, almost Nadir

Nadir's Big Chance

Nadir's Big Chance was the fifth solo album by Peter Hammill, released on Charisma Records in 1975.It was recorded shortly after a decision to re-form the band Van der Graaf Generator , and Nadir's Big Chance is actually performed by the reformed Van der Graaf Generator line-up.The album's songs...

-like sound of "Always is Next", the complex "Unrehearsed" and the ballad "Since the Kids". Peter Hammill performed the song "Unrehearsed" live many times. "Nightman" can be heard on the live-album Veracious (2006).

Production and instrumentation

The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at Peter Hammill's own studio, Terra Incognita in Bath, between January and July 1998. All instruments were played and all voices sung by Hammill, except for violin and viola by Stuart Gordon, saxophones and flute by David Jackson

David Jackson (rock musician)

David Nicholas George Jackson , nicknamed Jaxon, is a British progressive rock saxophonist, flautist, and composer. He is best known for his work with the band Van der Graaf Generator and his work in Music and Disability...

, and drums and persussion by Manny Elias

Manny Elias

Manny Elias is an English drummer, notable for being the original drummer with Tears for Fears during the 1980s.Originally a member of the rock band Interview from Bath, Somerset. Elias began working with Tears For Fears in 1982 and drummed on the albums The Hurting and Songs From The Big Chair,...

. Hammill himself regards the album as "not in any sense a 'band' disc", and considers "the unifying factors [to be] song and voice rather than instrumentation". The songs are interspersed with small instrumental fragments (according to Hammill, "their presence is essential in order to glue the whole thing together").

Cover

The cover shows a tree stump and a collection of objects, signifying the passing of time. There is a tachograph disc, ripped out of the machine at high speed on one of the tours, and a picture of a wrist watch that used to belong to Hammill's father. The design was done by RidArt (Paul Ridout).

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Hammill.

1. "Frozen in Place (fragment)" – 0:46
2. "Unrehearsed" – 7:05
3. "Stupid" – 4:26
4. "Since the Kids" – 5:56
5. "Nightman" – 6:17
6. "Fallen (the City of Night)" – 5:37
7. "Unready (fragment)" – 0:42
8. "Always is Next" – 3:58
9. "Unsteady (fragment)" – 0:58
10. "The Light Continent" – 14:02

Personnel

All instruments and voices by Peter Hammill except:

• Manny Elias
  Manny Elias
  Manny Elias is an English drummer, notable for being the original drummer with Tears for Fears during the 1980s.Originally a member of the rock band Interview from Bath, Somerset. Elias began working with Tears For Fears in 1982 and drummed on the albums The Hurting and Songs From The Big Chair,...
  
   – drums & percussion (2, 3, 6, 8)
• Stuart Gordon – violin & viola (2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
• David Jackson
  David Jackson (rock musician)
  David Nicholas George Jackson , nicknamed Jaxon, is a British progressive rock saxophonist, flautist, and composer. He is best known for his work with the band Van der Graaf Generator and his work in Music and Disability...
  
  – saxophones & flute (2, 3, 5, 8, 10)

External links

• SofaSound newsletter by Peter Hammill announcing and describing the album