Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Hammill, Peter
Label: Charisma Records
Release: 1975
Running time: 47:17
Rating: 4.5/5
“Nadir’s Big Chance” was the fifth solo album from multi-talented Van Der Graaf Generator frontman and vocal thunderer Peter Hammill. The singer who’s something of a hobbyist, would-be scientist played around with a natural-science term once again, using it as the title for this in many ways revolutionary record. Nadir, in Arabic, refers to the point directly beneath a given location, pointing down into the earth, and it’s a term used in astronomy too. At the same time it carries a far more philosophical, even religious meaning, marking the lowest point of a person’s spirituality. That’s most likely exactly what this one-of-a-kind singer, guitarist, pianist, composer and writer was trying to evoke with the style of this album, which counts as one of his harshest yet also most beloved solo releases, and which soon after release reached cult status among fans of challenging, experimental music.
The album came together not long after Van Der Graaf Generator reunited, while preparations for the masterpiece “Godbluff” (1975) were underway, so once again all his VDGG buddies play on it: organist Hugh Banton, drummer Guy Evans and wind player David Jackson. While experimenting and writing “Nadir’s Big Chance,” the ‘doctor of tongues’ and his comrades more or less accidentally invented, through some of the compositions that ended up on the album, a musical style we now call proto-punk. It’s worth noting that “Nadir’s Big Chance” came out in February 1975, while the term punk was first officially used in January 1976.
So prog rocker Hammill was the first musician in history to label his music punk, half joking, half serious, while goofing around on the guitar with three chords of basic rock’n’roll. That’s the irony of all ironies for anyone who knows punk, which from the very start nurtured a pronounced intolerance toward anything that smelled of progressive rock. Besides, alongside King Crimson, VDGG were one of the few prog rock bands the punks never dared to attack, or even (secretly) respected. Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten was so thrilled with “Nadir’s Big Chance” that he played the tracks “The Institute of Mental Health, Burning” and “Nobody’s Business” on local radio.
Proto-punk, of course, isn’t the only style Hammill played with on “Nadir’s Big Chance” (he himself, understandably, rejects that label today). It’s an extremely varied album stylistically, as has always been the tradition of this colorful and hard-working herald of the post-apocalypse. Besides the proto-punk creations mentioned above, it also contains “Been Alone So Long” and “Shingle Song,” two of the most beautiful ballads of Peter’s career, while the other tracks teem with recognizable VDGG prog rock variations, with an emphasis on short improvisations.
The title track is a proto-punk party with an enraged, untamed Hammill playing the rebellious hooligan, with Jackson’s frenzied saxophone passages up front. Unbridled experimentalism to the power of ten. “The Institue of Mental Health, Burning,” which originally dates back to 1967, when he wrote it together with original VDGG drummer Chris Judge Smith, is a cross between proto-punk and first-rate Hammill poetics, with plenty of effects on the clavinet. This was the first time Peter used the Hohner clavinet D6 on an album, and he’d go on using it actively on future VDGG albums, from “Godbluff” onward. In a similar hooligan proto-punk style is “Nobody’s Business,” a veritable orgy of Hammill’s thunderous vocal fervor and unbridled improvisation in between on drums, saxophone and organ.
“Open Your Eyes,” where Banton impresses with a rustling layer of organ that ties together the sax outbursts in between, smells strongly of the epic side of classic VDGG, which means it still charms old-school prog connoisseurs the most. On the acoustic but highly complex ballads “Been Alone So Long Ago,” “Pompeii” and “Shingle Song,” Peter uses deeply sensual, melancholic singing to once again show off his hidden sense of subtlety and lyricism. Plenty of people often forget this ‘benevolent’ side of his musical vocabulary.
“Airport,” backed by a mighty melodic charge, is an epic treat with grand symphonic arrangements and folk elements courtesy of Jackson’s playful flute, which slightly recalls some early VDGG masterpieces, though by their usual standards it wraps up far too quickly. “People You Were Going To” is an interesting, freshly re-recorded and noticeably improved version of the first VDGG single from 1968. The original psychedelia has been swapped on this version for a glam rock exuberance that even David Bowie would have approved of.
On “Birthday Special,” Hammill and company keep up the proto-punk madness, with rebellious, riled-up singing and ‘bone-breaking’ amid a rich sax-and-organ seasoning, in other words the very style that completely captivated the generation of younger performers in ripped jeans and pierced noses who showed up with all the media pomp and kitsch in mid-1976. The closing “Two Or Three Spectres” ranks among the most complex tracks on the album and comes very close to some of the VDGG masterpieces from the turn of the seventies.
“Nadir’s Big Chance,” a wild fusion of prog rock and proto-punk, is one of the most important and colorful achievements of Hammill’s career, bringing together a staggering range of styles, and as such it still thrills music lovers from completely opposite shores today. Peter, who counts “Nadir’s Big Chance” along with “Fool’s Mate” (1971) as the only pop-rock albums of his career, was constantly experimenting and trying something new. This time, while having fun with three chords of basic rock’n’roll, he casually experimented with a style that only got its official name a year later. Anyone who wants to understand the evolution of his solo career and VDGG through the seventies definitely can’t overlook the huge importance “Nadir’s Big Chance” played in that process.
Lineup
Peter Hammill – vocals, guitar, piano, Hohner clavinet D6, bass guitar
David Jackson – saxophone, flute
Hugh Banton – Hammond organ, bass guitar
Guy Evans – drums
Production
Peter Hammill
Track list
1. Nadir’s Big Chance (3:33)
2. The Institute of Mental Health, Burning (3:32)
3. Open Your Eyes (5:11)
4. Nobody’s Business (4:08)
5. Been Alone So Long (4:10)
6. Pompeii (4:21)
7. Shingle (4:14)
8. Airport (3:04)
9. People You Were Going To (5:05)
10. Birthday Special (3:34)
11. Two or Three Spectres (6:21)
