Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Hammill, Peter
Label: Charisma Records
Release: 1977
Duration: 46:27
Rating: 5/5
The legendary Peter Hammill, the all-round English singer, guitarist, pianist, composer and poet who went down in the collective memory of music gourmets mainly as the supreme thunder-bringer of prog-rock titans Van Der Graaf Generator, found himself at a special crossroads in life in 1977, having just split from his longtime partner Alice. He dedicated his sixth solo studio album to her and to all broken relationships (past and potentially future), and gave it the telling title “Over”, which also marks the end of an artistic era, above all the first decade of Hammill’s music-making. Dropping down to such a deeply personal level was definitely an unexpected and rather strange turn for an artist who, through both his solo work and his VDGG records, had made his name with dark, dystopian and post-apocalyptic lyrical themes, with not much room for notions like ‘love’, ‘relationship’, ‘affection’ and the like.
So it’s no surprise that Mr. Hammill himself counts “Over” among his most important solo achievements. You have to remember that while this studio classic was coming together, with him still captaining the Van Der Graaf ship at the same time, he was only approaching thirty, so heartache hit him that much harder. As happened many times in his solo career, Peter got help on the album from his Van Der Graaf buddies, namely a short-lived incarnation of the band that, besides longtime drumming authority Guy Evans, included VDGG returnee Nic Potter on bass and violinist Graham Smith (ex-String Driven Thing). It’s thanks to the latter that “Autumn” and “Betrayed” are packed with juicy violin passages, while the symphonic epic “This Side of The Looking Glass” bends under the weight of lavish orchestral arrangements conducted by Michael Brand.
In contrast to the previous album “Nadir’s Big Chance” (1975), on which Peter innovatively experimented with proto-punk, the symphonic prog-rock “Over”, fusing symphonic sounds, acoustic pastoral folk and rock, marks a kind of return to the artist’s musical roots. What matters most, besides his usual, utterly unique and admirable vocal thunder, is that at this stage of his career he had somehow matured into a solid acoustic guitarist too, while on electric guitar he surprises with a handful of tasteful solos. As expected, and in line with the concept, the prevailing mood on “Over” is dark, but still not as dark as fans are usually used to from Mr. Hammill, since a positive ray of hope for a brighter future keeps shining through.
In keeping with Peter’s rich experimental tradition, the individual tracks are seriously varied and as unpredictable as can be. Take the opening energy catalyst “Crying Wolf”, distinguished by a mighty guitar riff and furious vocals: it plunges openly into epic-minded hard rock and also serves up one of the best guitar solos of the early phase of his solo career. “Autumn”, with its contemplative, melancholic nature ruled by symphonic piano and violin arrangements, is a thorough contrast to its hard-hitting predecessor. Peter’s vocal delivery once again glides astonishingly from very high registers to middle and low ones. The epic “Time Heals” is an unusually melodic, intelligently structured, complex composition with a solemn, melodramatic ambient feel, and if it had included an emphatically brutal rhythmic passage, a longer improvisation or a chaotic time-signature shift, it could have slipped onto a VDGG album without anyone batting an eye. “Alice (Letting Go)”, judging by its title and lyrics the most personal piece on the album, is a pretty dark pastoral excursion on acoustic guitar with an aggressive chord progression.
“This Side of The Looking Glass” is a symphonic prog-rock epic with lavish orchestral arrangements and an unusually positive, almost uplifting atmosphere, which goes down best with everyone who loves the fusion of classical music and rock. “Betrayed”, with its jerky, temperamental acoustic guitar chords, combative vocals dripping with anger and disappointment, and mighty violin passages, brings back the dark mood that dominates most of the album. On “(On Tuesday She Used To Do) Yoga”, where ambient gloom and hopelessness take over with full force, you can’t miss Peter’s cynicism and mockery at the expense of his ex-partner’s favorite pastimes. A melancholic acoustic melody is accompanied by a series of irritated effects in the background and an emotionally very complex vocal performance.
The closing epic “Lost And Found” is also a potential candidate for VDGG material, packed with avant-garde inserts, a superb guitar solo, dissonant transitions, scattered piano passages and Peter’s best vocal performance on the whole album. The lyrics show the poet finally making peace with the situation, followed by the joyful realization that he is now at last ‘free’, released from the shackles of a dysfunctional relationship, which is beautifully illustrated by the optimistic lift in mood in the closing section of this excellent composition.
The masterpiece “Over”, another superb entry in Hammill’s solo legacy, presents the legendary herald of the post-apocalypse in an unusual role for him: a disillusioned poet with a heart that hasn’t gone stale. Only an artist of his caliber could take a theme as worn-out and trivial in the music world as personal romantic heartbreak, which so often degenerates into a rich source of pathos, and present it in such an intelligent, complex and fulfilling way that it effortlessly touches the listener’s soul. To this day all male listeners who have ever had a close encounter with an ‘Alice’ can easily identify with the concept, though that’s far from saying that no woman can get excited about “Over”, since they can look at it from the opposite point of view too.
Lineup
Peter Hammill – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Graham Smith – violin on “Autumn” & “Betrayed”
Nic Potter – bass guitar
Guy Evans – drums
Michael Brand – orchestra conductor on “This Side Of The Looking Glass”
Production
Peter Hammill
Tracklist
1. Crying Wolf
2. Autumn
3. Time Heals
4. Alice (Letting Go)
5. This Side Of The Looking Glass
6. Betrayed
7. (On Tuesdays She Used To Do) Yoga
8. Lost And Found
