THE SILENT CORNER AND THE EMPTY STAGE

The need to express his thoughts musically has always been the driving force behind the prolific Peter Hammill's path, whether in Van Der Graaf Generator or in his solo career (which are not the same thing, after all, but almost...). And so, during the band's hiatus between 1971 and 1975, the British musician did not stop and continued to release solo albums, among them "The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage" (1974), the third of his discography, ironically accompanied instrumentally by his band mates.

In "The Silent Corner and the Empty", Hammill exposes his recurrent existential themes that question everything that is questionable (the value of past civilisations in the present, religion, the relentless passing of time, the mirage of existence itself, among other topics), in pieces in which his peaceful and sublime voice coexists with the intimate complicity of the acoustic guitars he plays himself and the keyboards and bass of Hugh Banton, such as the beautiful and emotive ballad "Wilhelmina" and the naked "Rubicon", with others to which he adds poignant and hysterical moans of rage and denunciation with a striking naturalness, as in the opening "Modern", the introspective "The Lie (Bernini's Saint Theresa)" and the anguished "Forsaken Gardens".

On the other hand, and deviating somewhat from the general mood of the album, the psychedelic and hypnotic ambience of the desolate "Red Shift" with a great contribution of jazz aroma from David Jackson on sax and the electric guitars of guest Randy California (who tragically died at the age of 45 from drowning while surfing in Hawaii) , is an approximation of the direction the musician will take from now on, and, as a compendium of all the above, the lengthy and intricate "A Louse Is Not A Home", full of nuances that go back and forth from melancholic reflections to euphoric instrumental displays (including a middle section in the best experimental Crimsonian style), brings the work to a close.

The excellent "The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage" is one of the many gems that, by those things of fate and also because of Hammill's almost unhealthy obsession to express his ideas without any kind of conditioning, did not get all the recognition that its enormous musical and compositional quality brings with it.

4/4.5 stars

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