I Talk To The Wind: Prog Blog and Reviews

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   Over, Peter Hammill, 1977

It's quite hard to write about Over in a 
positive way... which is odd because I love this album.
Commenting on the musical variety, technical qualities and details of 
the album seems demeaning to
its raw emotionality and vice versa. It's Hammill's most personal album,
 which some will probably
find either difficult or distasteful, and for me, it's his most 
powerful. Over is about sustained
moods more than bursts of fire, and while reviewers here have picked up a
 lot on the darker and more
miserable side of the album, I personally think its appeal lies also in 
its hopeful, ironic,
self-deprecating, speculative and resigned content and if you 
acknowledge the one element without
the other, the overall effect will probably be quite depressing.
The
 vocals are, of course, extraordinary and innovative. Aside from some of
 Hammill's best
lower-register work and higher-register work, this contains his most 
obviously powerful conventional
performance. I have never heard anything like the singing on any of the 
songs here before and the
detail, emotion and harmonies in each performance are without parallel. 
The production of the vocals
matches up to this. The music is individual to the pieces and remains 
excellent but, in isolation
from the vocals and lyrics would be somewhat pointless.
Crying 
Wolf ? from the first notes you can feel the fragility of the album. 
Some of the many
particular musical features of this song are the dense layering, Guy 
Evans' delicious hi-hat (I
think) work near the opening, the various awesome low-in-the-mix 
keyboards and the vocal development
of the main riff. Hammill's guitar solo as usual is strictly devoted to 
the mood and not to
impressing people.
Autumn: the versatility of this album is not 
solely in the personnel and style but also in the kind
of perspective offered. The speculative mood of Autumn enhances a simply
 exceptional self-duet from
Hammill (the vocals sound so old).
'I simply don't know what it 
all means... this pointless passage through the night, this Autumn
time, this walk upon the water.' 
Time Heals is the most 
immediately eye-catching thing on the album and there are a couple of
extraordinary live versions out there as well so I'll try not to 
over-introduce it. Guy Evans and
Nic Potter's rhythm section is unshowy and supportive and yet entirely 
unique to this album.
Alice (Letting Go)... the album's most 
stripped down singer-songwriter piece. Deliciously bitter and
well-produced acoustic sound (which is something, I confess, that the 
very charming In Camera's
pieces didn't have), extraordinarily heart-rending and detailed vocal 
contrasted with almost spoken
bursts. The jolts of directness in the writing are something that makes 
this album and in particular
this song so unique and honest, 'cause I don't wanna just be your 
friend.'
This Side Of The Looking Glass... if you have ever 
doubted Peter Hammill's ability to sing
extraordinarily well in a conventional manner, you should listen to this
 song and repent your sins.
The orchestration is rich and individual and a unique excursion by 
Hammill into territory unknown
for a striking centrepiece to an individual album.
Betrayed has a 
much more ferocious and snarling Graham Smith as well as some utterly 
acidic acoustic
guitar. An especially angry, desperate and despondent piece but so well 
executed as to be of
interest to anyone who doesn't find that notion unbearable. The 
conclusion is wonderful.
(On Tuesdays She Used To Do) Yoga 
features the single most evil sound I can think of (and I have no
idea what it is but you'll know it when you hear it). The echoed vocals 
are heart-breaking and the
writing has both menacing edges and ironic ones to its basic honesty.
Lost
 And Found is the album's catharsis, and its fragile yet definite 
optimism is entirely crucial
to understanding the album. It is amazing.
Well, I'm sure I've 
said this about three or four Peter Hammill albums by now (In Camera, ) 
and I'll
probably say it about a couple more, but the thing about those many 
times I say that the vocals on a
particular Peter Hammill album are in my honest view the best ever is 
that A) trust me: I mean it
and B) I feel that the vocals on Over are so amazing for different 
reasons to those on Hammill album
y or z. Hammill's ability as a singer to emote and to communicate 
emotions  in different ways is now
so self-evident to me that I can neither really recall the bemusement 
with which I first heard the
quirky vocals of Sleepwalkers nor can I really fathom those who as a 
rule find his vocals unpleasant
either in general or especially on this album.
So, five stars. 
Though Over is probably only going to be a life-changing album for those
 who are
already self-avowed fans, it remains one of the site's most 
extraordinary albums and should come
early in the Hammill collection expansion process.
Rating: 15/15, 
or thereabouts
Favourite Track: Lost And Found, I think 
---
Yeah, just going to go and edit up the Passion Play review
Next up, no idea I'll go for.