CHAMELEON IN THE SHADOW OF THE NIGHT

When Van der Graaf Generator split up for the first time following Pawn Hearts, the musicians involved didn't part ways, instead working as session musicians to record Peter Hammill's solo albums - thus giving them a chance to play together without having to undertake the expense of touring as a band.

Hammill's first solo album of this strange VdGG-in-all-but-name career describes a blueprint which I think was perfected with his next album, but is still damn fine here. Seven of the eight songs find Hammill in what is effectively a singer-songwriter mode, putting his lyrics to an acoustic guitar or piano accompaniment with the occasional instrumental interjection from one of the other musicians. Of course, Hammill is no Neil Young or Leonard Cohen - these pieces manage to be as complex, mysterious, and evasive as the best VdGG tracks, despite the change in instrumentation, developing an essentially completely new sound for Hammill's mostly-solo songs. The album is rounded off with (In the) Black Room/Tower, in which the whole of Van der Graaf Generator returns to play the track in their classic style. Roaring, emotive, and raw, it's a great end to a fresh start for Hammill's career. Whilst I do think The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage is a superior rendition of this particular formula, Chameleon is a very, very fine one indeed, and a perfect companion piece to the latter album (and its successor, In Camera, which shakes the formula up a bit).