Search - Peter Hammill :: In Camera

It Doesn't Get Much Heavier Than This

03/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was the first Hammill solo album I ever purchased...and I only had one Van der Graaf album at the time as well. So, this one is dear to my heart.Given the technology at the time (1974) and the fact that Hammill used his own 4-Track studio and played all the instruments himself, I find the production values of this album absolutely amazing. The experimental sounds within Gog and Magog (In Bromine Chambers) are awe inspiring. His vocal is absolutely scary. In a good way. I have certainly freaked out many neighbours with this song. To them, I am truly sorry. But I have to say, I still treasure the musical experience.The album contains many classics still relevant and being performed today. I have certainly turned many people on to Hammill with the song "The Comet, The Course, The Tail", an angst-ridden folk song with some of the most fabulously disturbing, but accurate, lyrics ever written. Other classics include "Again" and "Faint-Heart and the Sermon"."

One of the most underrated albums by an underrated genius!

Álex Balaclava | Madrid, Spain | 10/17/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this album a year ago and it's still fascinating me. I had read some unenthusiastic rewievs about it so I got it with a completist mood. But from the first listening it showed itself magic, both bright and dark, intense, romantic and -of course- dense. It signalled a change from Hammill's previous recordings: Few in common with the XIXth century meets sci-fi feeling of "Silent Corner...", "In Camera" displays a poppier, rockier mood, but in a rather enigmatic way. The song-structures are much modern than the prog average of those days (bar "Faint-heart...", an excellent melody developed in symphonic fashion, nowadays completely dated), though sometimes unpredictable. Electronic paraphernalia merged nicely with the usual piano/guitar based songs of Hammill. And the electric guitar, firstly used convincently by our hero in the amazing pre-Nadir "Tapeworm" (hard-rock/proto-new wave mixed with barbershop?). The song sequence is perfect: an aethereal beginning ("Ferret & the feather bird", a dense, surprising soliloque ("(No more)The submariner", agressive rock ("Tapeworm"), a hurting love song ("Again", pre-"Over"), an state-of-the-art meditation ("Faint-heart...", the only but of the record: you'll surely forgive it), and, to end, one of the most disarming explorations of free will and humankind ever recorded ("The comet", in galactic or so, folk fashion) and the terrifying misterious grandiosity of "Gog/Magog; In bromine chambers" (pre-goth; pre-industrial?). Seven completely different songs, but a lot in common in all of them: the magic of Peter Hammill poetry, wrath, fear and wonder. This record dates from my birth-year (1974), and compared with most hyped bullshit music since, "In Camera" stands firmly as an ode to intimate and sincere composition and recording (it was produced in -WOW!- 4 tracks! But it sounds great! ). It is said that the "In camera" proccess run paralell to the Peter's brother comma .Possibly and sadly it fed partly the paranoid and tortured spirit/atmosphere of this unknown masterpiece. Luckily, Hammill was there to convert all the dark/bright energies into art without comparison ...Again."

AN EXERCISE IN 'SELF'-PORTRAITURE

Larry L. Looney | Austin, Texas USA | 04/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album, originally released in 1974, is NOT, in my opinion, `...one of the least focused, pompous, not to say embarrassing albums of his career', as one reviewer below laments. I don't know what sort of audio system they utilized to play this recording, but I certainly wouldn't call it `tinny'. Guy Evans' drums (Peter's band-mate from Van der Graaf Generator) thunder like the hooves of all Four Horsemen at once. Throughout Peter's career, his music has changed stylistically from one release to the next. Some of his albums (such as 2002's stunning CLUTCH) are centered on his acoustic guitar work - some, like this one, are more keyboard-oriented. It's not a question of which method of arranging is best - Hammill chooses his instruments as the songs on each album demand, and according to his mood.The reviewer also takes exception to Peter's lyrics on IN CAMERA - again, I have to wonder if we're listening to the same record. The CD versions don't include the lyrics (which were presented on the inner sleeve of the original LP release) - they are, however, available for viewing on Peter's website. Perhaps the reviewer should venture there and have a serious read of them. Hammill's songs have always contained - and been driven by, whatever the arrangements - some of the most literate, probing and sophisticated lyrics in the history of rock (or any other) music. This album is no exception.There are a couple of songs that could be gently placed into the `love/relationship' category (`Ferret and featherbird', written back in 1969, and `Again') - but the majority of the tunes on this album are deep looks within himself, at the struggles that go on inside all of us over issues that are critical to our lives and happiness. The honesty of these looks is of a depth that therapists hope and pray their patients could exhibit. In none of these songs could Peter be considered in any way to be declaiming `more portentously than ever' or sounding `irritatingly overstyled'. Artists with the scope of vision displayed by Peter Hammill over the course of his (still going strong) 35-year-plus career have always been accused from time to time of leaving their audiences behind in their quest for experimentation and perfection of expression - Tim Buckley is an example that comes to mind, being condemned by many in the media as well as large numbers of fans when he shifted gears with his brilliant LORCA and STARSAILOR recordings. This album is FAR from being `...a clunker, and for completists only'.Many of Peter's best songs over the years have been those in which he turns his gaze upon - and within - himself. These songs are achingly, frighteningly, and brilliantly honest - Peter is a truth-seeker in the deepest sense of the word. `(No more) The sub-mariner' starts out looking at the artist's childhood - post-WWII British icons spring up in the lyrics like dandelions in a lush green lawn, giving the listener a view of a young boy's heroes and his aspirations. The song moves on to a hard look at the problem of choice within our lives, chronicling the time when one must DO something,`...instead of simply being one who talks
and reminisces of his fantasies,
as though life was nothing but to lose...
these only antecede the knowledge that, eventually,
he must choose.It's a hallmark of adulthood
that our options diminish
as our faculties for choice increase,
till we choose everything and nothing,
too late, at the finish.'In the stunning `Faint-heart and the sermon' - in my mind, the center- and masterpiece of the album - Peter turns his attentions to the struggle for/against faith. He describes the need for `something to which I can give my creed', literally reeling beneath the inner struggle raging inside his mind/soul:`On the verge of belief I crash onto the reef,
and a cynical thief steals my senses...
I'd gladly succumb to the wave,
if I thought the water taught a way to light;
I'd gladly succumb - I'm not brave,
and it's easy to believe what the preacher says,
except for the conflict raging between my head
and my brain.'He ends the song with the hope that he will find that something to which he can pray, indicating that he is trying his best to keep an open mind and heart:`Waiting for a moment
that I know will come,
when I'll have to run
and find another sermon.
Everyman and Noman
and the talking priest -
still, I am at least holding all the doors open.Inside me all outside is shared.'He addresses concepts and beliefs relating to god/spirituality again in `Gog/Magog (In bromine chambers)' - the album's concluding, almost 18-minute piece. The swirling sound-collage created by Peter for this pairing of songs is just what the lyrics demand - leaving the singer as well as the listener awash in audio waves which beautifully, eloquently replicate the maelstrom raging within the poet - I would hardly call it `...a dubbed-out bit of Sunday afternoon studio noodling'.`Tapeworm', like `(No more) The sub-mariner', is blindingly inward-looking, addressing the struggles to find `the way' in life, likening the quest to unraveling a knot. `The comet, the course and the tail' is another brilliant lyric dealing with the problem of choice and direction - a theme to which Peter returns, both fittingly and refreshingly, again and again throughout his career.I have to agree with the other reviewer on some points - Van der Graaf's albums were some of the finest `prog' (a label that Hammill disdains) albums ever recorded. Their music was intelligent, challenging, lyrically stimulating and emotional - but I see those same characteristics in every album Peter has ever had a hand in producing. The listener has to shed his own `faint heart' and be willing to take the leap of faith required to surrender to the guidance of the artist - not to be overwhelmed or brainwashed into thinking just like the poet, but in order to open doors of possibility within his/her own mind."