Search - Peter Hammill :: Skin (Reis)

Eighties Hammill

Stephen Andrews | London | 06/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"All but a reunion of Van Der Graaf Generator in terms of personnel, and harkening to the latter-day spirit in terms of some of the tone, Skin is nonetheless Peter Hammill continuing to declare his own direction minute by minute, rather than plotting overarching career goals. There is more of a dependence on MIDI on this album, and a lot of obvious keyboard support, but the core human players come through loud and clear, especially Guy Evans on drums and David Jackson on saxes. It is odd to hear Hammill belting his way through a song with the support of sampled and synthesized horns and a rocking beat, especially when the song is about the death of art ("Painting By Numbers"), but it's also a welcome relief -- that ability to flex is exactly the thing that has helped to keep the man's creative existence alive since 1967. The album is also highlighted by "Four Pails," a beautiful song by longtime Hammill confederate Chris Judge-Smith. Originally issued in vinyl on Foundry Records, home also to Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark at the time, the album subsequently had several CD reissues, all atrocious in terms of sound and art quality, but this new EMI reissue at last does the music and artwork justice, though one surely has to have - in terms of sheer beauty in every aspect - the Japanese mini-LP version.

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