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░ ██ ██ Artist: Peter Hammill ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: ..All That Might Have Been.. █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2014 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2015-09-27 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Progressive Rock ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Fie! Records ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ Reviewing a new Peter Hammill album is never easy, █
█ but itÆs always fun. Never more so than now. █
█ HammillÆs had something of a late-career █
█ renaissance, producing some of the most █
█ intellectually dense (Incoherence) and emotionally █
█ moving (Thin Air) albums in the mid to late 2000s, █
█ plus the outstanding Otherworld with Gary Lucas, █
█ released earlier this year. █
█ But hereÆs the fun part: none of those albums, or █
█ indeed anything in HammillÆs expansive oeuvre, █
█ could prepare one for the sprawling àall that █
█ might have beenà Welcome to a musical film, where, █
█ as Hammill says, the music is both film and █
█ soundtrack. Welcome to the world of Alien Clocks █
█ and Piper Smiles, to vocals as wild as anything █
█ since HammillÆs guest stint on Robert FrippÆs █
█ Exposure. And while youÆre walking around this █
█ sonic wonderland, you wonÆt be able to ignore █
█ guitar riffs lifted straight out of HammillÆs █
█ pre-punk NadirÆs Big Chance album, and overall the █
█ most sonically dense and widest palette of sounds █
█ HammillÆs thrown together to date. █
█ àall that might have beenà comes in two formats. █
█ The main presentation of the work is meant to be a █
█ 70-odd minute audio version of a film. To that █
█ end, snippets of songs are woven together to form █
█ a kind of anti-narrative that nonetheless gives █
█ clues as to situations and predicaments. The film █
█ that HammillÆs making, of course, isnÆt a █
█ Hollywood blockbuster. It isnÆt even new. Instead, █
█ it plays out like an homage to the French New Wave █
█ films, film noir, and perhaps a certain Japanese █
█ film called Audition. HammillÆs character comes █
█ off as an amalgam of all the tough-guy romantic █
█ gangster types with, if not hearts of gold, a █
█ sense of existential dread û think Belmondo in █
█ GodardÆs Breathless or Pierrot le Fou. The █
█ unsettling time jumps in HammillÆs work are also a █
█ nod to ResnaisÆs Hiroshima, Mon Amour. █
█ The Japanese theme of the last film mentioned █
█ isnÆt an accident. A good portion of the action in █
█ this album takes place in a metropolitan area of █
█ Japan. (Perhaps Hammill was doing research during █
█ his extended residencies in Japan over the past █
█ several years.) What happens in Japan stays █
█ between the 0s and 1s of the disc, but we get █
█ enough of a sense to know that our character has █
█ brought a heap of trouble on himself. █
█ And then thereÆs the Piper Smile. In a sense, this █
█ story, such as it is, draws heavily from several █
█ of the faerie myths of the Piper, who gave a gift █
█ to a poor soul with instructions to never █
█ disrespect the gift. As these tales go, the giftÆs █
█ recipient inevitably messes up, and is left bereft █
█ once more. The woman HammillÆs character is █
█ romantically involved with is the Piper. Her gift █
█ was narrative. █
█ An unsettling but wholly satisfying piece of work █
█ for sure, but thereÆs more. Hammill is releasing █
█ this cine-album as a single disc, but heÆs also █
█ releasing It as one of a three-disc set. Disc two █
█ of this set comprises the full songs from which █
█ the snippets that weave in and out of disc one are █
█ taken. A curious move, for sure, to release the █
█ album of actual songs as an ôextra.ö But HammillÆs █
█ confidence in the cine-album as having enough █
█ strength to be the leading card is well-placed. █
█ The songs, probably because in some sense Hammill █
█ knew that they were going to be spliced up, are █
█ themselves full of changes. Almost all the songs █
█ go through several dramatic changes and rarely end █
█ up where they started. ItÆs as if one of the epic █
█ and lengthy songs by his band, Van der Graaf █
█ Generator, was compressed into a five-minute █
█ frame, with all the abrupt changes left intact. █
█ Disc two, consists of ten excellent new songs by █
█ Hammill, which provide a hell of a musical ride of █
█ another kind. The third disc is simply four long █
█ tracks with improvisations on the main themes █
█ presented in the first two discs. A nice listen, █
█ but without the punch of the ôcineö disc or the █
█ ôsongsö disc. █
█ Hyperbole is its own worst enemy in the genre of █
█ music reviewing, so believe me when I say IÆm █
█ taking the leap anyway and putting my money on █
█ this one being the most ambitious and successful █
█ album of HammillÆs career. █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. In Overview 2:48 ░
░ 2. The Last Time 1:42 ░
░ 3. Never Wanted 2:16 ░
░ 4. As For Him 1:52 ░
░ 5. Nowhere Special 1:38 ░
░ 6. Piper Smile 1:13 ░
░ 7. Wanted to Belong 1:52 ░
░ 8. This Might.... 1:50 ░
░ 9. Inklings, Darling 3:30 ░
░ 10. Be Careful 1:38 ░
░ 11. Alien Clock 5:52 ░
░ 12. Drifting Through 2:16 ░
░ 13. Washed Up 2:07 ░
░ 14. Rumpled Sheets 3:02 ░
░ 15. Fool-Proof 1:50 ░
░ 16. Can't Get Home 1:48 ░
░ 17. Washed Away 1:41 ░
░ 18. Back Road 2:12 ░
░ 19. The Line Goes Dead 2:01 ░
░ 20. He Turns Away 1:58 ░
░ 21. Hooks 2:14 ░
░ 47:20 ░
░ ▒ ▒
▓ █ ░ ▓ ░
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