Peter Hammill on track

Author: Richard Rees Jones
Publisher: Sonicbond Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1789521963
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 236

Book Description
The British singer, songwriter and musician Peter Hammill is one of the key figures in the history of progressive rock. As the leader and main creative force of Van der Graaf Generator, he was behind some of the most powerful and compelling rock music of the 1970s, and since VdGG reformed in 2005 has continued to lead the group down a unique musical path. But Van der Graaf Generator are only part of the Peter Hammill story. Beginning with 1971’s Fool’s Mate and continuing all the way to 2021’s In Translation, Hammill has carved out a lengthy solo career consisting of some 35 albums, plus many live albums and collaborations. The range of styles in evidence on these albums is remarkable, from baroque progressive rock to snotty proto-punk, angular new wave, delicate ballads, electronic experiments and he even wrote and recorded a full-length opera. This is the first book to offer an in-depth exploration of Peter Hammill’s solo discography, revealing the sonic intensity and emotional turmoil that lie at the heart of his work. The book is an invaluable companion to Dan Coffey’s Van der Graaf Generator On Track. Richard Rees-Jones lives in Geneva, Switzerland, where he works for an international organization. He previously lived in Vienna and wrote the chapter on music for the Time Out Guide to Vienna. He has also written album reviews for the acclaimed music website The Quietus and for The Sound Projector magazine. He comes from Salisbury, south-west England, and studied English at Sussex University. He is married with two children. This is his first book.

PETER HAMMILL

Author: RICHARD REES. JONES
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781789521634
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description

Van Der Graaf Generator, the Book

Author: Jim Christopulos
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780955133701
Category : Rock groups
Languages : en
Pages : 317

Book Description

Hawkwind: Days of the Underground

Author: Joe Banks
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 1913689123
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 530

Book Description
An account of the English rock band Hawkwind shows them to be one of the most innovative and culturally significant bands of the 1970s. Fifty years on from when it first formed, the English rock band Hawkwind continues to inspire devotion from fans around the world. Its influence reaches across the spectrum of alternative music, from psychedelia, prog, and punk, through industrial, electronica, and stoner rock. Hawkwind has been variously, if erroneously, positioned as the heir to both Pink Floyd and the Velvet Underground, and as Britain's answer to the Grateful Dead and Krautrock. It has defined a genre—space rock—while operating on a frequency that's uniquely its own. Hawkwind offered a form of radical escapism and an alternative account of a strange new world for a generation of young people growing up on a planet that seemed to be teetering on the brink of destruction, under threat from economic meltdown, industrial unrest, and political polarization. While other commentators confidently asserted that the countercultural experiment of the 1960s was over, Hawkwind took the underground to the provinces and beyond. In Days of the Underground, Joe Banks repositions Hawkwind as one of the most innovative and culturally significant bands of the 1970s. It's not an easy task. As with many bands of this era, a lazy narrative has built up around Hawkwind that doesn't do justice to the breadth of its ambition and achievements. Banks gives the lie to the popular perception of Hawkwind as one long lysergic soap opera; with Days of the Underground, he shows us just how revolutionary Hawkwind was.

Aimee Mann On Track

Author: Jez Rowden
Publisher: On Track
ISBN: 9781789520361
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
Any consideration of the songwriting craft would be incomplete without the inclusion of American singer/songwriter Aimee Mann. From her first steps as singer and bass player with '80s synth pop band 'Til Tuesday, who scored a massive MTV hit with 'Voices Carry' in 1985, she has continually produced starkly autobiographical and often ironically melodic songs that cut through the emotional detail. With a career now spanning almost forty years, she has built a catalogue of nine studio albums since going solo in the early 1990s and, via a series of record label frustrations, has developed into a fiercely independent recording artist, flying outside the mainstream. Her critical acclaim has never wavered, and whilst happy to work in a niche market, her soundtrack for the film Magnolia and the accompanying Oscar nomination raised her profile considerably, adding to her stalwart army of fans. This book gives an overview of Aimee Mann's career from her earliest days, making it big with 'Til Tuesday and onward through her solo career to date, investigating every recorded track in a comprehensive guide for fans and new listeners keen to investigate a true original and double Grammy winner whose songs should be much more widely recognised.

Shouting Down the Passage of Time

Author: Dagmar Klein
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3831108811
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Book Description
Put on your high-heel sneakers (or your carpet slippers) and join a tour of the Black Rooms with their shuttered windows, of the Green Rooms and the adjoining stages. Meet the man on the stage, flanked by Hamlet and Heisenberg, uncertain of what was and what will be, but quite assured that he cannot keep time: Peter Hammill. The critical toolbox and the associative palette are used in roughly equal measures, leaving scholarly glyphs as well as poetic graffiti down Hammill's passage of time. The shouting, however, is up to you!

Joni Mitchell

Author: Peter Kearns
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781789520811
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
In her long career, Canadian songstress Joni Mitchell has been hailed as everything from 1960s folk icon to 20th century cultural figure, artistic iconoclast to musical heroine, extreme romantic confessor to outspoken commentator and lyrical painter. While some criticised what they viewed as her seeming dismissal of commercial considerations, she simply viewed her trajectory as that of any artist serious about the integrity of their work. But whatever musical position she took, she was always one step ahead of the game, making eclectic and innovative music. Albums like The Ladies Of The Canyon, Blue, Hejira and Mingus helped define each era of the 1970s, as she moved from exquisitely pitched singer songwriter material towards jazz. Her past influence was obvious in the 1980s when hoards of assuming successors (some highly respectable) gathered her exotic breadcrumbs with a view to distilling their illusive compounds, while Joni simultaneously forged ahead. This book revisits her studio albums in detail from 1968's Song to a Seagull to 2007's Shine, providing anecdote and insight into the recording sessions, an in depth analysis along with a complimentary level of lyrical and instrumental examination.

Camel

Author: Hamish Kuzminski
Publisher: On Track
ISBN: 9781789520408
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
Formed in Guildford, Surrey in England in 1971, Camel, though not directly part of the genre, were strongly influenced by the bands emerging from Canterbury in Kent at the same time. In particular, the band mixed humour and profundity, in a similar way to bands like Caravan and Hatfield and the North. However, and there's a clue in the name, and their music seamlessly integrated Middle Eastern and North African themes, forms and rhythms - as well as Jazz, folk and classical elements - to create an exciting and exotic new strand to the ballooning world of progressive rock in the early 1970s. After two critically well-received, but unsuccessful albums, Camel came to transatlantic attention in 1975 with the release of purely instrumental The Snow Goose, inspired by Paul Gallico's novella of the same name. The chart success of that album led to a sold-out performance in October 1975 at the Royal Albert Hall (with the London Symphony Orchestra, no less, in tow), and cemented the band's place in the ongoing story of progressive rock. The band has had its fair share of tragedy, including the death of founder Peter Bardens and serious illness to guitarist and flame-carrier Andy Latimer. Nonetheless, with Latimer still at the helm, and after almost 50 years and fourteen studio albums, Camel continue to perform to rapturous receptions across the world. This track by track analysis takes the reader along on their half-century journey, carving out a special, inimitable niche in British rock music.

Level 42

Author: Matt Phillips
Publisher: On Track
ISBN: 9781789521023
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
One of the most iconic and successful British bands of the 1980s, Level 42 are also arguably the ultimate 'fusion' unit, streamlining their energetic early jazz/funk/rock sound into slick, effortlessly-soulful pop music. Encompassing eleven studio albums, including twenty UK top 40 hits and two US top twenty singles, their catalogue, in many ways, defines the '80s but also reflects their musical virtuosity and vibrant eclecticism, peppering tracks with influences from Herbie Hancock, Return To Forever and The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Emerging from the so-called 'Britfunk' scene, Level 42 developed from being one of the most electrifying live acts of the era to become a true songwriters' collective, delivering the effervescent, ubiquitous hits 'The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)', 'Something About You' and 'Lessons In Love'. Level 42 - on track is the first in-depth study of the band's illustrious catalogue, track by track, album by album, with recording information, musical analysis, studio gossip, full musician credits and contributions from Mark King and Gary Husband. The book also covers the solo projects of the band's many members. Level 42 - on track is a must for fans and those interested in the wider musical landscape of the 1980s and 1990s.

Gong Every Album, Every Song (On Track )

Author: Kevan Furbank
Publisher: On Track
ISBN: 9781789520828
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Book Description
Every now and then a band comes along that defies convention, refuses to be pigeon-holed, thumbs its nose at comfy predictability and blows raspberries at commercial wisdom. That band is Gong. From 1970 to the present day, Gong have ploughed a unique musical furrow - part progressive rock, part spacey psychedelia, part proto-punk, ambient trance, drum 'n' bass and absurdist political performance art. With a cup of tea in hand (and a revolving propellor on his head) long-time fan Kevan Furbank examines all the Gong albums from Magick Brother in 1970 to 2019's The Universe Also Collapses, chronicles the stories behind each recording and examines the songwriting, arrangements and mythology that inspired each track - with new insights from Gong bassist Mike Howlett and synth wizard Tim Blake. In doing so, he also looks at the contributions made by the many great musicians who have passed through Gong in the last 50-odd years, including guitar hero Steve Hillage, mercurial drummer Pierre Moerlen, flute and sax maestro Didier Malherbe and, of course, hippy foole, whimsical visionary and Gong founder Daevid Allen. He also attempts to gather together the branches and off-shoots of the Gong family tree - including Mother Gong, Gongmaison and Pierre Moerlen's Gong - and the important solo recordings.If you have never heard any Gong, this book is the perfect introduction. If you have, you will want to go back and revisit the glorious music this band has made. In the words of the Pot Head Pixies, why don't you try...