Peter Hammill
The Future Now

THE REVIEW

An album difficult to judge, this "The Future Now" (1978), the seventh solo LP of Peter Hammill, at the time divided between personal ambitions and yet another incarnation of Van Der Graaf (no longer Generator, due to Jackson's departure). Twelve tracks that make up a fragmented, restless running time, constantly battling between old prog reminiscences and new electronic/experimental frontiers, between notable moments and evident intermediary passages.

Can the music still be called "progressive"? The concept is still fitting, the sounds a bit less so: if "The Mouse Trap" recalls the VDDG Still Life period, many other tracks, like "Trappings" or "Energy Vampires," deeply belong to Hammill's solitary sensibility, who in the meantime is becoming increasingly interested in synthesizers, electronic and avant-garde noises. Unfortunately, this creative anxiety is not always on target, as in the hasty "A Motorbike In Africa": a jumble of synthetic percussion and industrial noises that accompany the artist's inconclusive narrative.

When the lightness of the piano takes back its role, and the modernist textures become less oppressive, Hammill hits the mark (almost) like a few years earlier: this is the case with the concluding "Palinurus (Castaway)," which, while not giving up on the synths, offers a more classical and reassuring conclusion. Splendid, on the same coordinates, is "If I Could," sung with intensity and enriched by acoustic guitar arpeggios and strings.

Despite remaining a work of fine craftsmanship, there is a sense of general decline in inspiration in both songwriting and execution (nevertheless, the almost frippertronic noises that hover in more than one composition are worth noting): however, an interesting LP, courageous and personal (framed by a poor cover).