12" first released in '09....
You can buy it here
Rock - what are you listening to?
Re: Rock - what are you listening to?
Got this precious slab of vinyl this morning. It's a humbling experience listening to someone I've only recently discovered (Son of the Black Peace). Beautifully recorded solo Telecaster using minimal fx and not what one would expect with this combination....Stunning.
12" first released in '09....
You can buy it here
12" first released in '09....
You can buy it here
Re: Rock - what are you listening to?
Now for a session with Steve :) His releases, all of them, continue to bring a smile to my face....One of the few artist on ECM who was given free reign.
Last edited by cybot on Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Rock - what are you listening to?
I've been listening over the past week to Peter Hammill's Silent Corner and the Empty Stage. Recorded during the enforced sabbatical of Van der Graaf Generator, it contains some of his greatest songs. One of them, The Lie (Bernini's St. Theresa), might just be his finest achievement.
The Lie concerns a conflicted seeker after truth. He can sense the mystery in the church, the sense of adoration of the Other, yet his conscious mind feels compelled to debunk it. In the first verse, you have, on one hand, "genuflection", "sacristy cloth", "sacred secrets", and "benediction", whilst on the other you have "erection in church", "moth-eaten shroud", "fictional fear", the snigger of "incautious laughter after confession". This, to me, is the mind eternally being caught by the body which, in turn, is then caught by the mind in a vicious circle. Question followed by qualification, the overrriding impression is of a mind that is cosseted by self-assurance, yet fractured by self-doubt. What mystery, he seems to say, even "grace", a state to which the faithful aspire, is "just a word like chastity or Lucifer or mine". And yet, "you took me through the window stain, drowned in image, incense, choir-refrain and slow ecstasy". He seems to be consciously aware of being attracted to an all-consuming, all-satisfying belief, but he pulls himself back - "I'd embrace you if I only knew your name". And then the image of Bernini's famous sculpture of St. Theresa comes to mind, the vision of Teresa of Avila willingly submitting herself to a spear being thrust into her heart by an angel, and an expression on her face of ecstasy. It is the most direct reference in Renaissance art to the theological conflict between eros and agape (the physical love as opposed to the spiritual love). To the unbeliever, it appears to be an image of sexual consummation, whilst to the believer it represents a subsuming of oneself to God, a ripping aside of the body so that the soul can present itself unvarnished by the original sin of the body. It's a fascinating image to Hammill,and one which summons up grave doubts within his mind. On one hand his heart is tempted and seduced by the thought of embracing some unknowable Other (and "walking through the one-way door" of absolute faith), yet his mind pulls him back. He is left hanging in limbo. He is compelled to ask for a Name, and without that Name, he feels that acknowledgement of that Other would be a lie.
The central line here - "The silent corner haunts my shadow prayers./Ice-cold statue, rapture divine,/unconscious eyes, the open mouth,/the wound of love,/the Lie." - is one of his finest. The contrast between the "ice-cold statue" and "rapture divine" is significant and encapsulates in a very succinct way the essence of divine rapture in which the more ravished the lover, the more ardent her desire. And yet, whilst she experiences the rapture, she knows nothing of it on a conscious (or physical) level. The "ice-cold statue" and the "unconscious eyes" indicate her lack of knowledge of the event of her life, whilst the "wound of love" ultimately represents the transfigured mien of the "open mouth" and the "unconscious eyes". The implication of being "wounded by love" in this context is, ultimately, death. Yet, "love is as strong as death" (Song of Solomon 8:6), and love transcends death.
Ultimately, Hammill is deeply conflicted between his outward rationalisation of the effect that the image of the Bernini has on him, and what he is tugged by inwardly, which frightens him immeasurably, a question to which he has no answer and which is left unresolved, and which is epitomised in the primal roar of the closing scream of the words "the lie".
When I think of Bernini's St. Teresa and the images it confronts, what comes to my mind so very forcefully is one of Judee Sill's greatest songs, The Kiss. I believe that this was her most personal song. When speaking about this song, Sill confessed that she could never tell whether it was about physical love or spiritual love, but that she knew it was about a communion of opposites. The opposites, in one sense, are the divine and the human coming together, but also, the worthy deigning to descend to the level of the unworthy. Yet she does not dwell on the implications of the latter thought, but rather she is filled with an idealistic joy at the imminence of that Other which she has yearned for. It is no surprise that, like The Donor, this song had its genesis in a dream she had, but unlike the nightmare visions in The Donor (where she feared a life in limbo after her death as she expiated her sins on earth), this song simply encapsulates in a single concentrated moment of joyful expectancy everything she craved in her life. The expectant joy implicit in the words is redolent of the unconscious mouth waiting to receive the holy breath. She yearns in a very human way to give herself to her God. It's worth recalling the exact language that Teresa of Avila used when writing about her dream/vision:
"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it."
Like Teresa, Sill hungers passionately for her flesh to be stripped away from her, and yearns for her soul to be exposed. Unlike Hammill, Sill sees no conflict in her thought, the kiss is divine and all-encompasssing, a sweeping away of the detritus of her physical body (which she may well have detested, so emblematic it was of her transgressions and physical weaknesses) to be united in communion with that "holy breath". The ultimate consummation of this spiritual kiss is the "sad nova's dying cry". This is the very epitome of agape, or spiritual love, which Teresa felt in her heart, as opposed to eros, or physical love. The line - "Sun, siftin' thru the grey/Enter in, reach me with a ray/Silently swoopin' down/Just to show me/How to give my heart away" - conjures an image of a shaft of light penetrating the waiting Sill illuminating her from within. Key to this transfiguration of the spirit is the line - "And lately sparklin' hosts/Come fill my dreams descendin' on firey beams/ I've seen 'em come clear down/Where our poor bodies lay/Soothe us gently and say,/"Gonna wipe all your tears away" - which is a remarkably succinct expression of the pining after redemption that Sill yearned for.
Putting aside the lyrical content for a moment, it's worth mentioning that she achieves the desired effect of her song without resorting to sanctimonious platitudes or hectoring moralism (which blighted Dylan's conversion albums of the late 70s/early 80s). Her faith was a very personal thing that she expressed very simply without resorting to explicit religious imagery. The hallmark of this song, as it is of all her songs, is gentle naivete, which is all the more surprising given the harsh life she lived, yet it is this gentleness of touch that makes The Kiss such a deeply moving experience. The curious contrast between the gentle and unassuming innocence of her music and the harsh realities of her earlier life is something that I have always found interesting. In person, she was apparently extremely defensive and suspicious of people in general, which gave her the reputation of being difficult. The impression I get is of somebody who didn't really understand life outside her music and books, and so she expressed in her songs what she could not communicate to other people.
Very few videos of Judee Sill in performance exist, but thankfully, one of those videos is a priceless document of Sill performing The Kiss for The Old Grey Whistle Test. In this performance, she communicates simply yet so very effectively the intoxicating beauty of the song through the sheer gentle restraint of her singing. Eyes closed, utterly consumed by the music, and apparently lost to the world around her, this is a profoundly affecting version of one of the most sheerly beautiful songs I have ever heard. One dearly hopes that she did indeed find this redemptive grace on her passing which she so clearly craved all her life.
"Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." (Song of Solomon 8:6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbqczZP3tWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0feFedDW_iQ
The Lie concerns a conflicted seeker after truth. He can sense the mystery in the church, the sense of adoration of the Other, yet his conscious mind feels compelled to debunk it. In the first verse, you have, on one hand, "genuflection", "sacristy cloth", "sacred secrets", and "benediction", whilst on the other you have "erection in church", "moth-eaten shroud", "fictional fear", the snigger of "incautious laughter after confession". This, to me, is the mind eternally being caught by the body which, in turn, is then caught by the mind in a vicious circle. Question followed by qualification, the overrriding impression is of a mind that is cosseted by self-assurance, yet fractured by self-doubt. What mystery, he seems to say, even "grace", a state to which the faithful aspire, is "just a word like chastity or Lucifer or mine". And yet, "you took me through the window stain, drowned in image, incense, choir-refrain and slow ecstasy". He seems to be consciously aware of being attracted to an all-consuming, all-satisfying belief, but he pulls himself back - "I'd embrace you if I only knew your name". And then the image of Bernini's famous sculpture of St. Theresa comes to mind, the vision of Teresa of Avila willingly submitting herself to a spear being thrust into her heart by an angel, and an expression on her face of ecstasy. It is the most direct reference in Renaissance art to the theological conflict between eros and agape (the physical love as opposed to the spiritual love). To the unbeliever, it appears to be an image of sexual consummation, whilst to the believer it represents a subsuming of oneself to God, a ripping aside of the body so that the soul can present itself unvarnished by the original sin of the body. It's a fascinating image to Hammill,and one which summons up grave doubts within his mind. On one hand his heart is tempted and seduced by the thought of embracing some unknowable Other (and "walking through the one-way door" of absolute faith), yet his mind pulls him back. He is left hanging in limbo. He is compelled to ask for a Name, and without that Name, he feels that acknowledgement of that Other would be a lie.
The central line here - "The silent corner haunts my shadow prayers./Ice-cold statue, rapture divine,/unconscious eyes, the open mouth,/the wound of love,/the Lie." - is one of his finest. The contrast between the "ice-cold statue" and "rapture divine" is significant and encapsulates in a very succinct way the essence of divine rapture in which the more ravished the lover, the more ardent her desire. And yet, whilst she experiences the rapture, she knows nothing of it on a conscious (or physical) level. The "ice-cold statue" and the "unconscious eyes" indicate her lack of knowledge of the event of her life, whilst the "wound of love" ultimately represents the transfigured mien of the "open mouth" and the "unconscious eyes". The implication of being "wounded by love" in this context is, ultimately, death. Yet, "love is as strong as death" (Song of Solomon 8:6), and love transcends death.
Ultimately, Hammill is deeply conflicted between his outward rationalisation of the effect that the image of the Bernini has on him, and what he is tugged by inwardly, which frightens him immeasurably, a question to which he has no answer and which is left unresolved, and which is epitomised in the primal roar of the closing scream of the words "the lie".
When I think of Bernini's St. Teresa and the images it confronts, what comes to my mind so very forcefully is one of Judee Sill's greatest songs, The Kiss. I believe that this was her most personal song. When speaking about this song, Sill confessed that she could never tell whether it was about physical love or spiritual love, but that she knew it was about a communion of opposites. The opposites, in one sense, are the divine and the human coming together, but also, the worthy deigning to descend to the level of the unworthy. Yet she does not dwell on the implications of the latter thought, but rather she is filled with an idealistic joy at the imminence of that Other which she has yearned for. It is no surprise that, like The Donor, this song had its genesis in a dream she had, but unlike the nightmare visions in The Donor (where she feared a life in limbo after her death as she expiated her sins on earth), this song simply encapsulates in a single concentrated moment of joyful expectancy everything she craved in her life. The expectant joy implicit in the words is redolent of the unconscious mouth waiting to receive the holy breath. She yearns in a very human way to give herself to her God. It's worth recalling the exact language that Teresa of Avila used when writing about her dream/vision:
"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it."
Like Teresa, Sill hungers passionately for her flesh to be stripped away from her, and yearns for her soul to be exposed. Unlike Hammill, Sill sees no conflict in her thought, the kiss is divine and all-encompasssing, a sweeping away of the detritus of her physical body (which she may well have detested, so emblematic it was of her transgressions and physical weaknesses) to be united in communion with that "holy breath". The ultimate consummation of this spiritual kiss is the "sad nova's dying cry". This is the very epitome of agape, or spiritual love, which Teresa felt in her heart, as opposed to eros, or physical love. The line - "Sun, siftin' thru the grey/Enter in, reach me with a ray/Silently swoopin' down/Just to show me/How to give my heart away" - conjures an image of a shaft of light penetrating the waiting Sill illuminating her from within. Key to this transfiguration of the spirit is the line - "And lately sparklin' hosts/Come fill my dreams descendin' on firey beams/ I've seen 'em come clear down/Where our poor bodies lay/Soothe us gently and say,/"Gonna wipe all your tears away" - which is a remarkably succinct expression of the pining after redemption that Sill yearned for.
Putting aside the lyrical content for a moment, it's worth mentioning that she achieves the desired effect of her song without resorting to sanctimonious platitudes or hectoring moralism (which blighted Dylan's conversion albums of the late 70s/early 80s). Her faith was a very personal thing that she expressed very simply without resorting to explicit religious imagery. The hallmark of this song, as it is of all her songs, is gentle naivete, which is all the more surprising given the harsh life she lived, yet it is this gentleness of touch that makes The Kiss such a deeply moving experience. The curious contrast between the gentle and unassuming innocence of her music and the harsh realities of her earlier life is something that I have always found interesting. In person, she was apparently extremely defensive and suspicious of people in general, which gave her the reputation of being difficult. The impression I get is of somebody who didn't really understand life outside her music and books, and so she expressed in her songs what she could not communicate to other people.
Very few videos of Judee Sill in performance exist, but thankfully, one of those videos is a priceless document of Sill performing The Kiss for The Old Grey Whistle Test. In this performance, she communicates simply yet so very effectively the intoxicating beauty of the song through the sheer gentle restraint of her singing. Eyes closed, utterly consumed by the music, and apparently lost to the world around her, this is a profoundly affecting version of one of the most sheerly beautiful songs I have ever heard. One dearly hopes that she did indeed find this redemptive grace on her passing which she so clearly craved all her life.
"Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." (Song of Solomon 8:6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbqczZP3tWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0feFedDW_iQ
Last edited by mcq on Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:52 am, edited 4 times in total.
Gryphon Diablo 300, dCS Rossini (with matching clock), Kharma Exquisite Mini, Ansuz C2, Finite Elemente Master Reference.
Re: Rock - what are you listening to?
Thanks for taking the time to do another piece of brilliant writing Paul. If you keep this up there'll be no more need for me to buy music magazines anymore! Will have to read it at least a dozen times before it makes complete sense! I used to own that particular Hamill Lp. It came in a beautiful gatefold sleeve which I picked up for pittance. Unfortunately I swapped a lot of his albums which I regret bitterly to this day. I do own some of the good ones which fortunately I held on to, so it's not all bad. Incidentally there's a lovely interview with the erstwhile H in the current edition of Mojo. Must read it again.....I'm sure you're aware that he has a new album plus a box set of live stuff lurking around the ether
That Judee Sill clip is lovely too and I'm lucky to have it already on an OGW dvd. The innocent eagerness really comes through in her performance. That's a paradox if ever there was on! Anyway next time I peruse the lyrics of H and S I'll have a much better chance of understanding them!
That Judee Sill clip is lovely too and I'm lucky to have it already on an OGW dvd. The innocent eagerness really comes through in her performance. That's a paradox if ever there was on! Anyway next time I peruse the lyrics of H and S I'll have a much better chance of understanding them!
Re: Rock - what are you listening to?
Thank you, Dermot, for your kind words. They are greatly appreciated. I must check out that interview with Hammill in Mojo. I also must see him in concert again one of these days. He really is on spellbinding form. I bought that Hammill live box a while back and it is wonderful, a genuine testament to his art. I must write about it, but not tonight. Absolutely wonderful Chateauneuf-du-Pape tonight in the company of a breathtaking performance of Bach's B Minor Mass (Gardiner's version on DG Archiv). Life is good.
Gryphon Diablo 300, dCS Rossini (with matching clock), Kharma Exquisite Mini, Ansuz C2, Finite Elemente Master Reference.
Re: Rock - what are you listening to?
mcq wrote:Thank you, Dermot, for your kind words. They are greatly appreciated. I must check out that interview with Hammill in Mojo. I also must see him in concert again one of these days. He really is on spellbinding form. I bought that Hammill live box a while back and it is wonderful, a genuine testament to his art. I must write about it, but not tonight. Absolutely wonderful Chateauneuf-du-Pape tonight in the company of a breathtaking performance of Bach's B Minor Mass (Gardiner's version on DG Archiv). Life is good.
You're welcome, Paul....Spent a little time last night after reading your piece on The Lie rediscovering the lyrics plus doing a bit of reading about St. Teresa of Avilla and Bernini's sculpture. Absolutely spellbinding stuff! Still don't fully understand some of the lyrics but I'm definitely getting there...Also had a look at some second hand Hamill vinyl over at Discogs and I was amazed to see that they are easily obtained and at very reasonable prices! The ones that caught my eye included all the Lps I used to own, including Silent Corner, Nadir's Big Chance, ph7, The Future Now, In Camera....Happy days!
Re: Rock - what are you listening to?
Simply put, Silent Corner and In Camera are indispensable and remain cornerstones of the Hammill canon. The Future Now is superb and rather different in its way from the classic Over (released the previous year). It's one of his most adventurous albums (Mediaeval and A Motorbike in Afrika in particular), and really shows how hungry he was to work with synthesisers and drum machines. The Mousetrap is one of his most underrated songs, and one of his best (in my opinion). The stinging vitriol of Energy Vampires is also a standout. And the title track is a wonderfully bracing statement of intent, which receives a fine performance here, but the classic recording is on the live album, The Margin. Ph7 follows on from The Future Now and forms part of a trilogy with A Black Box. It must be said, though, that the live versions I've heard (whether on official releases or bootlegs) surpass the studio versions, but Hammill is in his natural environment in concert, and has given us some genuinely unhinged moments onstage over the years. Nadir's Big Chance is an interesting album. The wonderful elemental fire of the title track, Open Your Eyes and Nobody's Business were a profound influence on John Lydon who, during a 1977 radio interview, expressed his admiration and respect for the man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdtFHLT8 ... ure=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJ1mtXbtls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzHCOfsy5o4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKoP19WHcFA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdtFHLT8 ... ure=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJ1mtXbtls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzHCOfsy5o4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKoP19WHcFA
Gryphon Diablo 300, dCS Rossini (with matching clock), Kharma Exquisite Mini, Ansuz C2, Finite Elemente Master Reference.