Contenido de esta entrada:
Enlaces, reediciones, letras y opinión personal
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| Portada del álbum The Future Now |
Enlaces interesantes sobre Peter Hammill y Van der Graaf Generator:
En este artículo nos ocupamos del séptimo álbum en solitario de Peter Hammill, The Future Now, publicado en 1978.
En un anterior artículo comentamos los comienzos de la banda de rock progresivo Van der Graaf Generator desde su formación en Manchester en 1967 hasta la publicación de su primer álbum en 1969 "The Aerosol Grey Machine": 1969: El Generador de Van de Graaff y el aerosol gris
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| Portada del primer de álbum Van der Graaf Generator |
Lo primero que hizo su manager Tony Stratton-Smith tras de fundar Charisma Records fue reclutar al grupo para el nuevo sello. El sello se convertiría en un referente del rock progresivo.
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| Famoso logo del sello usado a partir de 1972 |
En un anterior artículo comentamos el segundo álbum de Van der Graaf Generator, The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other, publicado en febrero de 1970. El álbum logró cierto éxito comercial y el reconocimiento de la crítica en Reino Unido y Europa. 1970: Lo menos que podemos hacer es saludarnos unos a otros
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| Portada de su segundo álbum The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other |
En un anterior artículo comentamos el tercer álbum de Van der Graaf Generator, H to He, Who Am the Only One publicado en diciembre de 1970: 1970: Fusión del hidrógeno en helio
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| Portada del tercer álbum Van der Graaf Generator |
Un anterior artículo lo dedicamos al primer álbum de Peter Hammill en solitario, Fool's Mate en el que colaboraron sus colegas de Van der Graaf Generator publicado en junio de 1971: 1971: El jaque mate de Peter Hammill
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| Portada del álbum Fool's Mate |
En un anterior artículo continuamos comentando su historia hasta la publicación de su cuarto álbum Pawn Hearts: 1971: Corazones de peón con Van der Graaf Generator
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| Portada del álbum Pawn Heart |
Tras la publicación del álbum las giras regulares por Europa siguieron durante los siguientes cuatro meses, pero la tensión de la carga de trabajo se volvió demasiado para la banda, y se separaron en agosto de 1972.
La separación de Hammill con el grupo fue amistosa, y Banton, Jackson y Evans, entre otros, contribuyeron a su trabajo en solitario en varias ocasiones.
En un anterior artículo comentamos su segundo álbum en solitario Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night publicado en 1973: 1973: El camaleón en la sombra de la noche con Peter Hammill
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| Portada del álbum Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night. |
En un anterior artículo comentamos su tercer álbum, The Silent Corner and The Empty Stage, publicado en 1974: 1974: Peter Hammill en el rincón silencioso y el escenario vacío.
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| Portada del tercer álbum de Peter Hammill |
En un anterior artículo nos ocupamos de su cuarto álbum en solitario titulado In Camera que fue publicado en julio de 1974: 1974: En la cámara con Peter Hammill
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| Portada del álbum In Camera |
En un anterior artículo nos ocupamos de su quinto álbum en solitario Nadir's Big Chance publicado en 1975: 1975: La gran oportunidad de Nadir y de Peter Hammill.
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| Portada del álbum Nadir's Big Chance |
En un anterior artículo nos ocupamos de la reunión de Van der Graaf Generator y de su quinto álbum, Godbluff, publicado en 1975. De paso comentamos el disco The Long Hello publicado por el resto de la banda antes de la reunión en 1974: 1975: Godbluff y primera reunión de VdGG
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| Portada del álbum Godbluff |
En un anterior artículo nos ocupamos de su sexto álbum de estudio, Still Life, publicado en 1976: 1976: El bodegón de VdGG.
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| Portada del álbum Still Life |
En un anterior artículo nos ocupamos del séptimo álbum de estudio World Record: 1976: World Record de Van der Graaf Generator.
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| Portada del álbum World Record |
En un anterior artículo comentamos su octavo álbum de estudio The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome publicado en 1977: 1977: La zona tranquila y la cúpula del placer de Van der Graaf.
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| Portada del álbum The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome |
En un anterior artículo nos ocupamos del sexto álbum en solitario de Peter Hammill, Over, publicado en 1977: 1977: Se acabó la relación de Hammill con Alicia
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| Portada del álbum Over |
En un anterior artículo comentamos el primer álbum en vivo de VdGG, Live, publicado en 1978: 1978: Vital, Van der Graaf en vivo.
Grabación del álbum
Antecedentes
Tras el lanzamiento del álbum Vital en julio de 1978, VdGG se separó debido a la falta de apoyo de la compañía discográfica en los Estados Unidos y las dificultades financieras.
En febrero de 1978 Hammill hizo una gira por los Estados Unidos mientras trabajaba en la preparación de su próximo álbum en solitario.
Grabación
Su séptimo álbum de estudio en solitario The Future Now fue grabado del 18 de marzo al 26 de abril de 1978 en el estudio Sofa Sound, Byfleet, Surrey. El propio Hammill actuó como ingeniero. Resto de sobregrabaciones y mezcla se realizaron en los estudios Rockfield con el ingeniero Pat Moran. Fue producido por Peter Hammill.
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| Pat Moran |
Hammill se encargó de tocar casi todos los instrumentos (guitarras, teclados, armónica, cajas rítmicas, percusión, voces).
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| Graham Smith |
También participó el saxofonista David Jackson, que ya había abandonado VdGG, siendo su última participación con la banda los conciertos de enero en la Marquee que dieron lugar al álbum en vivo Vital.
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| David Jackson |
Contenido
El álbum incluye doce canciones breves, algunas en el estilo new wave del último trabajo de estudio de Van der Graaf Generator, The Quiet Zone / The Pleasure Dome. El álbum significa el fin de una etapa en la que los álbumes en solitario eran en parte una prolongación de VdGG y el comienzo de otra ya totalmente desligado de la banda. Los textos son aún más intensos y crudos que en los álbumes anteriores.
Con cada álbum espero hacer algo nuevo y aprender algunas cosas. Con cada álbum espero cometer errores. Algunos de ellos, desde luego, sirven de experiencia".Hammill
El álbum abre con la enérgica y poderosa “Pushing Thirty”, donde Hammill combina narración y canto, respaldado por una instrumentación densa que resalta el saxofón de Jackson, el piano y una base rítmica que, aunque pueda parecer elemental, resulta increíblemente efectiva.
La caja rítmica y el bajo le dan vida a la envolvente “The Second Hand”, construida sobre una base minimalista en midtempo que se enriquece con otro magnífico solo de saxo de Jackson.
La guitarra acústica toma el protagonismo en “Trappings”, mientras Hammill canta solemnemente acompañado de un sorprendente fondo formado por varias capas de su voz, una en falsete y otras en tonos graves.
El Hammill más melancólico se manifiesta en “The Mousetrap (Caught In)”, un tema otoñal de piano y voz.
El Hammill más melancólico se manifiesta en “The Mousetrap (Caught In)”, un tema otoñal de piano y voz.
Uno de los temas más impactantes de Hammill es “Energy Vampires”, donde el violín imparable de Graham Smith se entrelaza de manera magistral con las capas vocales que Hammill teje con destreza.
El lado A concluye con la romántica “If I Could”, un lazo con su pasado reciente, especialmente con los temas de Over (1977). El violín y la guitarra acústica forman la base de una interpretación vocal sobria y melancólica.
El lado B comienza con el tema que da nombre al álbum, una verdadera declaración de intenciones, llena de reflexiones y deseos sobre el mundo y la sociedad actual. Musicalmente, es un tema intenso, construido sobre un piano básico, una guitarra eléctrica estridente y desgarradora que surge y se desvanece, y la voz de Hammill en su máximo esplendor, clamando por un futuro inmediato y mejor.
En “Still in the Dark” se reflexiona sobre la relación entre religión y ciencia.
La impresionante “Mediaevil”, oscura y furiosa en igual medida, se construye esencialmente con múltiples capas de voces, como si Hammill cantara desde lo profundo de una caverna, acompañado por un coro gregoriano que él mismo moldea a su antojo.
El Hammill más experimental y libre se manifiesta en el tema “A Motor-Bike In Afrika”, donde experimenta con la caja rítmica mientras canta de forma sombría, utilizando múltiples voces. Este tema influiría en bandas post- punk.
El disco cierra con “Palinurus (Castaway)”, una pieza que arranca con sintetizadores oscilantes que van y vienen, para transformarse inesperadamente en un tema romántico. En este, Peter toca la armónica, aportando un aire de cantautor callejero.
Lanzamiento del álbum
Portada
La portada del álbum muestra una fotografía de Brian Griffin que retrata a Peter Hammill con la mitad de su bigote y barba afeitada. Se hicieron varias fotografías alternativas que se utilizaron en la contraportada y en la funda interior. La funda interior en el lanzamiento original en el Reino Unido tenía forma de tríptico desplegable.
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| Contraportada del álbum |
Lanzamiento
El álbum fue lanzado en septiembre de 1978 en el Reino Unido. No llegó a las listas. Fue por tanto el primer álbum en solitario de Hammill tras la separación de VdGG.
Fue publicado también en Estados Unidos, Canadá, Francia, Italia, Países Bajos, España, Escandinavia, Grecia y Japón.
En Canadá se publicó el sencillo If I Could / The Future Now.
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| Contraportada del sencillo |
El 12 de septiembre de 1979 grabó una sesión para el programa de John Peel de la BBC en la que interpretó Mediaevil.
Recepción
François Couture, de AllMusic, comentó: The Future Now es uno de los mejores y más desconcertantes álbumes de Peter Hammill desde mediados de los años 70. Lleno de hermosas baladas de piano, experimentos extraños y himnos de rock...The Future Now es un álbum de artista. Requiere dedicación pero recompensa cien veces más.
Enlaces, reediciones, letras y opinión personal
Lista de temas
Todas las canciones escritas por Peter Hammill.
Lado uno
Lado dos
Enlace a la lista de reproducción del álbum completo: The Future Now
Opinión personal sobre el álbum:
Creo que es un álbum muy ecléctico, algo que la portada ya sugiere al mostrar dos facetas de Hammill. Esto podría deberse a que se trata de un disco de transición tras la separación de VdGG, marcando una nueva etapa para él. Hammill interpreta casi todos los instrumentos, salvo por las contribuciones ocasionales del violinista Graham Smith y el saxofonista David Jackson, lo que hace que el álbum sea aún más personal. Todo esto lo convierte en uno de los mejores trabajos de su discografía.
Reediciones
Fue reeditado en LP en 1986.
Fue reeditado por primera vez en CD en 1988 en Japón y Reino Unido.
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| Contraportada de la edición de 1988 |
En 2006 fue reeditado remasterizado con dos bonus tracks grabados en vivo en The All Souls Unitarian Church, Kansas City, EE. UU. el 16 de febrero de 1978:
Créditos
Peter Hammill – guitarras, voz, teclados, armónica, electrónica
Graham Smith - violín (5, 6, 12)
David Jackson - saxofón (1, 2, 12)
Letras
Pushing Thirty
Seems the fashion's for one-liners these days,
the kind that get up everyone's nose,
so much back-slapping that the vertabrae
are fatally exposed....
Me, I'm pushing thirty, pulling sixteen,
though much of what's around me is dead.
They got so shirty when I tried to glean
the meaning from what they'd said:
"If you wanna be a viable artist when you're twenty-five
you'd better be a meat-head by the time you're twenty-one."
But now I'm pushing thirty and I'm still alive,
so tell me who, tell me who has won?
See the survivors in the upcoming acts,
they and the moguls make a regular killing -
others take it lying on their backs,
young blood is always so willing.
Me, I'm pushing thirty, that's the way it is,
too late to change my mind.
They play it dirty in the record biz
and you've got to toe the line.
If you wanna be an A & R man when the singing's done
you'd better make sure that you hedge your bets.
Me, I'm pushing thirty and still having fun,
I haven't stopped, haven't stopped that yet!
All the writers watch each other for the way to go,
follow each other like lemmings -
swear they're all waiting for Nicky Lowe
to turn out like David Hemmings...
Me, I'm pushing thirty and the steady zone,
perhaps I should retire,
but even if it all deserts me and I'm left alone
I still know that I'm fuelled by fire.
In this rubbish world you've got to keep that under the lid,
'cos they all hope it'll disappear...
but even though I'm pushing thirty,
maybe on the skids,
I still can be, I still can be
Nadir!
The Second Hand
See the old man acting like a fool,
running from the ambulance.
When he was a youngster he broke all the rules -
now he says that was just accident.
Always had the feeling he was going to die young,
so now he feels repentant;
but the judge was progressive and the jury was hung,
he got a suspended sentence.
So he ran from the future, he ran from the past,
he ran from the desert of the hour-glass
but the sea of time is a rising flood
and he's swamped by the wave.
His arms go limp by his side,
he only came for the ride,
he thought he'd hold back the tide,
Canute.
One eye on the main chance and one eye on the clock,
oh, when did his brain go?
And when does a veteran get to be a crock...
no gold at the end of this rainbow!
He always boxed clever with his shadowy hopes
but now he's in trouble with his back on the ropes
and the hands of time are bunched into fists:
he's out for the count.
The sword has sunk in the lake
and now he's watching dawn break
and now he waits for the stake,
Drakul.
This boy's a fool,
this fool's a man,
all men are ruled
by the second hand.
Trappings
He could have been so great, he could have had it all,
he had it on a plate, but he threw it at the wall.
And he can't know why, but he still said "yes"
to the easy lie and the poisoned vest...
the trappings of success.
They offered him the deal (Here's the contract)
just like an autograph (sign on the line)
no need to think or feel (advances are abstract)
or do anything but laugh (the future defined.)
He's in possession, yes he's possessed;
they had no fear, he was so impressed
by the trappings of success.
You'll see him down the clubs or at the premiere
(it's just another movie, it's just another act)
stumming in a pub, everywhere that's anywhere...
(he's a man of the people, just as long as the people
don't talk back)
on the Rio shore or the Rome express
with a Chinese whore or a Greek princess...
these are the trappings of success.
But he's got no home and he's got no friends
and the human mass repel him.
Now he's on his own and can't comprehend
did he sell out or was he celled in?
(He's a prisoner in a gilded cage.
He's a prisoner...he's all the rage.)
He's waiting for his plane and his first-class seat;
they've blown out his brains with sticky kiddies' sweets;
the limo, the coke, the celebrity guest-list,
the toady jokes and the gutter press...
the trappings of success,
these are the trappings of success.
The trappings of success,
the trap of fame;
(in) the trap...big game.
The Mousetrap (Caught in)
After all is said and done, not very much will have been either way:
I'm a chronicler of action, I'm an actor in the play.
I know the lines I have to speak,
I know that I won't ever quit, corpse, or dry,
but the performance gets so pointless
and the days just drift on by.
Every time that I go to turn the pages of the calendar
in the third act of this twenty-ninth year of the show
I'm aware of the latest leading lady and get mad at her...
it's perfunctory, but why she'll never know.
When I began I had my hopes,
believed that I could be a leading light of the stage,
but now I've stunned myself to silence,
exhausted all my inner rage,
extinguished all my joy and violence,
trapped all my feelings in a cage.
Every time that I go to turn the pages of the calendar
I can see that I'm not really going anywhere;
all these years I have skirted round experience like a scavenger.
Can I really feel? I wonder if I dare?
At the end of the run, will there be anyone who cares?
And behind the actor's pose, heaven knows
if there's anyone left in there.
Energy Vampires
Hunched in the corner of the dressing-room,
trying to get back to the real...
Uh-oh, here they come, ready for their meal:
Energy Vampires, crawling out of the wall,
they want to steal my vitality,
they want to drink it all.
This guy says that he wrote all my songs,
this girl says she's had my baby -
me, I don't know them from Adam and Eve,
sometimes I really believe I'm going crazy.
"Excuse me while I suck your blood,
excuse me when I phone you,
I've got every one of your records, man,
doesn't that mean I own you?"
Oh, sure, I long ago decided to make myself an exponent
of public possession in the private obsession zone.
But now I'm serious, let's be serious, I'm not selling you my soul,
try to put it in the records but I've got to keep my life my own.
One thing I've not got a lot of is time
and it's slipping away...
I've got a life to live too.
If I could
You must be crazy to stay here,
and I'll be crazy when you go;
though there's so much I want to tell you
all the words come out too slow.
I've been locked in my problems,
you seemed prepared to wait...
now that I know I'm going to lose you
all the words come out too late.
There's no promise I can give you that you wouldn't know was fake;
though I just want to be with you, there's no show that I can make.
And in the morning, when I wake and find you dressing
I can tell that it's on your mind to go for good;
I know that all this time I've kept you guessing,
but I'd tell you if I could.
If I now said that I loved you
how would that seem in your eyes?
Oh, may my voice fall into silence
if my words turn out to be lies.
I never meant to hurt you,
even though that's what I do -
even though you might not believe this
all my words were meant for you.
There's no promise I can give you that you wouldn't know was fake;
though I just want to be with you, there's no show that I can make.
And in the evening, when we sit and watch the TV
I know that this silence just won't do me any good
and I want to beg you, beg you, beg you to believe me...
I'd tell you if I could,
I'd tell you if I could.
The Future Now
Here we are, static in the latter half
of the twentieth century
but it might as well be the Middle Ages,
there'll have to be some changes
but how they'll come about foxes me.
I want the future now,
I want to hold it in my hands;
all men equal and unbowed,
I want the promised land.
but that doesn't seem to get any closer,
and Moses has had his day...
the tablets of law are an advertising poster,
civilisation here to stay
and this is progress?
You must be joking!
Me, I'm looking for any kind of hope.
I want the future now,
I want to see it on the screen,
I want to break the bounds
that make our lives so mean.
Oh, blind, blinded, blinding hatred
of race, sex, religion, colour, country and creed,
these scream from the pages of everything I read.
You just bring me oppression and torture,
apartheid, corruption and plague;
you just bring me the rape of the planet
and joke world rights at the Hague.
Oh, someday the Millennium!
But how far is someday away?
I want the future now
I'm young, and it's my right.
I want a reason to be proud.
I want to see the light.
I want the future now,
I want to see it on the screen,
I want to break the bounds:
make life worth more than dreams.
Still in the Dark
Oh, brighter than a thousand suns,
the march towards the stars
on the wheel, on the car,
off the plane, off the planet
and on in the search.
Yes, we pray in the dark in the Sciences' church.
Upon the tree of knowledge
the fruit is bitter-sweet;
to the man in the street
all its myriad benefits Science confers
but we're still in the dark, much as we always were.
Run your mind down the Sciences;
none of them lay claim to show more than a part
but still we shout out what we know
the silence is enough to break the mortal heart.
So bow down in adoration to the wonder that is man;
we have learned all we can,
we explore every frontier that straddles our way
but we're still in the dark, though we now call it day.
No, there is no answer,
there is no eternal proof,
there is no timeless truth;
though we learn to encompass yet more with the eye
we are still in the dark when it comes to the why.
We are still in the dark,
bedded down
and so we still lie.
Mediaevil
God lives in the cathedral,
or so the archbishop states,
all fealty to the Church,
all power to the state!
Gold keys to the cathedral,
they go with the bishop's cowl;
he lives a spiritual life of material wealth.
Are things so very different now?
Oh yeah
oh now:
save your prayers for the future.
Say your prayers for the future.
Oh, God's gone from the cathedral,
a different power now holds sway,
we can pack them up in the history books
but the Middle Ages won't go away.
And the answer to our prayers is a Valium by the bedside,
now we follow the pundits on TV,
now we put our faith in Science and progress
and only have sex upon our knees.
And those who are strange are still locked in asylums
and a sterile Pope proscribes the Pill
and those who are rich are still getting richer
and those who are poor still foot the bill.
And God lives in underground silos,
hanging on for Judgement day;
if we don't open our eyes pretty soon
then the Dark Ages'll be here to stay.
A Motor-bike in Afrika
A motor-bike in Africa,
he's riding the white line,
oblivious of snakes stretched out
across the way like trip-wire,
shouting
"The road is mine!"
Tracing the line of the skeleton coast,
ghost riders from the Sud-West:
the original angels of death they seem,
six motor-bikes abreast.
Riding through the oppressive night,
now only the hardest remain.
Look at the scars of the tyre-tracks,
look to the bodies behind their backs,
look at the bastards bray
in Africa today.
The bodies of Biko and Soweto poor,
the Christian message of Dutch Reform,
the sound of the monster, the motor-bike roar,
the hate in the eyes of the uniformed Boer,
the head and the bucket, the boot and the floor...
racial torture and racial war
in Africa today.
Come in Rhodesia, South Africa, your time is up...
no protection on a motor-bike;
sooner or later the normal traffic's gonna get you.
The Cut
Everything out of order
everything too well produced
from the conjuror's hat -
let's turn on the juice
to grind the cutting plane, the blade that gives an edge,
to scale the mountain; to fail upon the mountain ledge.
Half-way up is half-way peaking
the stroboscope locks the lathe;
I look around for a switch in phase...
the disco boom stands firm, the eight-track's in, the rage
licks the present, quickly flips the future page.
Check the deck: no marked cards,
no sequentialled straight or flush...
the dice won't still the blood-line rush.
Run the star-flood night, the cut-throat blade is stropped;
race your shadow...race in case your shadow stops.
Everything so out of order
no bias on the playback head;
papers for the border - all the tape is read,
the future burns my tongue, the noise-gates all are shut,
breathe the vacuum, believe there's reason in the cut.
Incipient white noise,
the stylus barely tracks,
the air controllers feed the stereo sonic smack.
Palinurus (Castaway)
Oh, I'm looking for a white note
to consolidate the key,
like the pilot of a night boat
in a strange, uncharted sea: Palinurus,
as unsure as he can be of his direction...
hell, this section's all Greek to me.
There's so much I had to mention
but it seems to slip my mind;
still, I swear that my intentions
never left my hopes behind
like the captain who's been trapped
in the blind eye of the whirlwind...
so he turns in search of the divine.
I've got no answers either,
I've got some stories on lucky days...
the sea-lanes are crowded with people like us:
Castaways.
From soprano through to basso
my voice so strains to tell,
but I'm lost in the Sargasso
of ideas that didn't gel by a fraction,
so the action is dispelled.
Me, I've got dull reactions, protraction of doubt as well,
so it's no more abide with me,
over the side with me...
well, I know that damn well...
Oh, this hump-back of emotion,
it all seems to go so fast:
one moment prince of the ocean
and the next upon the raft.
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