Peter Hammill-Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night

Peter Hammill was the leader of Van der Graff Generator and when they broke up in 1971 he put out five solo albums before Van der Graff regrouped in 1975. This is his second from 1973.Members of the band back him up on this record especially on “In The Black Room/The Tower” the song that sounds most like a Van der Graf Generator song. The rest of the songs I don’t like much,mostly quiet, backed by piano or acoustic guitar.Although I love Van der Graff Generator I don’t like Hammill’s solo material. I used to have his first album Fools Mate but I did not like that either and sold it. The record itself is in bad shape,I ended up listening to a digital version of the album because side two was in such bad shape. I can’t believe the record store sold it and I probably paid 8 or 10 dollars for it. I will keep it because I like the cover and it’s one I have never seen before. In 1976 I bought a Jem Imports record catalouge that had pictures of some of the records in it. This record was one of the ones pictured. When looking through the new arrivals at a record store near Oaks I saw this and immediately recognized it and so I had to buy it.

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