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Sofa Sound
Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and produces his own recordings and occasionally those of other artists. In 2012, he was recognised with the Visionary award at the first Progressive Music Awards. Biography Early life Peter Hammill was born in Ealing, West London, and moved with his family to Derby when he was 12. He attended Beaumont College and Manchester University, where he studied Liberal Studies in Science. Hammill has stated that his grandfather was originally from Pakistan. Early career Hammill's solo career has coexisted with Van der Graaf Generator's activities. The band was offered a contract by Mercury Records in 1968, that only Hammill signed. When Van der Graaf Generator broke up in 1969 he wanted to record his first solo album. In the summer of 1969 Hammill h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NEARfest
The North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest for short, was a multi-day event celebrating the resurgence of progressive and eclectic music in the United States and around the world. The event was held annually in early summer in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, approximately one hour north of Philadelphia and less than two hours west of New York City. The festival was founded in the spring of 1998 by Robert LaDuca and Chad Hutchinson, with the first event occurring in 1999. NEARfest quickly grew to become "the most prestigious progressive music festival in the world." On October 17, 2011, founders Hutchinson and LaDuca, and production manager Kevin Feeley announced that the final edition of the festival, entitled ''NEARfest Apocalypse'', would take place on the weekend of June 22, 23, and 24, 2012 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The lineup for NEARfest Apocalypse was announced live on the long-running Gagliarchives Radio Program on Saturday, October 29, 2011. On May 24, 2012, it was announced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gained city status in 1977, the population size has increased by 5.1%, from around 248,800 in 2011 to 261,400 in 2021. Derby was settled by Romans, who established the town of Derventio, later captured by the Anglo-Saxons, and later still by the Vikings, who made their town of one of the Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. Initially a market town, Derby grew rapidly in the industrial era. Home to Lombe's Mill, an early British factory, Derby has a claim to be one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. It contains the southern part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. With the arrival of the railways in the 19th century, Derby became a centre of the British rail industry. Derby is a centre for advanced transport manufactur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musique Concrète
Musique concrète (; ): "[A] problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, with a readiness to see material for study in terms of highly abstract dualisms and correlations, which on occasion does not sit easily with the perhaps more pragmatic English language. This creates several problems of translation affecting key terms. Perhaps the most obvious of these is the word ''concret''/''concrète'' itself. The word in French, which has nothing of the familiar meaning of "concrete" in English, is used throughout [''In Search of a Concrete Music''] with all its usual French connotations of "palpable", "nontheoretical", and "experiential", all of which pertain to a greater or lesser extent to the type of music Schaeffer is pioneering. Despite the risk of ambiguity, we decided to translate it with the English word ''conc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In Camera (Peter Hammill Album)
''In Camera'' is the fourth solo album from the English singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It was released in July 1974. Much of the material was recorded in Hammill's home studio on simple four-track equipment. He then took the tapes to Trident Studios, where additional elements such as drumming from Van der Graaf Generator colleague Guy Evans, and layers of ARP 2600 analogue synthesizer were added. The album has a predominantly dark, gothic, claustrophobic feel, with the lyrics laced with apocalyptic, religious and existential imagery. "Gog" is a particularly intense and demonic song, featuring (even by Hammill's standards) strident and aggressive vocals, grandiose harmonium chords, and powerful drumming. This segués into "Magog", which is virtually a musique concrète piece of sinister drones, percussive noises, and including a ring modulated spoken vocal. Songs such as "Ferret and Featherbird" and "Again" are gentler offerings, and Hammill refers to the first as "something ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nadir's Big Chance
''Nadir's Big Chance'' is the fifth solo album by Peter Hammill, released on Charisma Records in 1975. It was recorded shortly after a decision to re-form the band Van der Graaf Generator (of which Hammill was the singer and principal songwriter) and ''Nadir's Big Chance'' is actually performed by the reformed Van der Graaf Generator line-up. The album's songs vary greatly in style, as acknowledged by Hammill in the sleeve notes, which refer to "the beefy punk songs, the weepy ballads, the soul struts". In a 1977 Capital Radio broadcast, John Lydon of the Sex Pistols played two tracks from the album, "The Institute of Mental Health, Burning" and "Nobody's Business", and expressed his admiration for Hammill. The album includes two of Hammill's most frequently performed ballads at concerts and radio interviews, "Been Alone So Long" (written by Judge Smith) and "Shingle Song", and a reworking of Van der Graaf Generator's first single from 1968, "People You Were Going To". The al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage
''The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage'' is the third album by British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It was released on Charisma Records in 1974, during a hiatus in the activities of Hammill's progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Other ex-members of Van der Graaf Generator also perform on the recording. The cover was designed by Bettina Hohls, ex-member of the psychedelic German rock band Ash Ra Tempel. Hohls also contributed to the cover of Hammill's earlier album ''Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night''. The lengthy "A Louse is not a Home" is a song about the nature of identity. It was originally written for Van der Graaf Generator's album following ''Pawn Hearts'', an album that because of the band's split never came to be.Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.: "Van der Graaf Generator – The Book", page 174. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005. It features Van der Graaf Generator's ex-members and was (just like "In the Black Room" from the previous album) played live by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night
''Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night'' is the second solo album by British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It followed in the aftermath of the breakup of Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator, and (as with many of Hammill's solo albums from this period) other ex-members of Van der Graaf Generator perform on the album. The album was produced by John Anthony at Rockfield Studios, Wales, for the first time using pre-recorded parts done by Peter Hammill in his home studio in Worth. For final mixing the then much better equipped Trident Studios were used. The album was released in May 1973 on Charisma Records. Some of the songs ("German Overalls" and "In the End") relate to Van der Graaf Generator's decision to split, following an exhausting, demoralising and poverty-stricken experience of being a touring rock band. "German Overalls" name-checks bandmates Hugh Banton and David Jackson. Hammill has continued to perform "Easy to Slip Away" in concert to the present day. The s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fool's Mate (album)
''Fool's Mate'' is the debut solo album by Peter Hammill of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. The title is both a chess and tarot reference. It was produced by Trident Studios' in-house producer John Anthony. The album was recorded in 1971, in the midst of one of Van der Graaf Generator's most prolific periods. Hammill used the album to record a backlog of songs which were much shorter and simpler than his Van der Graaf Generator material, and declared on the original album sleeve: "This isn't intended to be any kind of statement of my present musical position, but at the same time, it is an album which involves a great deal of me, the person, basically a return to the roots." Guest musicians on the album included the members of Van der Graaf Generator, members of his label mates Lindisfarne, and guitarist Robert Fripp. ''Fool's Mate'' includes one of Hammill's most celebrated love songs, "Vision", which he still performs in concert. Both "Vision" and "The Birds" w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Aerosol Grey Machine
''The Aerosol Grey Machine'' is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was first released in the United States in 1969 by Mercury Records. Content The album was originally intended as a solo album by the band's lead singer and main songwriter, Peter Hammill. When the band signed with Charisma Records, a deal was worked out whereby ''The Aerosol Grey Machine'' would be released under the Van der Graaf Generator name, in return for Mercury releasing Hammill from his earlier contract. Release ''The Aerosol Grey Machine'' was released in September 1969 by Mercury, in the US only. An initial edition contained the song "Giant Squid" on the cover but that was a mis-print (on the record "Necromancer" was featured instead), later pressings corrected the mis-print. This version of the LP was later released in Europe by Fontana Records. The album was reissued on CD in 1997 by Repertoire Records in Germany, using the original running order ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyceum Theatre, London
The Lyceum Theatre ( ) is a West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand in central London. It has a seating capacity of 2,100. The origins of the theatre date to 1765. Managed by Samuel Arnold, from 1794 to 1809 the building hosted a variety of entertainments including a circus produced by Philip Astley, a chapel, and the first London exhibition of waxworks by Madame Tussauds. From 1816 to 1830, it served as The English Opera House. After a fire, the house was rebuilt and reopened on 14 July 1834 to a design by Samuel Beazley. The building is unique in that it has a balcony overhanging the dress circle. It was built by the partnership of Peto & Grissell. The theatre then played opera, adaptations of Charles Dickens novels and James Planché's "fairy extravaganzas", among other works. From 1871 to 1902, Henry Irving appeared at the theatre, especially in Shakespeare productions, usually starring opposite Ellen Terry. In 1904 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is operated through Republic Records; in the United Kingdom and Japan (as Mercury Tokyo in the latter country), it is distributed by EMI Records. Since the separation of Island Records, Motown, Mercury Records, and Def Jam Recordings combining the Island Def Jam Music Group, Mercury Records has been placed under Island Records, although its back catalogue is still owned by the Island Def Jam Music Group (now Island Records). Background Mercury Records was started in Chicago in 1945 and over several decades, saw great success. The success of Mercury has been attributed to the use of alternative marketing techniques to promote records. The conventional method of record promotion used by major labels such as RCA Victor, Decca Records, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bachelor Of Liberal Studies
The purpose of the Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS) degree is to provide students with a solid multidisciplinary preparation in the Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and the Arts, subsequently allowing them to pursue careers in education, business, government, and other such fields. The goal of a liberal studies major is to train students to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, to develop skills in critical thinking and problem solving, and to imbue critical thinking with ethical thought. Liberal studies provides students with opportunities for an extensive study of the liberal arts and sciences and for a broad understanding of various academic fields of interest. Curriculum A student who seeks to be awarded a degree such as B.A. in Liberal Studies generally undertakes a variety of subjects, including: literature and language studies, mathematics, visual and performing arts, physical education, history and social sciences, science, and human development. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
