Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Peter Hammill
Nadir’s Big Chance
(Charisma, 1975)
Prescient pre-punk "three chord wonders" from the VDGG frontman.
"Peter Hammill's great," John Lydon told Tommy Vance on Capital Radio in July 1977, "A true original. I've just liked him for years... I'm damn sure Bowie copied a lot out of that geezer. The credit he deserves, just has not been given to him. I love all his stuff." Vance then played the driving, wailing sneer of Nobody's Business from 1975's Nadir's Big Chance, of which Lydon beamed, "'Nobody's Business'. That's it. That's really good. It's about punks. He didn't mean it to be, but it's true, [sings] 'You're nobody's, nobody's business'." Sandwiched between the brain-blistering musique concrète of 1974's In Camera and the self-flagellation and despair of 1977's end-of-the affair masterpiece, Over, Nadir's Big Chance saw Hammill adopting the persona of his whispering alter-ego Rikki Nadir. According to the eerily prescient sleevenotes, Nadir was an "anarchic presence", a Stratocaster-wielding creator of "distorted three chord wonders [and] beefy punk songs". The title track, Nobody's Business and Birthday Special are brilliantly prophetic in their nihilistic whine, sounding eerily similar to Magazine or X-Ray Spex, thanks to Nadir/Hammill's camp sneer and the aggressive wailing of David Jackson's sax. But the Ballardian ballads like Airport and The Institute of Mental Health, Burning are, if anything, even better, possessing a mood of creeping sci-fi threat that pulls at the frayed edges of Nadir's cold-war (in)sanity. Never as oppressively operatic as the extremes of VDGG, this might be the best way in for those hoping to connect with the disconcerting sci-fi brain of this most peculiar man.
Andrew Male
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 19/05/2010
Further Listening
Peter Hammill – The Future Now (Charisma, 1978)
Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts (Virgin, 1971)
PiL – Metal Box (Virgin, 1979)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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* Hammill is great, in case you're wondering.
Posted by polidoro at 3:26 AM GMT 11/09/2010 Report Abuse
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Totally unique. Criminally unknown.
Posted by chris at 11:23 PM GMT 01/04/2012 Report Abuse
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