SEALED LP: PETER HAMMILL: VISION

$

20

Peter Hammill: Vision

FACTORY SEALED LP

Format: Sealed LP
Country: U.S.A.
Record Company & Release Number: Import Records: IMP 116
Original release date/year: 1978
Bar Code: NONE
Condition of the cover: Mint
Condition of the record: Sealed - Assumed Mint
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds, 0 ounces
My inventory number: 209571A
Notes: Sticker on the shrink wrap as shown in the photos below.
Please contact me if you have any difficulty viewing the photos.
The Sealed LP shown in the photos is the exact one being sold.
I DO NOT END ANY OF MY AUCTIONS EARLY. PLEASE DON'T ASK (unless you are willing to offer enough to pay off my mortgage. Songs

• Nadir's Big Chance
• Institute of Mental HealtBurning
• Comethe Coursthe Tail
• In the End
• Imperial Zeppelin
• (No More) The Sub-Mariner
• Modern
• Dropping the Torch
• Vision
• Sunshine

Credits

• Peter Hammill: Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals, Main Performer

Album Review

• Released to coincide with Peter Hammill's 1978 American tour (itself captured on the Skeletons of Songs bootleg album), Vision is a neat summary of the singer's solo career, as executed in between the two incarnations of Van Der Graaf Generator, 1971-1975. It is a curiously sequenced set and one that would certainly have benefited from some kind of chronological reordering, for it is in that form that Hammill's development is most readily traced. That, however, is the only valid criticism that can be thrown in its direction. Opening with three tracks from Hammill's debut album ("Vision," "Sunshine," and the jokey "Imperial Zeppelin"), it moves on through the increasingly foreboding and ambitious Chameleon in the Shadow of Night ("Dropping the Torch," "In the End"), The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage (the abruptly edgy "Modern"), In Camera ("The Comet..."), and, finally, the brutal body-swerve of Nadir's Big Chance -- "The Institute of Mental Health" had, the previous year, been singled out by no less an icon than Johnny Rotten as one of recent rock's most gripping achievements and, while that recommendation probably meant little to the average Hammill fan, the song's presence here was certainly well-timed. Where Vision falls down, at least from the perspective of anybody intending to attend the shows that it was ostensibly promoting, is in its studied avoidance of material from Hammill's then-most recent albums, Over and The Future Now. The passing of time, however, has rendered that particular complaint all but immaterial -- today, Vision stands simply as an aptly titled tribute to one of the most startling talents and, indeed, visionaries, British rock has ever produced. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide

Biography
Peter Hammill biography by Steven McDonald, All Music Guide

• Born Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill, November 5, 1948, in Ealing, London, to parents of fairly good means, Peter Hammill grew up in the embrace of Jesuit teachings, an element that has continued to affect and influence his songwriting throughout his career as much as his studies of philosophy and art. The drive of his particular muse, fueled additionally by the '60s groundswell of new approaches to science fiction (the so-called "New Wave," with Michael Moorcock, Thomas Disch, Harlan Ellison, and others leading the charge, and ex-Deviants leader Mick Farren on its heels) led to collaboration with Chris Judge-Smith at Manchester University, with Van Der Graaf Generator forming around them -- albeit briefly.
• The band broke up after a number of gigs, with Hammill going solo. The arrival of a Mercury Records contract led Hammill into the studio, accompanied by various friends, for a brief but intense recording session. Within a matter of hours, Van Der Graaf Generator was reborn, though minus Judge-Smith, and the band had begun to develop the studio relationship with producer John Anthony that would serve them for the next few albums. The basic monolithic VDGG had not yet come about, but Hammill's writing was already setting the tone -- splintered personalities facing the darkness, cosmic secrets just beyond reach, thresholds beyond which lurk sudden death, light-hearted topics one and all. Even their one single, "People You Were Going To," is essentially a jolly happy romp of a tune with a tone of despair beneath. Hammill would later re-record the song for Nadir's Big Chance.
• The new band lineup had its own share of uncertainties, with bassist Keith Ellis departing for an unceremoniously brief stint in Uriah Heep. With new bassist/guitarist Nic Potter in tow, VDGG joined Genesis in signing with Anthony Stratton-Smith's new Charisma label. By this point Hammill had begun to refine his songwriting into longer and more ornate forms, with very good results, with his themes touching on twin points of science and mysticism, with the occasional sidestep into more down to earth territory. The first three VDGG albums for Charisma moved through a variety of shattered and darkened landscapes, with some genuinely chilling moments, such as the science-fiction outing "Pioneers Over C" and "Man-Erg," which attempted to address the dual nature of man in approximately 12 minutes flat.
• Hammill's first solo outing, Fool's Mate (both a chess and Tarot reference), came alongside the Van Der Graaf Generator album H to He Who Am the Only One. It consisted, in the main, of an assortment of songs deemed too small for the band, material from his early solo days, and so on, items that he seemed to want to clear out of the way. His in-studio help included members of Lindisfarne, another Charisma signing, and Robert Fripp. In contrast, following the dissolution of VDGG following Pawn Hearts, Hammill's sophomore release, The Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night, was a bleak affair indeed. Hammill seemed to need to strip things down to the bare essentials, recording at home (the first appearance of Sofa Sound) for the most part, his lyrics telling more personal tales -- it's only with the concluding "The Black Room" that things sound familiar. Considering the presence of the rest of the band, and that this had originally been intended as a band song, it's hardly a surprise.
• With The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage, Hammill began to find a voice away from VDGG, though his writing had yet to completely mature -- "Red Shift" is another cosmic charge, for example. On the other hand, the album sports several stunning tracks, including "Modern," "Wilhelmina," "Forsaken Gardens," and "A Louse Is Not a Home." In Camera saw him handling most of the instrumental work himself and experimenting with ambient soundscapes.
• In 1975, he once again dug into the back catalog of his songs, assuming the leather-jacketed persona of Rikki Nadir for Nadir's Big Chance, a noisy, chaotic album of garage band-styled rock & roll. While not exactly the three-chord thrash outing Hammill seems to have wanted (it at least comes undone with the elegaic "Pompeii," if not with "The Institute of Mental Health, Burning"), the album seems to have had its effect in the British music community, being cited by more than a few in the following punk uproar as an influence -- even John Lydon went public with a degree of admiration for Hammill's work. The cult of adoration built up around Hammill has persisted for years, and is seemingly large enough, worldwide, to support him consistently.
• 1975 saw the rebirth of Van Der Graaf Generator in a somewhat calmer format, while the songs still extended to epic length, the tendency towards proto-jazz explosions with rock underpinnings had been shorn away, the drumming was more laid back, and the lyrics tended towards examinations of people (though the cosmic did make quite a return on Still Life with "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End," though this one had a narrative voice to it).
• The first two releases, Godbluff and Still Life, were fine albums, with one of Hammill's finest songs, "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)" appearing on the latter, but the third album, World Record indicated trouble ahead -- a fairly weak, lifeless release that appeared to have come from a band that had lost heart. Indeed it had. The band fractured yet again. Hammill took some time to record Over, an intense solo set going over the breakup of his long-standing relationship, performing a set of songs that alternately raged and offered up a bleak view of life. This set the stage for the next version of the band, now known just as Van Der Graaf, a short-lived effort that managed a single studio release, with a posthumous live album, acidly titled Vital, marking the official end of the band.
• Hammill returned to his solo efforts again, initially choosing to record A Black Box by himself, but then adopting a band approach for a number of subsequent releases. By this point his writing had taken on a mature focus, with even the lengthier efforts eschewing the cosmic and mystical in favor of the personal focus, often with a darkly ironic twist. He is capable of being utterly sardonic while maintaining a poker face, a brother in spirit, sometimes, to Leonard Cohen. His ability to chart his own course fully stems from his choice to operate his own record label as an adjunct to his ever-improving studio operation -- it's this studio operation, in fact, that allowed him to return to and remaster the Van Der Graaf recordings in 2000, to produce The Box.
• A regular output of new recordings is supported by an ongoing series of concert appearances around the world, as well as numerous collaborations with a bewildering variety of artists -- Roger Eno, Peter Gabriel, and Robert Fripp are just three of dozens. Hammill has also composed ballet music, and the operatic work, The Fall of the House of Usher (based on the Edgar Allan Poe story). He has been married for quite some time and has three daughters, two of whom have made appearances on his albums. Despite his very public persona, however, he remains a somewhat enigmatic and private man whose music confounds some and inspires many.

• This Sealed LP came from a record store called "Phantasmagoria" which was located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Phantasmagoria went out of business in 1978. I purchased most of their unsold inventory some years later when I owned "Music Madness" - a new & used record store in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania.
• Phantasmagoria used round colored stickers to indicate the price of the albums. They had a chart on the wall with the color sticker combinations for the customers to use so they knew the price of the albums. Most of the albums still have these stickers on them, and in some rare cases, the stickers are written on. Some of the records have prices on them. This is the price you would have paid for the record in 1978 if you would have bought it at Phantasmagoria. Please don't confuse these prices with their current value.
• All Sealed LP(s) are being sold as collector's items and cannot be returned due to manufacturer's defects. It may be almost impossible to replace many of the sealed albums that I am selling.

• If I list an album as "New", but not sealed, it is because the album is probably an import or from a small USA record company. Back in the 70's, many imported albums were not sealed by the record companies, and the importers/distrubutors did not spend the time or money to seal them before being sent to the stores. I will not knowingly misrepresent an album as new if I have any doubts.
  
• All pictures are of the exact Sealed LP being sold.
• I always leave feedback before your item ships. Please consider leaving feedback for me after you have had a chance to inspect and enjoy your purchase.
• Please avoid questions on the last day of the auction. I might not have enough time to give you an answer before the auction ends.
• All reviews, credits and artist biographies are from All Music Guide. If you haven't been to their web site, you have to check it out. It's one of the most comprehensive music references on the internet. In some cases, credits may include reissue (CD) information. Obviously any credits referenced to CDs do not apply to this album release.

Shipping and pick-up

Your Sealed LP(s) will be shipped within 2 business days after I receive your cleared payment. When possible, if payments are made by 2 PM Eastern time, I will try to send your package the same day if my local Post Office is open.

I photograph all packages before taking them to the Post Office to confirm their condition prior to being handed over to the Post Office. Damage to your package after being handed over to the postal system will not be my responsibility. If you are concerned about damage during shipping, consider upgrading to Priority Mail. It includes free insurance.

If you have ANY special shipping requirements (extra padding, oversized boxes, etc., you must let me know BEFORE making your payment. The pre-calculated cost of your shipping is based my standard packaging (new boxes, padded envelopes, etc.).

WITHIN U.S.A.

• The default shipping is Media Mail. You can opt to pay extra for for Priority Mail if you choose.
• Priority Mail  is faster and includes free insurance.
• Pick-up is fine with me, but be prepared to pay by cash. E-mail me to setup a time and place that is convenient for the both of us.

OUTSIDE U.S.A.

• International Shipping is calculated by the weight of your package.
• If you purchase multiple items, please wait until after all the auctions end for eBay to send an invoice.
• I cannot ship by International First Class if it is not available to your country. The USPS discontinued this service to several countries. If it is not an available option, I will send a revised invoice with the least expensive option available to your country. This is non-negotiable because I have no control over the shipping options and rates to your country.
• The buyer is responsible for all customs regulations and fees in their own country. I will declare the value of all items at $10 each on the Customs Form. Please let me know if you want the actual winning bid price listed on the Customs Form. This is something to consider if you think there is a potential for damage or loss of your package. Insurance (if purchased by the buyer)will only reimburse you for the actual declared value.

I collect Grand Funk Railroad's music and memorabilia. If you think you might have something to trade for this item, let me know well before the auction ends. I normally do not end an auction early, but I will make an exception if we can work out some sort of trade for something that I can add to my Grand Funk collection.
If you also collect Grand Funk, let me know if you have anything that you might want to sell or trade. I am always looking to add something new to my collection.