Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An album of ambient improvisation., 22 May 2000
'The Appointed Hour', recorded in 1999, is Peter Hammill's second improvisatory and collaborative venture; and is, in many ways, the successor to 'Spur of the Moment' recorded with Guy Evans (former drummer with Van der Graaf Generator) in 1988. Both share a similar strategy - ie, there was no strategy, other than letting what happened, happen, without conscious pre-planning. Hammill explained the genesis of the album: 'I came up with an idea: that each of us should improvise for a specific length of time (an hour seemed appropriate) on a specific day ( April 1, Fool's Day seemed super-apt) in our own studios, without any known reference to what the other was doing apart from the fact that something would be afoot. Not without alarums and excursions - I had several recoding machines go critical on me with minutes to go before the off and also had to slam the door on last-minute visitors - we emerged from our active meditations (or, in Roger's words "an hour of unsilence") with...well, we didn't quite know what at all, except concentrated individual experiences. When I got Roger's tape and aligned it with my own I was astounded to find that - graced by luck - we had something quite different on our hands. Our diverse approaches (mine a continuous performance, using long loops; Roger's considered changes of sound and style, with gaps) worked quite seamlessly together.' The result is soothing and satisfylingly ambient - something different in Hammill's body of work. As Andy Hamilton in his review in Wire magazine (February 2000) comments: 'That the two players' contributions merge seamlessly says much for their compatability and their generally understated approach. The music isn't without tension, but grand climaxes have been shunned in favour of piquant bitonal effects where contributions overlap. The gentle, pastel result...is all the more appealing for that.'
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An ambient experience ..., 16 Feb 2009
This is how it came about: Prior to the effort in question, Hammill and Roger Eno chose a key in which to begin, and a specific time at which their performances would start. Then, sitting in their respective studios, miles apart, and with no communication whatsoever, they began to improvise, using various instruments. After one hour exactly, both ceased performing. Eno packed his tape off to Hammill, who then mixed the results together, producing an hour-long master. An experiment that might well have resulted in cacophonous terror actually yielded engaging and extremely palatable results, with a variety of keyboard sounds, Eno's cello, piano, and guitars weaving through the mixture. There is a haunting quality to The Appointed Hour, as well as an underlying harmonic strength that supports repeated close listening. ~ Steven E. McDonald , All Music Guide
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~ Guy Evans
~ Peter Hammill
~ Peter Hammill
~ Peter Hammill
~ Peter Hammill
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