Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night

I asked Linda to choose a shelf, then say when to stop my fingertips as I moved across my album spines and chose

Peter Hammill - Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night

I've loved Peter Hammill since I first heard him sing "I Smile Like Chicago" on Robert Fripp's Exposure. This is his 1973 solo album (his second out of 37 so far)and features many of his Van Der Graaf Generator bandmates. I own all of his output so it has been awhile since I have listened to this record so busy keeping up with his prolificness am I. "German Overalls" opens side one, it's all about the band being stuck in Mannheim without money and features random stereo voices and noises that create a sense of tripping about the streets. "Slender Threads" reflects on a former lover whose picture is in the paper protesting and how he never really got it (I'm an author and an actor too; you're a model in the zoo. I'm just thinking on which side of the bars I am looking through.). A lot of Peter's solo work is totally self reflective, "Rock and Role" starts rocking for the first time on the record with a turn on promoters and the such (Wait for the Liemaker; he comes again and sinks his barbs through honesty.). The piano riff at the beginning of "In The End" is figaro like in its simplicity and its opening lyrics of "I promise you, I won't leave a clue;no tell-tale remark,no print from my shoe." leave me in such a fugue state as his character goes down a deep hole (the rainbow's end is hemmed with knives).

I flip the record thinking about past conversations, situations,and life's complications. Regret pushes up and I push it back down again, there is never time for that crap...what a waste of thought that rabbit hole is. As if on cue, "What's It Worth?" starts and with its dark redemption tone I feel a bit better. The ethereal dreaming of "East To Slip Away" washes over me as I notice my fingers pause over the keyboard. Sure, I've been reviewing this album but I've also been listening and though part of all of this is to reflect it sure is wonderful to be distracted and taken away by song. I guess that's why music has always been such a big part of my life. Why I own hundreds of cds and thousands of albums. By the time "Dropping The Torch" is halfway through I am thinking (I've lost the course of my adventures, all the things I meant to do are lost) it could be worse ... often say that now that I've experienced what 'worse' can really be as if suffering, grief, and pain give you a leg up on it all. It ends with my favorite line of the record;"Time ever moves more slowly, life gets more lonely and less real.". Of course then my mind is blown by the "(In The) Black Room/The Tower" suite that concludes side two (I'm a traveller, unraveller, I only live through pain, shame, and change) with its acid casualty on display that brings forth images of 'rats run, snake coils, fathers, spiders, mud boils, children' and in my mind castles which needs no explanation whatsoever.
My father thought that Peter's voice was at time times too guttural (especially with VDGG), but on 'Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night' his voice at times reaches angelic tones. Still he screams enough that my father would have found fault. Isn't that the way with us all? Fault finding at every turn, twisting our heads in hopes of looking behind and forward at the same time, getting mad when we can't, getting even madder when no else can either. Why can't we have hindsight before we need it?  Why can't the world be as we want it to be yet not too defined that we get bored by the beauty of the every day?  I don't know where I'm going with this blog, although I would be lying if I said I didn't have a clue of what's to come.  I know what's ahead and the only variable is the album choice from day to day as this whole thing snowballs. Or maybe not.  To be truthful one never can tell.

I looked back on the lyric quotes and certain words and thoughts pop out. How much of that is of the author and how much of that is of the reader or in this case the listener?