Fireships (album)

Last updated
Fireships
Peter Hammill Fireships.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 1992
RecordedNovember 1990-August 1991
Genre Art rock
Label Fie!
Producer Peter Hammill, David Lord
Peter Hammill chronology
The Fall of the House of Usher
(1991)
Fireships
(1992)
The Noise
(1993)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]

Fireships is the 19th studio album by English singer and songwriter Peter Hammill. Originally released in 1992, it was the first release on Hammill's own Fie! Records label. It was reissued in remastered form in 2006.

Contents

The sleeve notes label the album "Number 1 in the BeCalm series", and its songs are generally at the gentler, more introspective end of Hammill's work. Hammill's next album, the more rocking The Noise (1993), was similarly labelled as "Number 1 in the A Loud series". Hammill decided to put the quiet and loud songs he had recently written and recorded on separate albums.

At around the same time, Virgin Records, the owners of Hammill's back catalogue on Charisma Records, were planning to issue a compilation of his earlier work. When he explained the concept of the BeCalm and A Loud series to them, they decided to issue two compilations along similar lines - The Calm (After The Storm) (containing quieter songs) and The Storm (Before The Calm) (containing more aggressive material).

Originally, Hammill planned to continue this separation between quiet and loud music on subsequent albums, but the plan was soon abandoned.

Two of the album's tracks, "I Will Find You" and "Curtains", have become staples of Hammill's live set.

At the time of the album's release, Hammill (in a rare piece of merchandising) issued a limited edition of 500 numbered prints of the cover, signed by himself and the artist, Paul Ridout. The cover comprises an almost hidden ghost-like image of Hammill’s face.

Track listing

All tracks by Peter Hammill, except where noted.

  1. "I Will Find You"
  2. "Curtains"
  3. "His Best Girl"
  4. "Oasis"
  5. "Incomplete Surrender"
  6. "Fireships"
  7. "Given Time"
  8. "Reprise" (Hammill, David Lord)
  9. "Gaia"

Personnel

Technical

Related Research Articles

Peter Hammill Musical artist

Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill is an English singer-songwriter. He is 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 acts as a record producer for his own recordings and occasionally for other artists. In 2012, he was recognised with the Visionary award at the first Progressive Music Awards.

<i>Vital</i> (Van der Graaf Generator album) 1978 live album by Van der Graaf

Vital: Van der Graaf Live is the first live album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was recorded 16 January 1978 at the Marquee Club in London and was released in July, one month after the band's 1978 break-up. The album was credited under the abbreviated name Van der Graaf, like the previous year's The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome (1977), and featured the same line-up plus newcomer cellist/keyboardist Charles Dickie, who had officially joined the band in August 1977, and original saxophonist and flautist David Jackson, who re-joined the band for this recording.

<i>Out of Water</i> 1990 studio album by Peter Hammill

Out of Water is the 17th studio album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Enigma Records in 1990 and subsequently re-released on Hammill's own Fie! label. Hammill himself considers this album to be a turning point from his mid-eighties style.

<i>Skin</i> (Peter Hammill album) 1986 studio album by Peter Hammill

Skin is the 14th studio album by Peter Hammill, originally released on vinyl on Foundry Records in 1986 and later re-released on CD on Virgin Records. It was also released on CD by DaTE.

<i>A Black Box</i> 1980 studio album by Peter Hammill

A Black Box is the ninth studio album by Peter Hammill, originally released on S-Type Records in August 1980.

<i>Incoherence</i> (album) 2004 studio album by Peter Hammill

Incoherence is the 30th studio album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in March 2004. Incoherence is a concept album about language, containing 14 tracks with soft transitions between them. The album was produced and played by Hammill himself, with contributions from Stuart Gordon on violin and David Jackson on flute and saxophones. Incoherence is recognized by critics as ambitious and one of Hammill's major works.

<i>Present</i> (Van der Graaf Generator album) 2005 studio album by Van der Graaf Generator

Present is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in 2005. It was the band's first studio album since The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome in 1977, and the first with the 'classic' line-up since World Record in 1976. The Charisma Records label was reactivated for its release, as well as a reissue series of Van der Graaf Generator's back catalog and Peter Hammill's solo releases from 1972-86.

<i>Enter k</i> 1982 studio album by Peter Hammill

Enter k is the eleventh studio album by Peter Hammill, originally released on the Naive Records label in October 1982. The label was owned and operated by Gordian Troeller, the former manager of Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator that had found success managing Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Hammill subsequently reissued the album on his own Fie! label.

<i>The Love Songs</i> (Peter Hammill album) 1984 studio album by Peter Hammill

The Love Songs is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Charisma Records in 1984.

<i>In a Foreign Town</i> 1988 studio album by Peter Hammill

In a Foreign Town is the 16th studio album by the English singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It was originally released in 1988 on Enigma Records, and was subsequently reissued on Hammill's own Fie! label.

<i>The Noise</i> (album) 1993 studio album by Peter Hammill

The Noise is the 20th studio album by the English singer and songwriter Peter Hammill.

<i>None of the Above</i> (album) 2000 studio album by Peter Hammill

None of the Above is the 26th studio album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in 2000.

<i>Clutch</i> (Peter Hammill album) 2002 studio album by Peter Hammill

Clutch is the 29th studio album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in 2002. Clutch contains nine tracks played exclusively on acoustic guitar with accompaniments on saxophones and other instruments. The album was produced and played by Hammill himself, with contributions from Stuart Gordon on violin and David Jackson on flute and saxes. In the liner notes he states that even though the instrumentation is mostly acoustic, it is not a "folk" album. As usual a lot of the songs deal with dark subject matter and his vocals are quite intense in places. The liner notes say "the palette is restricted but the canvas is broad".

<i>X My Heart</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Peter Hammill

X My Heart is the 22nd studio album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Hammill's own Fie! Records in 1996. It is the last of Hammill's albums to date performed in what might be described as a full band style; the later albums have been more solo and intimate in style.

<i>Typical</i> (album) 1999 live album by Peter Hammill

Typical is a live album by Peter Hammill, recorded in 1992 and released in 1999. It is a double CD and was released on Hammill's own Fie! Records label. The album was recorded at nine concerts in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy.

<i>Thin Air</i> (album) 2009 studio album by Peter Hammill

Thin Air is British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill's 32nd solo album, released on his own Fie! Records label in June 2009. It was additionally made available as digital download through Burning Shed Records.

<i>Loops and Reels</i> 1983 studio album by Peter Hammill

Loops and Reels is the 12th studio album by Peter Hammill, originally released on cassette on the Sofa Sound label in June 1983. On the back cover it says: "Two songs, two dance pieces, four near instrumentals". It was re-released on CD in 1993 on Hammill's own Fie! label, with remastering done by Hammill. Both cassette and CD versions were produced and engineered by Peter Hammill, except for "A Ritual Mask", which was engineered by David Lord. "A Ritual Mask" first appeared on Music and Rhythm, an album released in 1982 consisting of songs by various artists in support of Peter Gabriel's fledgling WOMAD festival. A different version of "In Slow Time" first appeared on Hammill's 1980 album A Black Box. In 2010 Loops and Reels was released digitally in FLAC format by the distributor Burning Shed.

<i>Everyone You Hold</i> 1997 studio album by Peter Hammill

Everyone You Hold is the 24th studio album by Peter Hammill, released in 1997.

<i>Spur of the Moment</i> (album) 1988 studio album by Peter Hammill and Guy Evans

Spur of the Moment is an album of experimental music by Peter Hammill and Guy Evans, originally released as cassette tape on the Red Hot label. A remastered version was released on CD on the DaTE label in February 1988. The album is currently out of print.

<i>Consequences</i> (Peter Hammill album) 2012 studio album by Peter Hammill

Consequences is British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill's 33rd solo album, released on his own Fie! Records label in April 2012. As on his previous release, Thin Air, Hammill played all instruments, wrote all the songs and produced the album.

References

  1. Parisien, Roch. Fireships at AllMusic