Roaring Forties (album)

Last updated

Roaring Forties
Peter Hammill Roaring Forties.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 1994
RecordedAugust 1993–May 1994
Genre Art rock
Length48:19
Label Fie!
Producer Peter Hammill
Peter Hammill chronology
The Noise
(1992)
Roaring Forties
(1994)
X My Heart
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Classic Rock Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Roaring Forties is the 21st studio album by Peter Hammill, released on his own Fie! label in 1994. It, and the following album, X My Heart , are Hammill's most recent albums that primarily contain an organic, full-band rock style. While there are occasional tracks on later albums in this style, Hammill's principal mode has moved since this album towards a more intimate, chamber-music style. The Roaring Forties is a name given, especially by sailors, to the latitudes between 40°S and 50°S, so called because of the boisterous and prevailing westerly winds.

Contents

The album also contains "A Headlong Stretch", one of Hammill's occasional long, episodic song suites (see also "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" from Pawn Hearts and "Flight" from A Black Box ).

Track listing

All tracks composed by Peter Hammill

  1. "Sharply Unclear" - 5:42
  2. "The Gift of Fire (Talk Turkey)" - 8:31
  3. "You Can't Want What You Always Get" - 9:36
  4. "A Headlong Stretch" - 19:32
    • "Up Ahead"
    • "Continental Drift"
    • "The Twelve"
    • "Long Light"
    • "Backwards Man"
    • "As You Were"
    • "Or So I Said"
  5. "Your Tall Ship" - 4:58

Personnel

Technical

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References

  1. Sinclair, Ali. Roaring Forties at AllMusic
  2. Barton, Geoff (February 2010). "Peter Hammill - Roaring Forties". Classic Rock . No. 141. p. 93.