walk to pool listening to peter hammill
the silent corner and the empty stage
dark words and music
“like the inmates of asylums
all the citizens are contagiously insane”
a solemn organ sweeps in, funereal
guitars warp and howl
accoustic guitar creeps in brittle arpeggios
strange soft moaning sounds
things moving backwards
things picking up momentum
something like dr whos tardis takes off
into horrible biblical ages
the music is full of torment and strife
sirens call and fade
the guitars become discordant
playing doomy harmonies
hammills voice
intelligent articulate mocking
suddenly piercing
suddenly becoming soft and beautiful
“atlantis is strange the explosion of an age
no one really knows what to do and the city is a cage”
the waves wash over us
the music takes us down to the sea bed
hammill brings back jericho
“maybe the people are waiting for trumpets”
he sadly suggests
why cant rock music be married to this ancient history?
to me there is no contradiction
everything is there for me to plunder
everything
magic
science
alchemy
drugs
sex
yoga
history
language
breath
exercise
literature
art
music
religion
philosophy
hammill destroys christianity on the lie
the organ summoning the mysteries of the latin church
the swinging censer with its sandalwood smoke
the reverb suggests the empty cold churches
where hammill was tormented as a boy
“benediction…fiction or fear?”
then on red shift
hammill bewails the universes move into the red
“once constellations were holy,
now darkness pervades all the older ones”
“hope is a word with no space for meaning”
oh sounds like something i might have written
johnny rotten even loved peter hammill
on red shift some sibilant snake like rattle
wriggles from speaker to speaker
hammill sounds like hes heartbroken
as the galaxies float into the redzone
mmmmm
gotta email from my fed ex agent
investigating my “case”
she says bondi junction fed ex need to “revert to respond”
hmmm…
yeah i bet they do….
tonite im doing something very interesting
something quite cosmic
maybe dangerous
maybe changing me forever
maybe not
will keep you informed
love
etc
me
ps vanguard hotel newtown 27 mar
toff in town melby 6 apr
be there!!!