in arrivo a settembre il box “The Charisma and Virgin Recordings 1971-1986”

A quattro anni di distanza dal precedente box set dedicato ai Van Der Graaf Generator (“The Charisma Years 1970 – 1978“), Universal si prepara a pubblicare un seguito tutto dedicato ai lavori solisti Charisma e Virgin Records di Peter Hammill, leader della storica band prog-rock inglese.

“The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971 – 1986” contiene ben 18 CD e due Blu-ray che includono tutti gli album pubblicati per le due etichette discografiche, a partire dal debutto solista “Fool’s Mate” del 1971 arrivando fino ad “And Close As This” del 1986. Tutti i lavori sono stati per l’occasione nuovamente rimasterizzati partendo dai nastri originali.
Il cofanetto, la cui uscita è prevista per il 26 settembre 2025, include anche nuovi mix 5.1 e stereo di “The Future Now” e “pH7” a cura di Stephen W. Tayler, rare BBC sessions e registrazioni dal vivo, un Blu-ray con rare performance televisive europee inedite e un libro di 76 pagine, formato 12 pollici, con copertina rigida e un ampio commento dello stesso Peter Hammill su ogni album, oltre a numerose foto rare. Sarà disponibile anche un’edizione limitata con una cartolina esclusiva.

Hammill pubblicò il suo primo album “Fool’s Mate” mentre era ancora membro dei Van der Graaf Generator, i cui altri componenti comparivano nel disco insieme ai Lindisfarne e al chitarrista dei King Crimson Robert Fripp. Dopo il secondo scioglimento del gruppo nel 1972, Hammill incise lavori acclamati come “The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage” e “In Camera”, entrambi datati 1974.
“Nadir’s Big Chance” del 1975 è stato citato come un’influenza su musicisti punk come il cantante dei Sex Pistols John Lydon, che suonò “The Institute of Mental Health, Burning” e “Nobody’s Business” in un programma radiofonico nel 1977.
Tra i dischi contenuti nel cofanetto c’è anche “The Love Songs”, compilation del 1984 che contiene remix e rivisitazioni di brani come “Ophelia”, “If I Could”, “Been Alone So Long” e “Vision” (originariamente inclusa in “Fool’s Mate” e oggetto nel 1983 di una cover di Marc and the Mambas per il doppio album “Torment and Toreros“). “Just Good Friends” venne presentata in TV in Italia nel corso di una puntata di Discoring.

CD 1: Fool’s Mate
“Imperial Zeppelin”
“Candle”
“Happy”
“Solitude”
“Vision”
“Re-Awakening”
“Sunshine”
“Child”
“Summer Song in the Autumn”
“Viking”
“The Birds”
“I Once Wrote Some Poems”

Bonus tracks:
Demo session Recorded in January 1971
“Re-Awakening” (demo)
“Summer Song in the Autumn” (demo)
“The Birds” (demo)
“Sunshine” (demo)
“Happy” (demo)

CD 2: Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night
“German Overalls”
“Slender Threads”
“Rock and Role”
“In the End”
“What It’s Worth”
“Easy to Slip Away”
“Dropping the Torch”
“(In the) Black Room / The Tower”

Bonus tracks:
“Rain 3am” (recorded in 1973)

“Time for a Change”
“German Overalls”
“Easy to Slip Away”
“In the End”
BBC Radio John Peel session – 9th July 1973

CD 3: The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage
“Modern”
“Wilhemina”
“The Lie (Bernini’s Saint Theresa)”
“Forsaken Gardens”
“Red Shift”
“Rubicon”
“A Louse is Not a Home”

CD 4: Live Recordings 1974
“Rubicon”
“Red Shift”
BBC Radio John Peel session – 18th February 1974

“Solitude”
“Time for a Change”
“The Birds”
“Out of My Book”
“Slender Threads”
“German Overalls”
Live at Montreal University Sports Centre – 21st April 1974

CD 5: In Camera
“Ferret and Featherbird”
“(No More) The Sub Mariner”
“Tapeworm”
“Again”
“Faint Heart and the Sermon”
“The Comet, The Course, The Tail”
“Gog”
“Magog (In Bromine Chambers)”

Bonus tracks:
“The Emperor in His War Room”
“Faint Heart and the Sermon”
“(No More) The Sub Mariner”
BBC Radio John Peel session – 3rd September 1974

CD 6: Nadir’s Big Chance
“Nadir’s Big Chance”
“The Institute of Mental Health, Burning”
“Open Your Eyes”
“Nobody’s Business”
“Been Alone So Long”
“Pompeii”
“Shingle Song”
“Airport”
“People You Were Going To”
“Birthday Special”
“Two or Three Spectres”

CD 7: Over
“Crying Wolf”
“Autumn”
“Time Heals”
“Alice (Letting Go)”
“This Side of the Looking Glass”
“Betrayed”
“(On Tuesday’s She Used to Do) Yoga”
“Lost and Found”

Bonus tracks:
“Afterwards”
“Autumn”
“Betrayed”
BBC Radio One John Peel session – 21st April 1977

CD 8: The Future Now
“Pushing Thirty”
“The Second Hand”
“Trappings”
“The Mousetrap”
“Energy Vampires”
“If I Could”
“The Future Now”
“Still in the Dark”
“Mediaeval”
“A Motor-Bike in Africa”
“The Cut”
“Palinurus (Castaway)”

CD 9: The All Souls Unitarian Church, Kansas City, USA 16th February 1978
“House With No Door”
“Time Heals”
“This Side of the Looking Glass”
“My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)”
“Easy to Slip Away”
“Still Life”
“Lizard Play”
“Time for a Change”
“Been Alone So Long”
“Modern”
“If I Could”
“Last Frame”

CD 10: The All Souls Unitarian Church, Kansas City, USA 16th February 1978
“The Comet, The Course, The Tail”
“The Lie (Bernini’s Saint Theresa)”
“The Mousetrap (Caught In)”
“In the End”
Medley: “A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers”
“The Sleepwalkers”
“Man-Erg”

CD 11: pH7
“My Favourite”
“Careering”
“Porton Down”
“Mirror Images”
“Handicap and Equality”
“Not for Keith”
“The Old School Tie”
“Time for a Change”
“Imperial Walls”
“Mr X (Gets Tense)”
“Faculty X”

Bonus tracks:
“Mediaeval / Time for a Change”
“Mr X (Gets Tense)”
“Faculty X”
BBC Radio John Peel session – 24th September 1979

“The Polaroid” (A-side of single, released as Charisma CB 399 in August 1979 credited to Rikki Nadir)

CD 12: A Black Box
“Golden Promises”
“Losing Faith in Words”
“Jargon King”
“Fogwalking”
“The Spirit”
“In Slow Time”
“The Wipe”
“Flight”
“Flying Bird”
“The White Cave Fandango”
“Control”
“Cockpit”
“Silk Worm Wings”
“Nothing is Nothing”
“A Black Box”

CD 13: Sitting Targets
“Breakthrough”
“My Experience”
“Ophelia”
“Empress’s Clothes”
“Glue”
“Hesitation”
“Sitting Targets”
“Stranger Still”
“Sign”
“What I Did”
“Central Hotel”

CD 14: The Love Songs
“Just Good Friends”
“My Favourite”
“Been Alone So Long”
“Ophelia”
“Again”
“If I Could”
“Vision”
“Don’t Tell Me”
“The Birds”
“(This Side of) The Looking Glass”

Bonus track:
“Just Good Friends” (instrumental)
B-side of single released as Charisma CB 414 in May 1985

CD 15: Skin
“Skin”
“After the Show”
“Painting By Numbers”
“Shell”
“All Said and Done”
“A Perfect Date”
“Four Pails”
“Now Lover”

Bonus track:
“You Hit Me Where I Live”

CD 16: And Close As This
“Too Many of My Yesterdays”
“Faith”
“Empire of Delight”
“Silver”
“Beside the One You Love”
“Other Old Cliches”
“Confidence”
“Sleep Now”

CD 17: The Future Now (Stephen W Tayler stereo remix)
“Pushing Thirty”
“The Second Hand”
“Trappings”
“The Mousetrap (Caught In)”
“Energy Vampires”
“If I Could”
“The Future Now”
“Still in the Dark”
“Mediaeval”
“A Motor-Bike in Africa”
“The Cut”
“Palinurus (Castaway)”

CD 18: pH7 (Stephen W Tayler stereo remix)
“My Favourite”
“Careering”
“Porton Down”
“Mirror Images”
“Handicap and Equality”
“Not for Keith”
“The Old School Tie”
“Time for a Change”
“Imperial Walls”
“Mr X (Gets Tense)”
“Faculty X”

Blu ray 1: The Future Now (Stephen W Tayler High resolution 5.1 Surround Sound mix / new stereo remix)
“Pushing Thirty”
“The Second Hand”
“Trappings”
“The Mousetrap”
“Energy Vampires”
“If I Could”
“The Future Now”
“Still in the Dark”
“Mediaeval”
“A Motor-Bike in Afrika”
“The Cut”
“Palinurus (Castaway)”

pH7 (Stephen W Tayler High resolution 5.1 Surround Sound mix / new stereo remix)
“My Favourite”
“Careering”
“Porton Down”
“Mirror Images”
“Handicap and Equality”
“Not for Keith”
“The Old School Tie”
“Time for a Change”
“Imperial Walls”
“Mr X (Gets Tense)”
“Faculty X”

Blu ray 2: The Video Vaults
“In the End”
“German Overalls”
French TV – Rock en Stock 1973

“The Lie”
“Forsaken Gardens”
“A Louse is Not a Home”
Swiss Television 1974

“Energy Vampires”
“My Room”
French TV – Chorus 1979

“Tintagel By the Sea”
BBC TV – Playaway, 15th December 1979.