Peter Hammill - Voice

Voice

Hammill's voice is a very distinctive element of his music. He sings in an emotional, often even dramatic way. As a former Jesuit chorister, his delivery is usually Received Pronunciation British English — notable exceptions are his Afrikaner accent on "A Motor-bike in Afrika" and his Cockney accent on "Polaroid" — and ranges in tone from peacefully celestial to screaming rants (which are nevertheless highly controlled). Singing in registers from baritone to high falsetto, he growls, croons, shrieks and shouts in ways that have drawn comparison with the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix.

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Famous quotes containing the word voice:

    Summoning a child’s voice from a webfoot stone,
    Never never oh never to regret the bugle I wore
    On my cleaving arm as I blasted in a wave.
    Now shown and mostly bare I would lie down,
    Lie down, like down and live
    As quiet as a bone.
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    Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, ‘tis time to part.
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    Insurrection:... insurrection as soon as circumstances allow: insurrection, strenuous, ubiquitous: the insurrection of the masses: the holy war of the oppressed: the republic to make republicans: the people in action to initiate progress. Let the insurrection announce with its awful voice the decrees of God: let it clear and level the ground on which its own immortal structure shall be raised. Let it, like the Nile, flood all the country that it is destined to make fertile.
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