Peter Hammill to release 20-disc The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971 - 1986 box set in September

(Image credit: Dan Kirk)

Van der Graaf Generator frontman Peter Hammill is to have his Charisma and Virgin Records output remastered and released as a 20-disc box set.

The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971 - 1986 features 18 CDs and two Blu-rays that feature every Hammill solo album released on either the Charisma label or Virgin Records from 1971's Fool's Mate solo debut, all the way through to 1986's And Close As This, newly remastered from the original master tapes.

It also features new 5.1 and stereo mixes of The Future Now and pH7 by Stephen W Tayler, rare BBC sessions and live recordings and a Blu-ray video disc of rare previously unreleased European television performances, as well as a 76 page, 12-inch squared, hardbacked book featuring extensive commentary on each album by Peter alongside many rare images. A limited run featuring an exclusive postcard will also be available.

Hammill releasd his first solo album, Fool's Mate, while still a member of Van der Graaf Generator, who featured on the album, along with labelmates Lindisfarne and King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. After VdGG split for a second time in 1972, Hammill resumed his solo career with vigour, releasing acclaimed albums such as The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage and In Camera (both 1974).

Although keeping both his solo and VdGG careers running in parallel, his 1975 album, Nadir's Big Chance has been cited as an influence on the punk rock musicians who treated VdGG with disdain as they swept through the music scene in 1976 and 1977. And yet Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon famously played The Institute of Mental Health, Burning and Nobody's Business on a 1977 Capitol Radio show.

Hammill recently announced three solo shows for England and Scotland in September and October. He will play Edinburgh's Queen's Hall on September 29, Manchester's RNCM on October 1 and London's London's Royal Festival Hall on October 2.

"Since the last VdGG tour was abruptly curtailed back in 2022 I’ve done solo shows in Italy, Japan and Greece," says Hammill. "So it’s really about time that I played some UK dates - incredibly the last ones were in 2018."

Pre-order The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971 - 1986.

Peter Hammill - The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971 - 1986 box set — (Image credit: UMC/Virgin)

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.

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