A Black Box

Infobox Album |
Name = A Black Box
Type = Album
Artist = Peter Hammill


Released = Aug 1980
Recorded = November 1979- April 1980
Sofa Sound, Wiltshire
Genre = Art rock
Length =
Label = S-Type Records
Producer = Peter Hammill
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kc6ftrp9kl7x link]
*Record Mirror (elusive) [http://www.couchnoise.com/articles/1980-RM.htm link]
Last album = "pH7"
(1979)
This album = "A Black Box"
(1980)
Next album = "Sitting Targets"
(1981)

"A Black Box" is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on S-Type Records in August 1980.

Hammill performed nearly all the instrumentation himself, including the drum parts, a task he had first undertaken on his previous album pH7. His ex-Van der Graaf Generator colleague David Jackson also made a guest appearance, along with David Ferguson of the new-wave band Random Hold, whose debut album Hammill had produced.

Side A of the record featured a collection of shorter songs, however side B was devoted to "Flight", a lengthy multi-section song. This was the first time Hammill had included a lengthy song of this type on one of his solo albums since the early 1970s.

The short-lived S-Type label (the name was a pun on "stereo-type"), on which the album was originally released, was set up by Hammill and his then manager Gail Colson. Colson had formerly been a director at Hammill's previous record company, Charisma Records, who had dropped him from their roster just prior to the recording of "A Black Box". The S-Type label does not appear to have been a successful business project, and the album was later licensed to Virgin Records, who have since also acquired Hammill's Charisma catalogue.

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Hammill, except where indicated.
#"Golden Promises"
#"Losing Faith in Words"
#"The Jargon King"
#"Fogwalking"
#"The Spirit"
#"In Slow Time" (Hammill, David Ferguson)
#"The Wipe"
#"Flight":*Flying Blind:*The White Cane Fandango:*Control:*Cockpit:*Silk Worm Wing:*Nothing Is Nothing:*A Black Box

Personnel

*Peter Hammill – vocals, guitar, keyboards
*David Jackson – saxophone, flute on 4 and 8
*David Ferguson - synthesiser and tambourine on 4, 6 and 7

External links

* [http://www.couchnoise.com/albums/Black_Box.htm Notes from an unofficial Peter Hammill website]