The Future Now is an album by Peter Hammill

Peter Hammill

Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano...

, released on Charisma Records in 1978. It was the first solo album Hammill released following the breakup of his band Van der Graaf Generator

Van der Graaf Generator

Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester. They were the first act signed to Charisma Records. The band achieved considerable success in Italy during the 1970s...

, although he had released numerous solo albums while VdGG were active. The album contains twelve short songs, several in the new wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 style of VdGG's last studio album, The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome

The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome

The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome, released in 1977, was Van der Graaf Generator's last studio album before their 2005 reunion. The album features a more energetic, new wave sound than its three immediate predecessors, anticipating singer and songwriter Peter Hammill's late '70s solo work.For this...

, and their live album Vital

Vital (album)

Vital is Van der Graaf Generator's first live album. Except for one-off reunions, it marked the end of Van der Graaf Generator as a band until their 2005 reunion. The album was credited under the truncated name Van der Graaf...

.

The album cover shows a set of photographs by Brian Griffin portraying Peter Hammill with half of his moustache and beard shaven.

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Hammill.

1. "Pushing Thirty"
2. "The Second Hand"
3. "Trappings"
4. "The Mousetrap (Caught In)"
5. "Energy Vampires"
6. "If I Could"
7. "The Future Now"
8. "Still In The Dark"
9. "Mediaevil"
10. "A Motor-bike in Afrika"
11. "The Cut"
12. "Palinurus (Castaway)"

Bonus tracks:Recorded live at the All Souls Unitarian Church, Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

, on 16 February 1978

13. "If I Could"
14. "The Mousetrap (Caught In)"

Personnel

• Peter Hammill – vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica
• David Jackson
  David Jackson (rock musician)
  David Nicholas George Jackson , nicknamed Jaxon, is a British progressive rock saxophonist, flautist, and composer. He is best known for his work with the band Van der Graaf Generator and his work in Music and Disability...
  
   – saxophone
• Graham Smith
  String Driven Thing
  String Driven Thing were a 1970s folk-rock band from Scotland led by husband and wife Chris Adams and Pauline Adams and featuring the electric violin of Graham Smith.-Formation:...
  
  – violin

External links

• Peter Hammill's notes on the album