Peter Hammill with the K Group
The K Box
K Box is a beautifully presented 4CD box set collecting the output of Peter Hammill and the K Group, including the studio albums Enter K and Patience and the live recordings The Margin and +.
This deluxe set also features extra tracks and a detailed 48-page hardback book with sleeve notes by Tim Bowness, reflections from PH and the band, plus previously unseen photographs.
Formed in 1981 to tour material from A Black Box and Sitting Targets, the K Group was Peter Hammill’s idea of a traditional Beat Group and like everything else in Hammill’s world it was far from typical and a universe away from the likes of Herman’s Hermits or The Clash.
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Utilising the considerable talents of ex-Vibrators and Peter Gabriel guitarist John Ellis and former Van Der Graaf members Guy Evans and Nic Potter, the stripped-down nature of the K Group’s sound – echoed by Enter K’s stark and uncompromising artwork – aligned Hammill’s vision even more closely to the burgeoning Post-Punk scene that his music had undoubtedly influenced, while also remaining true to his Progressive-era experiments with song structure, time signatures and textures.
Between 1981 and 1984, over the course of dozens of concerts, two studio albums, two singles and a live release (issued in 1985), the K Group delivered a muscular take on Hammill’s unique artistry that resulted in a body of work distinct from other phases in his prolific career. At its most prosaic, the K Group offered relatively straightforward Rock songs (“Paradox Drive”, “Film Noir”), dramatic ballads (“Just Good Friends”), sonic experiments (“Accidents”) and knotty epics, but in reality the K quartet transformed these generic starting points into something far more individual, and – flying in the face of early 1980s Pop artifice – wholeheartedly human.
Ultimately, the K Group may only represent a tiny fraction of Peter Hammill’s vast output, but like Van Der Graaf Generator the band provided a memorable means of hearing Hammill’s visionary music in a powerful collective context: a context that arguably remained dormant until the 21st Century resurrection of Van Der Graaf Generator itself.
The K Box is a superb celebration of an all too brief experiment in (and with) time.
