Skin

Peter Himmelman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 12, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 550 Music/ Epic
• ASIN: B0000029F7
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,756 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Prelude

2. 11 Months in the Bath of Dirty Spirits

3. Clean

4. They're Naked and They're Calling Me

5. Disposable Child

6. Regular Daydreams

7. With You

8. Shilo

9. Laugh My Beloved

10. Easy to Be Broken

11. The 5th of August

12. Nowhere Else to Go

13. Chaos and Void

14. Been Set Free

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concept album? Yes, and it's great., November 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Skin (Audio CD)

Remember those golden days of the concept album? Seems everybody in the 70's was doing one...and mostly doing it badly, reaching usually much further than their talent could take them. Not so with Peter Himmelman. Here, with 'Skin,' he has taken the life of a man (is it the callous, rich and shallow driver of the doomed sports car...or the passenger he is bragging to?) from minutes before his death and on through a sort of purgatory...onward through a modern sort of 'It's a Wonderful Life' and onward still. The first track hints at how incredibly funny this man is live (if you see him, believe me, you will be standing on your chair cheering and whistling by the end of the show)...and as the album progresses through sadness, euphoria and everything in between, you will be taken into Peter's world. If you have children...I can almost guarantee you will shed tears during 'The Disposable Child.' You will be taken on a long and tumultuous journey...and you will emerge with an incredible admiration for the man and his music. The door's open...wonder waits within.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent perception on the philosophy of life...., May 17, 2003

By 

Nathan Anderson (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skin (Audio CD)

There are five Philosophical units that this albums covers, as Himmelman has excellent views on life, Reality and the Paradigms that our society collectivley faces. These elements are not stated blatently, but are evident throughout the album. You can imagine the changes on the perception of life when one has switched skins from a rich, young & good-looking white man; to a 43 year old poor black woman, and Himmelman shows an excellent depiction of this jolt of reality, when it happens. These five units are Morality, Reality, God, Love, and Paradigms.

Paradigms seem to play a big role in his music, as they do in most music. Starting with the song "Clean" as he is now free from himself, "Consummately one , no deception, no distortion, nothing criminal or cruel, I am clean for the first time" as Tyler Durton from the book/movie "Fight Club" says, "What you own, ends up owning you." This goes hand in hand with the entire song "5th of August" which talks about how people get caught up in making money and whatnot, that everything in life becomes mundane, and they miss out on doing things that they really want to do. "Easy to be Broken" talks about how people are just thrown around and used for whatever they need to be used for, and money is pointless if you cannot enjoy it. On "Disposable Child" he sings "Well now, don't shed a tear, he's just another disposable child" or on "regular Daydreams "There's probably a million normal people singing along" ties in with Pink Floyds "The Wall" ideas of becoming another bricks in this wall. Another example or a Paradigm is evident in the song "Chaos and Void," which is about his desire to get out of everything and live freely. Paradigms play an important role on this album, however I never hear him blatantly state anything about women - other than love. In "Been Set Free," a song about being freed from who he was - owned by his possessions, Himmelman is freed from the everyday toil he was a part of, singing "I have believed in money, but all I got was greed, I believed in vengance, but all I did was bleed, I believed in fame, but it turned its back on me....". Himmelman comes to realize social paradigms, and is freed from them all in the end.

As far as the impact that this album would make to one's view of reality, one would really have to dig deeper into understanding what message Himmelman is trying to portray. Two main lessons learned from this album would be one of Empathy, and not to blindly follow your preconcieved notions of what reality really is. Second, he tries to get across the point that we really only know what we see, so we cannot live out life based on these preconcieved notions.

I think that Peter Himmelman takes life with a grain of salt, and looks at everything at face value, then digs deeper. The lyrics of Himmelman's reflect a philosophy on life that is unscathed by society, one that is down to earth (so to speak) and is open-minded. I believe that Himmelman is the type of guy who will accept everyone, and is open to others. His philosophy on life must be that in order to be at peace with yourself, you must be empathetic. I think this is the motivation that Himmelman had when writing this album. He wants people to be more open minded, and to live their life more, and stop worrying about money, because what you own ends up owning you and you never have time to do what you intend to do

This is a very excellent, beautifully played album. Peter Himmelman really makes you think about society and the paradigms/routienes that one would face everyday. The music is played skillfully with beautiful overtones, soothing guitar, vocals, and good drums.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strong start and finish, what happened in between?, June 14, 2000

By 

Tim Schultz (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skin (Audio CD)

After having listened to Flown This Acid World to death, I was very pleased to pickup Skin at the record store. Great musicianship and a variety of textures make up this 'concept' album.

There's a great intro and strong finish, yet the middle of the album is just there. However; if you like strings with your rock n' roll, and don't mind some lyrical grandstanding, you just may think it's a good album too.