Customer Reviews

Skin

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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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.

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.

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.

"SKIN" is Minneapolis, Minnesota native Peter Himmelman's 6th studio album, this is the follow up to "Flown This Acid World" a great album from 1992. When this was released in 1994, I bought it the first day it was released, again his music got lost in the album shuffle of mindless crap that got played on the radio back then. The spoken word intro of "Prelude" threw me for a loop the first time I heard it, but it is very entertaining. This is probably Peter's hardest rockin' disc overall, up to this point. The key tracks included here:
The rockin' "11 Months In The bath Of Dirty Spirits", Kristen mooney's harmonies with Peter make this. "They're Naked And They're Calling Me", great track, J'Anna Jacoby's violin stands out, band in fine form. The eloquent "Disposable Child", some great by Greg Herzenach. The great lyrics of "Regular Daydream", hipnotic guitar.
The great acoustic guitar and violin interplay of "With You". What I think should of been a hit single "Shilo", great vocals between Peter and Kristen. The fine "Laugh My Beloved". The mid-tempo rocker "Easy To Be Broken", fine organ by Jeff Victor. "The Fifth Of August", song that builds, about a man who runs out of time on earth. The lovely "Nowhere Else To Go", "I'm filled with and disgrace". The great track "Chaos And Void", I wish Rock Radio would of picked up on this track. "Been Set Free", just excellent lyrics, "I have believed in money, but all I got was greed". The band pulls it all together, a true gem. Overall a great concept album.

The Band: Peter Himmelman vocals,guitar Jeff Victor keyboards,vocals Greg Herzenach guitar Al Wolovitch bass
Andy Kamman drums J'Anna Jacoby violin and Kristen Mooney vocals.

Epic dropped Peter after this release, his next studio album would be 4 years later. Peter's new album "The Mystery And The Hum", comes out September 14th, it sounds amazing!

I recently went through some of my older CD's and found this gem. I forgot what an excellent CD this is. What a great concept album with amazing after amazing song. I'd rank this album in my top 10 anyday. I am shocked to see that it is now out of print and you can't get it anywhere except used. I am happy to see that he has many other albums that I can purchase especially some new kids albums.

Himmelman's last major label CD, Skin is a powerful, moving, and ultimately uplifting listening experience. Grit your teeth and bear the intro, and you'll be rewarded.

I would personally put this album in my 10 best of all time, up there with the likes of Born to Run, Abbey Road, Dark Side Of The Moon, Trick of the Tail and others... The music and melodies are engaging from the minute you hear the eerie guitar and keyboard effects after the car crash at the beginning. Songs don't get much more dramatic than Chaos and Void or romantic than Shilo or sweeter than Raina! What an amazing conglomeration of songs that tell a tale and keep you listening from start to finish. Peter even stars and ends the album with a quiet melody ala The Wall. GREAT album!! I highly recommend this!

You couldn't pay me enough to part with my copy of this now out-of-stock CD. Another Pete had some problems with people understanding HIS concept albums, too. I wonder WHO that could be?

This album, is CLEAN, devoid of any trace of tarnish.

I love all of PH's previous albums, but "Skin" makes me want to jump out of mine. Abrasive and obvious, without any of the tenderness and theologically astute observations of his previous work.

If your still living life at your base "tribal" energy level (that is to say that most of your beliefs or mindsets - even your heartfelt ones - came, and are shared, with your family, religion, and community) then SKIN may not resonate with you.

If, however, you are breaking through, and learning to live by/with/through the power of universal l_ve, that l_ve which leads to light (or enlightenment and a deeper understanding of your multidimensional realities), then SKIN will be a deep energizing, thought-provoking, hairs-on-your-arm-tingling, vibrational experience.

Tribal l_ve is predicated on certain conditions being met. Whichever tribe you belong to - even a new age tribe - think of the rules/terms/conditions for acceptance, care, and self-esteem. Are these conditions for l_ve, which require sacrifice-of-self, obligatory? Did the free will of your spirit choose or did you enforce obligatory conditions on your spirit?

Conditional l_ve sustains the human emotional needs of jealousy, possessiveness, control and manipulation. What feelings do you have? What are your needs? Why do you need them?

Unconditional l_ve is eternal and will last forever, because it has been forever.

Himmelman sings of unconditional l_ve. Most things of Spirit I literally stumble across. A friend of a friend, who happens to be seeking companionship like that sung of on the l_ve track "With You", played SKIN. Within seconds I begged to borrow it. Now I'm on Amazon looking to buy SKIN and hear what other truths Himmelman may be singing of.

The nature of the souls journey/story that Himmelman sings of, is in transcending, through the power of l_ve, this 3d reality. To our eternal soul this world is not reality. When you feel how your eternal soul feels preping itself for a "suit of skin", and "their naked and their calling me down", and "I don't want to go down there", and "I fear life more than death" then you must be on Himmelman's wavelength.

I'm not necessarily a believer that I incarnate into many 3d realities, before moving on. (For one thing, I can't understand how my eternal individual consciousness unfolds sequentially. My individual -yet connected to the mind of g_d, thereby connected to all souls - consciousness knows no concept of time (i.e., past lives) and sequential unfoldingness.) But, personally I don't have a better understanding of relating to this present 3d reality. (Now, if you want to start talking multidimensions, and relative self awareness, and the mind of g_d as evolutionary, then maybe there are some physics that can be evolved out of the metaphysical.)

I have some imaginations (and as Einstein said "imagination is more important than knowledge"). You have imaginations (just as Lennon sang of imagining). Let us become resonant and project those images with our human capacity to LOVE, and bring more Light upon this planet. Evolution is putting u into love, and love into u.