THE Roches were defined by two outstanding qualities. First, the dazzlingly idiosyncratic vocal interplay between the three New Jersey-born sisters. Maggie (the eldest), Suzzy (the youngest) and Terre (middle) sometimes sang in unison, sometimes octaves apart, but always taking the melody somewhere unexpected. Second, an equally unique lyricism, plain-speaking yet mysterious, simple but knotty, funny yet poignant.
“Hammond Song” exemplifies all of this. A highlight of their wonderful eponymous debut album, released in 1979 and produced by Robert Fripp, it hangs on those inimitable harmonies. Voices blossom then retreat; soar then plummet. The conversational lyric in which some disapproving authority figure – parent, sibling, industry boss – cautions the subject that they are making a potentially catastrophic life error is told via shifting perspectives and offers no resolution. A gorgeously understated Frippertronics solo enriches the whole piece.
The title refers not to an instrument, but to the town of Hammond, Louisiana, where Terre and the song’s composer, Maggie, fled in the aftermath of a bruising brush with the music industry. After the sisters had met Paul Simon in a songwriting workshop in 1973 he asked them to sing on and later helped them get a record deal. In 1975, Maggie and Terre made , recorded with the cream of Muscle Shoals session players. Feeling overwhelmed and misunderstood, shortly afterwards they
