Sitting Targets

Not to be confused with Sitting Targets, of the BBC drama series Screen Two.

Sitting Targets is the tenth studio album by Peter Hammill, released on Virgin Records in June 1981. It contains several songs in the raw new wave style typical of Hammill's work in the late 1970s and early 1980s, following the dissolution of his band Van der Graaf Generator, and one of his occasional tender ballads, "Ophelia". "Stranger Still", "Sign" and "Central Hotel" have all been regularly performed by Hammill live in recent^[when?] years.

Sitting Targets
Studio album by Peter Hammill
Released	5 June 1981 (1981-06-05)[1]
Recorded	November 1980–February 1981
Studio	Sofa Sound, Wiltshire
Genre	Art rock
Length	44:24
Label	Virgin
Producer	Peter Hammill
Peter Hammill chronology
A Black Box (1980) Sitting Targets (1981) Enter K (1982)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Sounds	(surprising)[3]

"Ophelia" was re-worked for Hammill's 1984 album The Love Songs.

Artwork

The cover features crash test dummies in photographs supplied by the Ford Motor Company.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Breakthrough"	4:01
2.	"My Experience"	3:20
3.	"Ophelia"	3:16
4.	"Empress's Clothes"	4:07
5.	"Glue"	3:49
6.	"Hesitation"	4:11
Total length:		22:41

All tracks are written by Peter Hammill.

Side two

No.	Title	Length
7.	"Sitting Targets"	5:27
8.	"Stranger Still"	5:00
9.	"Sign"	3:50
10.	"What I Did"	3:43
11.	"Central Hotel"	4:42
Total length:		22:41

Personnel

• Peter Hammill - vocals, guitar, keyboards
• Guy Evans - drums (tracks: 1,2,6,7,9)
• David Jackson - saxophone, flute (tracks: 4,6,7,11)
• Morris Pert - percussion (tracks: 4,7,10)
• Phil Harrison - synthesisers (tracks: 3,8,9)

Technical

• Peter Hammill - recording engineer (Sofa Sound, Wiltshire)
• David Lord - mixing (Crescent Studios, Bath)
• Rocking Russian - design
• Ford Motor Company - photography