:o
― imago, Thursday, 14 November 2013 15:03 (ten years ago) link
The least-brilliant track is My Room, sure, but but but but
but
― imago, Thursday, 14 November 2013 15:04 (ten years ago) link
Did I ever tell you I've got a signed copy of that album? I bought in a bargain bin for £1! Signed by Nic Potter, so someone else is missing, poss. Hugh Banton?
― Thomas K Amphong (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 November 2013 15:06 (ten years ago) link
I know I'm in the minority, but I adore World Record and listen to it more than Godbluff (but not more than Still Life or most of Peter Hammil's solo albums).
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Thursday, 14 November 2013 15:09 (ten years ago) link
some fantastic stuff suddenly on Youtube
Hammill plays a gig up a mountain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=406Yy0gbcVI
BBC doc i'd never heard of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd7dCGpJkMQ
― arid banter (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 11 June 2014 21:11 (nine years ago) link
Yeah those are great. I knew about that gig in the Dolomites, was debating whether to fly over for it but reason prevailed.
― goth colouring book (anagram), Thursday, 12 June 2014 07:07 (nine years ago) link
new album comes out next week. it's getting pretty good reviews...lots of "best of the reformation albums"-type claims, which is very good. I'm pretty pumped. lets go
― frogbs, Friday, 23 September 2016 13:02 (seven years ago) link
ooh link me some reviews
― imago, Friday, 23 September 2016 13:02 (seven years ago) link
this is like the best year for music ever
― imago, Friday, 23 September 2016 13:03 (seven years ago) link
http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/donotdisturb.htm http://www.goldminemag.com/blogs/spin-cycle-blogs/reviews-van-der-graaf-generator-rob-clarke-wooltones-year-country-anthony-phillips-brinsley-schwarz-oodles-interviews
really stoked. these guys are the best
― frogbs, Friday, 23 September 2016 13:07 (seven years ago) link
ty, this seems like it'll be something
― imago, Friday, 23 September 2016 19:21 (seven years ago) link
opening track started really promisingly but there was just a really horrible slow distortion-guitar bit to ruin the flow. i hope the album doesn't have many more of such impositions - they've been ruining nu-era vdgg imo
― imago, Saturday, 1 October 2016 17:35 (seven years ago) link
nah sorry this is shit
― imago, Saturday, 1 October 2016 18:04 (seven years ago) link
well i like it. but i liked their last one too.
― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Saturday, 1 October 2016 18:21 (seven years ago) link
last one was solid, this is not there at all
― imago, Saturday, 1 October 2016 18:25 (seven years ago) link
godbluff came on immediately afterwards and it's frankly embarrassing
― imago, Saturday, 1 October 2016 18:33 (seven years ago) link
i'm really not hearing whatever it is you dislike so much in this record. i put on godbluff and he can't sing like he could in 1975, but that was pretty obvious already.
― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Saturday, 1 October 2016 19:16 (seven years ago) link
this is leaden, plodding - the changes don't work - the guitar is awful - the melodies are turgid - it's got none of the old wild magic - probably time to pack it in
― imago, Saturday, 1 October 2016 19:28 (seven years ago) link
hammill's always been an awful guitarist, but i can tolerate it better here than i can on "world record". honestly they do sound like they're about to pack it in, particularly if you listen to that last track, but to me they're going out on a high note. it doesn't have that old wild magic- forty years is a long time- but it's got a magic all its own. about as good as "prog rock" gets in 2016, imo.
― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Saturday, 1 October 2016 20:10 (seven years ago) link
only just dipping my toe in but imago is v wrong, there is some great stuff on this album. "Aloof" sounds horribly produced and doesn't work very well but, y'know, try listening to the rest of the album?
― don't even see how this was a duck (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 2 October 2016 09:47 (seven years ago) link
"Aloft", obv. you know what i mean.
― don't even see how this was a duck (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 2 October 2016 09:48 (seven years ago) link
I bought and listened to the whole thing! I will definitely return to it a few times, but the initial impression wasn't good. Also, every reunion has at least one stunner (Every Bloody Emperor, Over The Hill, Your Time Starts Now) and I can't detect what this album's high point is. I guess Almost The Words seemed like it might be decent.
― imago, Sunday, 2 October 2016 09:52 (seven years ago) link
i do find them more akin to Hammill's solo records when Jackson's not there tbf
― don't even see how this was a duck (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 2 October 2016 09:58 (seven years ago) link
maybe not, scratch that. i like some of what's happening musically more than the songwriting i guess, but Hammill's solo stuff is frequently a bit thin on hooks too so
― don't even see how this was a duck (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 2 October 2016 10:00 (seven years ago) link
it's nice to hear vdgg taking on the bacharach/david songbook but honestly "bunsho" sticks with me probably more than "your time starts now" does.
the post-jaxon records are for me some weird middle ground behind the older band and his solo stuff. reminds me of nothing more than stuff like "skeletons of songs". i love "skeletons of songs".
― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Sunday, 2 October 2016 11:50 (seven years ago) link
I'm not entirely convinced by any of the post-Jackson records but I think this is the best of the three so far. Thought the last one was fairly underwhelming.
― heaven parker (anagram), Sunday, 2 October 2016 13:02 (seven years ago) link
3rd listen and it's sitting better with me as a whole, in fact i think it might be rather legit good
― don't even see how this was a duck (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 2 October 2016 18:11 (seven years ago) link
I'm enjoying Sitting Targets v much rn. Got a post punky thing going on.
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 19:47 (six years ago) link
Yeah that's a great record! I feel like it's really overlooked.
― akm, Wednesday, 12 July 2017 04:35 (six years ago) link
https://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/down-a-different-river/van-der-graaf-generator-things-went-bit-mad-108028
― reggie (qualmsley), Saturday, 3 November 2018 02:08 (five years ago) link
Good interview
― imago, Saturday, 3 November 2018 12:35 (five years ago) link
Amazing footage of them performing "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" (all 24 minutes!) on Belgian TV in 1972:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asPDvjUYFy4
― grawlix (unperson), Monday, 5 November 2018 14:51 (five years ago) link
Wow
― The nexus of the crisis (Sund4r), Monday, 5 November 2018 16:25 (five years ago) link
I love that clip. Hammill's toast the camera at the end. :)
― jmm, Monday, 5 November 2018 16:31 (five years ago) link
Happy 70th big guy :)
― frogbs, Monday, 5 November 2018 21:28 (five years ago) link
Fun fact: Peter Hammill guested onstage with The Stranglers in 1980... there's a version of 'Tank' that has Hammill on vocals and Robert Fripp on guitar.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Monday, 5 November 2018 22:02 (five years ago) link
As for VDGG, of course I rate everything from the first LP up to World Record highly.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Monday, 5 November 2018 22:03 (five years ago) link
whoa, HB dude haha
― imago, Monday, 5 November 2018 22:17 (five years ago) link
Yes, Hugh Banton dude.
― Alma Kirby (Tom D.), Monday, 5 November 2018 22:41 (five years ago) link
this could turn into an "is your child texting about Van Der Graaf Generator" meme quickly
― Scam jam, thank you ma’am (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 6 November 2018 03:41 (five years ago) link
My wife who, in general, is very tolerant of whatever noise I'm blaring around the house (the Fall, P Ubu, "Lulu", skronk-jazz, etc) but VDGG is on the strict "no play list", haha
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 18:19 (five years ago) link
only halfway through it but this collaboration album with Isildur's Bane is pretty awesome and not at all what I expected
― frogbs, Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link
how so?
― imago, Thursday, 16 May 2019 15:36 (four years ago) link
I haven't heard a note from Isildur's Bane but I kinda assumed they were just another neo-prog band (I just looked 'em up...they're not), so I was pretty surprised by how modern and chaotic it sounds. Plus it's odd to hear Hammill's voice processed like this. My only gripe is that it's not produced very well.
― frogbs, Thursday, 16 May 2019 16:03 (four years ago) link
am going to have to break down and buy this since it doesn't seem to be on streaming services.
― akm, Thursday, 16 May 2019 18:48 (four years ago) link
A few UK gigs for VdGG just announced, with European dates to come. This may well be the last VdGG tour, so interested parties should make efforts to attend.
― van dyke parks generator (anagram), Wednesday, 25 September 2019 05:21 (four years ago) link
The vers of "Still Life" on Vital is so good
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 18:36 (four years ago) link
Man, Flight (from 'A Black Box') is sooo damn great.
― Maresn3st, Friday, 15 May 2020 21:33 (three years ago) link
Flight was my first experience with Peter Hammill. Hadn't yet witnessed VdGG although I knew the name from the Chrysalis inner sleeves on my Genesis lps. A Black Box had just been released and a campus radio programmer decided to play its entire second side. I remember being blown away by just that single listen for a few days afterward. Wished I'd taped it b/c the album was import only in Canada and not easily found. It took me another year before I could locate a copy and hear it again. In the interim, I'd picked up a couple of other Hammill solos from the same era (The Future Now, pH7) but none brought the same effect.
A Black Box is still my favourite of his, alongside Sitting Targets and This.
― doug watson, Saturday, 16 May 2020 11:34 (three years ago) link
FSOL and paul weller, too???
https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/the-amorphous-androgynous-and-peter-hammill/we-persuade-ourselves-we-are-immortal
― reggie (qualmsley), Saturday, 31 October 2020 21:56 (three years ago) link