Van der Graaf Generator / Peter Hammill S& D, C or D?

I'm enjoying Sitting Targets v much rn. Got a post punky thing going on.

Yeah that's a great record! I feel like it's really overlooked.

https://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/down-a-different-river/van-der-graaf-generator-things-went-bit-mad-108028

Good interview

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

Wow

I love that clip. Hammill's toast the camera at the end. :)

Happy 70th big guy :)

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.

As for VDGG, of course I rate everything from the first LP up to World Record highly.

whoa, HB dude haha

Yes, Hugh Banton dude.

this could turn into an "is your child texting about Van Der Graaf Generator" meme quickly

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

only halfway through it but this collaboration album with Isildur's Bane is pretty awesome and not at all what I expected

how so?

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.

am going to have to break down and buy this since it doesn't seem to be on streaming services.

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.

The vers of "Still Life" on Vital is so good

Man, Flight (from 'A Black Box') is sooo damn great.

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.

FSOL and paul weller, too???

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/the-amorphous-androgynous-and-peter-hammill/we-persuade-ourselves-we-are-immortal

Interested to know how this turns out.

A really interesting Swedish TV performance with PH in '74 has just surfaced, some fans opted to buy the license to the footage after being given the nod by the man himself - who says he cannot remember doing it - to share on FB.

https://fb.watch/4bzKWtk4Hu/

Swiss actually

Ooops sry

That's a fascinating discovery. His piano playing alone is a little too crude to capture the subtleties of the songs, a guitar number in the middle might have broken it up a little.

Dunno, have you heard his guitar playing?

Yes, he's not a great guitarist. His piano playing is his piano playing, that's what he does! Anyway, these performances are not that different from the recorded versions, which are very much based around his piano, crude or not.

Right, but without backing vocals, Mellotron, etc. his piano style can get monotonous. The Silent Corner stuff is also at an unrelenting pitch of intensity; I saw him twice in 2008 and the mix of songs from throughout his career helped create variety in mood and playing style.

Enormous 20-disc VdGG box set just announced for autumn release:

https://store.udiscovermusic.com/*/*/The-Charisma-Years/70JW0000000

CDs of his late 70s solo albums are dwindling away, I hope they're reissued soon, I haven't heard anything past Over, it's been a long time

Wish they'd abandoned the CDs-in-cardboard-slits approach and give the discs solid mini-LP sleeves. Packaging- if not content-wise the Bowie boxes do this best (hardback in line with spines).

The remastering of these albums c.2004 was on the loud and harsh side, so hopefully the new versions will be less so.

Oh, looks like there are 3-disc sets for each album getting the 5.1 treatment (H to He, Pawn Hearts, Godbluff, Still Life) with both mixes on CD and blu-ray, plus bonus tracks on the CDs.

And yeah, a Hammill box would be useful.

The remastering of these albums c.2004 was on the loud and harsh side, so hopefully the new versions will be less so.

Ha, holy cow yeah they were and yes a Hammill 70s solo box would be great cuz I always feel like I have everything and then it turns out he's got ANOTHER solo jawn

Oh good I’m glad the album are getting individual releases!

albums

This is a weird one, why shoot a video for this song? Did they think they could get a hit single with it? And who are the motley crew of people watching?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxWoYmb3MKw

It might have been shot as part of a TV appearance, I guess it's the most likely song on World Record to appeal to a casual viewer.
The ending revealing the people watching foreshadows the "Shout" video by Tears for Fears a bit.

those crowd shots are a real trip, everyone seems a little uh...unsure about these guys

Masks surely the obvious single off World Record

Giant box set alert!

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/814RENuri8S.jpg

CD 1: The Least We Can Do is Wave to Each Other
Darkness (11/11)
Refugees
White Hammer
Whatever Would Robert Have Said?
Out of My Book
After the Flood
BONUS TRACKS
Refugees (single version) – A-side April 1970
Boat of Millions of Years – B-side April 1970
Darkness (BBC Radio ‘Top Gear’ session 20 Jan 1970)
After the Flood (BBC Radio ‘Top Gear’ session 20 Jan 1970)

CD 2: H to He Who Am the Only One
Killer
House with No Door
The Emperor in His War Room
Lost
Pioneers Over C
BONUS TRACKS
Killer (first version) – Previously unreleased – Recorded at Trident Studios in July 1970
The Emperor in His War Room (first version) – Recorded at Trident Studios in July 1970
Lost (BBC Radio ‘Top Gear’ session 12 Oct 1970) – previously unreleased
Killer (BBC Radio ‘Top Gear’ session 12 Oct 1970) – previously unreleased

CD 3: Pawn Hearts
Lemmings (including Cog)
Man Erg
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers:
a) Eyewitness b) Pictures / Lighthouse c) Eyewitness d) SHM e) Presence of the Night f) Kosmos Tours g) (Custard’s) Last Stand h) The Clot Thickens i) Land’s End (Sineline) j) We Go now
BONUS TRACKS
Man Erg (BBC Radio One Sounds of the Seventies session – 10 June 1971)
Theme One (BBC Radio One Sounds of the Seventies session – 10 June 1971)
Vision (BBC Radio One Sounds of the Seventies session – 10 June 1971)
Darkness (BBC Radio One Sounds of the Seventies session – 10 June 1971)

CD 4
Theme One (A-side of single Feb 1972)
W (B-side of single Feb 1972)
Squid / Octopus (from Pawn Heart sessions)
Angle of Incidents (from Pawn Heart sessions)
Ponker’s Theme (from Pawn Heart sessions)
Dimunitions (from Pawn Heart sessions)
W (first version) (from Pawn Heart sessions)
Theme One (original mix) (from Pawn Heart sessions)
Man Erg (BBC Radio One John Peel Concert 23 Sep 1971)
W (BBC Radio One John Peel Concert 23 Sep 1971)
Killer (BBC Radio One John Peel Concert 23 Sep 1971)
Refugees (BBC Radio One John Peel Concert 14 Dec 1971)

CD 5: Godbluff
The Undercover Man
Scorched Earth
Arrow
The Sleepwalkers
BONUS TRACKS
Scorched Earth (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 3 July 1975)
The Sleepwalkers (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 3 July 1975)

CD 6: Live in Rimini 9th August 1975
A Louse is Not a Home
(In the) Black Room / The Tower
Forsaken Gardens
Lemmings
Scorched Earth
Man-Erg

CD 7: Still Life
Pilgrims
Still Life
La Rossa
My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)
Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End
BONUS TRACKS
Gog (live) – Recorded at the Theatr Gwynedd, Bangor, Wales 10 May 1975
Still Life (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 1 April 1976)
La Rossa (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 1 April 1976)

CD 8: World Record
When She Comes
A Place to Survive
Masks
Meurglys III (The Songwriters Guild)
Wondering
BONUS TRACKS:
When She Comes (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 11 November 1976)
Masks (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 11 November 1976)
Part One (Approx. 35% of) Meurglys III (The Songwriters Guild) – B-side of single Oct 1976 – Previously unreleased on CD

CD 9: Live at Maison de la Mutualite, Paris (6 Dec 1976 – previously unreleased)
Arrow
When She Comes
Masks
Still Life
Lemmings
Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End

CD 10: Live at Maison de la Mutualite, Paris (6 Dec 1976 – previously unreleased)
Meurglys III (The Songwriter’s Guild)
Gog
Sleepwalkers
Killer
Man-Erg

CD 11: The Quiet Zone / The Pleasure Dome
Lizard Play
The Habit of the Broken Heart
The Siren Song
Last Frame
The Wave
Cat’s Eye / Yellow Fever (Running)
The Sphinx in the Face
Chemical World
The Sphinx Returns
BONUS TRACKS
Door
Ship of Fools (B-side of French single from Sep 1977)
The Wave (demo version)
Cat’s Eye / Yellow Fever (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 24 October 1977)
The Sphinx in the Face (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 24 October 1977)
(Fragments of) A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers / Sleepwalker’s End (BBC Radio One John Peel session – 24 October 1977)

CD 12: Vital (live album)
Ship of Fools
Still Life
Last Frame
Mirror Images
Medley: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers / Sleepwalkers

CD 13: Vital (live album)
Pioneers Over C
Sci-Finance
Door
Urban / Killer / Urban
Nadir’s Big Chance

CD 14: H to He Who Am the Only One (New stereo mix)
Killer
House with No Door
The Emperor in His War Room
Lost
Pioneers Over C

CD 15: Pawn Hearts (New stereo mix)
Lemmings (including Cog)
Man Erg
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers:
a) Eyewitness b) Pictures / Lighthouse c) Eyewitness d) SHM e) Presence of the Night f) Kosmos Tours g) (Custard’s) Last Stand h) The Clot Thickens i) Land’s End (Sineline) j) We Go now
BONUS TRACKS
Theme One (new stereo mix)
W (new stereo mix)

CD 16: Godbluff (New stereo mix)
The Undercover Man
Scorched Earth
Arrow
The Sleepwalkers

CD 17: Still Life (New stereo mix)
Pilgrims
Still Life
La Rossa
My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)
Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End

Blu-ray #1: ‘H to He Who Am the Only One’ and ‘Pawn Hearts’
BOTH ALBUMS IN HIGH RESOLUTION 5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX / NEW STEREO MIX / ORIGINAL STEREO MIX
H to He Who Am the Only One
Killer
House with No Door
The Emperor in His War Room
Lost
Pioneers Over C
Pawn Hearts
Lemmings (including Cog)
Man Erg
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers:
a) Eyewitness b) Pictures / Lighthouse c) Eyewitness d) SHM e) Presence of the Night f) Kosmos Tours g) (Custard’s) Last Stand h) The Clot Thickens i) Land’s End (Sineline) j) We Go now

Blu-ray #2: ‘Godbluff’ and ‘Still Life’
BOTH ALBUMS IN HIGH RESOLUTION 5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIX / NEW STEREO MIX / ORIGINAL STEREO MIX
Godbluff
The Undercover Man
Scorched Earth
Arrow
The Sleepwalkers
Still Life
Pilgrims
La Rossa
My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)
Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End

Blu-ray #3: The Video Vaults
Darkness (‘Beat Club’ – German TV 23 June 1970) – previously unreleased
Whatever Would Robert Have Said (‘Beat Club’ – German TV 23 June 1970) – previously unreleased
Lost (‘Pop Deux’ Filmed at The Bataclan Theatre, Paris 18 March 1972 – Previously unreleased)
Killer (‘Pop Deux’ Filmed at The Bataclan Theatre, Paris 18 March 1972 – Previously unreleased)
Octopus (‘Pop Deux’ Filmed at The Bataclan Theatre, Paris 18 March 1972 – Previously unreleased)
Theme One (‘Pop Shop’ Recorded 23 March 1972 for RTBF, Belgium) First official release.
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers (‘Pop Shop’ Recorded 23 March 1972 for RTBF, Belgium) First official release.
The Undercover Man (Live in Charleroi Palais des Expos – 27 September 1975) First official release.
Arrow (Live in Charleroi Palais des Expos – 27 September 1975) First official release.
Scorched Earth (Live in Charleroi Palais des Expos – 27 September 1975) First official release.
Sleepwalkers (Live in Charleroi Palais des Expos – 27 September 1975) First official release.
Wondering (Charisma promotional film 1976) Previously unreleased
Cat’s Eye (Charisma promotional film) Previously unreleased
Van der Graaf in Concert (The Kohfidisch Open Air Festival, Austria 17 June 1978 recorded by ORF TV). Previously unreleased

how are the new remasters?

shit, apparently they're pretty good

It's already out? I should get this

is any of this being released separately. Can't afford the full box.
Did prefer the previous remasters to the original cds but I think a lot of people didn't .

Yeah there are separate reissues of H to He, Pawn Hearts, Godbluff & Still Life.

if they pressed those on vinyl they'd make a killing - VdGG albums are pretty hard to come by

Yeah, vinyl reissues of those four are planned.