STILL LIFE

Hugh Banton provides one of his finest organ performances on this Van der Graaf Generator album, which picks up where Godbluff left of to continue its weird and wonderful explorations of bizarre conceptual spaces. Kicking off with Pilgrims, a strident and purposeful counterpoint to The Least We Can Do's more nervous and uncertain Refugees, the album takes us through explorations of immortality, classic Arthur C. Clarke novels, wild love and lonely meditation in a murky musical haze dominated by Banton's organ and David Jackson's ever-present sax. Standout track has to be the title piece, which combines one of Peter Hammill's most fervent vocal performances with some of his most philosophically intriguing lyrics. At the same time, though, tracks such as La Ross and My Room drag on a little too long for my liking, suggesting that the band could have pushed this up to a five-star piece had they spent a little bit longer cooking up new material for it.