Van Der Graaf Generator

yep, the best thing I can say about VDGG is that the music demands attention. I have to credit Hammill with never letting the music turn into a wash of ambiguous sounds like many bands- everything was pretty up-front and unadulterated. Despite my obvious distaste, I owe full marks to him for always being completely frank and uncompromisingly expressive in his presentation- possibly the reason Johnny "Rotten" Lydon values VDGG's work.

Which inspires an interesting question: which is better, having something important to say and not being able to successfully express it, or having the talent to make your ideas clear but the ideas themselves are less than remarkable? A lot of the punk bands were loud and clear even though relatively few of them really said much (I love the fact that McLaren told the Sex Pistols to write a song called "Submission" and they turned it into "submarine mission"), and a lot of prog bands expressed major concepts in clumsy or ill-fitting musical passages (for instance, I love Gabriel's work, but sometimes the man admittedly just crammed the words in wherever he could).

 

Although I do like VDGG's music, I can understand where Petra and greenback are coming from, and agree with James Lee's advice to Petra. In the end, if you don't like something, you don't like it, period/full stop.

Speaking generally, in some cases I find it more difficult to understand why some people either like it or dislike a particular piece of music but, in other cases (and VDGG is one of them), I can immediately understand that others may have a very different opinion.

Some albums generate such polarisation of opinion, but I'm sure life would be dull if we all liked exactly the same things; what would be left to discuss or argue about?!

 

one of my fav prog bands and Peter HAmmill to me it's the best vocalist of 70s. my two fav VDGG albums are Godbluff and Still Life.

The VDGG formula either appeals to you or it doesn't, and if Hammills voice doesn't appeal to you on one album, it's unlikely to meet with your approval on any other.

Still Life is not a good place to start either IMO. I actually reccomend a best of album called 'From the least to the Quiet Zone' I've been shot down in flames here before for suggesting that a 'Best of' album may have any worth, but it's where I started and it led me onto their other albums. However, if I'm right in that you either like the VDGG way of doing things or you dont, then at least you will have a compilation of their most 'upbeat' and 'listernable' material.. The track selection is:

Darkness
Refugees
Killer
Theme 1
Man ERG..
Sleepwalkers
Still Life
When she Comes
Sphinx in the Face

The first album of VdGG I ever listened to was "Godbluff". I liked the music, but couldn't cope with the voice at all. I forced myself to listen to the music trying to ignore the voice. Suddenly, I don't know how and when, I realized the way Hammill sings is the exact right way to bring his lyrics across, and I did a full 180 degree turn. Today I think Hammill is the best voice in rock, and nothing compares to him. Friede and I have all albums of VdGG and PH (some 50 or 60+), and none rates below 3; most of them higher, and some, like "Pawn Hearts", "Godbluff", "Vital" (yes, "Vital"!) or "The Fall of the House of Usher" (to name a few) get 5 stars from me.
My advice is: Listen to the voice while studying the lyric sheet. If you don't get into the singing then, there is no help for you; Hammill just isn't your cup of tea then.
And the same goes for the music that accompanies the lyrics. It absolutely "fits". In no other music there is such a tight relation between lyrics, music and singing as in the music of VdGG and Hammill. It is extremely "dense". Perhaps this "density" is too much for some.


Edited by BaldJean

Hello Petra, you've said in your post "Where's the music", I think that if you're searching about intense passages or loud melodies, maybe "Still Life" is not a good start for you even if it's my fave album from VDGG. You know, VDGG cannot be appreciate after ten listening in one week. It took me about 2 or years of listening few albums to appreciate.

If you want strong music instead of strong lyrics, I strongly recommend you "At Least What We Can Do Is To Wave To Each Others?", their second offering.

The sax and keyboard it's very powerfull in the opening track. (You know VDGG dont cocentrate their music on guitar.)

But, I agree also with people here that Pawn hearts is not difficult to like it!!!

Good luck and I hope you will be able to enjoy one of the best ever prog group (IMO)

DarHobo wrote: Geez, I thought this was a Prog Site, you guys are all complaining about "How hard it is to get into"....

You'll meet a lot of very different types of music fan here. Not everyone likes prog for the challenge, alas.

I'd back off its not worth forcing yourself to like it.  Either you do or you don't.  But I would start with the earlier albums, the 2nd period stuff can get a tad boring.

BaldJean wrote: The first album of VdGG I ever listened to was "Godbluff". I liked the music, but couldn't cope with the voice at all. I forced myself to listen to the music trying to ignore the voice. Suddenly, I don't know how and when, I realized the way Hammill sings is the exact right way to bring his lyrics across, and I did a full 180 degree turn. Today I think Hammill is the best voice in rock, and nothing compares to him. Friede and I have all albums of VdGG and PH (some 50 or 60+), and none rates below 3; most of them higher, and some, like "Pawn Hearts", "Godbluff", "Vital" (yes, "Vital"!) or "The Fall of the House of Usher" (to name a few) get 5 stars from me. My advice is: Listen to the voice while studying the lyric sheet. If you don't get into the singing then, there is no help for you; Hammill just isn't your cup of tea then. And the same goes for the music that accompanies the lyrics. It absolutely "fits". In no other music there is such a tight relation between lyrics, music and singing as in the music of VdGG and Hammill. It is extremely "dense". Perhaps this "density" is too much for some.

Oh boy!! I agree totally with what you say and as soon as i got used to his voice i enjoyed them! 

This thread was one of my very first posts over a year ago!!! I am now a bit of a Hammill fan, infact i prefer his solo albums especially In Camera and Nadir's Big Chance to a lot of VDGG. But why do i always think that Hammill is kind of taking the mick a little, with his singing?

The simple fact is that with a certain amount of exposure to a genre of music you do grow to appreciate it more and during the past year my music tastes have changed dramtatically, for the better of course!

This thread is a little bit irrelevant now

 

 

I picked up Godbluff a couple of years ago, and wasn't overly impressed by it.  However, I've recently downloaded the VdGG and Peter Hammill MP3s which are here, and have enjoyed them.  So once I've finished listening to the large number of CDs I've bought recently, I'm going to give Godbluff another try.