Van Der Graaf Generator

I said it before here, my start point with VdGG was At Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other and then H to HE.  Wave  has been a favourite for over 30 years.

Hey Josh. Welcome to VdGG-world.

 H to He Who Am The Only One is even better than Pawn Hearts, with two stunning classics, namely Killer and Lost. The other tracks are just 9.5 out of 10!

 Dick is right about Least We Can Do... which has Darkness 11/11, the equal of anything on the two previously-mentioned albums, plus White Hammer, probably the only mention Malleus Malificorum ever got in a rock song.

 The three quartet albums after the 1974 reformation - Godbluff, Still Life and World Record - would have been prog's greatest-ever triple album if the band had stored the songs up. As it is, they all came out within about 18 months of each other any way, given that man Hammill's amazing prolificity (prolificness?). The music is perhaps more conventional-sounding than the earlier work, although still far from the mainstream. Drummer Guy Evans refers to it as "blasted metal". Hammill plays lead electric for the first time with VdGG, stepping up the sound a gear.

 Also note that most of the Hammill solo albums from the 70s, whether VdGG were extant at the time or not, feature the other three. In other words, they're all KINDA Van der Graaf LPs any way - so you'll need the lot!

 They are a wonderful group who are still rewarding me 20 years after I first heard them. Enjoy.

I've been listening to a new era VDGG influenced band: Discipline. The singer/keyboard/sax player, Matthew Parmenter, also has a solo album "Astray" that's similar to VDGG. Sometimes a bit too similar...  

Just mirroring what everyone else has said:-

I'd buy VdGG albums in order of release to hear the gradual progression

The Least We Can Do is Wave to Each Other
H to He Who am the Only One
Godbluff
Still Life
World Record

The Box 4 CD comp is also well worth checking out
if you can find it at a reasonable price

Peter Hammill buy in any order especially the first 6*

Fool's Mate
Silent Corner, Empty Stage
In Camera
Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night
Nadir's Big Chance
Over

* Maybe leave Over until last.It is quite harrowing on the whole . It being about the break-up of his marriage/ relationship.I can remember reading an interview with him at the time.Whoooaa!!!

As they say ''The world is your lobster.''



Edited by Man Erg

Petra wrote: Argh!  Van Der Graaf Generator I still can't get into them. First album i heard was Still Life, then tried Aerosol Grey Machine and even Pawn Hearts didnt do it for me! I'm doomed!

 

Alas possible not the best choice of albums to gentle yourself into the band. What's that old Irish joke: 'so you'll be wanting to get to Dublin, well my advice is not to start from here'.

 

I know how the first samples heard of music by a band, can influence your subsequent feelings about the band -- is it irreversible in your case, can you start afresh?

Am I alone in finding World Record their best effort other than Pawn Hearts? i mean, it's got everything you could possibly want from the band - aggresiveness (when she comes), melodrama (masks), sheer grooviness (a place to survive) and a rip-roaring epic (meurglys III). Perhaps it just features too much guitar for the purists out there... I still maintain it boasts many of their greatest compositions.

threefates wrote:  Actually I'm with Petra, I could never get into VDGG either.  The voice was just a big turn off... and sometimes the keyboards just sounded like they were in the wrong songs...

Cheers Biaankaaaa!

Thought I was on my own when it came to thinking VDGG were a major

Threefates and Reed Lover....I am going to have to disown you now.

They're my favorite

Rhyme or reason?...no Hammill never influenced anyone important:Peter Gabriel,Fish,David Bowie,Johnny Rotten...

Well I am not fond of Yes or Rush so okay...you're allowed not to like them....I guess

 

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