Van Der Graaf Generator
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1904
Printed Date: June 15 2024 at 02:25
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Van Der Graaf Generator
Posted By: ProgRocker
Subject: Van Der Graaf Generator
Date Posted: October 20 2004 at 15:58
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One of my latest additions to my musical collection, "Pawn Hearts", arrived in my mail bin yesterday. I hadn't heard VDGG previously, and my initial listen provoked the response "Hmm...this is interesting, but hard to get into." However, after repeated listenings, I have to say that I love this album to death, and I can't help but wonder, "Why have I never ventured to get anything by this band before?" Anyway, my question to you VDGG experts is: What album(s) should I get next/Which ones are the best and which ones are the worst? Obviously, PH is very highly ranked, but other than that which records would work best for a VDGG newbie? All help will be highly appreciated. Thanks. Joshus Shrive NP:VDGG - "Man-Erg" |
Replies:
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: October 20 2004 at 16:20
| 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. |
Posted By: Carl floyd fan
Date Posted: October 20 2004 at 16:42
| OH wow! I am getting Pawn Hearts soon through the mail! I have listened to it many times and love it! I personally like "the least we can do is wave to each other". still life is okay. |
Posted By: Nizzy
Date Posted: October 20 2004 at 18:36
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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. |
Posted By: gdub411
Date Posted: October 20 2004 at 19:07
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Avoid at 1st...Aerosol Grey Machine and The Qiuet Zone/Pleasure Dome. Pick up The Silent Corner and Empty Stage as I feel that is his(Hammill) best solo and the one that sounds most like VdGG. If you end up liking all of these go pick up the rest of VdGG and all his solo work through the 70's....enjoy(my favorite band) P.S...warning: from Godbluff and later Peter Hammill's voice becomes much harsher and will take some time getting used to.
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Posted By: Dan Bobrowski
Date Posted: October 20 2004 at 19:15
| 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... |
Posted By: Nizzy
Date Posted: October 20 2004 at 21:32
| gdub - spot on re silent corner. And I still couldn't whistle anything from QZ/PD off the top of my head afterabout three years. |
Posted By: Man Erg
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 05:00
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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.''  |
Posted By: Petra
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 05:16
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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! ------------- Don't hate me I'm not special like you |
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 05:33
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? |
Petra wrote:Posted By: Petra
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 05:37
It fear it is irreversible Still Life must have blown it for me.  ------------- Don't hate me I'm not special like you |
Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 08:09
| 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. |
Posted By: threefates
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 09:49
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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... ------------- THIS IS ELP 
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Posted By: Reed Lover
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 09:58
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Cheers Biaankaaaa! Thought I was on my own when it came to thinking VDGG were a major
-------------   |
Posted By: sigod
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 11:47
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It took me nearly eighteen months and a lot of casual plays of Pawn Hearts before I finally 'got it' with VdGG. A hard band to like but even harder to put down after you find your way in. ------------- I must remind the right honourable gentleman that a monologue is not a decision. - Clement Atlee, on Winston Churchill |
Posted By: gdub411
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 13:24
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Threefates and Reed Lover....I am going to have to disown you now. They're my favorite |
Posted By: threefates
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 13:34
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Sorry Greg... but they just don't have any rhyme or reason.... The voice is killer tho... regardless of the album. And Sigod, I've listened enough to know that I don't want to hear it again.... Sorry! ------------- THIS IS ELP
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Posted By: gdub411
Date Posted: October 21 2004 at 13:49
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Rhyme or reason? Well I am not fond of Yes or Rush so okay...you're allowed not to like them....I guess
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Posted By: wombat
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 08:22
| VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR |
Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 08:37
^  ------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! http://www.last.fm/music/Exerior" rel="nofollow - EXERIOR Experimental tech/death/progmetal from Norway! |
Posted By: wombat
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 08:38
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...Total ANNIHILATION!! - VDGG |
Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 08:41
 Love that line  ------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! http://www.last.fm/music/Exerior" rel="nofollow - EXERIOR Experimental tech/death/progmetal from Norway! |
Posted By: wombat
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 08:42
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yes vdgg is KILLER |
Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 08:45
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My favorite VDGG is Pawn Hearts
------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! http://www.last.fm/music/Exerior" rel="nofollow - EXERIOR Experimental tech/death/progmetal from Norway! |
Posted By: wombat
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 08:48
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my favorite is: the least we can do is wave to each other h to he who am the only one pawn hearts godbluff still life
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Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 11:07
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I think weve all had ebough VDGG on this site for the moment ------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005  |
Posted By: Biggles
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 14:52
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I've got "Godbluff" and "Still Life." "Godbluff" is great, but "Still Life" is... well, not so great. A few good moments, but it's way too lyric-focused and they end up having to force the music to fit the lyrics, however awkward and tasteless it might come out. I've always believed that music comes first and foremost, and good lyricism is just a bonus. Because, quite honestly, if poetry's what I want, T.S. Eliot could do it 500 times better than ANY singer or musician you can name. Lyricism is about fitting lyrics to music, not the other way around. Hammill's voice gets pretty unpleasant in "Still Life" as well. Really harsh and raucous. ------------- The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe. http://www.last.fm/user/sbonfiglioli/?chartstyle=red"> 
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Posted By: Malaquias
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 15:24
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van der graaf is the best band ever. I love The Aerosl Gray Machine too. its how everything started |
Posted By: Genesisprog
Date Posted: November 09 2005 at 15:45
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Everybody says VDGG is supergroup ,great band. I listened them.Some songs from best album.I don`t like their music. ------------- Frank Zappa,Pink Floyd,Yes,Genesis,Rush,King Crimson,Jethro Tull,E.L.P,Rick Wakeman -They have one similarity- I Love Them all ! |
Posted By: Zargus
Date Posted: November 10 2005 at 07:28
the least we can do is wave to each other, is the allbum you shuld buy if your a newbie, its the easiest to get into have 2 great ballads and the rest is yust fantastic... It gets stranger on H to he... and pawn hearts is yust a total mind f**king freak out! but ofcourse pawn heart is the best its the epic and the one you will never get tierd of once you get into, but very hard to get into for soem people it seems i hadent very big problem becaus i started with the least... then H to he... and then pawn heart so i was prepered to get mind f**ked, to start with Pawn heart whuld heave been Total ANNIHILATION!! start with the first that is the way to go with Van der graaf... Great band one of my favorites, if not favorite.   ------------- 
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Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: November 10 2005 at 08:24
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^ I guess only sick-minded people should start with Pawn Hearts then ------------- RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on! http://www.last.fm/music/Exerior" rel="nofollow - EXERIOR Experimental tech/death/progmetal from Norway! |
Posted By: Bt-Tor
Date Posted: November 17 2005 at 23:11
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Biggles Said: I've always believed that music comes first and foremost, and good lyricism is just a bonus. Because, quite honestly, if poetry's what I want, T.S. Eliot could do it 500 times better than ANY singer or musician you can name. Lyricism is about fitting lyrics to music, not the other way around. ----------------------------------------- Yup, totally agree with you here. I think ideally if you've got great lyrics to go with great music, you have achieved perfection(of sorts) in music. Afterall, when discussing MUSIC we are talking about MUSIC right? Poetry is an artform of it's own, as is music. Poetry's depends on words primariliy. Sure, there is metre and rhythm involved but there is no poetry without words. Music depends on sounds/notes. Words can be sung in a musical way, but the voice can be used as an instrument to convey beautiful music without the specific meaning behind words. Music is more emotive and visceral, where lyrics tend towards meaning. When you attach the powerful raw emotionally power of music with the meaning in lyrics and poetry, you have achieved greatness in a hybrid of music and lyricism/poetry. Sorry about that digression.... Pawn Hearts is an amazing album. A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers is a classic Prog Rock epic. I'd recommend Gobluff as a followup, a really solid album though not as strung out as PH! |