GODBLUFF

Godbluff is not a Peter Hammill solo record, but the weirdness of his lyrics and the oddness of his delivery of those lyrics almost suggest a singer-songwriter album. Actually, there's more to it than that. There's a strange consistency in characterization across the four lyrical pieces. There are three principal characters - - me, you, and him, but often they're blurred to the point that they're hard to separate. 'I'd like to help you somehow, but I'm in the self-same spot,' Hammill sings on 'Arrow.' And on 'The Undercover Man,' he refers to 'you, my constant friend, ever close at hand.' Especially given Hammill's often-conspiratorial tone, the 'you' character seems not to be an unseen second person, but you, the listener - - except when Hammill seems to be speaking to himself (i.e., 'me' = 'you'). Indeed, mental instability seems to lie beneath every other line. In the middle of 'Arrow,' after this passage - -

'Sanctuary!' cracks a voice, half-strangled by the shock of its rejection

Shot the bolt in the wall, rusted the key

now the echoes of all frightful memory intrude in the silence.

- - we discover that the owner of that half-strangled voice is you. Similarly, only at the end of 'The Sleepwalkers' is it clear that the protagonist is himself part of 'this mindless army' which 'advance(s) against the darkness.' Prior to this, he seems to be observing the fearful scene of murderous, unthinking zombies. And yet he is'an unthinking zombie, simultaneously thinking the thoughts we hear him sing? Or he is one of the 'converts' gathered 'to the fold'? Perhaps the lyrical kernel of Godbluff'in encapsulated in this line from 'The Undercover Man:' 'When the madness comes, let it flood on down and over me sweetly.'

The music on Godbluff is as mercurial as the lyrics, but within constraints which make it somewhat more consistent than that of Pawn Hearts, the band's prior effort. The standout here is 'Scorched Earth,' the only track not written solely by Hammill (saxophonist David Jackson is listed as a co-writer). The sound (I'm reviewing the 2005 Charisma remaster) is also very good.

Godbluff is twisted, but I think I'm discovering that much of Van Der Graaf Generator's music is twisted - - or maybe it's just Hammill? For most listeners, Van Der Graaf Generator will be an acquired taste, and given the hundreds and hundreds of great bands and albums most of us have yet to discover, it makes sense to me that if you don't like it at first, you move on to something else. 'Appreciating' Van Der Graaf Generator isn't so important that anyone should have to keep relistening until they've acquired the taste. But there was something about the song 'Killer,' and then the album Pawn Hearts that compelled me to keep listening to this weirdness.

Anyway, Godbluff is a very good album, but not one I'd recommend to someone new to the prog-rock genre. Try out Yes, Genesis, Rush, Jethro Tull, etc. first. But if and when you're ready for something a bit off-the-wall but (mostly) self-serious, give Godbluff a spin.