ALT

Only a year later, Van der Graaf Generator put out ALT, an instrumental album. While the band is no stranger to instrumentals, in my mind, Peter Hammill's voice is the most defining characteristic of the band. Yes, David Jackson leaving did rob the band of some of their character, but the strongest moments on Trisector and Grounding proved the band can soldier on saxophone-less. Wordless, though?

"Earlybird" is a dull blend of tabla and bird calls that does nothing for four minutes. "Extractus" is a hazy, percussion-forward piece, and "Sackbutt" continues in that same vein.

"Colossus" maintains a sparse atmosphere that reminds me of the band's instrumental experiments intended for disc two of Pawn Hearts, and at six-and-a-half minutes, it is entirely too long. "Batty Loop" is another percussion-forward interlude that does nothing interesting.

"Splendid" has some better ideas than preceding cuts, but it's still unfocused, poorly-produced, and quite weak compared to most of their prior output. "Repeat after Me" has a bit more structure and prominently features some very pretty piano. That said, this song is about four minutes too long.

Weird synthesizer bloops and light jazzy elements make up "Elsewhere". "Here's One I Made Earlier" is an uninteresting drone piece. "Midnite or So" feels like an actual composition, but it doesn't do much to stand out. Evans's percussion is mixed far too loudly, especially near the end. "D'accord" is more dull drone. "Mackerel Ate Them" has some chaotic drumming and bizarre guitar, though it doesn't amount to anything.

A hint of structure shows up again in "Tuesday, the Riff". This one feels like something the band could have refined into something really good, but instead it was wasted on this underwhelming instrumental.

ALT ends on the nearly-11-minute "Dronus". You can probably guess what this is like, as well as my thoughts on it.

ALT is far and away this band's worst album. It feels like a substantially weaker version of disc two of Present. Composition is minimal, and the production is awful. There are very few points where the band is recognizably themselves.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2023/07/10/deep-dive-van-der-graaf-generator/