Van Der Graaf Generator

Van Der Graaf Generator – World Record (1976) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 67:53 minutes | Scans included | 2,75 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,32 GB
Genre: Rock

Released in the latter half of 1976 as a half-hearted attempt at some sort of commercial focus in the U.K. and U.S., World Record suffers from several ailments: there was much tension in the band at this point, particularly between leader Peter Hammill and keyboardist Hugh Banton. In the end, the band would split apart, with Banton and wind player David Jackson leaving, while Hammill and drummer Guy Evans recruited replacements. World Record is very much a divided record, sounding beautifully clean, but lacking in both performance and focus. Evans plays as well as ever, but without the creative spark of earlier records; Hammill, meanwhile, was responsible for the rambling, scattered “Meurglys III (The Songwriter’s Guild),” a lumbering piece named after one of his guitars. Of the cuts present, the best are the operatic “Masks,” which mines one of Hammill’s favorite themes, that of identity, and “Wondering,” written in collaboration with Banton. “Wondering” is beautifully hymn-like until the very end, when it suddenly becomes querulous and uncertain, ending the album both with a note of hope and a desperate question.

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Van Der Graaf Generator – The Quiet Zone / The Pleasure Dome (1977) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 53:20 minutes | Scans included | 2,18 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,02 GB
Genre: Rock

Somehow this combination made sense: a revised band (with Nic Potter returning on bass and the addition of Graham Smith, formerly of String Driven Thing, on violin) with a shortened name, and an album that was named twice, with different cover art for each name. What also made sense was the focus on shorter songs and a change of musical attitude. While Hammill could never entirely shake off his approach to songwriting, he was able to modify it somewhat. Working with the new band, he was able to generate considerably more energy than on World Record. “Lizard Play” and “Cat’s Eye/Yellow Fever (Running)” are wonderfully gymnastic songwriting exercises, yet remain engaging by dint of their forcefulness. Written and performed at the top of Hammill’s game, this album is a delight.

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Van Der Graaf Generator – The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other (1970) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 52:52 minutes | Scans included | 2,16 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,04 GB
Genre: Rock

Peter Hammill has always had an abiding interest, it seems, in the blurred boundary between the mystical and the scientific, and between the rational and magical mind; this is certainly evident on the debut Van Der Graaf Generator album, even though Hammill had yet to really begin focusing himself on what it was that was driving him (despite the fact that the band’s very name referenced a device that resembles a bastard mix of scientific apparatus and shamanic totem). The Least We Can Do brings those concerns to the fore with ferocity, with time out for a couple of more personal pieces (“Refugees” and “Out of Our Book”). Hammill’s lyrics, delivered with all the passion and intent he can muster, reference mysticism, numerology, astrology, various religious pantheons, the Malleus Maleficarum (leading Hammill to conclude, a bit too hopefully, that magic needs to be gray to be balanced), Robert van deGraaf himself (in “Whatever Would Robert Have Said?”), the future of humanity, and surviving ecological catastrophe. This being the start of the 1970s, the hopeful notes are drowned out by the tidal wave of fear, sadness, and despair, despite which, the music does tend to be rather uplifting, thanks to the undercurrent of barely restrained majesty VDGG tended to have (possibly thanks to Hugh Banton, who had been rather used to communicating with God via church and cathedral organs; he brought that expertise to a position more normally occupied by determined B3 thumpers engaged in battle with show-horse guitarists).

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Van Der Graaf Generator – Still Life (1976) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 55:09 minutes | Scans included | 2,24 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,06 GB
Genre: Rock

VDGG’s second step on the mid-’70s comeback trail saw Peter Hammill attempting to meld the introspective and the cosmic throughout, though this did not stop him from taking a dead run at a grandiose concept or two — the consequences of immortality on the title track, and the grand fate of humanity on the epic “Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End.” The theme of humane cooperation informs the opening “Pilgrims,” while “La Rossa” is an epic tale of desire fulfilled (a story that would be concluded on Hammill’s solo album, Over). The true highlight, however, is the beautiful, pensive “My Room (Waiting for Wonderland),” with its echoes of imagination and loss. Hammill did not achieve such a level of painful beauty again until “This Side of the Looking Glass” on Over.

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Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts (1971) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 65:23 minutes | Scans included | 2,66 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,23 GB
Genre: Rock

Van Der Graaf Generator’s third album, Pawn Hearts was also its second most popular; at one time this record was a major King Crimson cult item due to the presence of Robert Fripp on guitar, but Pawn Hearts has more to offer than that. The opening track, “Lemmings,” calls to mind early Gentle Giant, with its eerie vocal passages (including harmonies) set up against extended sax, keyboard, and guitar-driven instrumental passages, and also with its weird keyboard and percussion interlude, though this band is also much more contemporary in its focus than Gentle Giant. Peter Hammill vocalizes in a more traditional way on “Man-Erg,” against shimmering organ swells and Guy Evans’ very expressive drumming, before the song goes off on a tangent by way of David Jackson’s saxes and some really weird time signatures — plus some very pretty acoustic and electric guitar work by Hammill himself and Fripp. The monumental “Plague of Lighthouse Keepers,” taking up an entire side of the LP, shows the same kind of innovation that characterized Crimson’s first two albums, but without the discipline and restraint needed to make the music manageable. The punning titles of the individual sections of this piece (which may have been done for the same reason that Crimson gave those little subtitles to its early extended tracks, to protect the full royalties for the composer) only add to the confusion. As for the piece itself, it features enough virtuoso posturing by everyone (especially drummer Guy Evans) to fill an Emerson, Lake & Palmer album of the same era, with a little more subtlety and some time wasted between the interludes. The 23-minute conceptual work could easily have been trimmed to, say, 18 or 19 minutes without any major sacrifices, which doesn’t mean that what’s here is bad, just not as concise as it might’ve been. But the almost operatic intensity of the singing and the overall performance also carries you past the stretches that don’t absolutely need to be here. The band was trying for something midway between King Crimson and Genesis, and came out closer to the former, at least instrumentally. Hammill’s vocals are impassioned and involving, almost like an acting performance, similar to Peter Gabriel’s singing with Genesis, but the lack of any obviously cohesive ideas in the lyrics makes this more obscure and obtuse than any Genesis release.

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Van Der Graaf Generator – H To He, Who Am The Only One (1970) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 71:13 minutes | Scans included | 2,89 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,3 GB
Genre: Rock

The foreboding crawl of the Hammond organ is what made Van Der Graaf Generator one of the darkest and most engrossing of all the early progressive bands. On H to He Who Am the Only One, the brooding tones of synthesizer and oscillator along with Peter Hammil’s distinct and overly ominous voice make it one of this British band’s best efforts. Kicking off with the prog classic “Killer,” an eight minute synthesized feast of menacing tones and threatening lyrics, the album slowly becomes shadowed with Van Der Graaf’s sinister instrumental moodiness. With superb percussion work via Guy Evans, who utilizes the tympani drum to its full extent, tracks like “The Emperor in His War-Room” and “Lost” are embraced with a blackened texture that never fades. The effective use of saxophone (both alto and tenor) and baritone from David Jackson gives the somberness some life without taking away any of the instrumental petulance. H to He is carpeted with a science fiction theme, bolstered by the bleak but extremely compelling use of heavy tones and the absence of rhythms and flighty pulsations. This album, which represents Van Der Graaf in their most illustrious stage, is a pristine example of how dark progressive rock should sound.

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Van Der Graaf Generator – Godbluff (1975) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 58:15 minutes | Scans included | 2,36 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,07 GB
Genre: Rock

Following the release of Pawn Hearts, bandleader Peter Hammill took time out to develop a solo career, choosing to focus his energy on darkly introspective works that seemed to be intended to examine the personal consequences of his life. When it came time for reuniting the members of Van Der Graaf, this change in direction had its effect on the band’s post-1975 music. While the musical structures continued to be complex and dense, there seemed to be far less accent on the demonstration of musical skill than had formerly been the case. Indeed, the album opened with daring quietness, with David Jackson’s flute echoing across the stereo space, joined by Hammill’s voice as he whispered the opening lines. There was sturm und drang to come, but the music had been opened up and the lyrics had developed more focus, often abandoning metaphor in favor of statement. Godbluff was a bravura comeback — only four cuts, but all were classics.

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