Van Der Graaf Generator

I prophesy disaster wrote: 08: Godbluff 09: Still Life

^ I see about Godbluff, but I need more on Still Life

Loving all the replies. It seems here that VDGG are indeed very much appreciated. 

moshkito wrote: Chord Change wrote: ... Some have asserted that they are "allergic to that peculiar voice" in the album reviews, to which I believe your prog enthusiast credentials should be automatically revoked if that is the case.  ... In my book, the folks that do not like/care PH's vocals, are the rock'n'roll fans that go with their favorites and they don't like singers that know what they are talking about and what they are saying. Those folks will soon say that Bob Dylan is a turkey, that Roy Harper is crap, and that other well known "poets" don't belong in rock music! ... Gimme "Ball and Chain" from that far out album (Cheap Thrills") and it is a lesson about a voice/vocal, not to mention a guitar style that was copied senselessly in "progressive" music! But folks here, don't like finding out that there were other things out there that might disturb their idea of their top five!

Moshkito, I would love to read your book. Please let me know where I can find this content! 
I also very much like the Cheap Thrills album, Janis was a truly great musician. 

richardh wrote: PA wise Pawn Hearts and Godbluff are numbers 11 and 12. lol. ... I would say that 1970 -1975 will never be matched for creativity in rock and prog music

Hehe, I know. I was being a little cheeky. I just don't see the warrant of three PF albums and two Genesis albums in the Top 10, even though I would consider those albums very essential listening, they all sound pretty similar to each other, sonically. I guess this site is after all visited by people who where alive to buy these albums when they were released and VDGG never sold anywhere near close to PF or there label mates, Genesis. 

I agree with your dates. I am guessing this was the cut-off for classically trained generation of musicians with an affinity for blues. 

Grumpyprogfan wrote: @Chord Change. Are you the author of the recommended book?

I wish!  
I have read both books recently, one after the other and I feel like I can save most people some money and time by recommending one over the other. 
The 'On Track' book is literally just descriptions of the albums and song.
Where as 'Decades' does the descriptions (much better descriptions) for the 70's album and also includes autobiographical content, explaining all the very interesting tours VDGG were involved in, the timeline and trajectory for each of the members and what ultimately lead to their demise in the 70s, the book also touches on the reunion and other titbits including the PH albums of the 70s and Banton's organ building. 

Cosmiclawnmower wrote: I think Peter Hammill has been, and continues to be, as creatively prolific and culturally important (or more so) as, say, David Bowie (certainly in Europe) but has he been recognized as such??  ... I do recall that someone (possibly Guy Evans) said that Peter Hammill could really do with an editor! He really has been a remarkably prolific artist!...

I completely agree. 

Logan wrote: Regarding not finding anything, one has to use advanced search and set the date to any time as it defaults to the last week. Good to have an appreciation thread! Van der Graaf Generator is one of my favourite bands, and may well be my favourite of the bands that does get discussed a lot amongst the big names. ...

Thanks for the search tip. I certainly am living up to the rank of "Forum Newbie".
I probably should have made this a VDGG/Peter Hamill thread. 

My rankings are as such for the 70s, please note that I like all VDGG albums, unlike most bands that come back after 30 odd years, they still create remarkable whole albums, no fillers for this band. There 70s work is my favourite though, I haven't given enough time to the 2004+ albums to rank them.  


Edited by Chord Change - November 02 2023 at 22:56

When I decided to give them a try, I ended up ordering their highest rated run, from The Least we can Do to Still Life... without having heard anything from them first. When the albums finally arrived, my first impression was that I finally went too far. However, thankfully the first song from the first album was Darkness, so that one soon grew on me and I kept listening. Refugees was a good anchor too. I wouldn't say I like every single song they made, but those that I do like, oh man, they are a ride indeed. About Hamill, my impression is that he has the chops to be one of the most technically gifter singers around, but somehow he just went anoher way... perhaps not as technically perfect as he could have been, but unique and great all the same... and not for everyone. As for the sax, David Jackson has become my favourite sax player around (not that I know so very many, though).

Chord Change wrote: ... Moshkito, I would love to read your book. Please let me know where I can find this content!  I also very much like the Cheap Thrills album, Janis was a truly great musician.  ...

I'm curious, does anyone have any information on if they'll release another record and/or do another tour? (I don't expect anyone too, and I doubt they will, but I'm curious)

edefakiel wrote: Has everyone listened to this album? The video is just a preview.

David_D wrote: If looking closer at the rather early VdGG albums, I see in Pawn Hearts quite a lot of melodical similarity with H to He, and  the same in Godbluff comparing to Pawn Hearts. That is one of the reasons for I haven't got Pawn Hearts in my collection.

Huh... Are the similarities so strong that you don't need Pawn Hearts? This makes little or no sense to me. But your loss I guess.

I have to say that I couldn't get into VDGG at first. This was about 20 years ago or so. I had the same troubles as I did with Gentle Giant. Then one day it clicked and I've enjoyed almost their entire discography, not just the 1970s, but also more recent releases. 

Chord Change wrote: Shockingly, there is no thread that I could find with search for Van Der Graaf Generator.