The lost Van der Graaf Generator album

As already mentioned before Jean and I created the lost Van der Graaf Generator album between "Pawn Hearts" and "Godbluff" by combining the five tracks from the Peter Hammill solo albums "Chameleon In the Shadow of the Night" and "The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage" on which all four band members play. We called the album "The Silent Corner In the Shadow of the Night". The track list for the vinyl would have been:

Side 1:

1) A Louse is not a Home 12:13

2) (In the) Black Room / The Tower 10:56

Side 2:

1) Red Shift 8:11

2) Rock and Role 6:41

3) Forsaken Gardens 6:15

We finally created a cover for it. Here it is:

The silent corner is of course the left one where there is no rustling of the leaves of the trees in the wind. We like how the stars somehow spotlight that silent corner. What is your opinion on our lost VdGG album, both music and cover?

TheH wrote: I don't think Banton plays on "Red Shift"

he is not easy to hear in the loud passages; in the quieter passages the organ can more clearly be heard

This is too weird ... at the time, before GODBLUFF came out, I believe that one of the comments we had heard was that it would be a double album, and my thoughts are/were that this album would have contained BOTH GODBLUFF AND STILL LIFE ... which ended up being released as single albums apart from each other. I'm inclined to believe that these were released as single albums BECAUSE OF THE AMERICAN MARKET, for which PH and VdGG were still new ... and I don't think the record company wanted to risk an expense that would hurt the artist and the record company .... these are my thoughts, and only PH would be able to add more, but I think that he is too nice, and will not say anything about it at all ... unless it comes out in an autobiography after he passes away from us ... (gawd that thought makes me cry right now!).

I still think and hear the same feelings in both of these albums ... whereas these being combined with PH's solo stuff is crazy ... things like "The Lie" and "Red Shift" and even "Modern" do not quite sound like Godbluff or Still Life to my ears ... maybe better recorded and cleaned up, which SC and ES seems to be more home recorded than it does studio refined ... almost ... at least by comparison!

TheH wrote: I don't think Banton plays on "Red Shift"

He does, but I think he does not play on Rock and Role, but instead Nic Potter on bass.

Are you sure about that?

My infos about who plays on which track on Chameleon would be that Jackson played on German Overalls, Rock and Rôle, What's it Worth, Easy to slip away and Black Room.

Banton only on Black Room

Evans on Rock and Rôle and Black Room

Potter on Rock and Rôle and Easy to slip away

I'm actually at the moment not sure where I got this from, it is also what the Wiki site says, but of course that might be wrong too. I remember that a few years ago I thought that Potter also plays on Black Room.

What about the next album? All 4 play on the 3 tracks here used for this compilation, but Banton also plays on The Lie. That at least true?

Ok, you hear this by listening to the songs?

Or do you have a reliable source for that?

Just checking the CD booklets and The Book, and they don't tell me anything specific about it.