GODBLUFF

That period after the first re-union is my favorite period of Van Der Graaf Generator's career. Three of four albums released then are truly excellent. Here we have the first of them. Godbluff to some the best VDGG album is definitely the most condensed record in their entire career. 4 quite long pieces making king of concept are timeless classics. Album starts with very melodic Undercover Man. This song is the shortest on this release but it doesn't mean it's short. It's just kind of hit song from the band. Comparing to some of their psychedelic tracks it's definitely more subtle but it's still very emotional. Scorched Earth comes next and there's no audiable break between the songs. This time band decided to experiment a bit but only at the end of the song. The whole concept seems to be created as sort of musical patchwork and it's done excellent. Arrow starts with some jazzy sounds and that's probably the only part of the album where band went freestyle improvising a little. Of course later we have typical for that album formula based on repeating memorable fragments and it's all so damn well arranged. I remember on the early releases the moments where band seemed to drift out of arrangement and musicians played each on his own. Here all is done TOGETHER. Peter Hammill is one of the best vocalist and he proves that clearly on this song. His voive is truly mighty. The last verses he yells and it sounds a bit like something later done by death metal bands. The Sleepwalkers is opus magnum of this album. To some the best track here but to be honest all are excellent. But ok Sleepwalkers is amazing and it's definitely deserves to be a leader. It starts with a folk melody and creates incredible mood of the night. Surprisingly band played a bit of cha-cha in that song and it sounds like something jazzy from 1920s. Eddie Jackson is amazing with his sax parts and it gives you a better kick than most of noisy guitar stuff. His playing is smooth and when it needs to be agressive also. The song somehow is combined of two parts but we can recognize it only by psychedelic keyboard elements used exactly in the middle and in the end of the song. A masterpiece. Peter Hammill appeared to be the best vocalist in the wrold. To me there's no song in the history that is sung better than this one. This album needs no more words than: TOTAL KILLER WITH NO FILLER. Besides no words can describe emotions it generates but i tried for this review to do my best. It's a must for any prog fan collection.