VITAL

"Vital" was not the best way to end Van Der Graaf's recording career at the late seventies, but still may be called as an welcome addition to their catalogue, since there are a few live recordings by this great band ("Maida Vale" and some tracks at "The Box"). I don't have the Japanese CD version, which is the only one with all tracks of the original vynil, but with the inclusion of "Sci-Finance" at "The Box", only "Nadir's Big Chance" is MIA. This album has a major fault: the sound quality is a bit poor. But this is more than compensated with a really energic performance, making some of these performances actually better than their studio counterparts, like "Still Life" (which benefits by the inclusion of Charles Dickie's cello), "Pioneers Over C" and "Urban/Killer/Urban". The star of the show is IMHO Nic Potter, with his fuzzy bass sound. "Vital" is a good live album which bravely stood the test of time and is highly recommended for any VDGG fan.