PRESENT

Although the reunion album of the classic Van der Graaf Generator lineup impressed me at first, only for me to sour on it later, I've found it's ended up growing on me since. Sure, none of the material here has the fire or passion of, say Godbluff or Pawn Hearts, and whilst having a disc of improvisations is interesting, I've never been able to listen to it all the way through without tuning out and treating it as background music. Still, a VdGG idea of what background music is nonetheless represents something interesting, and the songs themselves might lack fire but they make up for it with a meditative, melancholic mood in their best moments. It'll never be my favourite album from this particular lineup of the group, but I'm glad it exists.