WORLD RECORD

By far the weakest of the VDGG LP's this has very little to commend it. The arrangements presented here sound tired and lacking. Strangely this material sounded much much better live. Hammills guitar playing is at times almost atonal and irritating. To me (a very big fan) this LP sounds like a parody of VDGG. Saying that it has many moments especially on side two that hint at how good this could have been. Wondering is actually a pretty darn good song and the start of Meurglys III, The Songwriter's Guild hints at greater things. This track was especially good live and became a favorite touring tune at the time. At the time I felt and still do that something went wrong in the studio, somehow this material did not sound good when produced and its strengths were lost. Compare these cuts with the live tracks on madia vale although only two tracks are represented there I think the live versions are far better. Sadly I can only give this record two stars it probably deserves a little over two but not much.

Thinking about this a couple of years later on, I still feel this is a disappointing set, but side is really worth 4 stars , whilst side one lets the set down and is worth only 2. However I do believe the set is worth 3 rather than the two I gave it at the time.