The VDGG/Peter Hammill Appreciation Thread

A very interesting interview. 

I think VDGG has done a pretty good job with Trisector. Davic Jackson's sax has always been a very important part of Van Der Graaf's music, and I think it's pretty hard to keep an interesting sound when such an important aspect of the music is gone. They've done a very nice job keeping their music interesting and preventing it from heavy suffering from the absence of the sax. It still is a huge difference compared to earlier VDGG albums though, David's sax does add that emotional and striking touch to the music. 

 

However, to the faithful, all of these things are exciting. I dig them and have quite a few Hammill albums, though I'll never them all. No Thanks.

All of VDGG's albums take a while to fully appreciate / understand. I also didn't really enjoy H to He in the beginning, Pioneers over C. was too experimental, Killer too cheesy etc. But after listening to it more and more I began to appreciate and uinderstand the songs and now I absolutely love them. You should really try Still Life, it's absolutely fantastic. It was really hard to get into though, at the first couple of listens it sounded like a less raw and much less powerful version of Godbluff, but the opposite is what I think now. Apart from Plague of Lighthouse Keepers, Still Life contains some of VDGG's most emotional songs, and that's where the true power of the album lies. Definitely La Rossa and Childlike Faith in Childhoods End are absolutely stunning pieces. I'm sure if you like VDGG already after two weeks listening to them, you will like them much more when knowing them better, it took me months to fully understand their music!