VDGG Reformation Retrospective

hegelec wrote: Moreover, while all the new albums are good, it seems obvious to me in retrospect that Trisector is really a cut above the others. The songs are amongst Hammill's best in recent years, and the band have the room to breathe and develop the song kernels with hard-hitting instrumental passages (something missing from "A Grounding in Numbers"). I find myself going back to it the most often and find it astonishing how well it continues to hold up. It's the only record of the new bunch that I think is competitive with the band's classic releases.

Absolutely

The.Crimson.King wrote: Sean Trane wrote: Moreover, while all the new albums are good, it seems obvious to me in retrospect that Trisector is really a cut above the others. ^this.  While there are great songs sprinkled throughout Present, Do Not Disturb & A Grounding in Numbers, Trisector is a complete first to last song 5 star classic

TRBH, I prefer Alt to AGIN

Present is great for the first three songs, than runs out of steam... And I like DND a fair bit

I’m one for A Grounding in Numbers and their recent Do Not Disturb.
Trisector was good, not great for me.
There’s so much punchy energy on AGIN, a lot of variety as well. It lacked longer cuts, but what the band packed into the short-song format impresses me to no end. Guy really shines.

Man ... I don't really like any of them. Maybe I need to revisit but their original lineup was miles better than they are now. I've tried them all with an open mind ... even bought all of them except the last one when I finally gave up and just streamed it. But none connected.

^ You really should get Clutch (one of his all-time best) and Thin Air, Tom.

Even though the newer albums aren't as amazing as the classic albums (Still Life being my all-time favorite...), I'm really happy with the later era. Do Not Disturb is probably my favorite of the bunch, but I like Trisector a lot as well. I find those two to be a good mix of classic PH emotion and plain rocking fun. The other albums are nice as well, but they strike me as inconsistent. I very rarely listen to Present or AGiN as a whole, even though I like some of the songs a lot.

Inconsistency is a bit of a problem with Hammill's solo albums as well, but I'm still baffled how no one seems to notice his post 70's solo albums. The number of ratings on the site (let alone reviews) are very low for most of them. The classic era albums seem to overshadow his more recent output, which is a real shame because there's tons of great stuff on the later albums. I may be a fanboy, but I consider the later era just as essential in his catalog as the classic albums. The later albums are different for sure and there aren't (m)any epic majestic songs like A louse is not a home in there, but that doesn't say anything about the quality of the music. What is awesome considering PH's catalog is that there's practically always some gems on each of his albums, which makes purchasing his albums really interesting. And some of the albums are actually full of gems - like the newest one, From the Trees, which I consider a top 5 PH album. But it, also, seems to go unnoticed, (This was perhaps a bit off topic, but it's something I find curious.)

At the moment I'm really waiting for April because I'll get to see PH live for the first time. He's never going to come here in Finland, but fortunately it's an easy trip to Stockholm to attend the concert. I haven't been waiting for a concert like this since I was a teenager

Edited by Henri - March 04 2018 at 01:12

^ I feel for ya’ bro.