The Shred Room or The In-Betweeners Club

No VdGG tune is bad, Rob.

I love Killer.  The live versions are just that too.

It's just one of my least favourite VdGG tracks and not because of any real reason.

And Hugh Banton is the worlds best keyboard player.  Listen to his live work with VdGG... it's mind blowing!  I swear he's an octopus.

MovingPictures07 wrote: James wrote: Maybe just more randy then.  H to He is also epic.  Darkness 11/11 is one of my favourite tracks ever. The least we can do is smack Alex round the face for his hate of Pawn Hearts is also epic.  Refugees... mmmm! Lost = best break-up song ever (for me anyhow) Still Life = how I feel most of the time... existentialism ftw! Existentialism doesn't fit the Randian philosophy, hence why Alex hateth the VdGG and loveth the Rush. I like music possessing lyrics that don't necessarily fit my beliefs. Hell, most of prog is on the left on the political spectrum, whereas my views don't correspond at all. Although, I must admit... the lyrics in VDGG don't help my opinion. Though it's primarily the music. I don't care nearly as much about the lyrics if the music is amazing enough to warrant sub-par lyrics. If not, then the lyrics do stand out more.

Van Der Graaf Generator are one of the very few bands whom I could consider to have genuinely poetic lyrics. Genesis, perhaps, Sinfield-era Crimson too. Sound effects, ideas, philosophical expression, clever links of lines and development of themes, and genuine atmospheric treatment.

The lyrics are in no way sub-par (exception: White Hammer); they're just challenging.

James wrote: King By-Tor wrote: James wrote: http://www.kalyr.com/weblog/2007/10/11/the-40-worst-lyricists-in-rock-%E2%80%94-10-to-2-article-on-blender-the-ultimate-guide-to-music-and-more/ Epic! 404'd!!! Sorry, bad link. I'll quote from the silly Blender article: 02 • Neil Peart An ace on the rototoms, a train wreck on the typewriter. Drummers are good at many things: exploding, drowning in their own vomit, drumming. But the Rush skinsman proved they should never write lyrics—or read books. Peart opuses like “Cygnus X-1” are richly awful tapestries of fantasy and science fiction, steeped in an eighth-grade understanding of Western philosophy. 2112, Rush’s 1976 concept album based on individualist thinker Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, remains an awe-inspiring low point in the sordid relationship between rock and ideas. Worst lyric: “I stand atop a spiral stair/An oracle confronts me there/He leads me on light years away/Through astral nights, galactic days” (“Oracle: The Dream”)

Scott with the smackdown!

I think his rule of "no band bashing" should be adhered to, though.  We can be sillier about these things in the Suede.

Did I read somewhere on this page that VdGG lyrics are sub-par? 

And Hello guys.

OK - later all, I'm heading home.

LinusW wrote: At least we balance things out by loving Rush, Pat

I try my best to bring balance. 

rushfan4 wrote: James wrote: Sorry, bad link. I'll quote from the silly Blender article: 02 • Neil Peart An ace on the rototoms, a train wreck on the typewriter. Drummers are good at many things: exploding, drowning in their own vomit, drumming. But the Rush skinsman proved they should never write lyrics—or read books. Peart opuses like “Cygnus X-1” are richly awful tapestries of fantasy and science fiction, steeped in an eighth-grade understanding of Western philosophy. 2112, Rush’s 1976 concept album based on individualist thinker Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem, remains an awe-inspiring low point in the sordid relationship between rock and ideas. Worst lyric: “I stand atop a spiral stair/An oracle confronts me there/He leads me on light years away/Through astral nights, galactic days” (“Oracle: The Dream”)   Please take this sh*t along with your sh*tty VDGG comments back to the Suede Room.

To be perfectly honest, Hemispheres is one of the most painful bits of lyrics I've heard in a while, and Entre Nous, Free Will and A Farewell To Kings are rather shabby, too. However, I actually love Peart's lyrics for Caress Of Steel, and 2112 and Cygnus X-I (BOOK 1: The Good One) have their moments, too. I think he's honestly not that bad, just occasionally very messy and prone to rigidly dragging out tortured rhyme schemes when a bit more fluidity would perhaps serve the lyric better, and you sort of get the impression that a lot of the words are consequently not very 'planned'.

He's not too bad, but he's not great either, in my view.

King By-Tor wrote: Bye Patrique! James, where is that from?

VdGG - Necromancer

Last track on The Aerosol Grey Machine.


Edited by James - December 03 2008 at 16:31

So you live in the bottom of the sea,
and you kill all that come near you...
but you are very lonely, because all the other fish fear you
and you crave companionship and someone to call your own
because for the whole of your life you've been living alone.
         
On a black day in a black month at the black bottom of the sea
your mother gave birth to you and died immediately....
'Cos you can't have two killers living in the same pad
and when your mother knew that her time had come
she was really rather glad.
         
Death in the sea, death in the sea,
somebody please come and help me, come and help me
Fishes can't fly, fishes can't fly,
fishes can't and neither can I, neither can I....
         
Now I'm really rather like you for I've killed all the love I ever had
by not doing all I ought to and by leaving my mind coming bad.
And I too am a killer, for emotion runs as deep as flesh;
and I too am so lonely, and I wish that I could forget
we need love,
we need love,
we need love.


Nope!  VdGG goodness.

Edited by James - December 03 2008 at 16:34