Camel and VDGG
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Top 10s and lists
Forum Description: List all your favourites here
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=47308
Printed Date: February 22 2025 at 18:42
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Topic: Camel and VDGG
Posted By: Mecropolis2112
Subject: Camel and VDGG
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 14:46
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Hi, i started listening Camel and Van Der Graaf Generator, because i've been reading very nice critics. can you help me with a list of the best of both bands? i just have listen 1 song per group, so if you can recomend any song, it will be nice.. thanks! ------------- [Me¢яøpølis] |
Replies:
Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 14:51
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For Camel, start with The Snow Goose but READ THE STORY FIRST!! Most of the bad reviews are from cretins who don't realise that it's an interpretation of a book - hence the gentle atmosphere. Then try Moonmadness. I can't recommend any VDGG - I just don't like them. ------------- A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life. |
Posted By: DJPuffyLemon
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 14:59
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DO NOT START WITH SNOW GOOSE
too artsy probably unless you like artsy
if you like jazz fusiony, start with their debut: which is self-titled
if you like rock, start with Mirage
if you like artsy stuff then just dive in with Snow Goose
if you like a compination of all three with a symphonic edge, then go with Moonmadness
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Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 14:59
| from Camel, Mirage then Moonmadness, and then Snow Goose. Then you can try their debut, and then Rajaz and Nod and a Wink. |
Posted By: BaldJean
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 15:07
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of Vdgg start with "Godbluff", which is a good introduction to them. if you like it a bit more weird, give the excellent "Pawn Hearts" a listen. but you can't really go wrong with them; there is not a weak album of them at all. however, the vocals are a case of "love or hate"; I belong to the "love" faction
-------------  A shot of me as High Priestess of Gaia during our fall festival. Ceterum censeo principiis obsta |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 15:25
I know you're looking for songs, but I'd also recommend Godbluff and H to He by VdGG to start, and I'd recommend the Snow Goose by Camel. Actually, I think this is the best Camel album -->
1978 ../album.asp?id=333 - A Live Record 4.39 (75 ratings) The songs that got me into VdGG were "House With No Door," "Man Erg" and "Killer." I heard them on lastfm, but I suggest you listen to the streaming tracks and read the reviews, if you haven't done so already, on the band pages at this site. And do a myspace search. With With Camel it was "Nimrodel" (yay for Gandalf) and "Supertwister" off Mirage that really struck a chord, and "Song Within a Song" and "Chord Change" off Moonmadness. Some people are bored by The Snow Goose, but I really feel that that's the studio album where Camel shone greatly and well surpassed any other studio album of theirs. One thing I like is that it's instrumental, which, considering Latimer's vocals, is not a bad thing. One has to listen to it from beginning to end to really appreciate it (and then again) -- some never make it to the end, but it's the second half that really gets me, good build up, good contrast. To recommend just one song from it, "La Princess Perdue." When I first heard I was a bit bored at first, but my opinion quickly changed. I don't exactly consider myself a Camel fan anymore, but that album had a profound effect on me, and I can always enjoy that album (I must have listened to it a hundred times). |
Posted By: Mecropolis2112
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 15:40
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thanks for your recomendations, i just listened Mirage from camel and i really like it.. for VDGG i have to understand more her music, its hard for me to digest it but i think that in one week i could be adapted. thanks again! ------------- [Me¢яøpølis] |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 16:12
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Glad you like Mirage... As Cacho said, Mirage, then Moonmadness, then The Snow Goose is probably the best way to go for most people. I'm sure you'll like Moonmadness as well as Mirage. With VdGG, "House with no Door" is a very accessible song, I found. Love at first listen for me. I struggled with VdGG due to Hammill's rather over-the-top, to my mind, vocals, and certain "crazy" musical qualities. I felt that he was having us on/ pulling our legs too much, and maybe I wanted something that seemed more sincere to me. Those were my early impressions anyway. As I once said in some form, "I wouldn't be caught dead listening to VdGG so it's something of a guilty private pleasure." It was all about GG (Gentle Giant) vs. VdGG in those days, I thought Gentle Giant more tasteful and generally better. |
Posted By: The Pessimist
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 18:31
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A list of songs to start with: VDGG - House With No Door The Sleepwalkers La Rossa Darkness (11/11) Undercover Man NOT Pawn Hearts yet, thats for pretty advanced VDG listeners  Camel - Nimrodel Freefall Airborn Song Within A Song I personally hate the Snow Goose, but I would give the whole album a try after Mirage and Moonmadness I kind of rough idea of what I listened to to start with, and they remain some of my favourite songs to this day coincidently. ------------- "Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value." Arnold Schoenberg |
Posted By: The Quiet One
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 18:45
I'm glad people recognise my efforts of helping people correctly...hehe 
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Logan wrote:Posted By: crimson87
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 18:57
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H To the HE is the best VDGG album but Vdgg is very different from camel , much more hard to listen.
The emperor in his war room is the best song from that album
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Posted By: ten years after
Date Posted: March 22 2008 at 20:03
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Camel and VDGG are so different that it seems unusual to see them paired in a thread. If i was trying to introduce a classical musician to rock music and played them Snow Goose followed by Pawn Hearts i don't think they would expect to see them classified in the same genre.
For Camel fans i would imagine that Refugees would be the most easily accessible VDGG song. In fact i don't understand why this song is not at least as famous as Whiter Shade of Pale (which it resembles and surpasses IMO).
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Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: March 23 2008 at 12:44
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Songs from VDGG:
Pilgrims Sleepwalkers Man ERG Killer Darkness (11/11) La Rossa ..and from Camel: Freefall Never Let go Lady Fantasy Chord Change Lunar Sea I was never that keen on the Snow Goose, but you may want to try a few later albums. Rajaz is pretty good |
Posted By: A B Negative
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 09:39
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Many forum members hate compilation albums but my first exposure to VDGG was the First Generation compilation and I found it an excellent introduction to the band.
The compilation I Prophesy Disaster is another great starter for the VDGG novice, and covers a wider range of the band's albums than First generation.
The most recent compilation An Introduction is pretty good too but I'm not as keen on the choice of tracks.
As for Camel: get Moonmadness.
------------- "The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar.... Now, that's my idea of a good time." |
Posted By: bucka001
Date Posted: March 26 2008 at 10:36
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Thanks to the advent of YouTube, I think it's easier to 'turn people on' to VdGG. They are a brilliant group but I've talked to several people who've said they just didn't 'get it' until they saw video of them. With that in mind, check out these excellent clips: Darkness ('70) from the German TV show 'Beat Club':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmhP6YiN6s - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmhP6YiN6s (this is a Must See clip!)
Lost ('72) live in concert from Paris, broadcast on 'Pop 2'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbcZIzpanaw&feature=related - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbcZIzpanaw&feature=related
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers pt 1 ('72) from Belgium TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzoaWrRYg98 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzoaWrRYg98
(if you like this clip of Plague, check out parts 2, 3, &4 as well as it's a 20 minute song like "Suppers Ready)
------------- jc |
Posted By: ghost_of_morphy
Date Posted: March 27 2008 at 12:41
| Get tthe three classic camel albums, Mirage, Snowgoose, and Moonmadness, in that order. After that, try Rajaz and Raindances and maybe Nude. |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: March 30 2008 at 14:26
There is another good VDGG compilation I can reccomend too. It is called 'From the Least to the Quiet Zone - An Introduction' That was my first real exposure to the band. Got me hooked! |