MAIDA VALE

Very few live performances of VDGG were officially released. One of the reason has been already mentioned on this site (thanks Hughes) : the band was not a too great live performer. I saw them live at the Cirque Royal in Brussels in 76 but I only have a vague souvenir about it.

"Maida Vaile" consists of songs from different eras : the origin with "Darkness" and "Man-Erg" and then the Mark II period with songs from "Godbluff", "Still Life" and "World Record". What is really interesting with this album is the overall quality of the recording, and this is sufficiently important to mention.

Forget about the disgusting renditions from "Vital" and jump happily into this one. This is by far the best official VDGG live release (in terms of boots, you should try and get hold of their 2005 reunion concerts from either London or Milan). This effort also sounds more as a studio live effort (no audience participation at all).

The highlight is "Still Life" : even if Peter is not the greatest singer of the prog rock history, his rendition here is truly emotional and deserves the deepest consideration. Another one is "La Rossa" : although it is not one of my preferred song from the band, this live performance is really great.

If you should consider to buy only one live album from Van Der Graaf, this is the one and only (even if "When She Comes" and "Masks" are a bit weaker - they should have put "The Undercover Man" and "Pilgrims" instead).

Four stars.