Aloft (Van Der Graaf Generator, 2016)

When listening to old progressive heroes in their most recent incarnations we often tend to underestimate their newest songs, comparing them to their classic records (and - alas! - to our memories of youth). That would be unfair with this song, the opening track of "Do Not Disturb" album, released by VDGG in 2016. Not only the melodies are beautiful, but they're cleverly arranged and (useless to say) sung with all Peter Hammill's sensibility and deepness. 

 

"Do Not Disturb" is the thirteenth studio album by VDGG.

The instrumental parts are interestingly diversified, exploiting a good deal of sound effects and passing through many tempo changes. As usual with this band, there are no ornamental passages and all is strictly functional to another inner, emotional journey by this stunning trio. And if it sounds like the Seventies are back... well, that's even better!

Refugees (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1970)

"Refugees", tahken from the album "The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other", is no doubt one of progressive rock brightest pearls, with its deep sweetness and sadness. And of course its lyrics about migrants are so modern and so full of sense today... It's a slow, profound ballad à la VDGG, also including a short and effective instrumental bridge. But Peter Hammill's voice is the most moving and dreaming feature of "Refugees": thanks to it, the listener can actually experience the quest for a better life this unknown people are carrying on.

"Refugees" was released as a 7" single b/w "The Boat of Millions of Years".

And if they're distressed by their trip, they surely are full of hope and their march towards a mythical West seems to be an unavoidable omen, driven by something like a natural instinct. When prog rock artists can enhance their musical dreams with strong emotions, there's nothing as powerful as their songs. This is exactly the case with this song. Shivers run up and down my spine when I hear this:

We're refugees, walking away from the life
that we've known and loved;
nothing to do or say, nowhere to stay;
now we are alone.

Over The Hill (Van Der Graaf Generator, 2008)

This song, taken from the album "Trisector", was a pleasant surprise to me and still is one of the recurring tracks in my playlists. A genuine, fully developed, essentially prog VDGG's  song, at last! Not that I don't like their experiments, their wide open minded attitude, their unpredictable paths, but... well, when they come back to good ol' prog, to enjoyable melodies and longer, flushing track, I'm simply happy.

 

"Trisector" was the band's tenth studio album and their second

work after the new century reunion. 

Not only this is a beautiful song, featuring a deep and even catchy theme, but its arrangement is kind of an interplay festival, where all the instruments co-operate in order to create a rather dark and inner musical world, something the entire progressive world tried and imitate, while the band kept on searching new ways. Please listen to Hammill's performance, enjoy the bass lines, taste the vintage keyboards, appeciate the delicate drumming... all is worth a first class rate! When the master comes back home, the whole family celebrates!

The Emperor in His War Room (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1970)

One of my favourite prog songs ever. And that's saying something. The first sung lines are irresistible to me, with their sad and almost liturgical taste, then Peter Hammill goes through the first section (that's called The Emperor) running up and down his vocal extension and the listener's spine. The vocal harmonies, the keyboard backgrounds, the instrumental bridge between this part and the second one (The Room), well, all is highly emotional and bloody well done.

A wonderful season for VDGG... and for us all!

And when the first theme comes back, I'm actually KO... it's pure progressive juice to my lips, a fatal succession of dark and lights, whispers and cries, stops and progressions. No, I don't need to say more: when good melodies, skilled performances and emotions meet in a single song, that is my song. And something tells me it isn't only mine... but I'm not a jealous guy, after all!

My Room (Waiting for Wonderland) (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1976)

Taken from "StillLife", the album released in 1976 by VDGG, "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)" is a stunning, heartbreaking song, at least IMHO. Peter Hammill's vocals are even more sensitive and sadder than usual, performing on a deep tone a splendid, sweet theme. His voice is constantly doubled and supported by David Jackson's sax and Guy Evans' gentle drumming. In the long instrumental finale the main theme is still there, played by Hugh Banton on bass guitar, the rest of the band creating a Smoky, free arabesque around it, not to mention the discreet piano touches.

"Still Life" isn't an easy album to listen to. But then, a VDGG's LP never is...

The whole track is a dark, deep meditation on life and (waste of) time, melting languid abandon and sadness in a coherent composition. One of the best melodies even written by the band, one of their most enjoyable songs, one of the sweetest and gloomiest  musical journeys a poor prog fan can experience.

Man-Erg (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1971)

What can I say of this track? The first adjective it suggests me is moving. And actually moving is Peter Hammill's intro, featuring his sad voice over a heartbreaking chord progression and his suggestive lyrics. Then the band comes in and an epic riff introduces the second sung part, waving and swinging like water and including David Jackson's smooth sax. Another wall of sound, then Peter comes back with his first theme, but here you'll find rage instead of sadness and a bit of disharmony until the epic riff ends up the song.

Inside the LP's gatefold... the weird VDGG's world.

Moving, as I said and in the double meaning of this word: "Man-Erg" touches my heart and moves away all my boundaries, all the prejudices, all the labels I put on music, too. If evere there was an unpredictable song, this is the one. I still like to follow its widing path, I'm delighted to discover something new each time, I adore how this music caresses me and strikes me down. Thank you for the music, old friends of mine.

Afterwards (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1969)

Each tyime I listen to "Afterwards" I wonder how on Earth VDGG could write and perform such a deep song in their debut album. Well, luckily they could. It's a 5 minute jewel track, based on keyboards, clever drumming and the sensitive Peter Hammill's vocals. The dark atmosphere is somehow softened by a pleasant melody and a relaxing tempo, while the electric piano / Hammond organ plots and the wah-wah guitar add some a peculiar (and psychedelic) stress to the song.

The VDGG's line-up for "The Aerosol Gery Machine" (1969).

Even if the album "The Aerosol Grey Machine" was originally planned as a Hammill's solo work, the band here acts like a band should, interacting and improving each other's contribution. "Afterwards" is a prog ballad, one of the rare specimens of "traditional" song structure in VDGG's discography, but nothing is really traditional, when it come to Hammill & friends.

Your Time Starts Now (Van Der Graaf Generator, 2011)

Reunions aren't always a good moment for music lovers: how many bands resumed old collaborations under the media announcements and trumpets and just gave birth to useless albums (and songs)? Well, VDGG are a welcome exception. Since their reunion, they released three interesting studio albums,  and this is one of my favourite songs of the new Graaf era, taken from "A Grounding in Numbers". A short, intense, atmospheric song featuring a pleasant melody and a stunning vocal interpretation by Peter Hammill.

 

VDGG today: creativity has no age.

 

No intricate arrangements,  no musical experiments, no jamming, no tricks at all, just a song, a good one. This doesn't mean we've got a trivial track here: in its apparent simplicity, "Your Time Starts Now" is a moving piece of art. And the lyrics, so perfectly appropriate for the current group re-start period, urge the listener (and the singer, of course) to live each moment of life as a new beginning. VDGG certainly did so. What about us?

Pilgrims (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1976)

Van Der Graaf Generator's songs are hardly appreciated the first time you listen to them, but this song - the opening track of "Still Life" - immediately stroke me. Peter Hammill offers here a stunning performance, varying his voice's tone, volume and mood many times and perfectly melting his cries and whisperings with Hugh Banton's organ.

VDGG in a mid '70s photo.

Those two "instruments" (as we can really consider Peter's voice an additional instrument) keep going on up and down the scale, alternating soft verses and epic choruses. Of course, Guy Evans emphasizes all that with an increasing waterfull of drums and cymbals.  So, when David Jackson's sax replaces Peter's vocals, the songs is ready for its majestic finale. Even the lyrics are more optimistic than usual for VDGG, including weird notions like hope, future, awakening and union. An unforgettable end exciting experience... oh, yes, I forgot to add this: IMHO.

A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1971)

What a suite is this... how deep, creative, complex and hard to catch track it is! 23 minutes of surprises, 10 movements of pure genius. Of course, it's not the kind of song you'll be able to sing taking a shower, but this is not exactly what prog was born for. Many fans reckon this suite and all the "Pawn Hearts" album is the creative peak of VDGG; I'm not so sure of that (what about "H to He..." or "Still Life"?), but "A Plague..." is certainly a masterpiece and a very influential track in prog history. I confess I had many problems with this song: it's so intricate and unusual that I had to listen to it at least four times to get into it. Some movements are plain, even easy to catch, but other ones are dark and cryptic, even aggressive... but at last I appreciated the whole lot and I simply loved it when I listened to it at night. Yes, after all this is about a lighthouse and you need such a machinery in the dark.

"Pawn Hearts" is  a whole world to explore.

Behind the countless changes of the track, its jazzy, gloom, heavy, avant-garde or creepy, noisy or silent movements, there's a grievous story the lyrics relate leaving out all details. The narrator is the lighthouse keeper and we learn he's remorseful and distressed for a shipwreck he caused by forgetting to turn on the lighthouse lantern. Both music and lyrics are soaked in sorrow and confusion, along with the narrator's quest for atonement and redemption. A long and amazing journey through the most intimate and dramatic proglands.You're warned.

House with No Door (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1970)

Another selection from "H to He Who Am The Only One". This is the saddest and one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. I simply can't describe the cry of sorrow Peter Hammill's voice suggests here more than elsewhere. The claustrophobic lyrics, of course, accomplish this frustrating, dark and heartbreaking picture. So, I wonder, am I just a masochist listening again and again to such a depressing track? Well no, because I don't feel bad after the ordeal... on the contrary I reach an ecstatic mood and I'm grateful to the man that wrote this song. I even happen to remember Chateaubriand writing that the human heart expresses itself better in sadness than in joy.

Another Paul Whitehead's cover!

This is also the first VDGG's song I liked, so that I'm convinced that human heart is also specially suitable in identifying grief and this is also a common way to know we're all brothers and we share the same destiny. Now, if a song learned so much to me, should I stop listening to it?

Killer (Van Der Graaf Generator, 1970)

How strange this song was to me the first time I listened to it! Based on warm and rough sax riffs, a pulsing bass guitar and keyboard waves swarming around, the track features an intense vocal performance by Peter Hammill, the prince of sorrow singing his despair. The lyrics are very strong: the song is about a strange and murderous fish (the "killer") living in the deepest waters, destined to live alone ad feared by anyone else. Solitude, pain, darkness: these will be the trademarks of VDGG career and find here one of their greatest moments.

VDGG in the early '70s

Prog rock makes miracles. Even if the "killer" is a vicious predator, the listener ends up being sorry for him and recognising in the murder's life a bit of our common destiny. Cheer up!