Van Der Graaf Generator [World Record]This disc appeared as only my second entry in my Blog just over two years ago [2nd January 2010], and here it is again, in my mind one of the greatest Rock records ever made, it's 9th in my all time list, i've played it dozens and dozens of times, and i never tire of it, it was so good to listen to it again, the genius of four musicians, creating sounds that are unusual for a Rock Band, mainly because it employs saxophone and organ instead of three guitarists and a drummer, their music is almost operatic, and their penchant for long songs makes them divine to hear, and their lyrics can be fairly off the cosmic wall, it's a wonderful cohesion of revolutionary things.
Van Der Graaf Generator are an English Band, formed in 1967, they kept breaking up and re-forming, and at this point are active again, but without their Saxophonist David Jackson, the mid Seventies were their golden years, and this album along with Still Life are their greatest albums by far, this one came out in 1976, in the days of Vinyl, i owned the LP of this, the cover shows a picture of our blue planet, with an LP record as the other half, the VDGG logo above is very MC Escher in the way its lines don't work out true, but a great logo.
I really enjoyed the last two tracks, Wondering is so ethereal, it's very religious and like a cathedral church hymn in a way, strong and powerful, a great ending to the album, its lyrics enshrine belief and conviction with passion, but ultimately it has to give way to what is one of the most tremendous Prog Rock songs ever, a 21 minute masterpiece that has everything, it twists and weaves over different things, but it never sounds like a bunch of smaller songs cobbled together, it has the most phenomenal cohesion, even the 7 minute instrumental jamming session at the end feels like it's just meant to be, here's my own dividing up of the song to make it more bite-sized,
A - Intro - 0:00
B - First Verse - 1:15
C - First Chorus - 4:27
D - Second Verse - 8:18
E - Musical Interlude - 11:21
F - Second Chorus - 12:44
G - Jamming Session - 13:20
i would be here explaining the highlights of the song forever, because it's so full of good things, but i'll just mention the very best highlights, i like the way David Jackson plays the sax to sound ghostly like a flute [4:57+], and a nice jam session ensues after the lyrics [5:32+], and it all heats up to a boil, and explodes with Peter Hammill's guitar [8:18+], and with Jackson's sax / Banton's organ adding the most delicious reply, this riff just goes on and on for just over 3 minutes [8:18-11:21], great stuff, with Hammill lyrics in the middle, a heady mixture of music and lyrics, and the whole song is rounded out by the most hypnotic jam session by the four musicians, Banton / drums & Evans / organ provide the hypnotic rhythm section, while Hammill / guitar & Jackson / saxophone ad lib their way around like Jazz Fusionists, the whole things develops a tremendous intensity, and eventually fades out in full swing, i wonder how long it went on for?, a nigh perfect Prog track.
Here's Van Der Graaf Generator playing 'Meurglys 3, The Songwriters Guild' on YouTube.
