If I was smiling during When She Comes, I was positively beaming by the time of A Place to Survive... Amid the beauty, poetry, anguish, ferocity, and triumphant brilliance found in the music of Van der Graaf Generator, there is often an undercurrent of creepiness; an unsettling chill and slithering premonition weaving its way around..
Peter Hammill – Incoherence (2024 Remix) (Esoteric)
This is probably the only “song” that’s ever had a yes/no interlude in Greek and Japanese as the lyrics of a chorus… Peter Hammill I breathed a sigh of relieved contentment at roughly the midway point of my first listen to the newly remixed edition of Incoherence, Peter Hammill's 30th studio album first released an..
VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR – Still Life: Vinyl Reissue (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
All told, this is an album which not only repays repeated listening, but ultimately makes you profoundly grateful to have made that investment of effort, as it has the potential to enrich the soul in the way only the very finest music can do. Sometimes albums come up for reissue which you've always liked. Sometimes..
Van Der Graaf – Vital (Remastered edition – Esoteric/Cherry Red)
Fascinating and eye-opening... Van der Graaf to the extreme. I don't know how many people there are whose first exposure to the Van der Graaf Generator universe was 1978's double live album Vital, but there must be some. I'm interested to hear what their initial impressions were, and how different those might be from folks..
Van Der Graaf Generator – the Bath Forum Concert (Esoteric)
This is not safe music and its creators do not aim to comfort audiences with by-the-numbers recreations… Well, well, well!' quips Peter Hammill as the legendary Van Der Graaf Generator wanders onto a stage in Bath in the late winter of 2022. Within seconds they are summoning art from thin air with the dizzyingly complex..
Van Der Graaf Generator – 14 disc boxed set out 23 Sep
Van der Graaf Generator were one of the most original and inspiring bands of the 1970s. When Peter Hamill, Hugh Banton, Guy Evans and David Jackson announced their reformation in 2005 to perform concerts and to record a new album, it took many by surprise, but the group proved they were still making relevant and..
VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR – Upcoming lavish 20-disc ‘Charisma Years’ box set
A lavish 20-disc Box — 'The Charisma Years Box' comprising 17 CDs and 3 Blu Ray discs — covers Van Der Graaf Generator's entire recorded works for Charisma Records, including previously unreleased tracks and previously unreleased footage. And brand new Stereo and Surround Sound remixes. Single releases — Refugees (Single Version), Killer (New Stereo Mix),..
Peter Hammill – In Translation (Fie! Records)
I was once referred to as “the Shirley Bassey of the Underground”. Then and now I’m happy to live with that. Curious was the news that P.J.A. Hammill, esteemed and prolific British songsmith, had announced at the age of 72 that he was releasing an album consisting entirely of other people's compositions. What should not..