Can't help with the quest to gain an appreciation of VDGG since I'm afraid that the above quote sums up exactly how I have always thought of the band ( had to work with them a few times in my concert DJ days ) Don't think I have synaesthesia but I thought of the music and ambience of the band as black and orange. Apologies to the fan (s) on the board, it's so long since I heard anything that I'm prepared to be persuaded otherwise.

David Jackson (or 'Jaxxon') has now left the band and they're down to a trio. 

Would that be me by any chance, Swan_Knight?  If so, ex-fan is probably a better description.  Even when I was very fond of the music I thought Hamill was part genius, part pretentious twat and when I made the mistake of going to see him at the QEH in the mid 1990s I was left in little doubt as to which was the major part.  Let's not be too harsh, though.  'Pawn Hearts' is a very interesting album and I still listen to 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' now and then.  'Still Life' is worth a listen and shows that Hammill has a gift for the odd brilliant line among the cod-mystical drivel that so appeals to a certain kind of teenage (usually) male. 

I must dash now - got to get back home today after travelling South to hear a piano recital.  I'll return to this thread after I've posted my thoughts on Yevgeny Sudbin's gig - probably this evening.

The two sax thing was always an eyecatcher at their concerts, NB.  I liked Jackson's sound but whether that was because of or in spite of this gimmick I couldn't say.  As with Emerson or Wakeman's keyboard 'wizardry', mature reflection causes one to ask whether, if a person is playing two instruments at once, they can possibly be playing either of them very well.


I agree to an extent, Swan_Knight.  I'm not one to get snooty about prog rock just for trying to make something more profound out of what is essentially a ephemeral artform.  But the genre did rather vanish up its own backside in the 1970s; probably  because it was, by its nature, doomed to take itself too seriously.  And if Hammill wasn't a prime example of someone taking himself too seriously his humour must be the driest I've ever come across. 


I sort of went off nearly all pop/rock music a few decades ago, so it wasn't reallly a question of changing my mind about Hammill and VdGG in particular.  It's not so much that I started to dislike the music; I just found 'classical' music much more attractive and took a 'life's too short' approach to pop & rock.  My first record collection (about 75% pop/rock) went astray in one of my many changes of address and, while I have rebuilt and greatly extended my 'classical' library, the only rock CD for which I felt sufficient need to pay full price was 'Hot Rats'.  I picked up some other bits and pieces at 'economy' prices (mostly in the German shop 'Zweitausendeins') but it's only recently that prices for the rock back catalogue have begun to fall to reasonable levels so I feel I can justify buying CDs that might only get played once 'for old time's sake'.  For example, I picked up Neil Young's 'After the Gold Rush' and Wishbone Ash's 'Argus' yesterday in HMV's 'Two for £10' offer.  Others for which I might give a fiver were still outrageously overpriced - most of Pink Floyd, for example, was still £12-15 and Roy Harper's 'Stormcock' was a preposterous £19: I can't even be sure I'll still like it fgs! 

Van der Graaf Generator albums are still firmly in the premium price category.  I picked up 'First Generation' for about €5 in Zweitausendeins a few years ago - which is why I'm able to listen to 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' from time to time - but I'm afraid I'm relying on my memory for comments on the albums.   Van der Graaf Generator seems to fit a familiar pattern in my life whereby I'm strongly attracted to artists who become the subject of cultish devotion - Wagner, Jacques Brel, Frank Zappa are other examples - but I always stop short of becoming obsessive about them myself.  Wagner, Brel & Zappa are arguably towering geniuses but it was clear to me long ago that Hammill most definitely isn't and it's possible that I found the seriousness with which he takes himself, and with which his devotees take him, rather off-putting.  Before I 'went off' rock music I bought Hammill's book 'Killers, Angels, Refugees' (now disappeared along with my first record collection).  I don't think I even read it all before becoming convinced that much of Hamill's work was little more than rambling.  To its credit it is, in some of the song lyrics, quite elegant rambling; but pretentious for all that. 

And that name!  Does anyone know why they chose the name  Van der Graaf Generator?  The only thing I can think of was that it's a deliberate change of spelling from van de Graaff for patent or copyright reasons.  Or is it just another example pointless obscurantism?

Probably a good guess, Richard.  Ironic, though.  You'd think Hammill of all people would know that the magic won't work if you get the tiniest detail of the spell wrong!

The music is rather beautiful I think, but the lyrics... adolescent pseudo-surrealism, no?

I am surprised, S_K.  When I look in HMV or Zavvi (? - ex Virgin) very little of the catalogue is even there, let alone reasonably priced.  Only 'First Generation' could be described as cheap and even that is about £7.  I tend not to buy online unless it's literally the only way to get something.



Never heard of 'em so I looked up the name.  They seem to be the successor to Music Zone which was a shop I used now and then.  I bought 'The Sopranos' series 1 for £3 a disc there and 'Led Zep 4'.  I also picked up 'Atom Heart Mother' at £7 for a friend who had never heard it.  By the time it dawned on me that I should have bought a copy for myself they'd closed the place down!  Neither of our two local Music Zones has reopened as Fopp.  And, iirc, the choice in Music Zone shops was far narrower than even a provincial HMV.  I'll keep an eye open, though; despite my reservations I'd almost certainly pick up The Least We Can Do, H to He, Pawn Hearts, Still Life and perhaps a couple of others for a fiver each and might even give an ear to the later stuff I haven't heard.


Me too.  Full marks for trying.  But it didn't really work for me.



Tarkus?



Interesting isn't the word I'd use - and I speak as one who bought a copy of The Yes Album in 1987 and forced a girlfriend to listen to 'Yours is No Disgrace' and 'Starship Trooper' before she dismissed prog rock out of hand!  But even if we make a case for Tales from Topographical Oceans we're still talking about a 1973 album.  What came afterwards?  Did Progressive Rock make any, well, progress?  In fact I couldn't summon up any enthusiasm for anything after 'Close to the Edge'; mind you, I found all Pink Floyd's work after The Dark Side of the Moon (perhaps the perfect rock album even though it wasn't my personal favourite) disappointing so maybe there's a pattern here.



Perhaps nothing in the league of Wagner or Beethoven; but cases can be made for Dylan, Zappa and maybe a few others.  I certainly prefer Hammill's witterings to punk but I suspect punk came about precisely because neither pop music nor its more cerebral big brother was going anywhere and the cobwebs needed blowing away.