VAN DER GRAFF GENERATOR FIRST TIME REACTION to Refugees | Do I still dislike their Music?
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- čas přidán 1. 09. 2023
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#vandergraffgenerator - Hudba
Easily my favorite prog band, largely because of the incredible vocals of Peter Hammill.
I saw Peter Hammill do this solo in the mid 80s and my jaw was on the floor. His voice was incredible.
The picture on the album cover is of an actual Van der Graaf generator, Nick, which are pretty cool. I made a small one as a science project for high school. Big ones will make your hair stand straight up and out, if your hand is touching the sphere on top. You know, one of those fun contraptions in science class. 😀❤✌
The standout track on this album is After The Flood, which you could compare with Genesis at the time. I recommend that both of you react to it next.
VDGG had two phases. The first four albums are in that fantasy, storytelling prog style that I think you will prefer, Peter Hammill's voice was softer too. The first phase culminated with A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers which is VDGG's Suppers Ready but more dramatic. Build up to it with a few earlier tracks before POLK though. POLK is a rollercoaster ride like no other in Prog.
I listened to "H to He" and "Pawn Hearts" when they first came out (71/72) in a dark candlelit sound studio. Turn off the lights, light up some candles, smoke some flowers, chill out, lay down and just experience. Robert Fripp was featured on guitar in Pawn Hearts. The reason for the Bach fugue styles is that keyboardist Hugh Banton used to sneak into a church to play the pipe organ since his childhood, we was trained on Bach, he is still one of the few people in Europe who fixes old pipe organs. The poetic genius of Peter Hammill's lyrics is unequaled. His book "Killers, Angels, Refugees" is a vintage gem now. Also, listening to this now as opposed to the gothic trippy vibes in the early 70s is a definite factor, you can't be comparing bands, each band had it's own voice. Are you experienced? 🤩✌🏽
"A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" must be their greatest suite of songs.
if you liked this one then you should try House With No Door.
VDGG are in my top 3 prog bands with Yes and Jethro Tull
Nick, the piece of music by Van Der Graff Generator that you and Alexia should react to together is 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' It's 23:20 in length. Basically, it's their Close to the Edge. I highly recommend it, and I'm not a big VDGG fan either, but PoLK is something else. I refer to VDGG as Theatrical Prog 😏🙂😎
@@kbrewski1 you could be right about that, but they have heard some VDGG already, but I'm pretty sure that when they get to it, they'll love it.
I have never connected with this band as well as others from that era but I’m glad you are giving it a second listen. So am I thanks to your channel. The best things very often take time and require something from the listener. Then you can have a real lasting bond.
Honestly Nick , I hope you can get onboard with this band , probably my ultimate go-to band in this and any genre. They have everything....I know Hammill's vocals take some getting acompassed to ( but stand the test of time ) , but Guy Evans ( definitely rivals Phil Collins for me ) is incredible . As is Banton , and Jackson of course......they take a lot of patience I know , but please please try 'Meurglys 3 (The Songwriter's guild). Really hope you'll GET them in the end. I've been listening to them for well over 30 years , and certainly rank them as important in the Prog-rock as Genesis ,Yes , Pink Floyd ,and Jethro Tull. Thanks Nick. 😍
I know VDGG music by heart from so many times of listening to each track over and over again for years.
I think that there is no possible way to enjoy them from a single listening, they take you on a journey, that at first sounds chaotic, but when you know it, it becomes burnt to your soul like nothing other and everything is in perfect order.
I also think that there is no way to compare VDGG to any other artist, for 40 years I've been looking for something similar and could not find it.
Try to take in Peter Hammill SOLO , try "This side of the looking glass" from Over
You know what?, forget that...
Just listen to "And Close As This" full album from start to finish ! That one always makes me cry.
One of the best bands l,ve seen live this is my favourite track too !
Great song and very personal to Peter Hammill. Mike and Suzie were his former flatmates, actress Susan Penhaligon and Mike McLean, who all went their seperate ways. Still Life and Killer are also great tracks and at the more accessible end of their repertiore.
The group's albums have tended to be both lyrically and musically darker in atmosphere than many of their progressive rock peers (a trait they shared with King Crimson, whose guitarist Robert Fripp guested on two of their albums), and guitar solos were the exception rather than the rule, preferring to use Hugh Banton's classically influenced organ, and, until his departure, David Jackson's multiple saxophones. While Peter Hammill is the primary songwriter for the band, and members have contributed to his solo albums, the band arranges all its material collectively. Hammill's lyrics covered themes of mortality, due to his love of science fiction writers such as Robert A. Heinlein and Philip K. Dick, along with his confessed warped and obsessive nature. His voice has been a distinctive component of the band throughout its career, with Hammill himself having been described as "a male Nico" or "the Hendrix of the voice". Though the group have generally been commercially unsuccessful, they have inspired several musicians across various genres.
The group's experimental style has also been compared to Krautrock bands such as Can. Because of their musical influences and line-up, the band tended to play darker musical themes than other progressive bands, with the possible exception of King Crimson. However, Hammill has stated that the group is still fun to work with, stating "as far as we're concerned, it's serious fun, but fun nonetheless." "We love making a racket, and that has to do with chaos, which is pretty punk". Check out the song "White Hammer" from this album!!!!!!!
Songs I would recommend: After the Flood, House with no Door, Scorched Earth, Pilgrims
I think you would like the song "The Undercover Man"
A plague of lighthouse keepers is a truly classic in prog country, like suppers ready! Try it!
Your reactions to VDGG remainds me my first steps to this band - weird music and vocals, lack of juicy guitar...I've stayed away from them for years. But man, this music is not catchy, is deep, unique and so good, complicated though. It's not easy to dig into it. Maybe it's even painful to dig in at the start - but it's WORTH IT. This is one of the greatest prog bands ever, maybe the best one. I'm sure one day you'll love their work. The're geniuses. I consider my years withouth VDGG wasted. Refugees is real gem of VDGG and should be one of firsts tracks to try to get into their music. It is easy jump start to great music journey with this band.
One of the rare occasions where I hear this track and went straight out and bought the album. It remains the only track by the band I care about and isn't necessarily typical of their output. Susan Penhaligon.
Refugees is maybe the "least extreme" song of VDGG. My favorite is still "Childlike Faith In Childhood's End" from the "Still Life" album, but for most its not easy to get really warm with the style of Peter Hammills vocals. But if you have come to the part where you like it, that song is just fantastic.
There is a collection of their three first albums (minus the original 60s album). Suggest to start with that . After than do “Wondering “ and “ Childhood ..at childhoods end” from still life . Or check a playlist
😊 glad you finally bonded some with this band. My favorite album is pleasure dome of their's. I recommend Last frame and Cat's Eye next off that album.
VdGG is not easy to get into or understand at first but once you do it's a great experience. I'd start with their 2nd album and go up, as their first album is more psychedelic rock (and actually not a bad album) but they become more progressive after the initial album.
Best tracks you havent heard from VDGG are Man-Erg, Killer, house with no door, La Rossa, childlike faith in childhoods end.
Just could not understand you not liking Still life, and am glad you recieved this a bit better. Yes Van Der Graf Generator are not the easy listen of Genesis or Floyd, but persidtance brings so many rewards. Peter Hammalls vast array of solo work, some 30 odd albums are so varied. His lyrics are just in an other world.
Keep trying VDGG.... when it clicks, click deep in your soul.... is so a rewarding band!!!... you need to react to Man erg, or lemmings from their (to me) best album... Pawn Hearts... H to He... have very good songs too....Killer, lost....
This is a great album......you both should enjoy its entirety.
VDGG is not an easy band as @kbrewski1said. Refugees is maybe their most easy song to get into. But it's worth you insist on this band, alone for the lyrics. Hammill's lyrics are, in my opinion, the most profound and touching in all rock music. And then there is his voice. The most incredible voice, together with Diamanda Galas. If you want another song that may not be too difficult try La Rossa, and read the lyrics afterwards. I'm sure you will be touched.
I got into VDGG when I was twenty (that was 45 years from now). 2 artschool friends made me discover them along with Gentle Giant. I was into Yes and Genesis. Since then yes, VDGG and Gentle Giant are my 3 top bands. But VDGG has a special place because each hard period of my life I went back and listened them and Hammill's solo work. His own darkness helped go through mine. And it still does. In a way I could say he saved my life.
It’s the first album or second as there is one earlier album Aerosol Grey Machine that was a solo album ending up as a VDGG album . On that album there is one great song “Afterwards” , in my view deserving a place on a greatest hit. It is true that VDDG can be veritable listen but most of their albums have great classic and melodic songs. No other band creates these type of Baroque feelings in me. I first bought an album in 73 and saw them live last year . Still great musicians and voices but Jaxon is not with them anymore so it is only half VDGG to me . Thats true even if Hamill writes all there great songs he really needs great musicians and flute & Sax in my view . Guitar is no substitution even if my son said Peter was a good player of guitar
This is my favourite van Der Graaf album. A lot of people can’t get along with Peter Hammil’s vocals. The music can get a bit cacophonous at times but I love it.
Hi Nick, as with all prog they are trying to be different and sometimes it takes a lot of listening before you get into it, same with Gentle Giant. Agree you need to build up to A Plague of Lighthouse keepers.
Brother, you can dislike them or like them, but I think every human should listen to Peter Hamill - A Louse Is Not A Home, it's for me one of the best lyrics of all time, along with unique melodies this song for me the best that evet VDGG done
VDGG is perhaps the most difficult listening of all the prog bands they stood shoulder to shoulder with in the '70's. Driven lyrically by Hammill's intensive existential angst their music was challenging and the vocals/lyrics both dark as can be and conveying great hope, both on an individual and on a species level.
And Hammill stood shoulder to shoulder with Peter Gabriel in his ability to write fantasy/sci-fi/myth/fable story songs.
There's going to be songs that don't strike you. But the ones that hit will hit hard. Premiere prog-rock band and there are good reasons why. Blessings.
Been listening to VDGG since the early 70s and I know many people struggle to get to grips now with their music. May have a lot to do with how we consume music now, because back in the day as a teenager I'd maybe buy a new album every other week or every month and I'd listen to it over and over again. These days, like everyone else, I maybe listen to a track out of context then don't hear it again until months later. So yes, try to start from the beginning and if possible work through whole albums.
But if you want recomendations for specific tracks then try Man-Erg and House With No Door.
I only own one album, H to He Who am the Only One from 1970 and my favourite tracks would have to be Killer and The Emperor in His War-room.
I bought the album, “Pawn Hearts” by Van Der Graf Generator in the late 1970s out of a cutout bin. I listened to it 3 or 4 times and was not too crazy about the album.
It was several years and maybe decades before I listened to “Pawn Hearts” again. I liked it then in the 1990s(?) or the early 2000s(?).
I described it as the band, Genesis playing in Alice’s Wonderland. This album is definitely offbeat.
It is alright not to like the music of Van Der Graf Generator. The band can be out there as is Avant-Garde music.
A fascinating artist and band. I first learned of Peter Hamill through his solo work in the early eighties as it was somewhat similar to some of the post punk artists I was into at that time. I later traced back to his “in Camera” album and then on to Van Der Graaf Generator (named after a type of particle accelerator used to produce electricity among other things) who were unfortunately too obscure for me when I was young. Not the best stuff to react to unfortunately as this band sometimes requires repeated listenings to “get”, but well worth the effort.
Gotta throw in a rec for the great "Easy to Slip Away" - a song which is something of a sequel to "Refugees" - from Peter Hammill’s 1973 solo album Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night. Also, I love you all, but ignore the kind people telling you to listen to "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" next. It's great, but it's _really_ not beginner friendly.
Van Der Graaf Generator did not sound like anyone else. They dropped the bass player in favor of the bass lines being played by pedals by organist Hugh Blanton. They had no full time guitar player - Peter Hammill would occasionally play guitar but stuck mainly to keyboards - on their early albums Robert Fripp played some guitar. The man lead instrument was sax and flute played by David Jackson - sometimes playing two saxophones at the same time - a trick borrowed from jazz musician Rahsaan Roland Kirk - who incidentally was also the inspiration for Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson’s voicing through the flute. The drummer Guy Evans is simply a monster - I’ve seen comments on live VDGG videos where commenters compared him to Neil Peart! The device you see on the album cover is ……. A Van Der Graaf Generator - an electrical device designed to harness static electricity by rapid friction against a huge rubber band connected to a metal globe which builds up a static charge and shoots off sparks - I remember my school had one in the physics class. More VDGG and maybe some Rahsaan Roland Kirk seeing as he influenced so many prog musicians.
Been a fan for over 40 years. You managed to pick one of the very few tracks in their catalogue which can be appreciated on a first listen! VDGG is a band which is probably the worst for first time reaction videos on CZcams. This is because their music often has too much to take in and absorb on just one listen. Multiple listens enables you to find and appreciate the depth and variety of the composition, and with it develop a lasting love for their music. Still one of my favourite bands with Jethro Tull, Renaissance, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath & Free.
I understand your problem with them, I have the same issue, just a little too avant garde for me, but I somehow happen to like Still Life a lot, it has a lot more melody in it, and not so much sonic dissonance.
If you want to hear another side of them ,I would suggest the live version of 'Ship Of Fools' from the 'Vital' album.
Great suggestion - but not for the faint-hearted!!
The best Van der Graff album imo is Still Life. The title track is outstanding. Saw the man do it live in Glagow just Peter and a violinist.
Agree still life is the best, probably followed by h to he who am the only one.
Try Whatever would Robert have said 👍👍
Nick, regarding perhaps reviewing more King Crimson Songs, and to avert the Eyes of R. Fripp, play selected live Video Tracks from their 2017, Live in Mexico City, Tour. King Crimson is Stellar, and Volcanic. Consider reviewing Starless, and whatever Songs pique your Intuition.
@@kbrewski1 I know, under - King Crimson -, however, over the years on YT, Robert Fripp, is notorious, and apparently it is his Right, to have his Videos, not get Reviewed. I have noticed, that their Live Vids, have been more immune to being Banned.
Fripp's problem is that he hasn't moved with the times, or is moving very slowly. His original objection was to pirate download sites, and to combat that he came up with his own model for selling digital versions of music and ensuring almost all the proceeds went to the artists. He's still in "my idea was better" mode and I think still sees everyone else as pirates. But he is slowly changing, but his approach will probably always be a decade or two back from whatever everyone else thinks about digital media, copyright and fair use.
"Still Life" is their greatest album. Try the title track, 'My Room', and 'Pilgrims'. Lex would love 'My Room'. It's beautiful.
"Childlike Faith In Childhood's End" is my absolute favorite.
@@kbrewski1 Oh wow. That song is amazing.
Try Theme One by VDGG; for darker tones, White Hammer, Still Life, A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
Good idea to leave out KIng Crimson, they're a bunch of one-hit self-aggrandizing poseurs.
Still life isnt beginner friendly, Afterwards and Darkness i recommend
You see, Nick, any album by VDGG is different, and they are a RADICAL band indeed. I'd never recommend the A PLAGUE OF LIGHTHOUSE-KEEPERS for an approach to the group. I undertand that it can be unsettling. Surely albums such THE LEAST WE CAN DO.... and STILL LIFE are maybe the best start. But, in terms of radicalism, you can chek out their live albym VITAL (1978), perhaps the only prog-punk recording ever.
Mighy be bestvto dtart with Workd Record and work back. When she comes A place to survive and Mergylis
anri jokhadze & magdalena jokhadze - gzebi react please💙💜💙💛
Nah. You either get David Hammill or you don't. For me it's way too theatrical with the music even adding more bells and whistles.
@@kbrewski1 of course. my bad ;-) Probably underlines that I just don't get him 😄
what about JOURNEY & Steve Perry ? Inducted Rock 'n Roll Hall of fame 2017
Ok, i will kill my self if you want
You haven't even listed to the GOAT Prince yet. And you're putting this on your channel? You should take this sweet day job of yours more seriously.
And respect your audience more.