Van der Graaf Generator- Meurglys III (REACTION & REVIEW)
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- čas přidán 28. 10. 2022
- Song Link: • Meurglys III (The Song...
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This is top 5 Van der graaf songs, such epic tune.
I'd forgotten just how much I like this album
Despite what some people say, this is not too long. In the same way a Wizard is never late (he arrives precisely when he means to), this is as precisely as long as it needs to be. Incidentally, Guild is a make of guitar.
Guy Evans , the most solid drum performance , and indeed player , that nobody's ever heard of !!! ( present company excepted ) Love everything this band does , but even for them , this is next level ! 😍 Thanks JP.
VDGG managed to release 3 perfect albums (Godbluff, Still Life and World Record) in a period of just 2 years (1975-1976). Can't think of any other artist that have accomplished that...
Only Van der Graaf Generator can start a song like a fugue and end it as a reggae.
Meurglys is indeed the name of Hammill's guitar; he gave all of his guitars this name, so this is apparently his 3rd one. His guitar, though not virtuosic in any way, is pretty dominant in this track, and he plays some pretty weird stuff in the final section.
And what kind of guitar does Hammill play? A Fender? A Gibson? Well, there is a complicated wordplay in the liner notes of the album that tells us what kind of guitar he plays.
A guy named Rich Zabriskie was involved in the production overview of "World Record" by Van der Graaf Generator; the credits on the album cover list him as Rich "What's the point?" Zabriskie (an allusion to the movie "Zabriskie Point" by Michelangelo Antonioni that features music by Pink Floyd, The Youngbloods, Kaleidoscope, Jerry Garcia, Patti Page, the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones, John Fahey and Roy Orbison as soundtrack; the songs were written especially for the movie). "Was ist der Punkt?" is German for "What's the point?". Peter Hammill is, among other things, credited as playing "Wasistderpunktenbacker" in the liner notes. Now if we replace "Wasistderpunkt" with "Rich" we get "Richenbacker", which with a slight spell correction becomes "Rickenbacker".
So via this complicated wordplay we can deduct Peter Hammill plays Rickenbacker guitar on the album.
Thanks for the info. You always have some interesting information to impart!
Thanks for the explanation! I bought this album back in the day, and I could never figure out what the hell “Wasistderpunktenbacker” meant. Now we know! 😊
Excellent, thank you
I thought the guitar was a Guild
@@TrevRockOne it was, hence "The Songwriter's Guild".
By far one of my favorite vdgg tracks, glad you enjoyed it. I got kinda burnt out of a lot of their more chaotic stuff so this album has probably stayed the most consistent in my listening schedule.
Malevolently he stares at me. Is he a spider in my head, spinning his creepy web. Maliciously he glares at me.Fool I was to ignore 1 & 2, but I am never alone,it's true! Intently he stays in me, my diabolical counterpart, Meurglys III. There forever to be, screaming silently inside of me! Spooky Peace & haunted Love.
World Record was perhaps the third VdGG LP I had heard which probably explains my particular love for this track. The emphasis on guitar is unusual for them but only enhances the track , adding a new flavour to the tasty VdGG stew. You pick up on the fractured rhythms at several points during the song and they get the head banging in all sorts of odd time signatures (I counted 20 but t'internet assures me that it's alternating between 19 and 21) Also love the skanking coda with Hammill throwing his best axeman shapes. Meurglys III is indeed his guitar - a Guild guitar, hence the subtitle! It's seen on the cover of Hammill's solo album 'Over'. Excellent song and good appraisal.
Musically, VDGG just doesn't miss, and ALWAYS pleasantly surprises you...this was just a jam around a beat/groove, the fact the proggy stuff DIDN'T come was the pleasant surprise( along with the guitar being emphasized more than usual)
Maybe pre-empting here, but I've always loved Hammill's solo on this - if he was going to do a solo, he was always going to do one like this - foreshadowing Mark Perry's solos on the first ATV LP, and any number of lesser punk solos. And he has The Fall's three Rs: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition. All this, and a fugal intro.
Meurglys III was Hammill's guitar at that time
Named after a sword in The Song of Roland, as I've just learned after 40-odd years.
Thanks for this great review Justin! That reggae section will grow on you😁 Take care and I hope you are completely settled from your move😎🌴🎷🎹🤙✌️
Appreciated Mark!
Shoutout to VdGGmouse here, I was gonna skip this one, but he convinced me otherwise. And was right, I did enjoy this one, much more than all S1, though it's not perfect. The main refrain was mellow, and the intro, pre vocal, almost like smooth jazz. Then it got into Gentle Giant territory, and that's mostly not a bad thing. For the first half, It then coninued with vocal parts interchanging with elongated instrumental sections along the lines of S1. The instrumental parts I preferred though the softer vocals, almost whispers, weren't bad either.
Re the instrumentals it wasn't all plain sailing. I love sax, and the soft sax was always good, but earlier on there was some harsh, parping sax I found incongruous. Similar at times with the keys, mostly fine, but there was a section with some pretty heavy handed playing I found jarring. My fave section, and what I didn't see coming though, that playout! Around 8 mins of a reggae lilted jam session, this was quite the revelation, and really elevated the track. Overall, a lot better than I was expecting. PS, the guitar was good throughout.
Nice fair review! Yes, that reggae jam is pretty amazing and unexpected. The first time I heard it I found it a bit long but now I can't listen to this song without repeating it at least once or twice. I like to think it is the character finding peace🎷🎷🎷✌️
Thanks so much Jfergs! Whether you give your thumbs up or down I do look forward to your critiques and since this is my all time favorite desert disc I really wanted to read your opinion! Once again - thank you!
My gob is smacked !! 😄
@@lemming9984 🙂👍
@@vdggmouse9512 No problem 🙂
The all album tracks in a row approach is good. 👍🏻
Peter Hammill channelling Neil Young on the guitar. 😊
For some reason this kept making me think of Shine on You Crazy Diamond - fragments thereof - from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.
One thing I like about the reggae ending is the respect it implies. There's too much of a tendency for people to associate reggae with getting stoned (and then maybe getting all politically, religiously philosophical around that - in a lazy kind of way) or having a party - or even just the "good feelings" you mention. That's like making psychedelic music all about mushrooms and LSD. Reggae has bluesy levels of happy-sadness washing up against the splashes of happiness, for one thing. It's deep on even just the direct-emotion level. It's serious. (Yes it's all those other things, too, but there's also a whole world down beneath the waves.)
For the more prog side (maybe even with some Peter Hammill influences) of the new *Major Parkinson* album, you might like *Irina Margareta* czcams.com/video/8Vz08dCfA6E/video.html (even when it calms down at the end of the roller coaster and goes into some well-loved 80's synth pop). I'm finding the songs keep growing on me. It's part of the contract with them that they'll surprise you ever time, but also that it'll all turn out worthwhile in the end.
Maybe Chapter 2 (or, if ever, Chapter 3) turns out to be a reggae symphony? One can only hope.
"MYRRH-gliss THREE"
Sat comfortably. Tea & roll up. Bluetooth speaker on. Ready. EDIT: I could have done with 10 minutes longer :o)
Evans is even better, than he's underrated... And he's underrated a LOT... What a drummer.
When She comes from this album is One of my Top 5 VDGG tracks..
Made my day. Gracias
I'm happy to hear that Blitz :)
The section 3.22 - 4.40 is just magnificent. What a build!
First section is little bit like "Scorched Earth", second - maybe litlle bit Pink Floyd Animals/Wish era like. Third is probably inspired by King Crimson and Fripp's work...Everything ends with reagge climate. But VDGG is so unique.. PH is not a virtuosso on the guitar, but guitar is strong and really shines. Bands musicianship is endless... Banson, Evans and Jackson ARE virtuossos and Hammill is real genius. Great stuff.
You're right about Evans' drum style; he's not at all showy.
I still contend that albums are to be listened to and rated as a whole unit. Not be broken down into individual pieces (songs). I feel more strongly about that with prog albums as I feel they were made and intended to evoke a certain emotion - a certain visceral reaction that the album as a whole is trying to represent and that none of the individual songs are meant to do. In other words - each song is necessary as a stepping stone from the first song to the last song to understand what that artist was aiming for - for that particular album. But that's not the world we live in. And all reactors go song by song and not album by album and if I'm to participate I have to come to terms with that. So if I play this game 'your way' - the album World Record by Van der Graaf Generator probably is not my all time favorite album - but the song Meurglys III has always and still today is what I'd call my favorite song by any and all artists of all time. But I still feel all of you do somewhat miss the point of what an album is and what it's meant to be. And - do any of you listen to albums anymore?
Always good to see you Mouse! This album I did all in one sitting, just commenting after each track and breaking it up for the channel. But I definitely understand what you mean, and 100% agree :)
@@JustJP I was going to ask you about that process and thanks for answering.
@@markmaxwell1013 of course 👍
I guessed it
(of course you needed to do it in parts for the channel).
Just wondering if you are still around YT at all and doing well. I haven't been on the comments much and just checked in a bit lately. Got invited to Monterey to visit my favorite young lady and coolest grand toddler EVER😊 in Monterey California. THAT WAS LAST DECEMBER! Still here and may stay here another year till her husband ships out from the Defense Language Institute. It's a slice of heaven in this household and of course Monterey is beautiful if a bit cold to me but I must admit I do sometimes really miss the old days of defending and explaining our favorite artist! It's tough when no one around you really would really understand PH. NO ONE on these comments has ever been as eloquent and honest as you! I'm sure others miss you, I know JP does.
Still listen to SFAEJ and have really been OBSESSED with Kitaro the last few weeks. Well, stay cool and it would be nice to see you jump in once in a while to shake things up😁
Take care old buddy! 🎷🎹🎸🌊
Rastaman vibrations in a prog song! I used to skip the last part, but now kind of liked it.
...or RastaKraut Pasta?
I just listened to this album for the first time ten minutes before watching this video. This song is truly a masterpiece. Quite possibly VdGG's best, but I don't know if I'm willing to commit to that yet.
My favourite VdGG song🎶🎼🎹🎸🥁❤
Nice!
I do think this track coulda stood to have been shortened by a couple minutes. I love it, but it's just a little too much of a good thing. Hammill's guitar playing is tasteful and effective for what it is - he doesn't try to do too much - but he also just doesn't have the chops to pull a Maggot Brain level of extended solo, which is what the length of that final reggae section seems to demand. Still a favorite, but with a slight asterisk.
I know this is a fan favorite, but I've always felt the track is overlong, the impression of 'filler' comes to mind. The rest of the album is great, I'm particularly fond of Wondering which should have been a lot longer.
I think some sections are maybe a bit longer than they need to be, but I feel like it gives the song an improvisational feel. It feels like some good lads that love what they do just going to town for twenty minutes and I can't bring myself to be upset for long about it.
Sounds like someone who picked up a guitar for the first time today.
I think there's something about reggae in the sleeve notes.
Cool shirt Ghibli fan...
The only thing I know about Meurglys is that it is a Surly Gem .....
Ah, the best worse guitarsolo ever recorded, gotta love it!
well put it's so raw!
And I thought only ABWH did "Reggae Prog" 😎
Lol!
Great reaction Justin. There is an edited version on The Box a 4cd set where the reggae section is only 3 minutes ish. The running time is roughly 17 minutes. Why?
Really Awesome. Wot no Pigs (3 different ones) comparisons?
Of all the JP adventures , 4 me VDGG have been the most revealing.
Diolch yn fawr.
Lovin the smoothness yet energetic rhythm foundations and every hornsound organ and ph element on top of it. Never a dull moment.
Hi HP! So glad you kept the Hoover on hold for this one.
@@vdggmouse9512 how ya doin? I remember seein the covers in the two record shops- Spillers and Buffalo. Didn’t venture though- the name was too long and Genesis had too much charisma . But tell me, what’s the deal with the box set? Essential for me?
@@HippoYnYGlaw Hi HP - VdGG just released a multi CD box set of their work in the 2000's called Interference Patterns. Is it essential ? Hmmm - you're almost a VdGG/Hammill fan - it might be. There is a double disc called Present which is essential. The albums after Present have no saxophone and are sparser and more of a chore to appreciate. I love them - you might love them - but everyone with you that you say 'listen to this' - well all those people will hate it. VdGG fans are about 3 in every 5,000.
They should have hired the fist vocalist from the band Kayak. Music great😊
Hammill's a great singer, and a great vocalist - one of the best. I really have no idea why some people don't like him. He sings in his own voice, with no affectation; and he can use it like a weapon when he needs to: what's wrong with that?
Love Max Werner, but I can't imagine him singing VdGG songs!
@@lemming9984 I just imagine the vocals from the album The Last Encore on this music. I think it could work. But I like it anyway
@@jerkedevries What a coincidence. I haven't listened to a lot of Kayak recently, but I was actually listening to The Last Encore this week. My favourite is the second album (the first I heard).
@@lemming9984 that’s a coincidence indeed! I only know The last encore and Phantom of the night, which I like both very much.. Their music skill is quite good
This song as its moments for me but, as much as I love reggae (especially 70s roots) the reggae sections in this song go on for way too long.
This whole aalbum is my least favorite of the three but then Godbluff and Still Life are soooo amazing!
This song divides VdGG fans. I like some parts, and others not so much. The surprise reggae section is too long. Hammill's guitar and tone is a bit obnoxious. I have a similar reaction to Steve Howe's playing on the first part of "The Ancient".
There are good sections on this song. Overall, hit and miss for me.
Portions I liked, some not so much.