Van der Graaf Generator

[pd]

I'm very, very, very impressed with VdGG. Will, who is their front of house engineer, has started releasing soundboard recordings onto dimeadozen with the full permission of the band. The only proviso was that he wait a reasonable period after the release of the official live album "Real Time". Right now the first one is trickling down, from the ABC in Glasgow. November 12 2005.

Incidentally, I've been told by an authoritative source in the past that whenever an artist records a gig, even if for their own use only, that they have to pay a fee for the MCPS or whatever they are called. Does that seem fair to you?

[Shane]

I'm very, very, very impressed with VdGG. Will, who is their front of house engineer, has started releasing soundboard recordings onto dimeadozen with the full permission of the band. The only proviso was that he wait a reasonable period after the release of the official live album "Real Time". Right now the first one is trickling down, from the ABC in Glasgow. November 12 2005.

i share your enthusiasm for VdGG, i'll download this soon hopefully (when i fix my hard drive and have somewhere to save it!). I recall reading somewhere that the glasgow gig was one of the best of that year. one slight drawback to soundboard recordings and professionally shot footage (such as the rockpalast dvd - it looks like top of the pops) is that you can loose a bit of the energy thats generated by a band playing live in a room full of people, it can sound a bit sterile and flat. i'd prefer a good quality audience recording. still, no complaints! i hope theres one with pilgrims (currently my favorite VdGG tune).

the dvd on dime of the last gig they did with david jackson is also superb, musically at least, its a slightly shakey and noisy hand held audience recording. the playing is very energetic and banton pushes the boat out a bit farther than usual.

as for the mcps or whatever it is, theres very little fair about the music business it seems. i particularly like the way unclaimed royalties are divided up amongst the top earning artists (as is the case i believe, im open to correction).

[pd]

Just to follow up on this. I got hold of the concert and my word, it is magnificent! The band were definitely on form this night and despite some distinctly "jazz" notes from the keyboards here and there (almost certainly PH rather than HB) there is a great energy. I think it is a bit better than the official "Real Time" release. The only downside is that there is a cut in "Killer" when the DAT needed to be changed.

I found that the levels were a bit low for playing on the iPod; it's great for a proper hifi as it retains all the dynamic range of the event, but for mobile listening I applied RMS normalisation to -16DB then applied some smooth compression. Does that sound like a reasonable thing to do? I'm still learning about audio post-processing, due to the podcast of course.

[Shane]

still havent got around to this....

PH seems to choose only the most horrendously thin and watery electric piano sounds on his keyboard, it reminds me of whitney houstons soppy ballads from the 80s. i noticed on the odd track now and again that he has a fairly decent regular piano sound and something that isnt far off the thing he used to play in the 70s but he seems to prefer the cheesy crap sounds. between this and his screeching vocals im amazed that i still think he's incredibly good.

im really looking forward to the new album too

[Oreb]

How do they sound without Jaxon? Hard to imagine them reaching those frightening heights (or depths) without that manic sax in the mix.

[pd]

I saw the trio at the Barbican earlier in the year. It was outstanding! I was very worried about missing Jaxon's sounds, but the band is transformed into a leaner and meaner outfit with a "thrashy", aggressive sound that I really liked a lot. I am very interested to hear what they come up with in the studio.

I think in the long term the departure of Jaxon will be a blessing in disguise; the reformation was marvellous but was just a bit too much like "paying the hits" if you will, and this has really shaken things up. The only potential downside is more reliance on PH's guitar and keyboards... :reddevil:

[Shane]

i quite like his guitar playing actually... theres a lot of recordings gone up recently of 1977 gigs after jackson and hugh banton had left. i just downloaded one (from norway) but its superb - very tight barebones sounding stuff. theres several solo PH songs as well as a few tunes from "The Quiet Zone / The pleasure dome" (one of my favorites, along with all the others...) and a few old of the classics reworked very successfully for the new line up. i like the quirky pop direction hammills writing was taking around this time.

theres a hammill live dvd on dime too from 1981 thats excellent too - very amped up and ott with guy evans, nic potter and john ellis. john ellis's guitar playing isnt great, i'd much prefer hammills more primitive style.

[MickBordet]

I was at the Glasgow gig and it was a cracker. It didn't have the same atmosphere and excitement as the first show at the RFH, but by then we knew they could pull it off, so to hear them go a bit more out on a limb and take some risks was great. From what I've heard it seems the standing venues on that tour were the ones that went down best.

The trio certainly get by fine without Jaxon, but I would rather he'd stayed and they experimented a bit more - e.g. introduce the soundbeam and some of guy's experimental instruments into the mix. I really can't complain though - I never thought I'd get to see them live at all, so I'm happy to follow the adventure as long as they keep it interesting!

[peej]

Greetings PD,

I've just read your post regarding the Soundboard releases of the VdGG gigs; Are these going to be from the 2005 or 2007 tour? and; which venues? Also, how can I obtain them WITHOUT using DIME?

I was so jubilant when the VdGG reformation and tour was announced. VdGG was a band I thought I'd missed seeing live - by decades - so I made sure I had a seat in front of them somewhere.

In 2005, I saw them in Liverpool and Manchester. Liverpool was THE best gig - far better than 'Real Time' - they were on fire at that gig. Watching Jaxon playing those saxs, right in front of me, is one of the highlights of my entire gigging experiences.

Anyhoo, moving on 2-years and the 2007 tour (Liverpool again), I thought the band did a very good job at re-arranging/compensating for the lack of Jaxon. The only song that didn't work was, 'Man-erg' - still a great song by the trio, but, I think the entire audience must have been hearing the sublime sax notes in their head above the actual music being played. This aside, the gig is one of the best audience recordings I have ever heard by VdGG.

Sorry for waffling on, but when you get me talking about the best British band EVER, that's bound to happen.

Love & Peas, Peej

[pd]

Hi Peej,

I'm about to send you a PM regarding the Dime thing. Will hasn't said how many gigs he plans to release, and so far there's just been the one, but he did say that the next one is likely to be from "Bataclan", Paris which is another 2005 gig. I know he was working on the 2007 tour as well but he hasn't said anything about "power trio" gigs as yet.

Nothing wrong with waffling on about the band. I am very keen to hear what they come up with next in the studio.

[Shane]

Anyhoo, moving on 2-years and the 2007 tour (Liverpool again)

i was at the liverpool gig this year too! Still Life and In The Black Room along with the few new songs were the highlights for me. actually, when you were hearing the phantom saxophones during Man-Erg i think Hugh Banton was actually playing the sax melody on the keys

[peej]

Hi Shane,
Suprisingly, the stand out track for me on the night was 'Nutter Alert', it was so manically discordent it suited the song perfectly. Having heard other versions of it from the tour, I think we got the best version on that night. Although it was a shame we didn't get to hear them do, Gog.
Peej

[peej]

What the hell am I saying? Sorry Shane, I've just remembered...we got Refugees as the encore! By for the best track of the night.
Peej

[Shane]

What the hell am I saying? Sorry Shane, I've just remembered...we got Refugees as the encore! By for the best track of the night.
Peej

yes, i'd very much include nutter alert in the list of highlights, and refugees too - i was hoping they'd play that, they only did it twice all tour i think. the only weak ones (to me were Masks and La Rossa, the first two tunes)

have you seen the gig on fab channel? go to http://www.fabchannel.com/ and type van der graaf into the box - the version of Gog is amazing, the whole thing is deadly actually, cracking version of lemmings too.

[peej]

Also, another highlight of that night was, Meurglys III.
Masks, as an opener, didn't work for me. Maybe they just needed a song or two to warm up 'cos the third track, Lifetime, was really good. Although back in 2005, same venue, the first three tracks were outstanding, Darkness/Undercover Man/Scorched Earth.

The Fabchannel broadcast is very good (too good in fact, as I can't bloomin' well record it), I've watched it several times over. The following night's gig in Belgium was recorded for a DVD release next year.

Peej

[peej]

Anyone going to see them this year?
So far they've only announced 3 gigs in the UK. I've just got tickets for Manchester. Roll on March!

Peej

[pd]

Yes, I have a QEH ticket and I'm very much looking forward to it!

[pete c]

Damn, not got me Manchester ticket yet.... must get it sorted.

[Shane]

i can go this year unfortunately as im going on holidays for a year and a half. new album in march:

Van der Graaf Generator's new album Trisector will be released on Monday 17th March 2008...
"There are nine pieces on the album, one of them instrumental. Unusually for VdGG, only one of these is more than ten minutes long - indeed, five come in at under five minutes. There are, of course, passages of great complexity but there's also a confidence about the group at the moment which allows them to leave some simple things as they are. These are songs which dictate their own terms, often with a healthy dose of gallows humour, always with a measure of invention. VdGG Trio
"It's far from an over-manicured record. For the most part it is the sound of the three musicians both stretching and enjoying themselves in locked-on sympathetic playing. As ever, it doesn't sound like anyone else - even past versions of VdGG.

"But as ever, there isn't another group quite like Van der Graaf Generator."

The CD will be released in the USA on April 1st but a download will be available on March 17th to coincide with the UK release. Caroline Records will also be releasing in the USA the 8 VdGG re-masters, packaged as "Mini Vinyl" CDs, on March 25th.

1. The Hurlyburly
2. Interference Patterns
3. The Final Reel
4. Lifetime
5. Drop Dead
6. Only in a Whisper
7. All That Before
8. Over the Hill
9. (We Are) Not Here

http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/pawnhearts/trisector_cover.jpg

[pete c]

I quite like that cover.

[pd]

The album came on Monday and I've listened twice so far. Initial impressions are that it's half an VdGG album, half a PH "solo" album with very good musicians on it... not necessarily a bad thing in itself but not quite what I was hoping for. The last three tracks work best for me. But I will take longer to absorb it before I make up my mind and I haven't even started on the lyrics yet apart from noting that the mid-70's angst/metaphysical stuff is absent... :)

[Shane]

cant wait to hear it. should get a hold of it by the end of april hopefully... :toetap05:

[peej]

I have played the new VdGG album, 'Trisector', a few times now and it is really growing on me. True, it does sound a bit PH in places but his sound is going to show through more now they are just a three piece. I think it is a better release than, 'Present', which, although having Jaxon on it, isn't that strong an album.

They are playing in Manchester tonight - I can't wait.

[peej]

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to say, last night's VdGG trio performance in Manchester was fantastic. The RNCM was a great venue.
The band really enjoyed the gig. Some funny banter in between songs. A few mistakes (mainly from Guy, not Peter, this time!)
Five tracks were played from the new album, Trisector' which went down very well. Standing ovations at the end.

Here's the set list if anyone's interested; -

Interference Patterns
Scorched Earth
(In the) Black Room
Lemmings
Lifetime
All That Before
Still Life
Over the Hill
(We are) Not Here
Man-erg
~ encore ~
Nutter Alert

Love & Peas, Peej

[pd]

I'm seeing them next Thursday in London and I'm really looking forward to it. Sounds like the Trisector stuff may become more "vdgg-like" live, rather than "ph-like with bloody good band".

[Shane]

I'm seeing them next Thursday in London and I'm really looking forward to it.

i hope the lack of review isnt a bad sign...

[pd]

I reviewed it in my blog last week: http://www.stormcock.net/node/431

[Shane]

i finally got a hold of the new album - the hurlyburly and drop dead are two of the worst things ive heard in my life! ugh! some great stuff on there too though, my favorites are interference patterns, all that before and over the hill.

[telemonster]

christ, are they still going?:beatdeadhorse5:

[Shane]

christ, are they still going?:beatdeadhorse5:

still going... :m3:

I'm off to see them in Glasgow next friday. The new album has just come out too - cd and vinyl. Its very eclectic, full of short quirky songs. The lyrics are pretty bad but the quality of the songs more than makes up for that. It reminds me a bit of Pawn Hearts in that there are plenty of galloping chaotic bits and proggy riffs scattered about however its very much a forward looking album, kind of a fresh start. A cracker!

[pete c]

Saw them in Manchester last night, absolutely awesome show. Hammill in great voice, Hugh and Guy right on it too. Amongst the new stuff, which sounded pretty good by the way, they played Scorched Earth, Killer, Still Life and a loud and fierce La Rossa for an encore. Still buzzing from it!! I will try & write a full review if i get time.


Pete

[Shane]

Sounds good! I saw them play La Rossa in Liverpool a few years ago but they made a bit of a dogs dinner of it that night unfortunately. The oldies in Glasgow this time were Lemmings, Meurglys III and A Childlike Faith In Childhood's End. I could have lived without Meurglys but thats a small complaint. Nutter Alert for the encore. I was pleasantly surprised by Hammill's voice, there were a few moments where he almost sounded like he did in his 20s!

[pete c]

wasn't "Killer", was "Man-erg". I always gets em confuzzled.
Agree about PH's voice though. I took a mate along who hasn't seen VDGG or Hammill before, he was absolutely blown away (almost literally, he was stood very close to the speakers stage right).

[pd]

I saw them at both the Barbican on Sunday night (front row!) and in Cambridge on Monday night (standing gig). Both were glorious, but Monday was better. I thoroughly enjoyed being so close to the action on Sunday and it was great observing the communication between the band, and the little smiles when something went particularly right, but it was a bit quiet (I was mainly just hearing the monitor sound) and rather controlled, as seating gigs often are. On Monday it was a different matter - the music was LOUD and energetic to a degree one would not expect from the old codgers.

I've also warmed to the new material significantly, so much so that I can't get some of it out of my head.

Paul.