Present Tracks
1. Every Bloody Emperor
2. Boleas Panic
3. Nutter Alert
4. Abandon Ship!
5. In Babelsberg
6. On the Beach
7. Vulcan Meld
8. Double Bass
9. Slo Moves
10. Architectural Hair
11. Spanner
12. Crux
13. Manuelle
14. 'Eavy Mate
15. Homage to Teo
16. Price of Admission
Present Review
Most fans thought it would never happen. But Guy Evans, David Jackson, Hugh Banton and Peter Hammill have reunited as Van der Graaf Generator. This is not a nostalgic reunion to relive past glories, but a coming together of new experiences and fresh perspectives for the creation of new music as well as new live performances, the rebirth of a phoenix! During the studio sessions the muse was so generous that the result was 16 new Van der Graaf works spread out over a double CD. Present is being released by Virgin/EMI who have resurrected the Charisma label for the occasion. ''One CD consists of the songs/structured pieces which we consciously rehearsed - 'Every Bloody Emperor,' 'Boleas Panic,' 'Nutter Alert,' 'Abandon Ship!,' 'In Babelsberg' and 'On the Beach.' The second CD features an hour's worth of improvisations. These have always been a feature of Van der Graaf playing and are quite whacky.... I recommend taking these at about a half an hour at a time-it's really like being locked in the room with us.' - PH. EMI. 2005.
Normally when a band breaks up, most of the members go off and lead a life of luxury or stack shelves at Wal-mart (depending on how well the band did), and they are never heard of again, musically. The reality of child-rearing tends to take the edge off many a genius.
But somehow all four members of the classic VdGG period have kept their musical skills, attitude and preferences intact. Even the most vulnerable and visible element -- Peter Hammill's voice -- is in pretty good shape here. (Contrast that with the vocal changes in pitch and strength of say, Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, both still recording.) The members haven't been idle -- Hammill continued his solo career, Hugh Banton started his organ business and recorded an intriguing version of Bach's 'Goldberg Variations', and Jackson got involved in musical education. (I even saw him perform at a very poorly attended sideshow at an open-air evening near Esher a few years ago.)
CD#1 is classic studio Van der Graaf, but the jams on CD#2 are perhaps even more intriguing. I would imagine that the old Van der Graaf would not have released them as they are, but kept working on them at gigs and in further jams until sufficiently perfected for Hammill to write some lyrics for them. Then they would have released them on LP. But in truth, the tunes as they stand are a darn sight better than the finished items that many artists slave for months to create. And I prefer them to the murky bootleg recordings released on the 4-CD BOX set. and if you really don't like them, just ignore them -- the Amazon price is still good, even for a single CD.
It's also nice to see that Virgin were happy to re-hire VdGG. The icing on the cake would have been if they had resurrected the Charisma label for this CD!