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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sundial Draws a Line Upon Eternity Across Every Number, February 13, 2006
You know, for "geezer" fans like me who have already bought "Godbluff" and many, many other prog classics over the decades twice or more as new improved formats become available, these reissues are starting to get annoying. That is until we pull the shrink wrap off and experience again everything that made these recordings worth our investment of time and money in the first place.
I am not completely familiar with the full story of "Godbluff," but I do believe that this was their 1973 "comeback" album, after a brief break-up; singer/songwriter Pete Hammill had become wrapped up in his solo career, while keyboardist/drummer/sax-flautist Hugh Banton/Guy Evans/David Jackson retreated to Italy (where VDGG was a #1 chart-topping act) to record their interesting but not-spectacular "Long Hello" album.
Reuniting with "Godbluff," the quartet roared to life again in a HUGE way with this (skimpy by modern CD standards) 40 minute reaffirmation of their collective power. All four tracks are lucid, mighty testaments to the visionary talents of Hammill and company, but I most especially want to direct your particular attention to the track that scorches with the most frightful intensity: ARROW, track 3 (1st cut side two for us LP era neanderthals).
This is STRONG stuff, here folks, and not in a profane or cartoonish death-metal sort of way. Rather, it's all intensity and execution, starting with the fade-in bass & drum intro, skipping along nervously as Jackson's sax bleats in over the top to add some high-plateau drama to the soundscape. The musical suggestion of traveling by horseback across a barren landscape is evoked vividly before a single word is sung. Banton's Fender Rhodes (probably Hammill-there is NO GUITAR in this song) joins to bring this atmospheric stage-setter to a close, settling down to a sinuous opening statement of the song's theme, sustaining the final note like a snake poised on a desert stone waiting to strike--
Enter Hammill, roaring: "Stub towers in the distance, riders cross the blasted moor against the horizon." Simply transcribing the line can hardly invest it with the skullcrushing force of Hammill's delivery, in surely the most extreme match of material and performance of his career. "Arrow" is 9:47 of pure blood & thunder on trampling hooves, with Hammill riding high in the stirrups and screaming into the maelstrom, "what a crawl against the slope, dark loom the gallows--one touch to the chapel door, how swiftly comes the arrow."
And of course the band is at full gallop alongside Hammill, with Jackson & Evans stomping mercilessly with massed saxaphone & percussion. Save for a brief synthesizer break (fully in accord with the near-panic mood established at Hammill's first words), Hugh Banton keeps well to the background, but with the other three wailing at "11," the restraint becomes a valuable contribution in its own right.
Van Der Graaf, as I am again obliged to state, is NOT for everyone, and "Godbluff" (like their other CLASSIC record, "Pawn Hearts") is almost sure to scare off timid or casual listeners. To unattuned ears, it's rough, Hammill's voice is not "pretty" in the Michael Bolton sense, although Hamill was definitely capable of it. Here I recommend their second record, "The Least we can Do is Wave to Each Other" as a starting point for curious listeners; Hammill's voice is beautiful by any standard, especially on the plaintive "Refugees," a song that some movie director will eventually make a gigantic hit with when he leases it for his soundtrack.
Still for those adventurous enough to try something with some real brains & brawn, you've definitely stepped up to the Phd. level here. Van Der Graaf were not looking for chart-topping smashes, they were (are) artists fortunate enough to be chasing their muse at a time when commerce favored musicians in that pursuit. For those of us coming of age during that late '60's early '70's flowering of progressive rock, we now have a rich and vast body of work to discover (or rediscover) and reflect on for the rest of our lives. Including among many others but with special distinction, the great Van Der Graaf Generator, who after a 20 year hiatus have now fired it up again to release yet another reunion CD, "Present," now available on Amazon...
Let's give the last word to Peter, reflecting in his unique way on our mayfly existences; "How long the night is, why is this passage so narrow? How strange my body feels, impaled upon the arrow!"
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the generator returns, October 14, 2005
a brief layoff, a solo album or two and a long a hello. then, 1975, there's godbluff. if you're reading this review, you're probably already interested. if you are a casual progger, then you should look away. there are no synths. there are no solos. there's only van der graaf. sax, organ, drums, vox and some clavinet on this one. and let me tell you, there's a lot of vox. i'm currently replacing my old vdgg cds and buying the reissues. this is one of the best. buy it for the sound alone, but the bonus live tracks only add to the experience. ph always said this was a band that bordered between chaos and control. not only do the studio tracks affirm this; the live tracks underline it. vdgg is a dangerous band.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for Late Nights by Yourself . . ., July 15, 2006
. . . and other contexts, also, but this is largely the contemplative side of Hammill & Co., kind of picking up the pieces after the manic excesses that brought them to their peak on _Pawn Hearts_ (which would constitute anyones peak!). There are no real schizophrenic meltdowns like on their previous masterpiece, more a slow existential burn, that taken on its own virtues is very satisfying. It's just nowhere near as good as _Pawn Hearts_.
"Scorched Earth" exemplifies the plusses of this album perfectly. Featuring a slow pre-grunge chromatic riff as its centerpiece, it builds in segments like the best of VDGG, until they've spun considerable tension by the end of ten minutes. Every musician is on here, especially David Jackson and the formidable Guy Evans on drums.
"Arrow"--quite the memorable song, if not only for Hammill's shrill falsetto emanations after starting out in his lower registers--exemplifies both the plusses and (comparatively few) minusses of this album. Like every other song here, this is a slow-burner. It builds in its own time, like the best of VDGG (and the best of wines), but the recording is sub-par and Hammill sounds like he's singing under the sea (again, not in a good way like on _Pawn Hearts_'s "Plague of Lighthouse Keepers"). His falsetto does get annoying (doth he protest too much?), like I said before. The difference between his falsetto here and on _Pawn Hearts_ is that every instrument screeches when Hammill does and your lost in the Echoplex of your corpus callosum. On "Arrow" it's Hammill screeching over a by-and-large restrained supporting cast. Somehow the balance just seems off here.
In short, buy this album after you've had a proper introduction to the band (_Pawn Hearts_ and the earlier works like _H for He . . ._ and _The Least We Could Do is Wave . . ._). I think to start on this one might scare you off to the abundant joys of VDGG (if indeed disequilibrium is a joy to you). If you go through those and get to this one, you'll be able to appreciate it for what it is. A slightly flawed document of a master lyricist and his supporting musicians' journey upward from hell. They are still in hell here, but they are reflecting on it as they ascend, hence all the fascinating things they do with the slow burn.
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~ Van Der Graaf Generator
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