Van Der Graaf Generator

This is simple: who else here likes them?
And now the story:
This summer I took Rock music encyclopedia from my local library and I read it all day while listening to many bands and reading about them. And there was that strange title: "Van Der Graaf Generator", they must be german, I thought, prog? - interesting... (Actually I didn`t get that it was prog, because the book was in russian, not that I have problems with reading in russian, but it`s not that easy, you know...). So I wanted to hear something from them. I downloaded some tracks from Progarchives.com (actually all of them). I didn`t like their music at the first moment, it needed some more listening to get into. Killer was my first favourite VDGG track and still is, but I`m sure that I will hear something new and great from them.
Then I discovered that they have a new album - Present. I downloaded it, but I`m sure it`s worth buying, but I can`t find it in local stores, besides I have no money for that
I listened to Aerosol Grey Machine - good, Pawn Hearts - great, excellent (maybe the final track Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers is a little too much like "the magnum opus of all progrock", but I like it), H To He, Who Am The Only One - very good, Least We Can Do Is Wave To Eachother - good, Godbluff - fantastic.
There`s always some really good music that You`ve never heard of, I can`t imagine, why so many people don`t know who Peter Hammill is (Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night is a good album, it`s different from VDGG as much as Roger Waters albums are different from Pink Floyd)

I voted that they're ok. I haven't heard a whole lot of their stuff but enough to know that they are a good band that's just a little too over the top sometimes. Peter Hammill is a great vocalist I haven't heard any of his solo stuff but really want to. Van Der Graaf has nothing to do with German BTW.

The word "graaf" and it`s pronouncation reminded me of that, but they really have nothing common with german. And what`s the problem if they had? (or you just clicked the wrong smiley?)

Van Der Graaf is a typical Dutch surname. And a Van Der Graaf Generator is some sort of electronic device apparently invented by a bloke called something Van Der Graaf. It's not a problem but I don't like to see Dutch getting mistaken for German which I feel happens too often.

Oh, I understand, I sometimes feel the same about my country (it`s so small and often mistaken as a place where everybody`s russian).
And that guy was Robert J. Van De Graff. The band was born as he died, it`s like dedicated to him. The song Whatever Would Robert Have Said has a reference to him too.

Well, I have said this before but I really like Van der Graaf.

I first knew that they existed because in almost every book I read about Genesis or King Crimson they were mentioned as contemporaries but in a class of their own. Then, by 1996, I bought a CD which was a sample of the DGM label (Robert Fripp's record company) and my favourite song there was one by Peter Hammill. So I bought some compilations and I absolutely felt in love with his lyrics and how varied each album was. Then I bought one Prog compilation and "Killer" was there. My inmersion into Van der Graaf wasn't as easy as it was with Peter Hammill ("A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" is just TOO much for me) but the great lyrics were also there with a more adventurous instrumentation and song structures. By now I really like the first two albums ("Aerosol Grey Machine" and "The Least We Could Do") half the third album ("House with No Doors" is one of my favourites) and a bunch of songs from the albums they recorded afterwards.

BTW, have you taken a look at Peter Hammill's solo discography? My God!!! That's what I call hard work!

In what way is his solo stuff different from Van Der Graaf? I'm very eager to check it out, any albums you'd recommend?

I seem to remember grooving along to 'In camera' by Hammill..might be worth checking out.

Well, it's very difficult to give any recommendation because they tend to change a lot one from the other. In general I prefer his albums from the 70's and in particular I like "Fool's Mate" (his mates from Van der Graaf and Robert Fripp as well play in this album) and "Nadir's Big Chance" which was already kind of "proto-punk" as early as 1975.

A good introduction are the compilations in the Virgin universal series "The Calm (after the storm)" and "The Storm (before the calm)".

Some of his solo works really sound like VDGG, because he has half of the band playing there...

I found a person who really has such surname on my local "friendster"-type websyte.

How do the lads feel about ''Still Life''? I think it just might be my favourite. I heard it for the first time today and now I listened to it 3 times already.

Childlike Fath In Childhood's End is something really good.

The whole album is that good I'd say.

Well, I totally agree with you.