Wednesday, 9 May 2012

the beat club

The Beat Club was a German music TV show (misleadingly titled "Beat Club Radio Bremen"). Between 1965 and 1972 the show broadcast many of the top rock and pop acts of the era as well as groups and artists who had less coverage on television, occasionally broadcasting performances filmed live at the Marquee Club in London.
One case in point was the UK underground progressive band Van Der Graaf Generator. Concentrating on album releases rather than singles was a sure way to be ignored by UK television at the time and Van Der Graaf Generator were far removed from the singles market. Their songs often contained improvised sections, a nightmare for TV producers, and their compositions often lengthy, dark and demanding. Not top of the pop mainstream then.
On the Beat Club though, co-creators Gerhard Augustin and Mike Leckebusch had the desire to have the latest sounds around, much to our good fortune today because some 40 years later if you're looking for great quality videos of groups from that seven year period then checkout The Beat Club Channel and find a hidden gem.

Now see and hear the power of Van Der Graaf Generator as if it were yesterday in a 1970 Beat Club broadcast playing "Darkness" (album; "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other"), you won't see another of them at the time in such good quality.