peter hamill and all that might have been

Ever since his first solo LP's back in the early 70's Peter Hamill albums have always thrown down the guantlet to the listener. He makes no compromise to popular trends in rock or easy toe tapping sing-a-long. Peter Hamill demands your attention or you just pass by without a clue and a bitter taste in the mouth. Ever since the first albums with Van Der Graaf Generator Hammill told stories that on first listening were utterly baffling yet compelling. By the time you'd heard them a few times you sort of new what he was saying but still couldn't explain it clearly. But the story felt important just the same. None of these have lost their impact as the years have passed.
And so it's gone on through the decades. Peter Hammill never fails to mystify yet thrill the listener. There is absolutely no one like him in rock music and probably never will be again. His tales are too personal to ever be copied, covering a Peter Hammill song is virtually a no go because nothing can be added to them and it's as sure as eggs you aint gonna improve them. Yet his influence on other name musicians has been unexpected and influential. Bowie to name one, John Lydon to name another. But once you hear they've name checked Hammill it sort of makes sense.

And so in November a new set of Hammill's solo recordings were added to that ever demanding body of work. No fuss. No fanfare. A Hammill album seems to just materialise from nowhere. And this is as ambitious a project as he's done. It's a single album which also comes as 3CD boxset with 14 full length songs and an instrumental CD. The group is guitar, keyboards and drum machine and Hammill plays the lot. The unmistakeable vocals are all over the place, double tracking his lead vocal, multi tracking the backing ones, the prog rock vocal no one else has dared to sing. It's difficult and demanding and about as dynamic piece of contemporary rock as can be heard today.
Here is the thrilling drama he calls "Inklings, darling" from the album '…all that might have been'. Give it a few listens and you'll understand what it's all about. Maybe.

P.S. The video has been put in place by uploader PolSet2 who likes to put his name over everything but we'll forgive him that as he's got more Peter Hammill and some Van Der Graaf on his channel.

van der graaf generator's 1972 film footage of a prog rock classic

Thanks are needed to Richard Metzger at Dangerous Minds for stumbling on some fascinating and rare footage of the classic lineup of Van Der Graaf Generator in 1972 performing their opus 'Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers' , released as side two of their near mystical creation and 4th album Pawn Hearts. Originally intended to be part of a double album with the third and fourth sides being the groups individual projects the idea was eventually abandoned to the production of side one and two only. Although Pawn Hearts was their 4th LP it would be better known by their fans as part 3 of the trilogy that began on their second LP, The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other (1970), H to He, Who Am the Only One (1970) and a year later with Pawn Hearts (1971).

Side two's Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers is best described as split into a succession of farely short movements - "Eyewitness", "Pictures/Lighthouse", "Eyewitness", "S.H.M.", "Presence of the Night", "Kosmos Tours", "(Custard's) Last Stand", "The Clot Thickens", "Land's End (Sineline)", "We Go Now", with the overall composition a magnificent tour de force of Peter Hammill's songwriting and vocals alongside the bands highly imaginative and uncompromising approach to progressive rock. And if ever that term had been invented for a purpose it was to describe Van Der Graaf Generator who had taken the 60's evolution of rock into a completely unpredictable form that few groups ever came close to achieving outside of King Crimson, no surprise there when Fripp was to guest on a couple of their recordings. Such was Van Der Graaf's assault at gigs audiences were either running for the doors or screaming with joy and disbelief at what they were hearing. There was no half way with Van Der Graaf.
Also by the nature of part improvised and complex arrangements it was if the band needed to have an almost inspired moment every night to make this behemoth of a concept fall into gear smoothly. If technical faults crept into a performance, as they were inclined to do in the early 70's sound systems, it could be agonising listening to hear them fight their way to a conclusion and sometimes even then just not managing to ignite the Generator. On nights where the compositions flowed they became legendary performances amongst fans.
Even today their music is a continual challenge of textures and themes, switching time signatures, high and low dynamics, crescendo and decrescendo. The lyrics sometimes sound coded or symbolic allegories from Hamill's psyche but they scan as if they hold a deeply personal message to the human race. Consequently they kept many a 70's acid head in a state of bewilderment or near enlightenment. The Lighthouse Keeper, as solitary a musing of mortality or a beacon of hope for mankind? It's left up to you to decide.
Despite their lack of commercial success, although always revered in Europe, Van Der Graaf have inspired as diverse an artist as John Lydon to Bruce Dickinson, to a long line of Goth bands in the 80's.
For Belgian TV to capture 25 minutes of the band at their peak in 1972 says much about the lack of inhibition the programme makers had at the time.
It's impossible to think it could happen today.

after the flood

East Village. New York City. October 2012.
After The Flood. Van Der Graaf Generator. December 1969.

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.