FEATURED ALBUM: Van der Graaf Generator - Godbluff

[TCC]

Seeing in the mid-90's the Godbluff Live Charleroi concert video was my (unxpected) gateway tio VDGG after two unseccessful decades trying to permeate their musical world.

Glad they played the album in the same order on stage, because I'm not sure I could've gotten in, had they not started with the awesome Undercover Man (still my fave VdGG track)...

Before that, I'd heard every second year or so Pawn Hearts for vthe last two decades, and I had WTF'd every time... Of course after seeing the Belgian studio version of Lighthouse keeper, it went down quite well afterwards

What I needed was to see them play their music.

Yes, it happens!!.

[polmico]

It’s my favorite album by anyone.

And you can trust me because I have ethos.

[Progbear]

This one flip-flops with Pawn Hearts as my favorite VdGG album. I got it later than PH, so maybe it feels a little fresher to me (I definitely bought PH in high school, it was one of the first “weird”/“obscure” prog albums I ever bought. Bought my first Gentle Giant album, Acquiring the Taste, at the same record store jaunt). But all four tracks are unimpeachable, some of the best music ever produced under the “progressive rock” banner.

[moecurlythanu]

It’s my favorite album by anyone.

And you can trust me because I have ethos.

Heh. I have both Ethos albums.

[arturs]

There always seems to be a bit of debate around which of the classic 70s albums represents their best work. Is it Pawn Hearts? Or is their "comeback" album Godbluff?

For me, Godbluff is quite possibly the greatest single LP ever released by anyone, ever. Not a single note is extraneous, nor is any note missing. Thrilling from the first minute to the last. I also really enjoy the live DVD of the album. Amazing that such a thing exists.

I love Pawn Hearts too, but I have to be in a certain mood/mental space to appreciate it.

[Sputnik]

I also really enjoy the live DVD of the album. Amazing that such a thing exists.

It really is! I like it too, but haven't spun it for ages. Need to dig it out for a fresh viewing.

Bill

[JJ88]

I also really enjoy the live DVD of the album. Amazing that such a thing exists.

It exists because the European TV companies seem to have had the foresight to have kept a lot of their music footage. If this had been filmed in the UK that couldn't have been guaranteed, sadly...even by this late stage (1975) episodes of the show Top Of The Pops were being 'junked'. The other live material of them doing 'Theme One' and 'Plague...' and the Beat Club 1969 footage are both European series.

Unfortunately I don't think there's that much other live footage of VDGG in the late 60s/70s.

[Trane]

For me, Godbluff is quite possibly the greatest single LP ever released by anyone, ever. Not a single note is extraneous, nor is any note missing. Thrilling from the first minute to the last. I also really enjoy the live DVD of the album. Amazing that such a thing exists.

Rock solid album from start to finish.

I can think of six notes too much, on Sleepwalkers
I do have an issue with the closing track Sleepwalkers and the two Cha-cha-cha passages.

Porn Hearts and Godbluff are both masterpieces, as far as I’m concerned. Of course, they are very different sounding albums. You could even say they were made by two entirely different bands, even if they feature the same personnel. So what accounted for the change in sound? Perhaps it’s a stretch, but a case could be made that the increasing polarization of society in the early 1970s due to the rise of terrorism in Europe (IRA, RAF, Brigate Rosse et al) may have had an impact on the band’s outlook, hence a harder edged approach.

Does Godbluff have a unifying theme? Maybe not, but with that context in mind, the first three songs do trace one person’s descent into the underground and the ensuing madness: “Undercover Man” marks the first tentative steps of joining a paramilitary group, “Scorched Earth” is the first attack perpetrated by the undercover man (perhaps as a trial of courage and commitment), and “Arrow” is the state hunting down the undercover man (‘this mad chase’) and retaliating.

This is a very interesting thought (first time I read it). Are there any Hammill interviews that wuld confirm this?
Maybe Sleepwalkers is like stepping out of the nightmare or acting the whole thing in a secondary dimension, then?

As for being two different bands, I'd view that the return of the son of VdGG had more concise (and shorter) songwriting, if you'll except Meurglys III

I love Godbluff, but I do have one problem with it. Just like Pink Floyd's "Animals", I feel like there is a song missing. It seems too short. Each song on Godbluff is it's own maelstrom of intensity, but just doesn't seem to me like it is resolved. I guess you could file it under, "Not Enough Of An Amazing Thing".

I have that problem with a fair amount of fairly recent modern prog albums.
I was never a fan of albums above the 1-hour mark of the 90's and 00's (much of them were fillers), but the return of vinyl has made albums barely over the half-hour mark, and that's simply too short.
and not just IMHO: I've met quite a few disc buyers feeling that new bands are being a little too economical (stingy) of their material.
For ex, Kamasi Washington's EP is almost longer than some of these Swedish (retro) prog bands' full albums

As for Godbluff, yup an extra track might've been welcommed over the A-side, provided it's of course in the same realm of the album, of course

Of the VdGG LPs, I rank Godbluff fourth after Pawn Hearts, H to He, and The Least....., and prefer Chameleon, Silent Corner, and In Camera to it.

Very tempting, but it's still too early in the thread to start vranking Graaf albums and mlixing them with the in-between hammill albums

It exists because the European TV companies seem to have had the foresight to have kept a lot of their music footage. If this had been filmed in the UK that couldn't have been guaranteed, sadly...even by this late stage (1975) episodes of the show Top Of The Pops were being 'junked'. The other live material of them doing 'Theme One' and 'Plague...' and the Beat Club 1969 footage are both European series.

Unfortunately I don't think there's that much other live footage of VDGG in the late 60s/70s.

Mmmmhh!!!... Unfortunately, none of these Belgian TV filmings exists in their original forms, just like I doubt most French TV exists still also on their original support. Not sure about German TVs... Steve could maybe tell us, since he's released German-filmed Soft Machine DVDs

Just like the BBC, the Belgian RTB/BRT, they often retaped over the magnetic tapes (they were expensive back then and budgets not over-extensible), so some of these archives were destroyed, because not deemed worthy to be kept for posterity.

Or worse, some classic youth TV shows like Feu Vert (Green Light) with many pop bands appearing were simply not taped at all, since everything was done direct TV... Hence there are very little images left of this Belgian classic Wednesday afternoon TV show that ran for years and years.

[Smörgåsbord]

Their best.

[Kcrimso]

Awesome and powerful album but Still Life is even better!

[Levgan]

I do have an issue with the closing track Sleepwalkers and the two Cha-cha-cha passages.

I feel the album would have been incomplete without them. You seldom get to experience any in-your-face humor in VdGG (although it IS there IMO – just needs some deep digging to unearth), so when it appears out of the blue, and in a poignant, gut-wrenching epic to boot, it just elevates the whole thing to an entirely new level. For me "Sleepwalkers" is their best song, and Godbluff the best album.

[Zappathustra]

I feel the album would have been incomplete without them. You seldom get to experience any in-your-face humor in VdGG (although it IS there IMO – just needs some deep digging to unearth), so when it appears out of the blue, and in a poignant, gut-wrenching epic to boot, it just elevates the whole thing to an entirely new level. For me "Sleepwalkers" is their best song, and Godbluff the best album.

A very good point that I was also thinking of. Although this kind of humor just adds to the general bleak atmosphere, it's like some clowns, waiting to be executed with daybreak, going for their final trick.

[mellotron storm]

I still like H To He... and Pawn Hearts over Godbluff but it's still a top three. Sleepwalkers is my favourite song off of the album. I need to play this soon.

[at least 100 dead]

Are there any Hammill interviews that wuld confirm this? Maybe Sleepwalkers is like stepping out of the nightmare or acting the whole thing in a secondary dimension, then?

I’m not aware of any interviews in that regard. As far as “Sleepwalkers” is concerned, it may have been inspired by Arthur Koestler’s book of the same name (but, again, that is conjecture).

[polmico]

A very good point that I was also thinking of. Although this kind of humor just adds to the general bleak atmosphere, it's like some clowns, waiting to be executed with daybreak, going for their final trick.

Serious Fun.

[Bucka001]

My fave VdGG album and maybe my fave by anyone. A rock masterpiece, and not just "prog" rock. Same lineup as a few years before but a totally different band as far as approach and aesthetics. Stripped down and much more brutal than their previous offerings which were lushly produced by John Anthony. The album immediately preceding this was Nadir's Big Chance, made by the same four people. That album had an influence on the next three VdGG discs. Godbluff and World Record sound like prog bands fronted by punk Rikki. Unique, fantastic, genius.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I feel the album would have been incomplete without them. You seldom get to experience any in-your-face humor in VdGG (although it IS there IMO – just needs some deep digging to unearth), so when it appears out of the blue, and in a poignant, gut-wrenching epic to boot, it just elevates the whole thing to an entirely new level.

You mean the "cha-chas"? Most certainly so. And neither is it -entirely- spoofy, leading as it does into a frantic variation on the very same theme. It's simply part of the theatrical antic which they displayed as an integral component in much of their work. But yes, "The Sleepwalkers" remains perhaps the ultimate VdGG-tune, largely because of the strength exposed in its span; though quite dense in places, it falls back on a groovy, meaty clear-cut riff - perfectly rounding off a magnificent record.

Somehow I think Hugues may not like those cha-chas due to his unnerving horror at the possibility that there might appear an accordion in there.

[Trane]

Somehow I think Hugues may not like those cha-chas due to his unnerving horror at the possibility that there might appear an accordion in there.

The Cha-cha-cha dance is not a form of tango, AFAIK

Or is it??

[Rarebird]

A good album, but I still think my favorite is H to He, probably because it was my first.

[Skeptrick]

I first was exposed to them with Godbluff/Still Life/World Record, as those were the only albums we had at the college radio station I DJed at. I would give a slight edge to Still Life over Godbluff, but both are among my favorites by any band, as well as Pawn Hearts and H To He. Throw in the solo PH albums from that time, and that really is an incredible run of albums!

[miamiscot]

I have a three way tie: Godbluff, Pawn Hearts and Still Life are all 10/10 records.

If you put a gun to my head I might say Godbluff though.

[Tom]

The Cha-cha-cha dance is not a form of tango, AFAIK

Or is it??

Cha-cha is much simpler. Also refers to the beat of cha-cha music ("one-and-two, three, four") -- e.g., "Smooth".

[Buddhabreath]

Porn Hearts and Godbluff are both masterpieces...

Godbluff is a fantastic and seminal album, I love the "new" VDGG tight and focused sound and clean production and man o man does Guy's drumming sound great on that one!

I believe Porn Hearts was Kevin Spacey's favorite VDGG album.

For my money the first incarnation of VDGG were quite different in character with Pawn Hearts (still my fave) the creative peak of that period and Godblluff the best of the 70s reunion period. Van Der Graaf were yet another flavor and for me Quiet Zone... was another peak containing some of PH's finest songs. He to He and Still Life are not far behind the respective peaks.

[at least 100 dead]

Van Der Graaf were yet another flavor and for me Quite Zone... was another peak containing some of PH's finest songs.

Quiet Zone made me a fan of Van/Hammill. Great, great album! The internet seems to disagree, though. There are a lot of negative or lukewarm reviews out there.

[interbellum]

Quiet Zone made me a fan of Van/Hammill. Great, great album! The internet seems to disagree, though. There are a lot of negative or lukewarm reviews out there.

Same here. In fact it's the only one I bought a CD-version of, although I might buy two other favs, Godbluff and Still Life one day too. But Quiet Zone is a very different animal; I still play it quite often.