VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR
''ALT''
JUNE 25 2012
60:24
1/Earlybird/3:59
2/Extractus/1:38
3/Sackbutt/1:52
4/Colossus/6:32
5/Batty Loop/1:10
6/Splendid/3:45
7/Repeat After Me/7:34
8/Elsewhere/4:15
9/Here's One I Made Earlier/5:39
10/Midnite Or So/3:31
11/D'accord/2:21
12/Mackerel Ate Them/4:45
13/Tuesday, The Riff/2:42
14/Dronus/10:34
REVIEW
by James Allen
If you're curious about the career of legendary British prog rockers Van der Graaf Generator and are looking for a gateway album to enter the band's rarified realm, don't pick this one. As the title archly implies, Alt has little in common with anything else in Van der Graaf's extensive discography. For one thing, it's the only all-instrumental album in the catalog of a band famous for frontman Peter Hammill's voice and lyrics, and even the instrumental sections of previous Van der Graaf albums are distant kin at best. If, however, you are a hardcore fan who wants to follow the band's mercurial muse into uncharted territory, then you occupy the micro-niche of open-minded VDGG enthusiasts for whom Alt was intended. After re-forming in 2005, Van der Graaf turned out three albums that seemed to be the next natural step from where they'd left off in the ‘70s, but following those with Alt is clearly a warning not to take the group's direction for granted. While Van der Graaf's compositional métier has always been a particularly intense band of prog, tightly structured and full of complex, carefully executed twists and turns, Alt is a much less linear affair. Apparently, most of the pieces came out of group improv sessions that were artfully tweaked afterwards. The inside photo of all three bandmembers bent purposefully over a computer suggests what the latter half of the process was like. Alt is filled with abstract sound paintings -- shadowy, evanescent affairs where keyboards and percussion slither in and out of the foreground like scurrilous rumors. If you took the hazy reflection of the dark moods mined in many Van der Graaf songs and manipulated that image into an entirely new context, you'd have something like the tracks on Alt, snapshots of a band that obviously abhors standing still.
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
An eye-opening trip to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury during the summer of 1967 inspired British-born drummer Chris Judge Smith to compose a list of possible names for the rock group he wished to form. Upon his return to Manchester University, he began performing with singer/songwriter Peter Hammill and keyboardist Nick Peame; employing one of the names from Judge Smith's list, the band dubbed itself Van der Graaf Generator (after a machine which creates static electricity), eventually earning an intense cult following as one of the era's preeminent art rock groups.
Despite the early involvement of Judge Smith and Peame, the group found true success as a vehicle for Hammill, whose dark, existentialist lyrics made him the focus of considerable attention. After the release of the 1968 single "People You Were Going To," Judge Smith left Van der Graaf Generator, which by then consisted of Hammill, keyboardist Hugh Banton, bassist Keith Ellis and drummer Guy Evans. The group soon split, and in 1968 Hammill entered the studio, ostensibly to record a solo album; however, he ultimately called in his ex-bandmates for assistance, and when The Aerosol Grey Machine appeared, it did so under the Van der Graaf Generator name.
Although Ellis was replaced by Nic Potter and woodwind player David Jackson, the reconstituted group continued on for 1969's Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other. After 1970's H to He, Who Am the Only One, Potter departed; the Generator recorded one more LP, 1971's Pawn Hearts, before Hammill left for a solo career, putting an end to the group. After five solo efforts, however, Hammill again re-formed Van der Graaf Generator in 1975 for Godbluff. Following a pair of 1976 albums, Still Life and World Record, Banton and Jackson exited; as simply Van der Graaf, the band recorded The Quiet Zone with new violinist Graham Smith. After a 1978 live set, Vital, the group officially disbanded, although most members made appearances on Hammill's subsequent solo records.
Twice during the '90s, Van der Graaf reunited for one-off gigs, and in 2005 released a reunion album, Present. Without Jackson, the trio of Hammill, Banton, and Evans recorded Trisector, which appeared in 2008. They appeared in concert frequently during 2009, and released another studio album, A Grounding in Numbers, in 2011. An album of studio jams and outtakes, titled ALT, followed one year later.
''ALT''
JUNE 25 2012
60:24
1/Earlybird/3:59
2/Extractus/1:38
3/Sackbutt/1:52
4/Colossus/6:32
5/Batty Loop/1:10
6/Splendid/3:45
7/Repeat After Me/7:34
8/Elsewhere/4:15
9/Here's One I Made Earlier/5:39
10/Midnite Or So/3:31
11/D'accord/2:21
12/Mackerel Ate Them/4:45
13/Tuesday, The Riff/2:42
14/Dronus/10:34
REVIEW
by James Allen
If you're curious about the career of legendary British prog rockers Van der Graaf Generator and are looking for a gateway album to enter the band's rarified realm, don't pick this one. As the title archly implies, Alt has little in common with anything else in Van der Graaf's extensive discography. For one thing, it's the only all-instrumental album in the catalog of a band famous for frontman Peter Hammill's voice and lyrics, and even the instrumental sections of previous Van der Graaf albums are distant kin at best. If, however, you are a hardcore fan who wants to follow the band's mercurial muse into uncharted territory, then you occupy the micro-niche of open-minded VDGG enthusiasts for whom Alt was intended. After re-forming in 2005, Van der Graaf turned out three albums that seemed to be the next natural step from where they'd left off in the ‘70s, but following those with Alt is clearly a warning not to take the group's direction for granted. While Van der Graaf's compositional métier has always been a particularly intense band of prog, tightly structured and full of complex, carefully executed twists and turns, Alt is a much less linear affair. Apparently, most of the pieces came out of group improv sessions that were artfully tweaked afterwards. The inside photo of all three bandmembers bent purposefully over a computer suggests what the latter half of the process was like. Alt is filled with abstract sound paintings -- shadowy, evanescent affairs where keyboards and percussion slither in and out of the foreground like scurrilous rumors. If you took the hazy reflection of the dark moods mined in many Van der Graaf songs and manipulated that image into an entirely new context, you'd have something like the tracks on Alt, snapshots of a band that obviously abhors standing still.
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
An eye-opening trip to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury during the summer of 1967 inspired British-born drummer Chris Judge Smith to compose a list of possible names for the rock group he wished to form. Upon his return to Manchester University, he began performing with singer/songwriter Peter Hammill and keyboardist Nick Peame; employing one of the names from Judge Smith's list, the band dubbed itself Van der Graaf Generator (after a machine which creates static electricity), eventually earning an intense cult following as one of the era's preeminent art rock groups.
Despite the early involvement of Judge Smith and Peame, the group found true success as a vehicle for Hammill, whose dark, existentialist lyrics made him the focus of considerable attention. After the release of the 1968 single "People You Were Going To," Judge Smith left Van der Graaf Generator, which by then consisted of Hammill, keyboardist Hugh Banton, bassist Keith Ellis and drummer Guy Evans. The group soon split, and in 1968 Hammill entered the studio, ostensibly to record a solo album; however, he ultimately called in his ex-bandmates for assistance, and when The Aerosol Grey Machine appeared, it did so under the Van der Graaf Generator name.
Although Ellis was replaced by Nic Potter and woodwind player David Jackson, the reconstituted group continued on for 1969's Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other. After 1970's H to He, Who Am the Only One, Potter departed; the Generator recorded one more LP, 1971's Pawn Hearts, before Hammill left for a solo career, putting an end to the group. After five solo efforts, however, Hammill again re-formed Van der Graaf Generator in 1975 for Godbluff. Following a pair of 1976 albums, Still Life and World Record, Banton and Jackson exited; as simply Van der Graaf, the band recorded The Quiet Zone with new violinist Graham Smith. After a 1978 live set, Vital, the group officially disbanded, although most members made appearances on Hammill's subsequent solo records.
Twice during the '90s, Van der Graaf reunited for one-off gigs, and in 2005 released a reunion album, Present. Without Jackson, the trio of Hammill, Banton, and Evans recorded Trisector, which appeared in 2008. They appeared in concert frequently during 2009, and released another studio album, A Grounding in Numbers, in 2011. An album of studio jams and outtakes, titled ALT, followed one year later.
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