Search - Van Der Graaf Generator :: Maida Vale Radio 1 Sessions

Compelling document from the Golden age of Progressive Music

09/13/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vander Graaf Generator is one of the great unrecognised bands from the time of progressive rock. Called the Golden Age by afficionados the music was characterized by a literacy hitherto unknown in modern music. Foremost to the music of that time is the instumentation, imagery and when played live, eclecticism. Van der Graaf, fronted by Peter Hammil was most effective when presented live. Decidedly uncommercial they plumbed the depths of their emotional and musical skills to provide us with these tracks. Recorded in the timeless pristine fashion of the BBC (where the placement of a microphone matters) Hammil provokes us with his powerful emotional vocals. The band, flays us with with musical invention completely inappropriate for a pop band but amazingly effective using influences from Eddie Harris (electric saxophone) to Coltrane to Hendrix all with an orchestral bent. Highlights include the haunting "Still Life" and the mad maelstrom of "Man Erg". Of the BBC recordings released in the wake of the CD, only the recording by Family Live at the Paris Theatre comes close to "Maida Vale". I highly recommend this recording for any real fan of progressive music from the Seventies."

Excellent Live BBC collection

Ignaciocue | Mexico | 12/31/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This cd has an excellent sound and content. It is a live selection, without crowd sounds, of various VDGG cd's, and is a must both for the true fan and and the beginners. Top progressive Rock frome the seventies."

VdGG almost live!

Gavin Wilson | 03/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wot, a live album with no audience? What was going on?In the 70s, the BBC was constrianed by musician's union regulations that stipulated a certain proportion of live music in its broadcasts each week. If a non-singles band wanted to reach a wide audience, they had to rely on a combination of ceaseless touring and creating 'live' versions for late-night BBC radio programmes. Typically the version you heard on the radio had been recorded in the BBC studio sometime in the previous few days, possibly even with overdubs. Hence the Gentle Giant OUT OF THE WOODS album -- also very good -- and this VdGG CD.Some of the songs sound uncannily similar to the original studio version -- particularly the mid-period material from the excellent GODBLUFF and STILL LIFE albums. It's as though the band finished the original recordings for Charisma one day, and went down to the BBC studios the next day to re-record them for radio transmission. Effectively what you have here are alternative studio versions, rather than true live material.But it is all outstanding stuff, and a wonderful antidote to the only other official VdGG live album, the somewhat off-centre VITAL. As Hammill says in his sleevenotes, this was the classic line-up: himself, Banton, Evans and Jackson. As per most other VdGG albums, it should go down a storm in Italy."