Label: Cherry Red Records
Release date: March 10, 2023
Live album length (2CD): 108.30 min
Genre: Progressive Rock
Rating: 9/10
Of all the prog-rock pioneers of the old British school, the singular heralds of post-apocalyptic visions that are Van der Graaf Generator may well be the most unbreakable. Despite the band falling apart more than once last century, their core is still made up of three old pals who first started working together way back in 1968: vocal ‘thunderer’ Peter Hammill, who occasionally also picks up a guitar or wrestles with the piano keys; organ maestro Hugh Banton, who handles the bass lines too; and drum wizard Guy Evans.
Even though every member of the legendary trio has long since stepped into their seventies, these are still exceptional musicians who never stop wowing audiences with their live shows, while their newer studio albums prove they’re nowhere near ready for the ‘scrap heap’ and that their distinctive take on progressive rock, with its many dystopian and (post-)apocalyptic messages, sounds even more relevant today than it did in the 1970s.
Every new live album from these long-lived musical experimenters and innovators is a gift to ‘prog lovers’, and “The Bath Forum Concert” is no exception. It was recorded in 2022, almost exactly a year ago, at the Bath Forum in England. Van der Graaf Generator were one of the few bands who, during the ‘corona crisis’, when plenty of their peers got properly spooked, didn’t crawl into some dark corner to bemoan their fate. At the first opportunity, back in 2021, they hit the road on a new tour that ran all the way until May 2022.
Understandably, the years have taken a bit of a toll on Mr. Hammill’s exceptional vocal abilities, so it’s clearly audible on this live recording that he can no longer reach some of the high lines from his younger years. In some performances he’d rather deftly improvise a few verses than overstrain his vocal cords. Even so, most far younger prog-rock singers can still bow to him, because his utterly distinctive, instantly recognizable vocal approach remains the central building block of Van der Graaf Generator’s music. It can be seen as an equal instrument to the organ and drums, and in their company the post-apocalyptic thunderer always manages to mask his guitar skills, which were limited from the start.
Some listeners might be bothered by a setlist that leans just a touch too heavily on newer Van der Graaf Generator material from the period since their last reunion, since most of it is at least a notch less interesting than the lion’s share of what they created in the 1970s. It also has to be said that the newer versions of long-time favorites, led this time by the post-apocalyptic epic “Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End”, the anarchist “La Rossa”, the majestic “Man Erg” and the gorgeous ballad “House With No Door”, will never sound like they did in the ‘good old days’, not without the saxophone of former reed man David Jackson.
On the other hand, it’s lovely to hear live versions of the somewhat ‘forgotten’ classic “Masks” and Hammill’s solo standard “A Louise Is Not a Home”, which Van der Graaf Generator play ‘live’ pretty rarely. It’s heartening that not just the newer material but all the long-time favorites are played superbly, as long as you factor in the missing saxophone, while Mr. Hammill’s vocal performance, especially considering his age, still deserves nothing but admiration.
“The Bath Forum Concert” arrived just in time for all the long-time fans of prog-rock icon Peter Hammill and his two equally indestructible partners in crime in Van der Graaf Generator, who recently celebrated the 55th anniversary of the band’s founding. For a group that has never released a ‘definitive’ live album (neither their first live album “Vital” (1978) nor the live compilation “Maida Vale” (1994), the two closest to their golden live era, is free of various flaws), “The Bath Forum Concert” is a very solid addition to an extensive discography and a neat live document of their modern era.
Author: Peter “Dr. ProgRock” Podbrežnik
Track list:
CD1.:
1. Interference Patterns
2. Every Bloody Emperor
3. A Louse is Not a Home
4. Masks
5. Childlike Faith in Childhoods End
6. Go
CD 2.:
1. La Rossa
2. Alfa Berlina
3. Over the Hill
4. Room 1210
5. Man Erg
6. House With No Door
Line-up:
Peter Hammill – vocals, keyboards, guitar
Hugh Banton – keyboards, bass pedals
Guy Evans – drums
