Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Van Der Graaf Generator
Label: Virgin Records
Release: 2015
Running time: 156:56
Rating: 4.5/5
Timeless prog rock masters Van Der Graaf Generator have clearly decided to spoil their devoted fans with excellent live releases in 2015, since there’s no new studio album in sight, given that their creative leader, cult singer/guitarist/poet Peter Hammill, is currently fully devoted to his solo career. While the double live album »Merlin Atmos« (2015) captured the current incarnation of the band in the middle of a live tour in 2013, the equally double live collection »After The Flood – at the BBC 1968-1977« travels much further back in time, gathering various performances by the legendary group for the famous English radio station BBC, recorded between 1968 and 1977. Some of these ‘ancient’ live recordings VDGG fans have already had a chance to hear on various live compilations released so far (»Maida Vale« from 1994 and »The Box« from 2000), while five live performances out of the enviable batch of tracks on »After The Flood« were not available before.
The oldest recordings on »After The Flood«, which, understandably enough, suffer from pretty weak sound quality, date from the late sixties, not long after the group was formed in 1967, when the band made its first appearance on the BBC’s popular show Top Gear in 1968 and played »People You Were Going To«, their first single and one of the most commercially minded pieces in their history. This early version of VDGG, which was still much more psychedelic, featured, besides Hammill and longtime organist Hugh Banton and drummer Guy Evans, the late original bassist Keith Ellis, while backing vocalist and original singer Chris Judge Smith had already said his goodbyes before the first BBC appearance.
The singing drummer Judge Smith, who left right after the release of that single, once he realized he was completely redundant as both a singer and a drummer, was a co-founding member alongside Hammill and original organist Nick Pearne, even though you don’t hear much about him today. The somewhat more complex but still slightly psychedelic compositions »Afterwards« and »Necromancer«, which appeared on the debut »The Aerosol Grey Machine« (1969), were also released as a single and are rare live recordings with bassist Ellis in the lineup.
The live track selection on »After The Flod« gets a lot more interesting once we reach the performances from the ‘golden’ era, when David Jackson joined the band and, after the departure of (sadly also late) short-lived bassist/guitarist Nic Potter, who shows up here on »Darkness« and After The Flood«, their classic lineup took shape (Hammill, Jackson, Banton and Evans). The performances recorded for the BBC show Sounds of the 70s are among the highlights of this live compilation, which goes especially for the excellent versions of long-time classics »Man-Erg«, Theme One« and »Darkness«, while the track »Vision« never even appeared on any studio album. The very good versions of evergreens »W« and Killer« unfortunately have rather poor sound quality.
The second disc, which is even more interesting than the first since it covers the artistically strongest phase of this legendary band, is mostly dominated by performances recorded for the popular show hosted by the famous John Peel. It’s very hard to pick out individual highlights here, but the exceptionally well sung and played version of the immortal ballad »Refugees« deserves a special mention. It has always been an enormous vocal challenge, even for such a superb singer as Hammill, while »Scorched Earth«, »Sleepwalkers«, »Still Life«, »La Rossa«, »When She Comes« and »Masks« round off the most fruitful creative period in the group’s story in great style.
At the end of the second disc there are three more performances from 1977, when VDGG began (again) to fall apart and operated under the shortened name Van Der Graaf. This short-lived lineup, which included violinist Graham Smith, delivered fascinating versions of »Cat’s Eye/Yellow Fever« and »The Sphinx in the Face« for Peel’s show in 1977, tracks VDGG no longer play today, while the fragments of the super-epic »A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers«, stitched together with »Sleepwalkers«, are pretty bitter consolation for everyone who had to wait decades, all the way until 2013, before they could finally hear this masterpiece live in its entirety.
»After The Flood« is a brilliant collection of ‘dusty’ BBC archives, some of which are seeing the light of day for the very first time, so as a whole it offers a feast of listening pleasures for every single Van Der Graaf Generator devotee. The only thing that takes a bit of the shine off is the weak sound quality of most of the recordings, which is almost entirely understandable, given that the BBC usually treated this kind of archive like a ‘pig with a bellows’ (i.e. carelessly) and it’s pure luck that they’ve survived in such good shape to this day.
Lineup
Peter Hammill – vocals, guitar, piano
Hugh Banton – organ, bass pedals, bass guitar
Guy Evans – drums
David Jackson – saxophone, flute
Nic Potter – bass guitar, electric guitar
Keith Ellis – bass guitar
Production
Van Der Graaf Generator
Track list
CD1: (78:29)
1. People You Were Going To (3:29)
2. Afterwards (4:41)
3. Necromancer (4:08)
4. Darkness (6:49)
5. After the Flood (10:56)
6. Man-Erg (11:08)
7. Theme One (2:56)
8. Vision (3:13)
9. Darkness (7:15)
10. Man-Erg (10:37)
11. W (5:08)
12. Killer (8:09)
CD2: (78:27)
1. Refugees (6:17)
2. Scorched Earth (9:40)
3. Sleepwalkers (9:59)
4. Still Life (7:19)
5. La Rossa (9:56)
6. When She Comes (8:09)
7. Masks (7:23)
8. Cat’s Eye / Yellow Fever (4:44)
9. The Sphinx in the Face (5:32)
10. (Fragments of) A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers / Sleepwalkers (9:28)
