Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Van Der Graaf Generator
Label: Esoteric Antenna
Release: 2016
Length: 56:19
Rating: 4.5/5
After the improvisational album »ALT« (2012), a studio project that was interesting enough but far from thrilling as a whole, since it was basically a twin of the second half of »Present« (2005), quite a few fans of experimental music started wondering how much creative energy for new studio adventures the English prog rock legends Van Der Graaf Generator actually had left. The VDGG trio, slathered in every experimental grease imaginable, has been made up since »Trisector« (2008) of the brilliant singer/guitarist Peter Hammill, organist Hugh Banton and drummer Guy Evans. Before long they’ll be celebrating fifty years since 1967, when one of the most exciting and important prog rock bands of all time was born.
Unlike most of their rock peers, all three gents know full well that the years are slowly running out and that only their music is eternal. Hammill has already announced that »Do Not Disturb«, the latest product of the VDGG hellish workshop, is very likely their last studio album. Fittingly, it has a ‘farewell’ mood that dominates most of the pieces. VDGG always had a dark, melancholic and dystopian atmosphere, but on »Do Not Disturb« a general feeling of impending goodbye is present all the way through, in Hammill’s lyrics as much as in the music itself, which keeps most of their trademark instrumental ingredients, though a few times it also recalls some of Peter’s solo work. You can’t really talk about the classic VDGG sound anymore, not since they lost the sax and flute eleven years ago, but even what they’ve created on the wildly eclectic »Do Not Disturb« (and the two albums before it) is worthy of their famous legacy.
The musical picture of »Do Not Disturb« is in many ways quite different from what you could hear on the previous two albums, that is »Trisector« and »A Grounding in Numbers« (2011). The indestructible trio ‘complicates’ things a lot more here, with shorter improvisations and scattered rhythmic leaps, while seriously skimping on melodic sections, so »Do Not Disturb« takes many listens before its true value and its many initially hidden qualities reveal themselves. The album also holds a few completely unexpected stylistic-experimental surprises, which is why it’s so different from both of its predecessors. Banton is a little less active than usual on most of the songs, but the characteristic sound of his organ is still an important generator of the ominous nature of the lion’s share of the compositions.
Half of the work of building the post-apocalyptic mood is done, as ever, by Hammill’s unique voice, which still sounds fantastic despite its reduced range, a toll of his respectable age. After all these years he still hasn’t learned to play electric guitar ‘the way you’re supposed to’, or the way a guitarist in a prog rock band is somehow expected to, but he’s always put that to good use, conjuring up a pile of unusual improvisations and absurd sonic experiments that mostly fit superbly within the individual compositions. Evans’s trademark jazzy drumming is dynamic as always, though this time he didn’t serve up any wild rhythmic cataclysms or longer improvisational detours.
»Aloft« is a dark lament with a still-life intro and a slowly building tempo. In the somewhat more turbulent second half, the organ joins the sonic collage as well. As a whole it has all the recognizable VDGG qualities (minus the woodwinds) and, stylistically, of all the »Do Not Disturb« tracks it would fit best on the previous album, »A Grounding in Numbers«. The nostalgic »Alfa Berlina«, whose lyrics tell of how the band members drove to gigs in an Alfa Romeo Berlina in the early seventies, is one of the few compositions on »Do Not Disturb« with a melodic chorus, even though its opening is pretty chaotic and dissonant. After a burst of subtle organ passages, the initially cold and dark atmosphere suddenly shifts and slowly picks up much warmer shades, while Hammill really shines on the solemn chorus. Hammill’s vocal approach and the nostalgic, mournful nature of the song at times recall David Bowie in his final creative phase.
»Room 1210« boasts exceptionally intense piano arrangements and dramatic vocal harmonies, while the tension is built by fractured rhythms, a peculiar organ sound that in places sounds a bit like an accordion, and sudden shifts into turbulent instrumental sections. The faster-paced »Forever Falling«, with its driving guitar riff and quickened rhythm, will remind many people of »The Hurlyburly« from »Trisector«. It’s one of those energetic compositions that nicely proves VDGG haven’t lost their occasional rebellious streak.
The eerily dark instrumental »Shikata Ga Nai«, which in Japanese means ‘it can’t be helped’ or ‘nothing can be done about it’, sounds like the soundtrack to some horror movie set in an old, seemingly abandoned house. »(Oh No I Must Have Said) Yes« may even be the strangest experiment on the whole of »Do Not Disturb«, because with its gloomy hard rock guitar riffs and rolling rhythms it sounds more like Black Sabbath than VDGG. Without Hammill’s distinctive voice, which once again delights with its chameleon-like quality, and the completely unexpected jazz fusion break in the middle with its many chaotic improvisations, you could easily fool a lot of people into thinking it was some forgotten Black Sabbath creation.
The slow-paced »Brought to Book« contains plenty of ambient shifts, while the central role amid the intense time changes is once again played by Hammill’s wonderfully versatile voice, with a heap of angry moments. Anyone hoping to hear the ‘tongue doctor’ at the peak of his thunderous rage will probably be a little disappointed on »Do Not Disturb«, since Hammill only really ‘tears loose’ a few times while singing, and even that is ‘within normal limits’ compared to past practice. »Brought to Book« is one of those rare moments when the master is fully fired up. »Almost the Words« opens as a melancholic, rather gloomy ballad with mournful piano arrangements and an inconsolable vocal performance from Hammill, before taking on much livelier dimensions in the closing stretch. The almost transcendental closer, »Go«, with its farewell-minded lyrics and meditative sonic curtains, is an utterly fitting goodbye from Messrs. Hammill, Banton and Evans.
Everything ends eventually. If »Do Not Disturb« really is the last VDGG album, as Hammill hinted, it can be called a pretty much ideal finale to the magnificent career of these prog rock titans, who have been written off more than once. In many ways the album is more complex and even more interesting than »Trisector« and »A Grounding in Numbers«, as it occasionally ventures into some rather refreshing experimental territory, comparable in complexity to their feats from the classic period. It’s also great to hear that Hammill’s voice is still far from something you could say the years have caught up with, since his distinctive vocal approach is still the key factor and main driving force steering the VDGG ‘ship’ somewhere between ‘hell and heaven’. All in all, the whole VDGG trio deserves a hearty round of congratulations for »Do Not Disturb«, which can be declared without exaggeration one of the best prog rock achievements of 2016.
When VDGG got back together in 2005, probably nobody really expected their latest musical adventure to last more than ten years, especially after the swift departure of reedman David Jackson, who left a big hole in their sound. They did manage to patch that hole somewhat over the years, but never to fully ‘camouflage’ it, and Jackson’s absence is still felt, to the point where you can’t shake the feeling that the last three albums would have been even better with the cult reedman on board. Either way, the approaching fiftieth anniversary of the band’s founding is nothing short of a miracle for a group that first broke up back in 1969 (even before the release of their debut »The Aerosol Grey Machine«, 1969) and then again in 1972 and 1978. Then again, maybe the long journey isn’t over yet.
Van Der Graaf Generator – Brought To Book:
Line-up
Peter Hammill – vocals, guitar, piano
Hugh Banton – organ, bass guitar
Guy Evans – drums, percussion
Production
Van Der Graaf Generator
Tracklist
1. Aloft (7:20)
2. Alfa Berlina 6:40)
3. Room 1210 (6:48)
4. Forever Falling (5:40)
5. Shikata Ga Nai (2:29)
6. (Oh No, I Must Have Said) Yes (7:44)
7. Brought to Book (7:57)
8. Almost the Words (7:54)
9. Go (4:35)
