Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Van Der Graaf Generator
Label: Charisma Records
Release: 1976
Length: 44:38
Rating: 5/5
‘The night in the black earth has fewer horrors than the bright sun has days of slavery’ was the line the rebellious Črtomir mused in Prešeren’s Baptism on the Savica. Evidently, the later meekly repentant and subjugated Črtomir had never heard of the British prog-rock titans Van Der Graaf Generator, or he’d have feared the darkness a lot more and strutted around a lot less heroically, because few bands from the golden era of rock (the seventies of the last century) managed to define the blackness of the bottomless abyss of modern, post-apocalyptic society in such detail as they did. Van Der Graaf Generator, led by the brilliant singer, guitarist, composer and visionary Peter Hammill, recorded their sixth studio album in 1976 and called it »Still Life«, for plenty of good reasons.
The first was certainly that, even though they’d already broken up twice along the way (the first time right at the very start of their career), they were still around and, in the mid-seventies, in their classic lineup, which besides Hammill included organist Hugh Banton, woodwind player David Jackson and drummer Guy Evans, stronger than ever. So with the title »Still Life« they wanted to poke fun at everyone who’d been constantly predicting their premature obituary, and also at the phenomenon that humankind, despite countless fiery attempts, still hasn’t wiped its own species off the face of the earth. After the traumatic end of the »Godbluff« tour in 1975, when they barely made it back alive from Italy after a close encounter with a rabid, politically sick mob, the members of VDGG returned to the studio and set about recording five new songs, which then found their way onto »Still Life«.
Half of the writing was practically done by then, since »Pilgrims« and »La Rossa« had already been written back in the »Godbluff« sessions, so both needed just a bit more ‘polishing’. The first change, fairly obvious in the sound production of »Still Life« though hardly something you’d call dramatic, was Hammill’s bigger presence on electric guitar, after it had taken him quite a few years to get used to the role of rhythm guitarist, since his favorite instruments had previously been mainly piano and acoustic guitar.
Peter’s unpredictable guitar improvisations, as opposed to his astonishing and utterly unique vocal talent, weren’t any great masterpieces from a strictly technical standpoint, especially not next to some of prog rock’s guitar wizards, but they fit beautifully with Banton’s epic organ passages, Jackson’s wild woodwind charges and Banton’s merciless drum barrages. That combination was the key to the winning formula that made »Still Life« yet another in a string of unforgettable VDGG masterpieces, of which there were already four ‘specimens’ by 1976. »Still Life« is an epic, chilling, dark and above all shattering ambient journey through the grimmest and most tangled meanders of the neurons in the human brain, which the cover of this fantastic album symbolizes superbly with its Lichtenberg figure of electrostatic discharge, caused by a Van de Graaff generator.
The first song on »Still Life«, »Pilgrims«, offers a relatively calm opening to the album by usual VDGG standards, but it’s also full of a sense of epic scale and tragedy, the two key ambient elements that often complemented each other across VDGG’s evergreens. The mysterious atmosphere, shaped by Hammill’s poetic vocal approach and the extremely subtle organ-and-sax pairing, takes the listener on an epic pilgrimage through the post-apocalyptic fields of a ‘brave new world’ straight out of the worst collective nightmare. Over time, the master of chameleonic vocal mannerisms, with the help of his three seasoned instrumentalist comrades, delivers an epic, uplifting chorus through which a strong beam of light breaks into the gloomy valley of universal human devastation.
The gloomy mood really opens up on the shattering title track, »Still Life«, where Hammill, in the midst of an eternal debate about immortality, outdoes himself once again with his trademark vocal chameleonism. The opening section, dominated by the sacral sound of Banton’s organ alongside Peter’s ‘martyred’ vocal confession, sounds almost elegiac. After a sly transition comes a spirited, darker section, with plenty of turbulent organ and sax variations, while Peter suddenly switches to a more aggressive singing style, backed superbly by Evans’s jazz-tinged swings around the drum kit.
King Crimson were warning about growing anarchism in their brilliant instrumental »Red«, while the VDGG guys touched on the Italian anarchic scene of the seventies (and their close encounters with it) in a piece called »La Rossa«. This extremely spirited song, packed with furious vocal outbursts from the charismatic singing ‘thunderer’, is built mainly on fierce clashes between organ and sax passages, cut through by wild drum cataclysms. The epic yet gloomy mood builds from minute to minute, which holds true for the whole of »Still Life«, an album that had a much bigger influence on the early heavy metal scene and on punk than most would imagine.
Of all the songs on »Still Life«, »My Room (Waiting For Wonderland)« is perhaps the one that best captures Hammill’s philosophy and visionary outlook, which can also be read as a warning to an increasingly deranged humanity hurtling unstoppably toward its doom. Elegant sax and piano passages accompany Peter’s elegiac vocal turn, and together they form an utterly pleasant motif. Later on, Jackson takes a bit more room for his witty sax improvisations, while Hammill diligently nurtures his almost ‘angelic’ vocal approach.
The epic masterpiece »Childlike Faith In Childhood’s End« hints at childish naivety about the joy of reaching adulthood as soon as possible, and at the great disappointment that sets in in most cases once it’s already too late, as well as at the fact that most people, after (officially) entering adulthood, stay at a childlike mental and spiritual stage of development. It is the ambient and poetic peak of the whole of »Still Life«. A witty sax improvisation opens the way for an uplifting, epic motif, skillfully shaped once again by the chameleonic Mr. Hammill, whose singing constantly shifts between hell and heaven.
The epic chorus sounds like a final revelation and a bitter warning to humankind from this ever-vigilant poet of the post-apocalypse. Although a gloomy atmosphere prevails throughout, with wild instrumental variations and the ‘thunderer’s’ voice nearly bursting with rage at a runaway, sick human race, the brilliant lyrics still offer hope and a fragile chance of salvation to all those who haven’t yet fully slipped into the clutches of politics, clericalism and the ‘free’ market. That’s evident, too, in the triumphant ending of this magnificent epic, which still remains one of VDGG’s key works.
At a time when progressive rock had reached the zenith of its popularity, Van Der Graaf Generator were still at the peak of their creative powers. »Still Life« was one of the creative high points of the classic VDGG lineup, when their music blended superbly with the messages of the individual songs and had real power to change an ever more chaotic world that had already begun racing toward the apocalypse. Sadly, the great creative magic within the classic VDGG lineup began to crumble that very same year »Still Life« came out, though not before they recorded the equally excellent »World Record« (1976), which for a long time was considered their last act.
Lineup
Peter Hammill – vocals, guitar, piano
David Jackson – saxophone, flute
Hugh Banton – organ, bass, mellotron, piano
Guy Evans – drums, percussion
Production
Van Der Graaf Generator
Tracklist
1. Pilgrims (7:12)
2. Still Life (7:24)
3. La Rossa (9:52)
4. My Room (Waiting for Wonderland) (8:02)
5. Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End (12:24)
