A cult group that is at once highbrow, minoritarian and judicious, with a dense and cryptic sound containing existentialist literary messages, Van der Graaf Generator is a project that was conceived when few of the many grandiloquent and ambitious rock groups were able to go beyond gratuitous verbosity and instrumental excesses. Along with unclassifiable groups like King Crimson (whose leader, Robert Fripp, worked on several discs with them), Brian Eno and krautrock – a German angle on what would later be called progressive rock – this British group, which takes its name from the American physicist who invested the static electricity generator, wrote lyrics that were so transcendental and influential that they are still remembered today.
Van der Graaf Generator suffered a roller-coaster career until their break-up in 1978. They created an original and bizarre sound based on an organ, an electronically altered sax and the gloomy voice of their leader, Peter Hammill, singing varied harmonies. During the first half of the seventies, they recorded complex and expressionistic albums such as H to he who am the only one (71) and the acclaimed Pawn hearts (72). After a silence that lasted for several years, they reappeared with Gobbluff and Still life (75). The so-called era of canonical form came to an end with World record (76). For this album, Hammill was joined by organist Hugh Banton, saxophonist David Jackson and drummer Guy Evans, and the vocalist and leader stayed with the group until its break-up in 1978. Hammill, who has never stopped playing as a soloist, brought his three companions back together in 2004. Now, playing as a trio without Jackson, their machinery is coming back to the stage.

www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk
www.peterhammill.com