Van der Graaf Generator

@ Wiki
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band. They were the first act signed to Charisma Records. The band achieved a considerable amount of success in Italy during the 1970s. In 2005 they embarked on a reunion, which continues to the present day.

The signature VdGG sound in the 1970s was a combination of Peter Hammill's distinctive and dynamic voice and David Jackson's electronically-treated saxophones, generally playing over thick chordal keyboard parts (such as Hammond organ and/or clavinet). Van der Graaf Generator albums tended to be darker in atmosphere than many of their prog-rock peers (a trait they shared with King Crimson, whose guitarist Robert Fripp guested on two of their albums), and guitar solos were the exception rather than the rule.

Hammill is the primary songwriter for the band, and the line between music written for his solo career and for the band is often blurred.

The group was named after a piece of electric equipment designed to produce static electricity, the Van de Graaff generator. The name was suggested by early member, Chris Judge Smith. The misspelling is accidental.

Band history
Formation and initial career 1967-1972
The band first formed in 1967 while its members were studying at Manchester University. The three-piece was comprised of Peter Hammill (guitar and vocals), Nick Pearne (organ) and Chris Judge Smith (drums and wind instruments). On the basis of a demo, this blues- and jazz-influenced first incarnation were offered a recording contract with Mercury Records, which only the 19-year old Hammill signed.

In 1968, Pearne was replaced by Hugh Banton. The band were able to secure Tony Stratton-Smith as a full-time manager. Through him, the band acquired a bass guitar player, Keith Ian Ellis. Drummer Guy Evans joined not too long afterwards. This line-up recorded a series of demos for Mercury, before releasing a single ("The People You Were Going To" b/w "Firebrand") on Polydor Records. The single was withdrawn under pressure from Mercury, since it violated Hammill's contract as a solo artist.

Although the band performed on BBC Radio 1's Top Gear radio show in November, and was touring successfully, it broke up in early 1969. Pressures leading to this included the theft of the band's gear and transport in London, combined with Mercury's refusal to let Hammill out of his solo contract and the band's unwillingness to sign under the "harsh" terms to which Hammill had agreed.

In July 1969, Hammill went to record his first solo album at Trident Studios. Banton, Evans, and Ellis joined him as session musicians. Through a deal worked out by their manager, Hammill's intended solo album, The Aerosol Grey Machine, was released by Mercury under the band's name in return for releasing Hammill from his solo contract. The album was initially only released in the United States.

Tony Stratton-Smith formed Charisma Records and signed the band as his first act. Before recording their second album, The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other, Ellis left (eventually joining Juicy Lucy and a very brief incarnation of Iron Butterfly) and was replaced by Nic Potter, and David Jackson (saxophone and flute) was added to the line-up.

A new sound was established, leaving behind the psychedelic influence of The Aerosol Grey Machine in favour of darker textures influenced by jazz and classical music. The Least We Can Do... was well received, and was swiftly followed by H to He, Who Am the Only One. Potter left mid-way through that recording, and the band decided to carry on without a bass guitarist, with Banton substituting with the organ's bass pedals. Robert Fripp of King Crimson contributed guitar on the song, "The Emperor in His War-Room".

The Hammill/Banton/Jackson/Evans quartet that resulted from H to He is now considered the 'classic' line-up, and went on to record Pawn Hearts, which is considered by many to be their finest work. It contains just three tracks, "Lemmings", "Man-Erg" and the 23 minute concept piece "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" – very much in keeping with the times. Fripp again provided a cameo appearance on guitar. The album proved highly successful in Italy, topping the chart there for 12 weeks. They toured Italy for a while, but the shows were plagued by different extremist organisations from Red Brigade to neo-fascists. The band toured extensively from 1970 to 1972, but a lack of support from the record company and possibly also financial difficulties caused the band to implode and Hammill left to pursue a solo career.

The three remaining members recorded an instrumental album with Nic Potter, Ced Curtis, and Piero Messina, under the name "The Long Hello". Their self-titled album (The Long Hello) was released in 1973.

First reunion 1975-1978
Hammill's split with the group was amicable, and Banton, Jackson and Evans, among others, all contributed to his solo work at various times. By 1975 the band were ready to work with each other again, and three new albums were recorded in just 12 months. The sessions were produced by the band themselves (all previous VdGG albums had been produced by John Anthony at Trident Studios), and displayed a somewhat tauter, more streamlined sound. Godbluff in particular saw Hammill making significant use of the Hohner clavinet keyboard. Still Life followed within the same year.

Following World Record, first Banton and then Jackson departed. Nic Potter returned, and in a typically eccentric move Banton was replaced by a violinist, Grahame Smith (formerly of Charisma folk-rock band String Driven Thing. This line-up produced the album The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome. The band also shortened its name to Van der Graaf. Charles Dickie then joined the band on cello for live work, documented on the live album Vital. By the time Vital was released, in the summer of 1978, the band had already split.

One album of 'new' material was released after the split. Time Vaults is a collection of out-takes and rehearsal recordings from the 1972-1975 hiatus. The quality of the recordings varies from demo-standard to very poor.

Second reunion, 2005
Banton, Jackson and Evans all made occasional appearances on Hammill's solo albums following the 1978 split, and the classic line-up also played occasionally together. In 1991, they played several songs at a fortieth birthday party for David Jackson's wife. In 1996, the quartet appeared on stage during a concert by Hammill and Evans at the Union Chapel in London to perform "Lemmings". In 2003, Banton, Jackson, and Evans joined with Hammill to perform the song "Still Life" at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Both of these latter appearances were unannounced to the audience in advance.

Following the Queen Elizabeth Hall performance, discussions between the band members led to writing and rehearsal of new material in summer 2004. A double CD, Present, containing this material was released in April 2005. A reunion concert took place at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 6 May 2005, followed by several European dates in the summer and autumn of 2005. The concert in Leverkusen, Germany on 5 November 2005 was filmed for a TV show ("Rockpalast") and was broadcast on January 15, 2006.

Peter Hammill stated in a December 2005 newsletter that there were no plans for further recordings or performances by the 'classic' VdGG line-up. In September 2006, Hammill announced that the band would be continuing as a trio, for live and studio work, without Jackson.

A live album, Real Time, was released on March 5, 2007 on Hammill's label, Fie! Records. It contains the entirety of the band's 2005 concert at the Royal Festival Hall. =>>>>>>>>>>>

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Van der Graaf Generator @ You Tube

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Jason Ankeny @ All Music
An eye-opening trip to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury during the summer of 1967 inspired British-born drummer Chris Judge Smith to compose a list of possible names for the rock group he wished to form. Upon his return to Manchester University, he began performing with singer/songwriter Peter Hammill and keyboardist Nick Peame; employing one of the names from Judge Smith's list, the band dubbed itself Van Der Graaf Generator (after a machine which creates static electricity), eventually earning an intense cult following as one of the era's preeminent art rock groups.

Despite the early involvement of Judge Smith and Peame, the group found true success as a vehicle for Hammill, whose dark, existentialist lyrics made him the focus of considerable attention. After the release of the 1968 single "People You Were Going To," Judge Smith left Van Der Graaf Generator, which by then consisted of Hammill, keyboardist Hugh Banton, bassist Keith Ellis and drummer Guy Evans. The group soon split, and in 1968 Hammill entered the studio, ostensibly to record a solo album; however, he ultimately called in his ex-bandmates for assistance, and when The Aerosol Grey Machine appeared, it did so under the Van Der Graaf Generator name.

Although Ellis was replaced by Nic Potter and woodwind player David Jackson, the reconstituted group continued on for 1969's Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other. After 1970s H to He, Who Am the Only One, Potter departed; the Generator recorded one more LP, 1971's Pawn Hearts, before Hammill left for a solo career, putting an end to the group. After five solo efforts, however, Hammill again reformed Van Der Graaf Generator in 1975 for Godbluff. Following a pair of 1976 albums, Still Life and World Record, Banton and Jackson exited; as simply Van Der Graaf, the band recorded The Quiet Zone with new violinist Graham Smith. After a 1978 live set, Vital, the group officially disbanded, although most members made appearances on Hammill's subsequent solo records. Twice during the 1990s, Van Der Graaf also reunited for one-off gigs, and in 2005 released a reunion album, Present. =>>>>>>>>>>>

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Peter Hammill

Peter Hammill and Graham Smith - My Room live 1979 @ You Tube

Peter Hammill @ You Tube

@ Wiki
Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano. He also acts as a record producer for his own recordings, and occasionally for other artists. He has been married to his wife Hilary since 1978 and they have 3 children.

Biography
Peter Hammill was born in Ealing, west London, and moved with his family to Derby when he was 12. He attended Beaumont College, Old Windsor, and Manchester University, where he studied Liberal Studies in Science.

Hammill's solo career began with Fool's Mate (1971), while Van der Graaf Generator were still active. To some extent it is difficult to separate Hammill's solo work during the 1970s from his work with the band, as he tended to be credited as the sole songwriter on the majority of the songs included on the band's albums, whilst conversely many of his "solo" albums feature all the members of Van der Graaf Generator playing on the recordings – the difference between the two scenarios seemed primarily to be who was paying for the sessions. In general, however, solo Hammill is concerned with more personal matters, while the band's songs deal with broader themes. His earlier work was largely existential in nature and many of his solo album lyrics are literary, poetic and amongst the most sensitive and intelligent and complex expressions of angst and a search for meaning in the history of music. Indeed, his work ranges from short simple riff-based songs to highly complex lengthy pieces. Mainly because of the strangeness of his music, his refusal to make anything resembling middle-of-the-road music, and the general absence of any smooth or glamorous sounds in his music, there is much debate amongst his admirers whether Hammill is to be considered a part of the so progressive rock scene. It appears to be very difficult to categorize his music. In many interviews Hammill has stated that he does not want to be put in the progressive rock music label, or any music label at all.

Hammill recorded a series of diverse albums during Van der Graaf Generator's three year hiatus between 1972 and 1974. Among these, Nadir's Big Chance (1975) is notable for its anticipation of punk rock. In a 1977 radio interview, John Lydon of the Sex Pistols played two tracks from the album and expressed his admiration for Hammill in glowing terms: "Peter Hammill's great. A true original. I've just liked him for years. If you listen to his solo albums, I'm damn sure Bowie copied a lot out of that geezer. The credit he deserves, has just not been given to him. I love all his stuff".

Hammill's solo career resumed in earnest after the final demise of Van der Graaf Generator in 1978, and has continued to the present day. Many different styles of music appear in his work, among them avant garde electronic experiments (Loops and Reels; Unsung; Spur of the Moment), opera (The Fall of the House of Usher); solo keyboard accompaniment (And Close As This); solo guitar accompaniment (Clutch); and band recordings (Enter K).

Despite the complexity of his work, Hammill's output is prolific, typically with new albums once or twice a year. His catalogue varies between artful complexity in the late 1960s and early 1970s; raw, energetic new wave in the late 1970s and early 1980s; mature, expansive songform in the late 1980s and early 1990s; and slow, melancholic balladry in the late 1990s and 2000s. There are numerous exceptions to all of these phases, illustrating the difficulty of categorising Hammill's work.

Hammill's early records, like the VdGG albums, were released on Charisma Records. He parted company with them after pH7 (1979), and then released albums on a number of small labels. A Black Box came out on S-Type, a label run by Hammill and his manager Gail Colson. Enter K and Patience appeared on Naive, Skin and The Margin on Foundry and In A Foreign Town, Out of Water and Room Temperature on Enigma Records. In 1992 he formed his own label, Fie!, on which all his albums since Fireships have been released. The label's logo is the Greek letter phi (Φ), a pun on PH-I.

Hammill survived a heart attack in December 2003. He was awarded the prestigious Italian Tenco Prize for songwriting at the end of 2004.

In 2005, Hammill reformed Van der Graaf Generator. They recorded a new album, Present, in April 2005 and played a series of well received concerts.

Hammill released his new album Singularity in December 2006, and has announced plans for a British and European tour in November as well as gigs by Van der Graaf Generator as a trio (minus David Jackson) in 2007.

Hammill's voice
Many consider Hammill's voice to be the most distinctive element of his music. As a former Jesuit chorister, his delivery is invariably middle class English (rather than Americanised), and ranges in tone from peacefully celestial to screaming rants (which are nevertheless highly controlled). Singing in registers from baritone to high falsetto, he growls, croons, shrieks and shouts in ways that have drawn comparison with the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix.

Lyrics
Hammill's lyrics are another distinctive feature of his work. He has visited a number of recurring themes including: love; human relationships; ageing and death; human follies; politics; self-awareness and introspection; religion; and current affairs. He expresses these themes with a verbal dexterity that is rare in rock. His lyrics often include literary references. For example, the Norse names mentioned in the song Viking on Fool's Mate are characters in the Icelandic Eiríks saga rauða. (Judging by the spelling of the names, Hammill's source seems to have been Magnus Magnusson's 1965 translation.)

The science fiction themes of Van der Graaf Generator's lyrics are mostly absent in his later work. In 1974 Hammill published a book, Killers, Angels, Refugees (Charisma Books, London), a collection of lyrics, poems and short stories. This was later reissued by Hammill himself (Sofa Sound, Bath) and was followed by a sequel Mirrors, Dreams, Miracles (1982). =>>>>>>>>>>>

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Steven McDonald @ All Music
Born Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill, November 5, 1948, in Ealing, London, to parents of fairly good means, Peter Hammill grew up in the embrace of the Jesuit faith, an element that has continued to affect and influence his songwriting throughout his career as much as his studies of philosophy and art. The drive of his particular muse, fueled additionally by the '60s groundswell of new approaches to science fiction (the so-called "New Wave," with Michael Moorcock, Thomas Disch, Harlan Ellison, and others leading the charge, and ex-Deviants leader Mick Farren on its heels) led to collaboration with Chris Judge-Smith at Manchester University, with Van Der Graaf Generator forming around them -- albeit briefly.

The band broke up after a number of gigs, with Hammill going solo. The arrival of a Mercury Records contract led Hammill into the studio, accompanied by various friends, for a brief but intense recording session. Within a matter of hours, Van Der Graaf Generator was reborn, though minus Judge-Smith, and the band had begun to develop the studio relationship with producer John Anthony that would serve them for the next few albums. The basic monolithic VDGG had not yet come about, but Hammill's writing was already setting the tone -- splintered personalities facing the darkness, cosmic secrets just beyond reach, thresholds beyond which lurk sudden death, light-hearted topics one and all. Even their one single, "People You Were Going To," is essentially a jolly happy romp of a tune with a tone of despair beneath. Hammill would later re-record the song for Nadir's Big Chance.

The new band lineup had its own share of uncertainties, with bassist Keith Ellis departing for an unceremoniously brief stint in Uriah Heep. With new bassist/guitarist Nic Potter in tow, VDGG joined Genesis in signing with Anthony Stratton-Smith's new Charisma label. By this point Hammill had begun to refine his songwriting into longer and more ornate forms, with very good results, with his themes touching on twin points of science and mysticism, with the occasional sidestep into more down to earth territory. The first three VDGG albums for Charisma moved through a variety of shattered and darkened landscapes, with some genuinely chilling moments, such as the science-fiction outing "Pioneers Over C" and "Man-Erg," which attempted to address the dual nature of man in approximately 12 minutes flat.

Hammill's first solo outing, Fool's Mate (both a chess and Tarot reference), came alongside the Van Der Graaf Generator album H to He Who Am the Only One. It consisted, in the main, of an assortment of songs deemed too small for the band, material from his early solo days, and so on, items that he seemed to want to clear out of the way. His in-studio help included members of Lindisfarne, another Charisma signing, and Robert Fripp. In contrast, following the dissolution of VDGG following Pawn Hearts, Hammill's sophomore release, The Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night, was a bleak affair indeed. Hammill seemed to need to strip things down to the bare essentials, recording at home (the first appearance of Sofa Sound) for the most part, his lyrics telling more personal tales -- it's only with the concluding "The Black Room" that things sound familiar. Considering the presence of the rest of the band, and that this had originally been intended as a band song, it's hardly a surprise.

With The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage, Hammill began to find a voice away from VDGG, though his writing had yet to completely mature -- "Red Shift" is another cosmic charge, for example. On the other hand, the album sports several stunning tracks, including "Modern," "Wilhelmina," "Forsaken Gardens," and "A Louse Is Not a Home." In Camera saw him handling most of the instrumental work himself and experimenting with ambient soundscapes.

In 1975, he once again dug into the back catalog of his songs, assuming the leather-jacketed persona of Rikki Nadir for Nadir's Big Chance, a noisy, chaotic album of garage band-styled rock & roll. While not exactly the three-chord thrash outing Hammill seems to have wanted (it at least comes undone with the elegaic "Pompeii," if not with "The Institute of Mental Health, Burning"), the album seems to have had its effect in the British music community, being cited by more than a few in the following punk uproar as an influence -- even John Lydon went public with a degree of admiration for Hammill's work. The cult of adoration built up around Hammill has persisted for years, and is seemingly large enough, worldwide, to support him consistently.

1975 saw the rebirth of Van Der Graaf Generator in a somewhat calmer format, while the songs still extended to epic length, the tendency towards proto-jazz explosions with rock underpinnings had been shorn away, the drumming was more laid back, and the lyrics tended towards examinations of people (though the cosmic did make quite a return on Still Life with "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End," though this one had a narrative voice to it).

The first two releases, Godbluff and Still Life, were fine albums, with one of Hammill's finest songs, "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)" appearing on the latter, but the third album, World Record indicated trouble ahead -- a fairly weak, lifeless release that appeared to have come from a band that had lost heart. Indeed it had. The band fractured yet again. Hammill took some time to record Over, an intense solo set going over the breakup of his long-standing relationship, performing a set of songs that alternately raged and offered up a bleak view of life. This set the stage for the next version of the band, now known just as Van Der Graaf, a short-lived effort that managed a single studio release, with a posthumous live album, acidly titled Vital, marking the official end of the band.

Hammill returned to his solo efforts again, initially choosing to record A Black Box by himself, but then adopting a band approach for a number of subsequent releases. By this point his writing had taken on a mature focus, with even the lengthier efforts eschewing the cosmic and mystical in favor of the personal focus, often with a darkly ironic twist. He is capable of being utterly sardonic while maintaining a poker face, a brother in spirit, sometimes, to Leonard Cohen. His ability to chart his own course fully stems from his choice to operate his own record label as an adjunct to his ever-improving studio operation -- it's this studio operation, in fact, that allowed him to return to and remaster the Van Der Graaf recordings in 2000, to produce The Box.

A regular output of new recordings is supported by an ongoing series of concert appearances around the world, as well as numerous collaborations with a bewildering variety of artists -- Roger Eno, Peter Gabriel, and Robert Fripp are just three of dozens. Hammill has also composed ballet music, and the operatic work, The Fall of the House of Usher (based on the Edgar Allan Poe story). He has been married for quite some time and has three daughters, two of whom have made appearances on his albums. Despite his very public persona, however, he remains a somewhat enigmatic and private man whose music confounds some and inspires many. =>>>>>>>>>>>

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