Review: Van Der Graaf – Vital (1978)

Vital is Van Der Graaf Generator’s first live album.

By the late 1970s, releasing live albums had already become fairly routine, but they were not yet taken for granted in the same way they are today, when many bands release a live album from every tour. In fact, a surprisingly large number of the most significant and longest-running prog bands of the ’70s didn’t release their first live album until 1978. Off the top of my head, I can think of such greats as Jethro Tull (Bursting Out), Kansas (Two For The Show), and Camel (A Live Record). And, of course, Van Der Graaf Generator. Or, more precisely, Van Der Graaf, since the band had shortened its name to that form following lineup changes prior to their previous studio album, The Quiet Zone / The Pleasure Dome.

Van Der Graaf Generator, of course, was never a particularly popular band; instead, it drifted from one financial crisis to the next while making uncompromising music. And in fact, the reason Vital was made in the first place was that at this point it was vital (pun intended) for the band’s survival as debts were piling up on them. The band’s leader, Peter Hammill, had never been very enthusiastic about live albums, so now that the band was forced to release one, he wanted to offer at least something exceptional and new. Vital features not only old VdGG classics but also five songs that had never been heard on the band’s studio albums.

In addition to previously unreleased tracks, Vital also offers Van Der Graaf Generator fans a completely new sound and a new take on the band. The band’s lineup had already undergone a radical change on the studio album The Quiet Zone / The Pleasure Dome, and Vital features the same lineup, slightly expanded.

Vital adds cellist Charles Dickie—who also occasionally plays keyboards—to the core group of Hammill, Nic Potter (bass), Graham Smith (violin), and Guy Evans (drums), along with a special guest appearance by VdGG’s legendary former horn player, David Jackson.

Jackson was no longer a member of the band at this point, but he made a guest appearance at their concert on January 16 at the Marquee Club in London. All the songs on Vital were recorded at that concert, and Jackson plays on all but three of the album’s tracks.

With two musicians in this six-piece band focusing on acoustic string instruments, it would be easy to mistakenly imagine that the band’s new direction is some kind of subtle chamber prog noodling, but the truth couldn’t be further from that notion. Van Der Graaf’s new sound on Vital is, in fact, truly BRUTAL. Every now and then you come across a contradictory genre hybrid called “prog-punk,” and if there’s one album this definition fits, it’s Vital. On Vital, Van Der Graaf clashes their originally subtle and epic compositions with their new, straightforward—and at times downright violently aggressive—way of interpreting those compositions, with earth-shattering results.

In this review, I’ll focus especially on the new songs featured on Vital.

The album kicks off immediately with a song that most of the band’s fans had never heard before. The opening track, “Ship Of Fools,” is the B-side of the single “The Cat’s Eye,” which was released in conjunction with the previous album (the single was released only in France). Downright demonic, “Ship Of Fools” begins with a heavy guitar riff backed by a pounding bassline, and if the song’s intro sounds raw, it becomes truly barbaric when Hammill’s vocals kick in. Hammill has always had his harsh moments as a singer, but here he’s practically spitting gravel and belching barbed wire. Charging straight ahead (though there’s a slightly more ethereal section toward the end), “Ship Of Fools” may not be one of VdGG’s most interesting songs, but in all its frenzy, it’s an excellent opening track for Vital and, more generally, captures the band’s new punk-infused attitude quite well. Potter’s bass playing, in particular, is truly intense, and its brutal growl occasionally brings to mind the way the bass guitar is often thrashed in the music of Magma and other zeuhl bands. Admittedly, though, Potter’s riffs are generally much simpler than those of the zeuhl masters.

“Mirror Image” is a completely previously unheard new song, a studio version of which was recorded a year later for Hammill’s solo album ph7 (1979). “Mirror Image” is a slightly calmer track, spiced up with Jackson’s flute, and offers a pleasant respite for the ears amid all the other commotion. That said, “Mirror Image” also builds to quite intense moments at its peak, and Hammill’s vocals are once again delightfully rough around the edges. “Mirror Image” has never been one of my favorite tracks from the ph7 album, but the version on Vital—which is both more progressive and rock-oriented—works wonderfully.

“Sci-Finance” is also a new song and probably the album’s most straightforward rock track. If “Ship Of Fools” was prog with a punk edge, this track takes it even further in a rougher direction—it’s more like punk with a prog twist. The thought-provoking lyrics, with a slight sci-fi twist, emphasize this impression. This song also ended up on Hammill’s solo album—though it took a full ten years to get there. It appears on the 1988 album In A Foreign Town in a radically reworked version titled “Sci-Finance (Revisited).”

“Door” was originally recorded for The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome, but it was ultimately left off the album. And no wonder—the song isn’t all that remarkable. The most interesting part is probably when, toward the end of the song, the band suddenly shifts from a plodding tempo to a much more frenzied rush. However, this isn’t enough to save what is otherwise a rather dull track.

The last new song is “Urban,” which features a middle section taken from VdGG’s old warhorse “Killer.” “Urban” was originally composed shortly before the recording of Godbluff (1975), and it was performed occasionally at shows in 1974–75. However, “Urban” never made it onto a studio album. “Urban” begins with a tense, syncopated drum pattern, over which melodic elements are gradually built up with guitar and violin. Eventually, Jackson’s saxophone joins in, but Evans’s drums and Potter’s growling bass remain the focal point throughout. Stylistically, “Urban” is particularly reminiscent of the tracks on World Record, even though the song is performed with a significantly rougher soundscape.

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Among the new songs, we naturally also hear interesting interpretations of the band’s older tracks, familiar from their albums. The album even includes a slightly over seven-minute excerpt from the wild spectacle “A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers” off the Pawn Hearts album. No live versions of this song had ever been heard before, so this short snippet was surely a very welcome surprise for VdGG fans when it was released. Hammill is in top form as a vocalist on this track as well, and in the demanding vocal sections of “A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers,” he shifts effortlessly from half-falsetto to a harsh growl and back again. “From ‘Lighthouse Keepers,’ we move directly, without a break, to a fine rendition of ‘Sleepwalkers’ from the Godbluff album.”

We also get to hear a more expansive, truly fierce interpretation of “Last Frame”—one of the highlights from their previous studio album—extended by three minutes with expanded solo sections that blow the album version out of the water. I’ve always thought that the production on The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome is a bit too polished, and Vital’s version of “Last Frame” supports this view.

The oldest track featured on Vital is an epic version of “Pioneers Over c,” which made its debut in 1970 on the album H to He, Who Am the Only One. Originally a 12-minute song, it has been extended to a full 17 minutes thanks to the lengthened solo sections. In principle, the arrangement is very similar to the original studio version, but since the keyboard parts have been replaced not only by Hammill’s gritty-sounding electric guitar but also by cello and violin, the end result is interestingly different. Harsher and darker. The song’s final crescendo, with Smith’s violin wailing, is magnificent. Hammill’s vocals, which turn into a menacing growl, are also quite something to hear, even though at times it feels as though he may have lost a bit of his vocal edge over the course of the tour. Nor had the original lineup ever played “Pioneer Over C” live, so Vital’s rendition is its first live version.

The most powerful of the older songs, however, is the nearly ten-minute-long “Still Life” from the 1976 album of the same name. The nearly ten-minute “Still Life,” which laments the curse of eternal life, begins with Hammill’s vocals accompanied by violin and cello, and with this intro, VdG comes closest to being the kind of chamber rock band one might have expected at first glance, given the lineup of musicians. In the B section, however, as Potter’s gritty bass sound bursts into the stereo mix alongside Evans’s tight drumming and Hammill begins to strum his rusty-sounding electric guitar, it’s “bye-bye” to chamber music and “welcome to punk rock city.” You couldn’t exactly call “Vital’s” interpretation of “Still Life” subtle, but it’s certainly powerful!

The album closes with the energetic rock song “Nadir’s Big Change,” which originally appeared on Hammill’s 1975 solo album of the same name. The band conjures up a truly powerful wall of sound for this track, and this song, too, comes into its own better in the live version than in the more subdued studio arrangement.

Vital has been somewhat overlooked as a live album. Perhaps because stylistically, it falls a bit between the cracks. For many progressive rock fans, it’s simply too brutal and violent to listen to. And no wonder—around the time of Vital, the band was billed as offering the “most extreme” live experience in history, and this is certainly not just marketing hype. For example, even the heaviest heavy metal bands of the ’70s sound like a walk in the park compared to the fury of Vital. Punk bands, on the other hand, may have held their own in terms of energy and fury, but their sound lacked the same raw heaviness that Hammill and his bandmates—with their cellos and violins—managed to generate. Perhaps Vital’s reputation has also been tarnished by the muddy sound quality of some of its releases, but the 2005 remastered CD remedies this issue quite nicely.

Surprisingly, according to some sources, Vital sold better than any previous Van Der Graaf Generator album. Despite this, financial pressures became too great, and the heavily indebted band decided to disband shortly after the release of Vital, after completing one final short tour. Van Der Graaf Generator did not return until 2005, with a reunion of the classic lineup.

Vital is a unique live album and an excellent demonstration of Van Der Graaf Generator’s unpredictable intensity in concert settings.

Best tracks ”Ship Of Fools”, ”Still Life”, ”Last Frame”, ”Mirror Images”, ”Pioneers Over C”, ”Sci-Finance”

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI

Tracks

  1. ”Ship of Fools” 6:44
  2. ”Still Life” 9:44
  3. ”Last Frame” 9:05
  4. ”Mirror Images” 5:51
  5. ”Medley: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers / The Sleepwalkers” 13:43
  6. ”Pioneers Over c”17:08
  7. ”Sci-Finance” 6:13
  8. ”Door” 5:30
  9. ”Urban / Killer / Urban” 8:18
  10. ”Nadir’s Big Chance” 3:59

Musicians:

Graham Smith: violin Nic Potter: bass guitar Peter Hammill: vocals, guitar, keyboards Guy Evans: drums Charles Dickie: cello, keyboards David Jackson: saxophones, flute

Producer: Guy Evans
Label: Charisma

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