This is one of my top three VdGG tracks. The first time I heard it left me breathless. The organ drone chord after the second verse and the climactic final note are just brilliant. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the album, especially White Hammer which also has a stunning ending.
Absolutely the best prog band of all time IMO. Influencial to a whole host of future bands when first released.... Fish-era Marillion can definitely be heard , hope you're doing the full album JP. 😍 Correction : Make that , THE BEST BAND OF ALL TIME.... alright I may be a little bit biased. 😉
A Really prog band together with King Crimson who always tried to go forward and didn´t end being a cliche of themselves or a sub produtc or playing the same stuff for 50 years
@@sixbladeknife44 So true!VdGG and Peter Hammill's respect within the music industry is legendary. PH not wanting to compromise his artistic vision cost him commercially but obviously not artistically🎷🎹🎸🎻👍
Hi JP - thanks for returning to VDGG - in their early period they remain one of my favourite bands. David Jackson is one of my primary influences as a sax player not so much in his style and tone which are fabulous but in his use of effects units - that stuttering / warbling sound that you described is probably the ring modulator. Its well worth checking out the Beat Club live versions of 'Darkness' and 'Whatever Would Robert Have Said?'
Great, early song. Peter Hammill is a GOAT of course, but Banton's organ break is also killer (pardon the pun). For VdGG this is a pretty simple piece, and Nic Potter's bass gives it a more conventionally grounded sound than later albums. It's a good entry point for the uninitiated.
I who am not usually very fond of VDGG (despite a few exceptions), I find "Darkness (11/11)" quite to my liking because musically as well as vocally it remains very contrasting and not too raw as is often the case with Peter Hammill. It's been years since I listened to this album and I will dive back into it with pleasure to see if the other songs remain in the same vein.
One of the great misses for 70s VdGG was that Nick Potter wasn't playing bass on all of their albums :( The Book explains why though, he was younger than the rest of the band and not quite ready yet for a life on the road. But they did miss out when he decided to leave.
@@CAdams6398 Van Gogh didn't sell a painting while he was alive so what's your point? Popularity means quality? I think not! I know some of your favorite artists are not very popular. That doesn't mean they are not good or important to you but the simple fact is that Hammill has influenced more artists and a wider variety of artists than most. Ever heard of David Bowie? Iron Maiden? The Sex Pistols? etc etc etc. Really miss you and VdGG mouse having your spirited debates🙂 Stay cool and opinionated as usual!✌️
Such a hectic day I missed this earlier. Just wanted to chime in to say thanks and keep up the good work! I think you will also enjoy the gentler songs Out Of My Book and especially Refugees I read that David Jackson did not want his children to hear some of this album because he thought it would scare them😮🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷😁🎹🎸👏
Yes, organ similar to the Canterbury sound. A pure tone is fed into a fuzz box. Later Dave Stewart and Dave Sinclair added wah pedal. I love this VdGG song. Great playing and lyrics.
Hey, now we're talkin again! The channel was getting a little slow for my taste recently (which is ok, as you say), but now we've got VDGG & Ultravox w/John Foxx today!!! Thank you... This album is a little crude compared to things to come, but laying outstanding groundwork. Darkness is one of the best tracks, and man, doesn't it raise the hair on your arms.
This album is a little awkward and underbaked in spots compared to their next few, but it‘s already quite good - for an album recorded in ’69, it’s way better than what most of the major prog bands were doing this early on.
One of my favourite all-time albums... not a bad track on it. My "wish list" or simply recommendation for Hammill fans would be the Live TV performance of "A Louse is not a home" ... Just Peter and Piano ... pure raw emotion. The clearest demonstration of his innate technique. ua-cam.com/video/dHBEJ0dR7cE/v-deo.html
hey JP the way youre doing this stuff is amasingly witty serious funny im imitating you by just seeing and undergoing |This==im gonna re-listen their early stuff with another attitude While i was really converted in a very earlier Time--thanks
I've known and loved this song for years, but I never thought of this until now; 11/11, is it a date? It was the day that peace was declared at the end of World War I. At 11:00, so you could be shot by enemy fire at 10:59 but not at 11:01. That's why 11th November is Remembrance Day in lots of countries around the world. Does that have anything to do with this song? Who knows...
Agreed Still Life is best, but all the other albums from '70 to '76 are almost as good. This should have been the first VDGG album but for contractual reasons Aerosol Grey Machine was released as a VDGG album when it was actually meant to be a Peter Hammill solo. It still amazes me they produced these six great albums in six years, including having a four year hiatus and changes in the band's lineup. And this is the first time we get to hear Jackson playing alto and tenor sax at the same time!
FWIW there's some very impressive German TV footage of the band playing this live, which leaves no doubt THAT sound is an organ : ua-cam.com/video/48tU3P8f46Y/v-deo.html
One of my favourite Van der Graaf tracks but this seems to be a modern remix and it spoils it for me to have Hammill's vocals tucked away panned far right. It undermines the power of the song IMHO.
An album I remember as being a bit weak compared to the two that followed it (and their debut, which is excellent). Listening to this song again has gone some way towards making me reconsider.
I agree up to a point. It's the album I recommend to people who are interested in VdGG but haven't heard anything. It's prime VdGG, but not as 'extreme' as following albums. Certainly not an easy listen for the uninitiated, but accessible.
For me The Least We Can Do is as good as their later albums. It has the darkness of Pawn Hearts and softness of Still Life in one place. Really unique atmosphere in this album. And After The Flood is probably top3 VdGG song.
Your description of the music made me think of the world's largest Van der Graaf Generator, at the Museum of Science in Boston. Here is a snippet from the show: ua-cam.com/video/vheyKyV8vSA/v-deo.html
Not my favourite VdGG track (let's say 25th) and not my favourite VdGG album (maybe 7th) but it's still excellent and miles better than anything in the top 100 charts at present. The organ is the real star in this one.
Yeah, too! But he begins with an alliteration! Take that! Ahah No problems with words that don't rhyme. But pay attention : he ends all the stanzas with words that rhyme: uses, chose, amuse. That always got my attention, since my first listenings of this album.
@@Eduardo-Ferreira1982 Thanks, I do worry that one day in the studio he will pull the wrong piece of paper out of his pocket and end up setting his shopping list to music
I always feel like Peter Hammill is exaggerating (something - I know not what), and VDGG is going way, way, way, way, way over the top. And all the while I wish and hope they can find a way of pushing all these excesses even further as a song goes on. Normally I don't like bombast (I think -- maybe I do actually - ) but there are always exceptions. It does mean I have trouble taking them seriously as far as any message they might have goes, and that something absurd is part of what makes them so great for me. They must be very grateful that I'm more than likely an outlier. We like to be just plain majestic, not ridiculously majestic. Not stupidly brilliant. And so on. (Still trying to think of the pair of opposites I should actually have used here, but will have to make do with the thoughts that are available, here in the dark and hollow chambers of my brain cavity.)
A band you might want to look into one day is *Jellyfish* . (But you'd have to ask someone more knowledgeable than me why). Their song, *The King is Half Undressed* might help you decide whether to go one step further (at which point the only expert you'd need is yourself - yourself knowing yourself better than most people do.) ua-cam.com/video/AgdgptaBma8/v-deo.html
Mind blown back in 1972, when as a 14 year old, I found the album in a second-hand shop for 50p. Still loving the band 51 years later!
This is one of my top three VdGG tracks. The first time I heard it left me breathless. The organ drone chord after the second verse and the climactic final note are just brilliant. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the album, especially White Hammer which also has a stunning ending.
So glad to see you dive into this one. It's in my top three VdGGs, along with Pawn Hearts and Godbluff. Looking forward to the rest!
Absolutely the best prog band of all time IMO. Influencial to a whole host of future bands when first released.... Fish-era Marillion can definitely be heard , hope you're doing the full album JP. 😍 Correction : Make that , THE BEST BAND OF ALL TIME.... alright I may be a little bit biased. 😉
Bias is ok👍
A Really prog band together with King Crimson who always tried to go forward
and didn´t end being a cliche of themselves or a sub produtc or playing the same stuff for 50 years
I agree wholeheartedly!
Not to mention the many punk and post punk bands that cite VDGG as an influence…they cast a large net influence wise and rightly so.
@@sixbladeknife44 So true!VdGG and Peter Hammill's respect within the music industry is legendary. PH not wanting to compromise his artistic vision cost him commercially but obviously not artistically🎷🎹🎸🎻👍
One of my favourite Van Der Graaf songs of one of my favourite albums by them. Sadly underrated.
Hi JP - thanks for returning to VDGG - in their early period they remain one of my favourite bands. David Jackson is one of my primary influences as a sax player not so much in his style and tone which are fabulous but in his use of effects units - that stuttering / warbling sound that you described is probably the ring modulator. Its well worth checking out the Beat Club live versions of 'Darkness' and 'Whatever Would Robert Have Said?'
Heard this on release courtesy of a friend who ran a record store. As another "wicked little Scorpio" I was immediately hooked for life.
Great, early song. Peter Hammill is a GOAT of course, but Banton's organ break is also killer (pardon the pun). For VdGG this is a pretty simple piece, and Nic Potter's bass gives it a more conventionally grounded sound than later albums. It's a good entry point for the uninitiated.
I who am not usually very fond of VDGG (despite a few exceptions), I find "Darkness (11/11)" quite to my liking because musically as well as vocally it remains very contrasting and not too raw as is often the case with Peter Hammill. It's been years since I listened to this album and I will dive back into it with pleasure to see if the other songs remain in the same vein.
Your finally hitting this album!! This is a HEAVY and SOFT prog album especially on songs like White Hammer and After The Flood. This is a Great album
🤘
I must thank you again for requesting Scorched Earth and getting the ball rolling for Justin!
This song was my gateway into VdGG a hundred years ago.
Love it.
One of the great misses for 70s VdGG was that Nick Potter wasn't playing bass on all of their albums :(
The Book explains why though, he was younger than the rest of the band and not quite ready yet for a life on the road. But they did miss out when he decided to leave.
I wish he had been invited to the reunion gig at the RFH in 2005. They didn't actually NEED him, it would've been nice.
how can i read the book? I don't have the opportunity to buy, if it has pdf only then I can read it.
@@chefren77 Thanks!
Welcome back to VDGG, Justin. Don't forget to check out their live album VITAL. Perhaps the only Prog-Punk tecording ever.
And all the PH solo albums! Lots more Justin could do but he has covered more than anyone else and actually understood it!
@@CAdams6398 Van Gogh didn't sell a painting while he was alive so what's your point? Popularity means quality? I think not! I know some of your favorite artists are not very popular. That doesn't mean they are not good or important to you but the simple fact is that Hammill has influenced more artists and a wider variety of artists than most. Ever heard of David Bowie? Iron Maiden? The Sex Pistols? etc etc etc. Really miss you and VdGG mouse having your spirited debates🙂 Stay cool and opinionated as usual!✌️
Vital was marketed as " the most extreme live album from the most extreme live band". I agree.
Amazing track. What a band !
They're amazing😃
Love the band and Peter Hammill is one of the most charismatic singers in the world.
My first and favorite album of VDGG.
Epic band, epic track 👌
Such a hectic day I missed this earlier. Just wanted to chime in to say thanks and keep up the good work! I think you will also enjoy the gentler songs Out Of My Book and especially Refugees I read that David Jackson did not want his children to hear some of this album because he thought it would scare them😮🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷😁🎹🎸👏
This "guitar or organ" part was mellotrone... Also used in "Refugees" and wrongly recognized as guitar... What an album. Great stuff.
Yes, organ similar to the Canterbury sound. A pure tone is fed into a fuzz box. Later Dave Stewart and Dave Sinclair added wah pedal.
I love this VdGG song. Great playing and lyrics.
Great exploration Justin ! the best is still to come !
Personally very glad you come back to VDGG. The band who helped me through the dark periods.
I just started getting into VDGG and they are quickly rising to the top for me.
VDGG is one of the most underrated bands ever IMO. so is Faust, this german band who is the best when it comes to rhythm
@@CAdams6398 Zappi wasn’t far behind
Leibezeit was drummer in Can, not Faust. And Faust isn't that really a rhythmic music band, as far as I remember...
@@Eduardo-Ferreira1982 idk if he was taking about the absolute skill of leibzeit in general, but anyways, faust is extremely rhythmic
@@CAdams6398 thank you. Sorry for that, man 😊
Glad you're listening to VDGG. Have you listened to 'House With No Door' yet? You may have done, I don't remember. Keep going anyway.
Yup, thats a wonderful track!
Hey, now we're talkin again! The channel was getting a little slow for my taste recently (which is ok, as you say), but now we've got VDGG & Ultravox w/John Foxx today!!! Thank you...
This album is a little crude compared to things to come, but laying outstanding groundwork. Darkness is one of the best tracks, and man, doesn't it raise the hair on your arms.
This album is a little awkward and underbaked in spots compared to their next few, but it‘s already quite good - for an album recorded in ’69, it’s way better than what most of the major prog bands were doing this early on.
One of my favourite all-time albums... not a bad track on it.
My "wish list" or simply recommendation for Hammill fans would be the Live TV performance of "A Louse is not a home" ... Just Peter and Piano ... pure raw emotion.
The clearest demonstration of his innate technique.
ua-cam.com/video/dHBEJ0dR7cE/v-deo.html
David Jackson often plays dual sax.
they didn't really arrive until the next album but there's some great moments on this one
Great to see youre still listening to VdGG JP! When can we expect some early solo Hammill??
finally, love this album
All the stuttering sounds on the vocals, sax and organ are from them being played through a Farfisa Cabinet plus being overdriven.
Early VDGG absolutely brilliant
hey JP the way youre doing this stuff is amasingly witty serious funny im imitating you by just seeing and undergoing |This==im gonna re-listen their early stuff with another attitude While i was really converted in a very earlier Time--thanks
Yessss! I was just thinking about how great this band is. Psyched you’re checking them out.
Whenever I'm asked which is my favourite band of the 70s, my answer is VdGG.
Great band
The way Peter sings here was very influential on early Fish (Marillion) singing. That kind of theatrical interpretation 😊
“Don’t blame me for the letters”, that line certainly recalls some Fish-esque lyrics.
I've known and loved this song for years, but I never thought of this until now; 11/11, is it a date? It was the day that peace was declared at the end of World War I. At 11:00, so you could be shot by enemy fire at 10:59 but not at 11:01. That's why 11th November is Remembrance Day in lots of countries around the world. Does that have anything to do with this song? Who knows...
I think you are right. I vaguely remember an old interview with Hammill, stating just that.
It's 11 November... 1968. The date this track was recorded.
@@lemming9984 Never knew that... Thanks!
their best album- early 1970
Refugees soon! My fave VDGG. Indescribably beautiful…
So true and I've seen other reactors think it is a woman singing. No, just incredible range!
Agreed Still Life is best, but all the other albums from '70 to '76 are almost as good. This should have been the first VDGG album but for contractual reasons Aerosol Grey Machine was released as a VDGG album when it was actually meant to be a Peter Hammill solo.
It still amazes me they produced these six great albums in six years, including having a four year hiatus and changes in the band's lineup.
And this is the first time we get to hear Jackson playing alto and tenor sax at the same time!
FWIW there's some very impressive German TV footage of the band playing this live, which leaves no doubt THAT sound is an organ : ua-cam.com/video/48tU3P8f46Y/v-deo.html
Fine album - bought it in 1974 when I was 15/16. Refugees and White Hammer rule!
It's organ.
And, while I'm here, I'd to thank you for helping me though a difficult and scary couple of years.
Ty Stephen. Hope youre in a brighter place now, drop a line if you need; I'm around
One of my favourite Van der Graaf tracks but this seems to be a modern remix and it spoils it for me to have Hammill's vocals tucked away panned far right. It undermines the power of the song IMHO.
It’s an organ.
An album I remember as being a bit weak compared to the two that followed it (and their debut, which is excellent). Listening to this song again has gone some way towards making me reconsider.
There's some really good ones in here coming up🙂
I agree up to a point. It's the album I recommend to people who are interested in VdGG but haven't heard anything. It's prime VdGG, but not as 'extreme' as following albums. Certainly not an easy listen for the uninitiated, but accessible.
For me The Least We Can Do is as good as their later albums. It has the darkness of Pawn Hearts and softness of Still Life in one place. Really unique atmosphere in this album. And After The Flood is probably top3 VdGG song.
To me. TLWCD is better than H TO HE. I really can't listen to LOST anymore, just saying
When you get to Aerosol, go visit Octopus.
Class. Nice one. 🙃
Ahah, very often that pinhole you mention is only there so we can see how deep and big is the darkness.
Your description of the music made me think of the world's largest Van der Graaf Generator, at the Museum of Science in Boston. Here is a snippet from the show: ua-cam.com/video/vheyKyV8vSA/v-deo.html
Now _this_ is podracing.
Not my favourite VdGG track (let's say 25th) and not my favourite VdGG album (maybe 7th) but it's still excellent and miles better than anything in the top 100 charts at present. The organ is the real star in this one.
What remix is this ?
At last, JP!
What took you so long?
😂😅
All good things in time🙃
Epitome of Prog!
Is it just me or does Hamill write lyrics that dont rhyme ?
Yeah, too! But he begins with an alliteration! Take that! Ahah
No problems with words that don't rhyme. But pay attention : he ends all the stanzas with words that rhyme: uses, chose, amuse.
That always got my attention, since my first listenings of this album.
@@Eduardo-Ferreira1982 Thanks, I do worry that one day in the studio he will pull the wrong piece of paper out of his pocket and end up setting his shopping list to music
I always feel like Peter Hammill is exaggerating (something - I know not what), and VDGG is going way, way, way, way, way over the top.
And all the while I wish and hope they can find a way of pushing all these excesses even further as a song goes on. Normally I don't like bombast (I think -- maybe I do actually - ) but there are always exceptions. It does mean I have trouble taking them seriously as far as any message they might have goes, and that something absurd is part of what makes them so great for me. They must be very grateful that I'm more than likely an outlier. We like to be just plain majestic, not ridiculously majestic. Not stupidly brilliant. And so on. (Still trying to think of the pair of opposites I should actually have used here, but will have to make do with the thoughts that are available, here in the dark and hollow chambers of my brain cavity.)
I like the way your "chambers" think!
A band you might want to look into one day is *Jellyfish* . (But you'd have to ask someone more knowledgeable than me why). Their song, *The King is Half Undressed* might help you decide whether to go one step further (at which point the only expert you'd need is yourself - yourself knowing yourself better than most people do.) ua-cam.com/video/AgdgptaBma8/v-deo.html
@@JustJP Thanks, mate!