CD Review: Van der Graaf Generator - Present

After a 25 year absence, VDGG are back with a new album. They were one of the seminal 70s progressive rock bands, a bit too leftfield for mainstream success, although Peter Hammill's distinctive vocal style influenced artists as varied as Johnny Rotten and Fish.

According to the sleeve notes, the four members of the band, Peter Hammill, Guy Evans, Hugh Banton and David Jackson, kept meeting at the funerals of former roadies. They decided that if they were going to have the much talked-about reunion, it would have to be while all four members were still alive.

It's a double album, and the two discs are very different. The relatively short first disc, with a running time of about the length of a vinyl LP, contains six numbers. The album kicks off with the classic VDGG sax-and-organ sound of "Every Bloody Emperor", with caustic lyrics that suggest Hammill is not a terribly great fan of Bush and Blair.

Yes and every bloody emperor's got his hands up history's skirt
as he poses for posterity over the fresh-dug dirt
Yes and every bloody emperor with his sickly rictus grin
talks his way out of nearly everything but the lie within
because every bloody emperor thinks his right to rule divine
so he'll go spinning and spinning and spinning into his own decline

Other high spots on the first disc are the Hammond-heavy blues of "Nutter Alert" with some great playing by Hugh Banton, and the splendid instrumental "Boleas Panic", with some equally great soloing from David Jackson. If this disc has any faults, it's that it's too front-loaded, as these first three numbers are by far the strongest on the whole album.

The hour-long second disc is entirely instrumental, largely made up from improvised jazz-rock jams, dominated by David Jackson's sax playing. Much of the playing is frenetic and angular, with a few quieter reflective passages. This is difficult to sit down and listen to, but it works quite well as background music while you're doing something else.

The whole thing, like all of VDGG, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be filed under 'easy listening'. But, like a lot of 'difficult' music it's ultimately rewarding if you persevere with it.