Virgin, April 2005
Every Blood Emperor
Boleas Panic
Nutter Alert
Abandon Ship!
In Babelberg
On The Beach
Vulcan Meld
Double Bass
Slo Moves
Architectural Jair
Spanner
Crux
Manuelle
'Eavy Mate
Homage to Teo
The Price Of Admission
brani di (1, 3, 5) Peter Hammill; (2) Jackson; (4) Evans, Hammill; (6) Jackson, Hammill; (7-17) VDGG
recorded 15 to 21 February 2004 Pyworthy Rectory in North Devon:
Hugh Banton: organ, bass guitar
Guy Evans: drums
David Jackson: sax, flute, Soundbeam
Peter Hammill: vocals, electric piano, electric guitar
VDGG I had as a quartet disbanded after World Record at the end of 1976. Prior to 2004, gathered semi-formally only once, to play Lemmings the Union Chapel in 1996, also in private occasions such as birthday parties to play idiotic and jam (as told by Guy Evans) covers such as Strawberry Fields Forever or Je t'aime .
meet more often at funerals they realized that in the future could not be more than the chance of a reunion. In 2003 they played Still Life at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. In December of that year Hammill suffered a myocardial infarction, which was perhaps the final push to convince the four members of the classic line-up to make new music together. They gathered in the house of drummer Guy Evans in Devon, and a room filled with musical instruments, the four began to jam in freedom as a jazz band, even arranging some new song that Hammill had brought with him. After a week of rehearsals and recording the session was closed to go to the selection of the material and the mix.
This method of recording, unusual for a rock band as usual for the virtuosos of jazz, led to the creation of the disk of the reunion, almost twenty years after the previous chapter. The sound is the brightest ever produced by the band, somewhat modern, somewhat out of time, because of the almost improvised method (or very impromptu) with which it was obtained. The material was enough to fill two CDs, the songs were placed on the first, most obvious contribution of Hammill with the three instruments, first of all the exciting sax of David Jackson. The second CD was dedicated to the instrumental improvisations, some more structured as Manuelle, a more chaotic, but never without power: The primal energy of one who discovers that he has been silent for too many years.
As different from anything recorded before (and after) the band, the sound of Present is extraordinary, alive and present as if the listener was sitting in the same hall of records. I would like to hear some classics of the past suffer the same treatment, maybe the songs on Still Life , beautiful but tablets from the records of the time. But fate had different plans for the band ...
tracks included in the live show: Every Bloody Emperor, Nutter Alert
Board for the purchase: the disk is not preferred by older fans of the band, but from my point of view is the most "vital"
Reviewer's rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
