Van der Graaf Generator
Do Not Disturb

Years go by for everyone. Hugh Banton on keyboards no longer has the grit and ruthless verve of past times (very evident in "Still Life"), Guy Evans is no longer the octopus of "A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers," and Peter Hammill is no longer the "golden throat" singer I like to praise. His voice is now worn out by the passage of time, weakened by the weight of the past, a glorious past culminating with their last masterpiece, "Vital," a theatrical yet primordial live that everyone must have the chance to see once in their life. After the disappointing and uninspired "Alt" (which barely scores a 6), the Van Der Graaf Generator, the band to which I am most absolutely attached, decides to undertake another "effort," if we can call it that.
Thus "Do Not Disturb" was born, released just today, and thanks to Davide, I finally had the chance to listen to it in "real-time."
"Aloft" features a very interesting melodic and rhythmic part, with our beloved uncle Hammill letting himself go in a vocal interpretation teetering between the dramatic and theatrical, as only he can do. The keyboards have a cadenced rhythm, almost suffocated by old age. The intro with the tinkling drums and that guitar dripping with dramatic tension is beautiful.
We then move on to "Alfa Berlina," a genuine urban chaos, marked by the "traffic" that strikes our mind... This track rightfully enters among the generator's best songs. It starts with that almost poetic freeze-frame by Hammill, then unleashes with, in my opinion, the moving rhythm of those sweet and wisely tamed keyboards. One can glimpse a "Faust" style note in the song's second paranoid and depressing part.
"Room 1210" is another poignant episode, with angry keyboards providing the backdrop to yet another collective philosophical nightmare, a hallmark of the generator. The piano intro is something celestial.
"Forever Falling" is probably a lesser piece compared to the previous three, presenting a more "canonical" and rock and roll form of the champions of solitude. It remains an enjoyable track, though, with that nice guitar riff.
"Forever Falling" is probably a lesser piece compared to the previous three, presenting a more "canonical" and rock and roll form of the champions of solitude. It remains an enjoyable track, though, with that nice guitar riff, with that obsessive and sickening drum, supported by the semi-schizophrenic voice of his (former) majesty Peter Hammill.
"Brought To Book" presents a calmer form, almost with a rhythm typical of a tear-jerking ballad, with a few light jazz strokes, it seems played in a desolate British venue, in front of an audience almost incapable of appreciating music as a form of art with great expressive power. Hammill allows himself a very calm interpretation, yet not at all lacking in suffering. Another noteworthy track from Hammill's production. After just 2 minutes, the atmosphere warms up; there is an absolute exacerbation of chaos. There is a wise alternation of calm moments and exacerbated moments, like when a subway stops and then quickly starts again, leaving behind everything that passes by.
"Almost The Words" is another "semi-ballad" of great musical impact, with that absurd bass, that wonderful piano gracefully slicing through the air, still 8 powerful minutes, as direct as 6 shots of plain vodka, and as heartbreaking as the first sip of alcohol in our lives. The way the keyboards erupt in the second part almost gave me an orgasm, for how they emerge from nowhere in this sea of depression and solitude.
"Go," on the other hand, presents itself as a pebble falling alone before a remote and boundless lake, and is a more than good conclusion for an album rich in ideas, partly well managed, with illustrious cases such as "Brought To Book" and "Alfa Berlina," and others less successful but not enough to lower my score to 6.
It is undoubtedly a raw album, significantly inferior to the old and glorious albums that made the Van Der Graaf Generator the group they are, one of the greatest rock and progressive rock groups of all time, the most poetic, the most coherent along with King Crimson, those least banal despite the passing years and the mists of old age affecting my dear ones. They are now at the peak of their art; they have nothing more to tell. There will no longer be the heartbreaking and philosophical notes of "Pawn Hearts" that gave us insights into the solitude of man, nor the primordial scream of "Arrow," nor the suffering singing of "Pilgrims," and not even that wonder of "Vital," capable of enhancing all of Hammill and Company's art in an hour and a half.
Now there are only Guy Evans, Peter Hammill, and Hugh Banton, near an underpass, alone, aware of what they have done, but there's no going back, the Van Der Graaf Generator are no longer as magical as they once were, but they continue to dream, something we often forget to do...