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A preface before starting: another review, undoubtedly better than the one I'm about to write, is already present on the site. Thus, the motivation pushing me to write a new one is driven by the simple need to further praise the undeniable qualities of 'Present'. Moreover, it seems necessary to write about an album that is so unknown to the public in our country.
Unfortunately, the Italian music market has reached such a low point that we are now allowed to know only the worst that comes from America and England, of which Italian production presents itself as a dim reflection. But I don’t want to delve too far into this apocalyptic discourse. I just want to emphasize that as long as stations like MTV or All Music broadcast all this crap, the average consumer will never be able to discover such masterpieces...
"Masterpiece". I have used a term that must be handled with care. But I justify it with this simple statement: in the current musical landscape, the latest album by Van Der Graaf Generator is a masterpiece. And it is no coincidence, in fact, that the title assigned to this album is precisely 'Present'.
Further preface, this time of a historical type: the Van Der Graaf Generator broke up in 1978, that is, in the second half of the seventies, a period when the rock crisis had impacted almost every band. New wave and punk were already erupting all over the world, so even the members of this extraordinary band felt the need to part ways to embark on solo careers. Suddenly, almost thirty years later, in such a Present, it turns out that the Van Der Graaf Generator returned to the studio and produced a new album. Honestly, my curiosity wasn’t sky-high. I didn’t expect anything groundbreaking from the band of Hammill & company, but I was indeed too prejudiced: above all because I had previously already witnessed the disappointing reunions of other progressive groups like Yes or King Crimson, experiences that had really left me bitter, also because these extraordinary bands had produced truly memorable albums in the past, among the best in the history of rock. But we are always there. Before that damned 1975. The year that, not just by convention, marks the beginning of a new era. The year when the King Crimson released the epic 'Starless' and the year when Peter Gabriel, sensing the change in the air, left Genesis in the hands of Phil Collins.
But 'Present' presents itself as another story. I don’t think it is correct to say that the album ignores the almost 25 years of musical evolution that have accompanied the band's hiatus. Because a lot (perhaps too much) has happened in the musical landscape: punk, disco music, overly invasive commercial pop, up to the heavy sounds of underground clubs. It's true that 'Present' remains firmly anchored to the sounds of the '70s and that it relives the extraordinary solemnity of Van der Graaf Generator. From the first extraordinary track, 'Every Bloody Emperor', something is clear: Time has not Passed. Evans’ jazz rhythms, Jackson’s maddened wind lines, and Banton’s always edgy and tormented keyboards, along with Hammill’s dramatic voice: they are truly the Van Der Graaf Generator. I won’t dwell on writing about the tracks individually, work has already been done in the other review. I will just say that the tracks on this first album have nothing to envy to the great compositions of classic progressive rock. The complexity and at the same time the expressive completeness of the songs range across disparate atmospheres (flavored with jazz in 'Boleas Panic', sublime and theatrical in 'Abandon Ship!', acrid, intertwined, and scathing in 'In Babelsberg'). But this is only the first of the two albums.
A whole other story concerns this second side. The extraordinary improvisations in the studio continue for over an hour through progressive, psychedelic, and avant-garde constructions and escapes. Faced with the unusual production of these performances, the listener has two possibilities: adore it or reject it entirely. Of course, the impeccable technique demonstrated by the musicians is impeccable, but equally explicit is their inclination towards a sound far from smooth. Perhaps the first side is easier to listen to, but this second certainly does not hide its intent for a challenging digestion. Unresolved cacophonies, spontaneity conveyed by their instruments and translated into shattered melodies and harsh atmospheres. The title of the first track might lend itself well to clarifying the matter: 'Vulcan Meld'. A mixture of vibrant forms, of abstract knowledge.
I then close this (excessively) long reflection with a thank you. A thank you to them, the formidable Van Der Graaf Generator, who with 'Present' have made us relive the extraordinary emotions of the golden years of progressive rock. When rock was not a product devised around a table, but the fruit of a band with technical-artistic capabilities of the highest level. When rock truly had something to express.
When rock was worthy of being called such.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Every Bloody Emperor (07:03)
Every Bloody Emperor Lyrics
By this we are all sustained: a belief in human nature
And in justice and parity...all we have is the faith to carry on.
Imperceptible the change as our votes become mere gestures
And our lords and masters determine to cast us
In the roles of serfs and slaves
In the new empire's name.
Yes and every bloody emperor claims that freedom is his cause
As he buffs up on his common touch as a get-out clause.
Unto nations nations speak in the language of the gutter;
Trading primetime insults the imperial impulse
Extends across the screen.
Truth's been beaten to its knees; the lies embed ad infinitum
Till their repetition becomes a dictum
We're traitors to disbelieve.
With what impotence we grieve for the democratic process
As our glorious leaders conspire to feed us
The last dregs of imperious disdain
In the new empire's name.
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 anything 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.
Imperceptible the change as one by one our voices falter
And the double standards of propaganda
Still all our righteous rage.
By this we are all sustained: our belief in human nature.
But our faith diminishes - close to the finish,
We're only serfs and slaves
As the empire decays.
03 Nutter Alert (06:11)
It might come in a letter,
darkness falls in a telephone call;
I await the unexpected
with one ear to the party wall.
Is it the pricking of the conscience,
is it the itching of hair shirt,
is it the dictionary definition
of a precipice to skirt?
It's the nutter alert.
Though this face is familiar
something in it has bred contempt;
I never asked for your opinion
or your back-handed compliments.
Oh, but here comes that special nonsense
all the words out in a spurt,
the unhinging of the trolley
as the mouth begins to blurt...
it's the nutter alert
I can see we're in trouble
from that glint in the eye you've got;
there's no sense to the story,
comprehensively lost, the plot.
And how contorted is that logic
you so forcefully exert:
you're a car crash in the making,
head-on, that's a racing cert.
It's the nutter alert,
this is the nutter alert.
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Other reviews
By the green manalishi
Just four faces in the dark: a cover that already hints at the mood of the entire album.
Finding them again in record stores with a new album was an immense emotion.
