Van der Graaf Generator were enormously influential both in the seventies and beyond. Their music is complex, intelligent and inspired but can also be obscure and unapproachable. Drawing on rare archive footage previously unreleased, this independent critical review features in-depth studies and reflections on the music by former Van der Graaf members Judge Smith, Nic Potter and David Jackson. Also featured are the views of a leading team of music critics and rock journalists. Also included is concert and television footage of Van der Graaf including 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' and the whole of the 'Godbluff' album.
R**G
Best avoided....
These things are quite funny, totally unauthorised with Talking heads/’experts’ who generally know nothing about the band in question pontificating in order to fill out the running time! I almost laughed myself stupid when one of them puts forth the opinion that VDGG should never have reformed in 1975 which is a view that should disqualify them from talking in public about anything, ever ....The disc only really covers up to the ‘Godbluff’ period’, which conveniently is when the live footage featured runs out, ridiculous really as there are later videos (the ‘Wandering’promo, live footage of the VdG line up) that deserve to be unearthedThe main plus point of this collection is that its welcome to hear Nic Potter, Chris Judge Smith & David Jaxonsax being interviewedIt’s also a handy place to get hold of the live performance from the Beat Club, & the 1972 & Belgium Tv performances of ‘Plague....’ & the ‘Godbluff’ live in concert (though the latter two were available as a separate discs and the Beat Club tracks are on You tube) .Peter Hammill was complaining on the Sofasound newsletter a while ago about the constant rehashing of this material and the fact that no royalties have ever been forthcoming ..The actual presentation of the discs is impressive, if they’d put this much effort into the actual content of the documentary and paid royalties etc then it might have been worth watching....
M**N
Great band and concert footage
Hadn't listened to VDG for ages but recently remembered how good they were. Very pleased with the package and being able to see some live concert performances again. Very pleased.
M**D
Really pass this over
As a fairly ardent VdGG fan I was keen to view this release having never seen the band play live. What arrived amounted to some archve footage of very poor quality indeed, both audially and visually, fleshed out with a so called documentary that consisted of talking heads (many of whom were 'rock critics') and an endless recycling of that very same concert footage that is on the second DVD. Indeed, as Mr Hammill himself comments on his website, this is a pointless purchase if you know anything at all about this band, and rates one star as Amazon.com will not allow the award of none.
W**E
Great in parts
One of the great things about Amazon is the wide choice of music DVDs to rent. Glad I rented this one - not available or likely ever to be at Blockbuster - because I think it would have to be a good price before I would buy it. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to have it but I reckon I could live without until the next time I could rent it.I read the other comments here and agree with them in part. The live disc is what everyone wants and with a few niggles about arty farty camera work it is a great sequence of live tracks by a vastly under-rated band (c.f. Pink Floyd, ELP, Genesis et al) so any prog rock fan should view it.I am not so sure about the doc-disc but with comments from each of the band members it is worth a go.As one fan of live rock who has yet to see VdGG this is as good as it gets for now.
A**R
Great insight into VdGG
Wasn't sure what to expect from this DVD but when it arrived I was really pleased with what I saw. Great interviews from Nic and Judge along with archive footage that I hadn't seen before. A must for all VdGG fans!
J**A
pretty poor, only covers the first half
It could have been worse I guess, at least members of the band were involved in the interviews.It suddenly stops at Godbluff, as if there is nothing beyond it.Not 100% garbage, but certainly a disappointment
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