Van der Graaf - Godbluff (1975)(Remaster Edit 2005)

Van der Graaf - Godbluff (1975)(Remaster Edit 2005)

Van Der Graaf Generator's first album following their post-Pawn Hearts hiatus, 1975's Godbluff, could have been a major disappointment -- reunions were still viewed with suspicion in those days, all the more so since Peter Hammill's recent solo career had effortlessly carried the band's banner into the future. There was a chemistry between the group members, however, that no one player could ever recapture, and from the moment the needle touched the fanfare grooves of the opening "Undercover Man," it was clear that Van Der Graaf were still generating all the friction and fury they had ever pledged. The 2005 remaster recaptures the thrill of hearing Godbluff for the first time, sweeping aside the muffled miasma of earlier CD reissues with a clarity that lifts every nuance into earshot; indeed, thrilling though the bonus tracks are (recorded live in Rimini, Italy, on the re-formed band's first tour), the drop in sound quality is positively paralyzing, and it takes at least a few minutes for your senses to adjust. Once they have, it's business as usual, of course -- two cuts from Hammill's Silent Corner and the Empty Stage album are given the full-band treatment, and emerge even stronger than the original studio versions ever could. In fact, the only possible complaint about this album (which can then be applied to the reissue series as a whole) is that there hasn't been a single release of the full Rimini concert...D. Thompson

320 @
133 MB
Genre :prog. Rock

Tracklist:

01 The Undercover Man 7:32
02 Scorched Earth 9:43
03 Arrow 9:47
04 The Sleepwalkers 10:41
05 Forsaken Gardens Live / previously unreleased / Bonus 7:57
06 A Louse Is Not a Home Live / previously unreleased / Bonus 12:48