Audio CD review:
Van Der Graaf Generator - Masters

Van Der Graaf Generator - Masters

Band: Van Der Graaf Generator Title: Masters Rating: Release Date: 04 March, 1998 Media: Audio CD Tracks:

Customer Reviews A mixture of sub-standard material and appalling recording Or maybe you just want to see what the band makes of some new material you've recently written. Every band has tapes of informal sessions -- those first meetings when you haven't played together for several months, maybe even years, and you want to see whether you've still got it, as a coherent unit. The question is: what to do with those tapes? At one extreme, you have the Steely Dan attitude of releasing no out-takes whatsoever, leaving their fans with a relatively small catalogue of unblemished perfection. Towards the other end of the scale, you have been able to buy box sets of, for example, the PET SOUNDS sessions so you can listen to the minutiae of how the final product was assembled. On balance, I would rather this Van Der Graaf CD had not been released. The band, or at least their label, clearly decided the material was not good enough for release when it was originally recorded. In the UK this CD is sold in the budget category. A number of casual browsers unfamiliar with VdGG are going to pick this up, listen to it and write off the band. The first three tracks, though reasonably well recorded, feature a Hammill-less and consequently rather direction-less Van Der Graaf trying out instrumentals in various early 80s styles (e. g. soft reggae). Hammill appears for the subsequent tracks, but the recording quality deteriorates dramatically. For me there is just one interesting track, 'Roncevaux', but the sound quality is so abysmal -- microphone-at-the-opposite-end-of-the-village-hall quality -- that it betrays the memory of Van Der Graaf. On paper, this album sounds wonderful -- most of the tracks were recorded after PAWN HEARTS and before GODBLUFF -- but I really think the band should have stuck by its original decision not to release them. Sorry, folks. Terrible sound quality. Only for Extreme VDGG fans An interesting document just for true fans that will listen to it a couple of times and shelf it forever. This CD contains the best of Time vaults and Now and then. The sound quality is quite bad on most of the tracks. Roncevaux is the best song , but the sound really sucks. . You can see a complete list of all Van Der Graaf Generator discography, or go back to the Van Der Graaf Generator tabs