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Godbluff = Remaster, Bonus Tracks = (CD)
This is a review of the remastered version of "Godbluff", the darkest and hardest work of Van der Graaf Generator so far. After the remastering the songs of this album sound as if a veil has been taken away from them (though band hiss can be heard in quiet passages). What is revealed is the sheer power, intelligence and dramatics of this VDGG-album. Instrumentation has a much more "live" character than "Pawn Hearts" and song structures are a little more simple but still the music is sophisticated with a merging of rock, jazz and classics. Peter Hammill's singing has again improved and has led him to being the best rock singer. His powerful and versatile voice is able to sing in captivating beautiness in the wonderful calm passages of "Godbluff". And then at the end of the lines "how long the night is - why is this passage so narrow? / How strange my body feels, impaled upon the arrow" he does a scream that makes the blood freeze in the veins. The quality of Peter Hammill's writing has reached the level of real literature. His topic in this album are men moving on some kind of margin: refugees, persecutees, psychotics, sleepwalkers - and if you include the two songs recorded at the same time but published later on "Still Life": pilgrims, and lovers on the threshold of passionate love. Some of the songs have a kind of "dark ages" touch. The bewildering "Arrow" could be straight out of a Fantasy novel. The booklet has the same high quality as of the first three remasters, with a little less text but friendlier to the eye because of bigger type. Bonus tracks are two in Rimini 1975 live recorded PH songs from one of his solo albums: "Forsaken Gardens" and "A Louse is not a Home". The sound quality of these two tracks is so "extremely brutal" (Peter Hammill) that they are only of interest for hard-core fans or because of historical reasons. In my opinion songs with this sound quality should not be published on a main album. The fav album of many VDGG fans.
119 SEK 
 
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Similar artists: BOOK OF HOURS, VIOLENT SILENCE, 24 HOURS, A PIEDI NUDI, GARDEN WALL, GARGAMEL, PETER HAMMILL, KAPREKAR'S CONSTANT
Specifications
Type: CD
Recorded: 1975
Release Date: 2005-05-22
Label: Virgin
Country: Euro
Item No: 0094631139321
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Track List
01 The Undercover Man 7:08
02 Scorched Earth 7:21
03 Arrow 9:48
04 The Sleepwalkers 7:59
05 Forsaken Gardens 12:23
06 A Louse Is Not A Home 10:26
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