Contenido de esta entrada:
Enlaces, reediciones, letras y opinión personal
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| Portada del álbum Still Life |
Anterior artículo de Van der Graaf Generator: 1975: Godbluff y primera reunión de VdGG
Anterior artículo de Peter Hammill: 1974: En la cámara con Peter Hammill
Enlaces interesantes sobre Peter Hammill y Van der Graaf Generator:
En un anterior artículo comentamos los comienzos de la banda de rock progresivo Van der Graaf Generator desde su formación en Manchester en 1967 hasta la publicación de su primer álbum en 1969 "The Aerosol Grey Machine": 1969: El Generador de Van de Graaff y el aerosol gris
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| Portada del primer de álbum Van der Graaf Generator |
Lo primero que hizo su manager Tony Stratton-Smith tras de fundar Charisma Records fue reclutar al grupo para el nuevo sello. El sello se convertiría en un referente del rock progresivo.
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| Famoso logo del sello usado a partir de 1972 |
En un anterior artículo comentamos el segundo álbum de Van der Graaf Generator, The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other, publicado en febrero de 1970. El álbum logró cierto éxito comercial y el reconocimiento de la crítica en Reino Unido y Europa. 1970: Lo menos que podemos hacer es saludarnos unos a otros
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| Portada de su segundo álbum The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other |
En un anterior artículo comentamos el tercer álbum de Van der Graaf Generator, H to He, Who Am the Only One publicado en diciembre de 1970: 1970: Fusión del hidrógeno en helio
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| Portada del tercer álbum Van der Graaf Generator |
Un anterior artículo lo dedicamos al primer álbum de Peter Hammill en solitario, Fool's Mate en el que colaboraron sus colegas de Van der Graaf Generator publicado en junio de 1971: 1971: El jaque mate de Peter Hammill
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| Portada del álbum Fool's Mate |
En un anterior artículo continuamos comentando su historia hasta la publicación de su cuarto álbum Pawn Hearts: 1971: Corazones de peón con Van der Graaf Generator
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| Portada del álbum Pawn Heart |
Tras la publicación del álbum las giras regulares por Europa siguieron durante los siguientes cuatro meses, pero la tensión de la carga de trabajo se volvió demasiado para la banda, y se separaron en agosto de 1972.
La separación de Hammill con el grupo fue amistosa, y Banton, Jackson y Evans, entre otros, contribuyeron a su trabajo en solitario en varias ocasiones.
En un anterior artículo comentamos su segundo álbum en solitario Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night publicado en 1973: 1973: El camaleón en la sombra de la noche con Peter Hammill
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| Portada del álbum Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night. |
En un anterior artículo comentamos su tercer álbum, The Silent Corner and The Empty Stage, publicado en 1974: 1974: Peter Hammill en el rincón silencioso y el escenario vacío.
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| Portada del tercer álbum de Peter Hammill |
En un anterior artículo nos ocupamos de su cuarto álbum en solitario titulado In Camera que fue publicado en julio de 1974: 1974: En la cámara con Peter Hammill
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| Portada del álbum In Camera |
En un anterior artículo nos ocupamos de la reunión de Van der Graaf Generator y de su quinto álbum, Godbluff, publicado en 1975. De paso comentamos el disco The Long Hello publicado por el resto de la banda antes de la reunión en 1974: 1975: Godbluff y primera reunión de VdGG
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| Portada del álbum Godbluff |
En este artículo nos ocupamos del álbum Still Life de Van der Graaf Generator publicado en 1976.
Grabación del álbum
El siguiente álbum Still Life fue grabado del 12 al 25 de enero de 1976 en los estudios Rockfield situado en las afueras del pueblo del mismo nombre de Gales. Pat Moran actúo como ingeniero de sonido encargándose de la grabación y de la mezcla.
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| Estudios Rockfield |
Las sesiones fueron producidas por la propia banda y la relación entre los miembros se volvió más estrecha y cohesiva que antes.
Lanzamiento del álbum
Portada
La portada del álbum, fotografiada por Paul Brierley, muestra una figura de Lichtenberg. La imagen fue descrita por el periodista Geoff Barton en Sounds: "En realidad es una toma congelada en acción de una descarga eléctrica de una máquina generadora Van de Graaff real, engastada en acrílico".
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| Portada del álbum Still Life |
Lanzamiento
El álbum fue lanzado el 16 de abril de 1976 en el Reino Unido. En Estados Unidos fue publicado en mayo de 1976. Fue publicado también en Países Bajos, Alemania, Francia, Italia, Portugal, Canadá, Brasil y Japón. En España y Chile fue publicado en 1977. La fotografía de la contraportada es de Mike Van der Vord.
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| Contraportada del álbum |
Recepción
Geoff Barton de Sounds escribió: "Donde 'Still Life' sobresale sobre los LP anteriores es en su reproducción precisa y exacta de la voz del líder Hammill. En realidad nunca canta, sino que murmura, grita, grita o habla, y esta amplia gama de tonalidades ha presentado en el pasado problemas a menudo insuperables para ingenieros, técnicos y similares. Aquí, sin embargo, cada sutil matiz de los acordes ha sido capturado con éxito, proporcionando una mayor variación, una abundancia de luces y sombras. ... 'Still Life' es un disco imprescindible. Si crees que tienes problemas, escucha a Hammill y probablemente nunca más podrás preocuparte por nada insignificante".
Jonathan Barnett de New Musical Express, describiendo las canciones del álbum, escribió: "Comienzan con el tipo de exceso de sensibilidad mórbida, ya sabes... frases existencialistas como esa, acompañadas de melodías furtivas y maníacas que enfatizan la desorientación de la personalidad de todo el asunto".
Steven McDonald, de AllMusic, señala que las canciones de Hammill toman "... una carrera sin salida en un concepto grandioso o dos: las consecuencias de la inmortalidad en la canción principal y el gran destino de la humanidad en la épica "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End". McDonald concluye: "Sin embargo, lo más destacado es la hermosa y pensativa "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)", con sus ecos de imaginación y pérdida. Hammill no volvió a alcanzar tal nivel de belleza dolorosa hasta "This Side of the Looking Glass" en Over.
Entrevistado por Mojo en 2002, Hugh Banton dijo: "Recuerdo haber hecho Still Life, que es posiblemente mi álbum favorito de Van der Graaf, y Charisma vino y dijo: 'Oh, este es solo un álbum provisional'. ¿¡El álbum provisional!? ¡No hacemos álbumes provisionales!".
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| Walrus magazine |
No hubo gira porque se pusieron manos a la obra con su siguiente álbum. Actuaron para el programa de radio de John Peel en el Maida Vale Studio de la BBC el 1 de abril de 1976.
Enlaces, reediciones, letras y opinión personal
Lista de temas
Todas las canciones escritas por Peter Hammill, excepto donde se indique.
Lado uno
Lado dos
Enlace al álbum completo: Van Der Graaf Generator Still Life 1976
Enlace a la lista de reproducción del álbum completo: Still Life
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| Anuncio del álbum. |
Opinión personal sobre el álbum:
Joya del rock progresivo, menos experimental que los anteriores, pero los temas son bastante complejos. Uno de los mejores álbumes de 1976 y de VdGG. Hugh Banton aparte del celestial órgano usa el melotrón, lo que da un toque más melódico. Destacan los saxos de Jackson en los momentos de más emotivos. Un álbum muy emocional.
Reediciones
Fue reeditado por primera vez en CD en 1987. En 2005 fue reeditado remasterizado con un bonus track grabado en vivo el 10 de mayo de 1975 en el Theatre Gwynedd, Bangor.
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| Contraportada de la edición de 2005 |
En 2021 se publicó una edición de lujo con dos CD y un DVD que incluía 5 bonus tracks y una mezcla 5.1 realizada por Stephen W. Tayler.
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| Edición de 2021 |
Créditos
Peter Hammill – voz, piano, guitarra eléctrica
David Jackson – saxofones tenor y soprano, flauta
Hugh Banton – órganos Hammond (incluyendo pedales de bajo), bajo, melotrón, piano
Guy Evans – batería, percusión
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| Imagen del libreto de la edición en CD de 2005 |
Vídeos
Letras
Pilgrims
[Verse 1]
Sometimes you feel so far away
Distanced from all the action of the play
Unable to grasp significance
Marking the plot with diffident dismay
Stranded at centre stage
Scrabbling through your diary for a lost page:
Unsure of the dream
[Verse 2]
Kicking a stone across the beach
Aching for love and comfort out of reach;
The way ahead seems to be so bleak
There's no-one with any friendship left to speak
Or show you any relation
Between your present and future situations...
Lost to the dream
[Pre-Chorus]
Away, away, away - look to the future day
For hope, some form of peace
Within the growing storm
[Chorus]
I climb through the evening, alive and believing
In time we shall all know our goals and so, finally, home;
For now, all is secret - though how could I speak it
Allow me the dream in my eye!
I've been waiting for such a long time
Just to see it at last
All of the hands tightly clasped
All of us Pilgrims
[Verse 3]
Walking in silence down the coast
Merely to journey - here hope is the most
Merely to know there is an end;
All of us - lovers, brothers, sisters, friends
Hand in hand...
Shining footprints on the wet sand
Lead to the dream
[Pre-Chorus]
The time has come, the tide has almost run
And drained the deep:
I rise from lifelong sleep
[Chorus]
It seems such a long time I've dreamed -
But now, awake, I can see
We are Pilgrims and so must walk this road
Unknown in our purpose, alone, but not worthless
And home ever calling us on
We've been waiting here for so long
All of our hands joined in hope
Holding the weight on the rope -
All of us Pilgrims
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| Imagen de la edición de 2005 |
Still Life
[Verse 1]
Citadel reverberates to a thousand voices, now dumb:
What have we become? What have we chosen to be?
Now, all history is reduced to the syllables of our name -
Nothing can ever be the same now the Immortals are here
At the time, it seemed a reasonable course
To harness all the force of life without the threat of death
But soon we found
That boredom and inertia are not negatives
But all the law we know
And dead are Will and words like survival
[Verse 2]
Arrival at immunity from all age, all fear and all end...
Why do I pretend? Our essence is distilled
And all familiar taste is now drained
And though purity is maintained it leaves us sterile
Living through the millions of years
A laugh as close as any tear...
Living, if you claim that all that entails is
Breathing, eating, defecating, screwing, drinking
Spewing, sleeping, sinking ever down and down
And ultimately passing away time
Which no longer has any meaning
[Bridge]
Take away the threat of death
And all you're left with is a round of make-believe;
Marshal every sullen breath
And though you're ultimately bored by endless ecstasy
That's still the ring by which you hope to be engaged
To marry the girl who will give you forever -
That's crazy, and plainly
That simply is not enough
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 3]
What is the dullest and bluntest of pains
Such that my eyes never close without feeling it there?
What abject despair demands an end to all things of infinity?
If we have gained, how do we now meet the cost?
What have we bargained, and what have we lost?
What have we relinquished, never knowing it was there?
[Verse 4]
What chance now of holding fast the line
Defying death and time
Everything we had is gone?
Everything we laboured for and favoured more
Than earthly things reveals the hollow ring
Of false hope and false deliverance
[Verse 5]
But now the nuptial bed is made
The dowry has been paid;
The toothless, haggard features of Eternity
Now welcome me between the sheets
To couple with her withered body - my wife
[Outro]
Hers forever
Hers forever
Hers forever
In still life
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| Imagen de la edición de 2005 |
La Rossa
[Intro]
Lacking sleep and food and vision
Here I am again, encamped upon your floor
Craving sanctuary and nourishment
Encouragement and sanctity and more
The streets seemed very crowded, I put on my bravest guise -
I know you know that I am acting, I can see it in your eyes
[Verse 1]
In the harsh light of freedom I know that I cannot deny
That I have wasted time, have frittered it away in idle boasts
Of my freedom and fidelity when simpler words
Would have profited me most
It isn't enough in the end, when I'm looking for hope
[Bridge]
Though the organ monkey screams
And the pipes begin to spit
Still he'll go through the dance routines
Just as long as he thinks that they'll fit
Just as long as he knows that it's dance, smile... or quit
[Verse 2]
Like the monkey I dance to a strange tune
When all of these years I've longed to lie with you
But I have bogged myself down in the web of talk
Quack philosophy and sophistry
At physicality I've always baulked
Like the man in the chair who believes it's beyond him to walk
I've been hiding behind words, fearing a deeper flame exists
Faintly aware of the passage of opportunities I have missed
[Bridge]
But the nearness and the smell of you
La Rossa from head to toe...
And I don't know what I'm telling you
But I think you ought to know:
Soon the dam wall will break, soon the water will flow
And the organ-monkey groans
As the organ-grinder plays
And he's hoping, at the most
For an end to the dancing days
Still he hops up and down on his perch
In the usual jerky way...
Though this might mean an end to all friendship
There's something I'm working up to say
[Segue]
[Verse 3]
Think of me what you will:
I know that you think you feel my pain--
No matter if that's just the surface
If we made love now would that change all that has gone before?
Of course it would, there's no way it could ever be the same...
One more line crossed, one more mystery explained
[Verse 4]
Now I need more than just words
Though the options are plain
They lead from all momentary action
If we make love now it will change all that is yet to be...
Never could we agree in the same way again
One more world lost, one more heaven gained
One more heaven gained
[Segue]
[Verse 5]
La Rossa, you know me, you read me as though I am glass;
Though I know it there's no no way in which I can pass...
Though it means that you'll finish my story
At last I'd trade all the clever talk, the joking and the smoking
And the quips, all the midnight conversations, all the friendship
All the words and all the trips
For the warmth of your body
The more vivid touch of your lips
[Bridge]
All bridges burning behind me
All safety beyond reach...
The monkey feels his chains out blindly
Only to find himself released
[Outro]
Take me, take me now and hold me
Deep inside your ocean body
Wash me as some flotsam to the shore
There leave me lying evermore!
Drown me, drown me now and hold me down
Before your naked hunger
Burn me at the altar of the night -
Give me life!
Give me life!
[Saxophone Solo]
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| Imagen de la edición de 2005 |
My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)
[Verse 1]
Searching for diamonds in the sulphur mine
Leaning on props that are rotten
Hoping for anything, looking for a sign
That I am not forgotten;
[Verse 2]
Lost in a labyrinth of future mystery
Tracing my steps, all mistaken
Trusting to everything, praying it can be
That I am not forsaken
[Bridge]
I wait by the door
Wondering when you will come and keep me warm
I pray for the end of the night
Hoping the light will still the storm
Which presently entraps me:
[Verse 3]
Helpless sea-monster stranded on the shore
Marooned in an ecstasy of waiting
I yearn, although knowing that I shall dive no more
In the tide already racing
[Bridge]
My lungs burst to cry:
"Finally how could you leave me here to die?"
I freeze in the chill of this place
With no friendly face to smile goodbye…
How could you let it happen?
How could you let it happen?
[Saxophone Solo]
[Verse 4]
Dreams, hopes and promises (Promises, promises, promises), fragments out of time
All of these things have been spoken
But still you don't understand how it feels when I'm
Waiting for them to be broken
Waiting for them to be broken
Waiting for them to be broken
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| Imagen de la edición de 2005 |
Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End
[Verse 1]
Existence is a stage on which we pass
A sleepwalk trick for mind and heart;
It's hopeless, I know, but onward I must go
And try to make a start
At seeing something more
Than day to day survival, chased by final death
If I believed this the sum of the life to which we've come
I wouldn't waste my breath
Somehow, there must be more
[Verse 2]
There was a time when more was felt than known
But now, entrenched inside my sett
In light more mundane, thought rattles round my brain:
We live, we die... and yet?
[Segue]
In the beginning there was order and destiny
But now that path has reached the border
And on our knees is no way to face the future, whatever it be
Though the forces which hold us in place
Last through eons in unruffled grace
We, too, wear the face of creation
[Verse 3]
As anti-matter sucks and pulses periodically
The bud unfolds, the bloom is dead, all space is living history
It seems as though time must betray us yet we're alive
And though I see no God to save us, yet we survive
Through the centuries of progress
Which don't get us very far
All illusion! All is bogus...
We don't yet know what we are
[Verse 4]
Laughing, hoping, praying, joking, Son of Man
With lowered eyes but lifting hearts, we're grains of sand
And though, in time, the sea may claim us for its own
We are the rocks which root the future - on us it grows!
We might not be there to share it
If eternity's a jest but I think that I can bear it
If the next life is the best
[Bridge]
Even if there is a heaven when we die
Endless bliss would be as meaningless as the lie
That always comes as answer to the question
"Why do we see through the eyes of creation?"
[Interlude]
Adrift without a course
It's very lonely here
Our only conjecture
What lies behind the dark
Still, I find I can cling to a lifeline
Think of a lifetime which means more than my own one
Dreams of a grander thing than we are
Time and Space hang heavy on my shoulders...
When all life is over who can say
No mutated force shall remain?
[Chorus]
Though the towers of the city are denied to we men of clay
Still we know we shall scale the heights some day
Frightened in the silence, frightened, but thinking very hard
Let us make computations of the stars
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 6]
Older, wiser, sadder, blinder, watch us run:
Faster, longer, harder, stronger, now it comes...
Colour blisters, image splinters gravitate
Towards the centre, in final splendour disintegrate
Though the universe now beckons
And Man, too, must take His place;
Just a few last fleeting seconds
To wander in the waste
And the children who were ourselves move on
Reincarnation stills its now perfected song
And at last we are free of the bonds of creation
[Chorus]
All the jokers and gaolers, all the junkies and slavers too
All the throng who have danced a merry tune...
Human we can all be, but Humanity we must rise above
In the name of all faith and hope and love
There's a time for all pilgrims, and a time for the fakers too
There's a time when we all will stand alone and nude
Naked to the galaxies... naked, but clothed in the overview:
As we reach Childhood's End we start a new
[Bridge]
And though dark is the highway
And the peak's distance breaks my heart
For I never shall see it, still I play my part
Believing that what waits for us
Is the cosmos compared to the dust of the past
[Outro]
In the death of mere Humans Life shall start!
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