Van der Graaf Generator
World Record - 2025 Edition
(Cherry Red/Esoteric)
Cherry Red/Esoteric have produced a new edition of progressive-rock giants Van der Graaf Generator’s 1976 studio album, 'World Record'. This was mooted for May release - but it’s now coming out in late June. It features the classic VdGG line-up of Peter Hammill (vocal, guitar) Hugh Banton (keyboards and pedals), David Jackson (saxes, flute and devices) and Guy Evans (drums & percussion) and the set is available in 3-Disc (2-CD/Blu-Ray) and vinyl LP versions.
'World Record' was recorded at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth; it’s one-third of an intensely creative mid-70s period for VdGG, which had already seen the release of the superb Godbluff and Still Life albums. The 2025 version (CD-1) comprises a remaster of the original album mix – plus the single B-Side of “Part One (Approx. 35% of) the epic track, Meurglys III, The Songwriter’s Guild”. The CD/Blu-Ray also includes a new stereo mix and 5.1 mixes, by Stephen W Tayler, who was involved in earlier VdGG remaster & remix projects. The Blu-Ray disc also includes the 1976 promotional film of “Wondering”; the remastered vinyl edition was cut at Abbey Road Studios. There’s a superb booklet fully detailing the album, band evolution, plus many new photos of VdGG live in the UK and in Europe (where they garnered a huge following).
Formalities over, I can declare my long-term passion for VdGG that goes back to their early days in 1971, after which I both devoured their formidable albums and witnessed the band live many more times at their peak. I was at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in November 1976 - the last date on Van der Graaf’s tour, just after World Record was released. The memory is still strong! They departed from the usual rock quartet format of guitar, drums bass & vocal to feature Banton’s heavily-modified organ & keyboards, Jackson’s searing electrified sax & flute as lead instruments, propelled by Evans’ thunderous drumming. All alongside Hammill’s remarkable vocal range, ranging from pleading desperation or guttural growl, to operatic, choral purity.
Hardly to be judged on first-listen, to me - and many others, I stress - VdGG possessed the depth, intensity, invention and power of giants like The Who. I anticipated Van der Graaf gigs and releases with the same high excitement as I did those from Mr Townshend and his rampant pals! Yes, back then I was deeply immersed in the heady ‘progressive-rock’ era – though I’m not alone in asserting that the ‘prog-rock’ tag, lumping many different bands together, is ugly and limiting.
There was (and still is!) plenty of straightforward AOR rock and pop music to be heard, alongside the formulaic heavy rock-into-metal fodder. Progressive rock bands were a much more demanding listen; intense, absorbing, challenging and rewarding; they were pushing the boundaries, highly experimental, often blending classical music, spiritual and hard-bop jazz with rock structures.
My own Holy Trinity of progressive rock exponents are VdGG, Yes and King Crimson; those groups defined the genre for me - the first half-dozen albums from these bands, bewildering in their diversity and virtuosity, are still by no means consigned to my silent record racks! It was/is demanding and exciting music to listen to and witness live - and I regard the gigs I saw by those bands in their heydays as some of the best live experiences of my life.
Sure, the punk revolution rudely supplanted these so-called dinosaurs in the late 1970s; then grunge provided another sharp-edged, abrasive musical assault. It is known, though, that John Lydon’s vocal stylings leaned upon Peter Hammill’s astounding vocal prowess. Hammill himself had already pre-dated punk music’s short ragged volleys on his brash 1975 solo LP ‘Nadir’s Big Chance’; Kurt Cobain cited the influence upon him of King Crimson’s incendiary ‘Red’ album. Julian Cope’s ‘Head Heritage’ blog carried a tribute to ‘World Record’ in 2003 - declaring that “there’s been no more powerful band from this sceptered isle before or since” and dismissing such as Motorhead’s volume-related offerings with: “Hell, any bastard can do that!”
On 'World Record', VdGG were still in their pomp - though I’d claim their previous quartet of incredible albums: ‘H to He (Who Am the Only One)’, ‘Pawn Hearts’, ‘Still Life’ and ‘Godbluff’ as their mightiest works. Hammill’s angst and the group’s awesome power are very well in evidence. All the VdGG hallmarks were still there; Hammill’s breath taking, emotionally-charged vocal delivery, the excursions into alienation, deception, longing, frustration; Jackson’s electrified, tormented wind instruments, Banton’s churning, layered organ and keyboards. As ever, the bewildering tempo changes, strident instrumental passages and flurries of non-riffs and counter-riffs provoke and challenge you. Drummer Guy Evans erected his hefty structures around it all.
There are just five tracks on the album. The opener, ‘When She Comes’, begins in gentle, pastoral fashion, almost akin to Jethro Tull’s flute-laden excursions, or Roxy Music’s playful synth/sax artistry - but the track soon evolves into a powerhouse item, as Jackson’s torrential sax, Banton’s power-keychords and Hammill’s multi-tracked Dalek vocals explode! It’s almost a love song (!), tracing some mysterious, desirable, unattainable female.
‘A Place to Survive’ is an anthemic, almost commercial song - quite inspiring – a defiant, triumphant call to action, to carry on! It’s instrumentally compelling, exciting, a firm VdGG favourite.
“Stand straight - though your back breaks from trying
Walk on – even now you must strive
Don’t wait; while you’re waiting, you’re dying
Be strong – it’s your place to survive”.
“Masks” rails against deceivers, liars, cheats – so who says prog-rock is out of date? There’s one of those in The White House now! Hammill spits: “A man of the past and present…who hides behind a mask. A Clown. A Fool. Believing…that the game is all about who laughs the last!” Peter the prophet! Oh, and Hammill delivers the best stuttering rock vocal line since Roger Daltrey’s “M-m-my generation”, when he mutters “Every m-m-masochistic m-m-mumble of his act!” “Meurglys III (The Songwriter’s Guild)” is the long-form track of the album, It’s a compelling 21-minute homage to Hammill’s guitar, a Guild M-75, and a searching excursion into the song writing wrangles of Peter’s muse; “…and in the end there’s only you and Meurglys III, and this is what you chose to be, fool!” Instrumentally it’s exceptional, including even a long, heavy, faux-reggae coda! “Wondering” concludes the LP, setting a slow and stately classical tone, this is a peaceful musing on reality after the preceding storms, with Hammill’s multi-tracked choir vocals underpinned by Banton’s deep church organ vamps.
So, I first spun my original Charisma LP to remind myself of the album, then played both the 2025 remastered (digital) original, and Tayler’s stereo mix a time or two - though only on an mp3 preview file. My old LP sounds direct, immediate, raw - the remaster, especially Tayler’s mixes, do sound cleaner, clearer - and (dare I say, for digital) a little smoother. Extra shades come through. I do like the 2025 versions a lot - but delivery of my new vinyl copy won’t arrive until later in June. I can’t vouch for the (unheard) new 5-1 Surround Sound versions - but if anyone wants to sit me down inside some super-audio multi-channel system to hear it, of course I’m up for that!
Yes, this review has been long and indulgent, but then, isn’t that what progressive rock was all about? A classic album deserves a proper review - and this IS a classic album!
Essential Information:
'World Record' is out on Cherry Red/Esoteric on 27th June. Order from the Cherry Red shop.
