This 1978 live recording captures Van der Graaf Generator delivering a trademark set. There is really no other band who sound like VDGG. Their mix of punk, art rock, jazz, classical and more is absolutely unique. It might not be to everyone's taste, but they are true to themselves and deliver what their fans expect. Now, this was released under the name Van der Graaf as they had shortened the name the year before. This would be their last release of the 1970s, and this is a newly remastered edition.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2024  Volume 3 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2024.

This is a rather punky, hard driving rocker. The bass is prominent, and this has some hints of spacey things. The violin lends some arsty angles. The closing section is particularly proggy with its classical and early King Crimson leanings.

Classical styled music brings this piece in. This gets trippy as it slowly evolves. This track is more than nine-and-a-half minutes long, and it works through a lot of different sections. At times it's pretty bombastic and loud. At other points, it is more mellow. It's always very artistic.

Coming with a dramatic movement that includes some cool violin, That instrument holds this for quite a while, but the track eventually works out toward more rocking zones from there.

More of a hard rocking tune, this has some punky edges to it. The art music angles are still in play, though.

Coming in classical and artsy, this builds out gradually, coalescing into more of a slow moving progressive rock sound as it continues. It turns out toward more driving, rocking territory and that gets some hints of jazz added to the mix as it continues. It gets into some pretty freaky artsy stuff further down the road, but also really rocks. Mellower stuff comes in later to eventually end the piece with nearly classical vibes.

This comes in mellow and understated and works forward with a lot of art rock vibes. We get quite a varied road here as this works through different sections. It's mellow and trippy at times, rocking and almost punky at others, and those are just two of the modes presented here. There are some moments that make me think of the punkier side of Hawkwind. There is a drop back to weird, jazzy stuff mid-track, but then it fires out from there into something that really hits that Hawkwind reference point. This gets pretty crazed at times before it's over. An echoey, vocal only section near the end reminds me again of Hawkwind.

More of a driving, building hard rocker, this cut is solid. It's sort of what you expect from the more edgy side of this band, feeling a little punky, but still showing off the art rock edges.

The fuzz laden bass on this is so cool. The track has both proggy things and a real punk rock vibe.

There is a gritty sort of jazzy, blues vibe to this as it gets underway. This has some more powered up rocking stuff mid-track, and then works out to driving hard-edged jazz rock from there. They really turn in some smoking hot playing before it's over.