Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill is an English singer-songwriter. He is a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer/songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and acts as a record producer for his own recordings and occasionally for other artists. In 2012, he was recognised with the Visionary award at the first Progressive Music Awards.
Guy Randolph Evans is an English drummer, percussionist and composer. He is a member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator.
Pawn Hearts is the fourth album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in October 1971 on Charisma Records. The original album features just three tracks, including the side-long suite "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". The album was not commercially successful in the UK, but reached number one in Italy. It has since seen retrospective critical praise and was reissued on CD in 2005 with extra material.
H to He, Who Am the Only One is the third album by the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was released in 1970 on Charisma Records.
The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other is the second album by the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in February 1970 on Charisma Records. It was the group's first album to be released in the UK and the only one to chart in the top 50 in that country.
Vital: Van der Graaf Live is the first live album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was recorded 16 January 1978 at the Marquee Club in London and was released in July, one month after the band's 1978 break-up. The album was credited under the abbreviated name Van der Graaf, like the previous year's The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome (1977), and featured the same line-up plus newcomer cellist/keyboardist Charles Dickie, who had officially joined the band in August 1977, and original saxophonist and flautist David Jackson, who re-joined the band for this recording.
Hugh Robert Banton is a British organist and electronic organ builder, most widely known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator.
The Aerosol Grey Machine is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was first released in the United States in 1969 by Mercury Records.
World Record is the seventh studio album by the British progressive rock group Van der Graaf Generator, originally released in 1976 on Charisma Records. Bonus tracks were added for the 2005 rerelease.
Present is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in 2005. It was the band's first studio album since The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome in 1977, and the first with the 'classic' line-up since World Record in 1976. The Charisma Records label was reactivated for its release, as well as a reissue series of Van der Graaf Generator's back catalog and Peter Hammill's solo releases from 1972-86.
Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night is the second solo album by British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It followed in the aftermath of the breakup of Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator, and other ex-members of Van der Graaf Generator perform on the album.
Fool's Mate is the debut solo album by Peter Hammill of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. The title is both a chess and tarot reference. It was produced by Trident Studios' in-house producer John Anthony. The album was recorded in 1971, in the midst of one of Van der Graaf Generator's most prolific periods. Hammill used the album to record a backlog of songs which were much shorter and simpler than his Van der Graaf Generator material, and declared on the original album sleeve: "This isn't intended to be any kind of statement of my present musical position, but at the same time, it is an album which involves a great deal of me, the person, basically a return to the roots."
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success in the UK, but became popular in Italy during the 1970s. In 2005 the band reformed, and are still musically active with a line-up of Hammill, organist Hugh Banton and drummer Guy Evans.
The Joy Division Peel sessions are a series of sessions recorded by English post-punk band Joy Division for John Peel's radio show on BBC Radio 1 between January and November 1979.
Real Time: Royal Festival Hall, London, 06.05.05 is a live album by Van der Graaf Generator, released in 2007 on Fie! Records. It contains the entire recording of the group's reunion concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England on 6 May 2005. The album includes at least one song from every album released between 1970-1976, plus their 2005 reunion album Present. Nothing is included from 1969's Aerosol Grey Machine and The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome, released in 1977 after Hugh Banton and David Jackson left the group. The album also contains "(In the) Black Room", a song performed live by Van der Graaf Generator in 1972 ; following the band's August 1972 breakup, it was released on Peter Hammill's 1973 solo album Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night, with Banton, Evans and Jackson all performing on the track.
Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, London.
Time Vaults is an album by Van der Graaf Generator. It was originally released in 1982 on cassette only, almost four years after the break-up of Van der Graaf Generator in 1978. Later it was released as a vinyl LP, and in 1992 it was released on CD.
The Box is a four CD box set by Van der Graaf Generator, containing recordings that had been released before, but also BBC-recordings and some live recordings that were never officially released before. It was released in 2000 by Virgin Records. Included in the sleeve notes are introductions by Guy Evans and Tony Banks from Genesis, a timeline of Van der Graaf Generator events from 1967 to 1978, an essay about the organs by Hugh Banton, an essay about Van der Graaf Generator compositions by Peter Hammill, an essay about saxophones by David Jackson and an essay about being a Van der Graaf Generator-aficionado by Ian Laycock.
A Grounding in Numbers is the eleventh studio album by the British rock group Van der Graaf Generator. It was released on 14 March 2011. This date, if written as 3,14, comprises the first three digits of the number π. The second track, "Mathematics", refers to Euler's identity, sometimes known as the mathematical poem. The album's release signals a continuation in the direction set by the current trio lineup, but it is released on a new label, Esoteric Recordings, a departure from previous releases on Virgin/Charisma. Hugh Padgham is the mixer of the album.
After the Flood: At the BBC 1968-1977 is a compilation album by Van der Graaf Generator, containing twenty two songs from nine different BBC recording sessions in 1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, and 1977. There were two Top Gear, one Sounds of the 70s, and six John Peel sessions. It was released in April of 2015 on Virgin Records. The compilation contains all Van der Graaf Generator BBC sessions that survived in good audio quality.
