A great song from a fantastic album. Most VdGG fans would probably agree that the next one "Childlike Faith In Childhood's End" is the best from this album, and probably in most fans Top Five.
It's a love story that's ended. The singer's not deluded, he knows it's over but would love to mistake. He waits, alone with his pain, that the final word is spoken. Waiting for wonderland: waiting for a happy ending that it's not going to happen.
The subtitle ‘waiting for wonderland’ also hints that the song is about PH’s loss of the relationship with his g/f Alice; his sense of isolation and aloneness afterwards. Loss of Alice also theme of a number of songs in this period including of course the solo album Over
I really enjoy Hammill's vocal performance on this one: almost like a 'normal' singer. But David Jackson's performance on sax really makes this track for me. Hammill used this track to open his solo shows for a few years.
"Wonderland" does of course make one think of Alice, and indeed this is what the song is about. Alice was the name of Peter Hammill's wife, and they were in the stage of breaking up. His 1977 solo album "Over" deals with this breakup; the tracks "Alice (Letting Go)" (obviously) and "This side of the Looking Glass" (a reference to the second "Alice" book "Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found there") refer to her name, but the whole album is about this breakup. "La Rossa" apparently also is about her, because in "Lost and Found", the last track on "Over", there is the line "La Rossa extends her hand"; maybe Alice had red hair because "La Rossa" is Italian for "The (female) Red One" (the male red one would be "Il Rosso").
Wonderland seems to me to be more about waiting for a better world, a better time (which fits in with the more Utopian themes of "Childlike Faith In Childhood's End). I think La Rossa is more about a generalized frenzied type of love (Red could be thought of as Fiery, and sexual). By the way, I don't think there's any confirmation when the relationship with that certain "Alice" (who frankly could've had a different name, it would seem a bit strange to directly mention someone's name in your music like that). I believe there is thought that there was a breakup Peter had with a girlfriend who left him for a friend of Peter's in 1971, but I haven't like done research or anything. I'm pretty sure Peter hadn't married before 1978. ^I could be wrong, I've seen your face when lurking around progarchives forums, you could totally know something I don't
Although there are a few references to Alice being Peter's wife mostly when she's mentioned by other people it's as his long term girlfriend. And I think you are misinterpreting La Rossa and Lost and Found; I think La Rossa is about a platonic relationship, that may have been as long as or longer than Peter's relationship with Alice, that ends at the same time as the one with Alice because "one moment of perfect passion" leads to "a lifetime of remorse" . Peter and La Rossa have have many "midnight conversations" but only the one moment of passion. Then, when Alice finds out, on Tuesday she leaves Peter (maybe with one of VDGGs roadies). Peter's album Over was recorded in 1976 after the break up with Alice but also immediately after all of VDGG's equipment was stolen, in December 1975, on a tour of Italy. VDGG were bankrupt and Peter probably felt might never re-form, so with that and the personal break up he recorded Over and tried to heal from these events by turning them into "song lines" .
As soothing a VGG song as I’m going to get I suspect, and I did enjoy it. Not too overly dramatic but flowing and somber. When I was a kid, my room was my wonderland, a place to call my own. We moved quite a bit and some houses I shared a room with my sister. So it was great to have a room for my own, when it finally came. My folks divorced so sometimes I’d hear alcohol fueled arguments so that room became a barrier, a fort of sorts. Other times, a place to create, draw, record mini monster dramas on my cassette recorder with friends acting out parts with me, as well as, songs off the radio, and build models. Goofy times. Try: In My Room by The Beach Boys My Blue Room by Passengers (U2/ Eno) Peace and homemade radio drama Music
''House with no Door'' is also flowing, sombre, and not toooooooooo over dramatic. A great song as well. Peter seems to use the house / room / home premise quite frequently as in ''A louse is not a home''. Just realised i fitted one in there myself - premises ! Lol
"Props" fit best for the picture of the sulphur mine just mentioned before; props are used in mines to keep them from collapsing. As usually - excellent review.
Lovely chord progression and that sax break at 5.47 is pure gorgeousness... superb rhythm section and well recorded piano... one of the best prog tracks I've heard on your channel along with National Health and Egg.
This song is one of my favorite with man Erg. Even with a seemingly simple and repetitive melodic line, it features so many textures, subtle variations and is so intimate that it hits the soul in its most touching nostalgia.
Relaxed and refreshed after that! Sparse yet rich in it’s bass drum sax interplay. 🐩 I saw an orlando florida world advert on the telly this afternoon and thought of u! Diolch
Best end of year to everyone on Justin's channel, and a Happy New Year to all. Fool's mate is great as is The Pleasure dome… You have to listen Childlike faith very quickly now Justin, to get the answer to your interrogations…
My 'Critique' of this song. For what it is worth... ‘My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)’ - one of those songs on an adrenalin-charged album that takes a step back into a more chilled and contemplative mood, and this one is really lovely. Provides space and time to recover composure and absorb each note and word unhurried in its delivery. Changes of pace are really essential in good album construction, and this is a best case in point, but Hammill at his best is really good at this. The deceptively simple-sounding bass - and Hugh’s bass is a delight on this track - and sax intro introduces the key melody without ado, which is great because it is a lovely, delicate, wistful melody. The lyrics describe the limbo-like state of the song’s protagonist, who while recognising many negativities in existence - the smell of sulphur (is it a mine or is it actually mine, with hints of a demonic alternative personality again?), the rot in the props - is still searching, yearning, waiting, for some essential good or beauty to emerge out of the mystery. That essence is also personified as a friend or lover, for whom one waits more in hope for than in expectation of their coming, and their embrace. Surely there is a little ironic backwards glance back at ‘Killer’ in the ‘sea-monster’, ironically transformed from violent angst-ridden predator, to a pathetic immobilised beast, beached on the strand, or stranded on the beach. The ‘drowned man’ is here again too, but this time drowning in air, not water. The yearnings are matched by the sure knowledge that no-one is coming to release him back to the safety of the depths. I’m getting contrasting resonances in my head of del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’, which was on TV here a couple of nights ago, and the final question in that film relates to the potential deity of the ‘creature’. I would say that the cry of despair - “Finally how could you leave me her to die?” - simply has to have a Christ on the cross echo. (More on PH and Faith and religion in the last song.) Back to the music, for a moment, just to say that the weaving and windings of David’s sax, dancing around and embellishing the vocals, with beautiful little inter-verse excursions, are an absolute joy, and lend themselves beautifully to the ambience of the song, never obstructing, always supporting. The bit between ‘forsaken’ and ‘I wait’ for example. The overall movement is actually downwards from hope towards recognising hopelessness. Yet the song feels neither tragic nor nihilistic. How does that work then? Yes, the tones of the instrumental after “How could you let it happen?” feel plaintive and desolate. And yet the words following - which stick in the mind at least as much and the fear and protest - are uplifting: Dreams, hopes and promises. Though the final challenge of the song is in the familiar vein of a failure to understand, a breakdown of communication, we still end with a balance of both up and down, that suggests that the Hopes, Aspirations, Longings, even if unanswered and unconsummated, have a positive value and energy of their own that persists, something that carries forward to the final song as well. The ‘waiting’ state is negative: waiting for them to be broken, but that waiting still persists without resolution either way. Although this is a fairly long piece, it doesn’t have the classic features of a VdGG epic, it does have the exceptional unrefined qualities of a song rather than symphony - a very excellent song indeed.
The rarer, lighter and softer side that can be heard in this track is my favorite part of VDGG. The music breathes and Peter Hammill no longer has his scratched voice. "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End" to follow, is much more contrasted, alternating calm and ardor but just like "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)", it remains one of my favorite pieces from VDGG.
Peter Hammill's solo rendition of this song is something else. There are several recordings of it. I'd recommend the one on "Live at Rockpalast - Hamburg 1981".
Peter and his existential angst is a beautiful thing. And while this song seems a personal story, Hammill's work opened even the personal into a big, big picture. This could as easily be a song to "god" by Peter as it could be a more personal tale as you say, a child by the door. It is both those things and more. Peter's gift was not one of comfort. No, he managed to convey deeper emotions and philosophical insights with music/word than just about anyone else. Looking forward to you enjoying "Childlike Faith..." It's the perfect capper for the album. It may encapsulate the "big picture" Hammill as well/better than any other piece. His songs are about him, but even more so about humanity. Blessings.
Praeternaturally melliflouous for the Generator, even redolent of ECM jazz masters. What gives? I'm telling. Trust is so important in childhood, and in allowing a child to grow at her own rate and without fear. When trust dies, fear often replaces it. So grateful for a Fern Hill childhood.
THIS album is VDGG at their best... It's nice to see how far you've come along in understanding prog, and it's players and can appreciate the complexities therein...So much music yet to hear...La Rossa is an amazing track.
Love your perspective on this, Justin, I've never thought of it this way. The feeling I always got from this is a major abandonment, not a child's disappointment but something life changing for the protagonist; but I can see how a child might have the same emotion for something less serious as an adult would have for a disaster. I think you're wrong seeing a connection to theatrical props, with the preceding line being about a sulphur mine I think it's a reference to pit props that are used to hold up the mine shaft's roof, so if they are rotten it means there's going to be an imminent cave in. For me each verse is a different way that being abandoned leads to death. And the album as a whole, tracks in order, is about the journey through life, boredom if things never change on that journey, the predictably bad but unexpected consequences of a change, dying while waiting for a saviour to return, final realisation that this life is just our childhood and how this is going to end isn't something we can know we only have childlike faith.
This song was my (quite incidental) introduction to Van Der Graaf Generator. You know that long note that takes ages to fade away at the end? I didn't want it ever to stop, and I still don't. My Room (Waiting for Wonderland) is the perfect, low-key song that rounds off my VDGG big three alongside Man Erg and The Sleepwakers. A lot of the criticism directed at VDGG concerns their lack of virtuosity. Yes, you heard that right. Some people don't think Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton, Guy Evans, and Jaxon are top-drawer musicians. Who the f*** was it playing on this song, then?
This is a song that I didn't appreciate for a long time. I saw it as the "slow spot" on the album. I don't know what I was thinking! Everything about it freakin' rules.
Fools' Mate is one of the best debut solo albums of all time, he said without a trace of bombast. It really is though. I advocate a full album reaction on that. You WON'T be disappointed.
Hammill is no Gabriel or Anderson in the singing stakes but he is a magnificent lyricist and a great mind. This band has risen in my estimation enormously through your Reactions. Cheers Justin.
Hammill’s vocals are actually considerably more impressive, as a vocalist I know how much more difficult his style of singing is. I think people just don’t like the timber of his voice but theres not really anything he can do about it, that’s just how it sounds.
Fools Mate you say... Great album, shorter songs. VDGG personnel ánd Robert Fripp. The Quiet Zone you say... Terrific 👌👌👌 album. New set up with Graham Smith on electric violin 🎻. And Nic Potter on bass, as he also did on H to He. Songs sound more direct, brutal. You should listen to that one as well. Along with all the PH-material from the seventies, to at least 1986 (And Close As This). One more world lost, one more heaven gained!
VdGG get mellow! Interesting to hear Hammill's idiosyncratic voice tackling this. (Imagine it with auotune? Doesn't bear thinking about) Not the best VdGG but in the context of the album it fits really well. Fool's Mate is a little immature compared with the rest of the catalogue and QZ/PD is a bit different with a new name, a new line-up and violin a-plenty. Even better is 'Vital' - the live album from that period.
Yeah, I believe Fool’s Mate is mostly stuff Hammill wrote back in the 60s and it sounds like it. Good for what it is but a little underwhelming for someone familiar with VDGG or the rest of his solo catalog. I really enjoy The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome and Vital, different as you say but both are definitely worth checking out!
Powerful they were in their first phase, but Vital is one of the strongest and most hard live albums ever recorded by a rock band (if vdgg fills in that. Of course they do)
I remembered ordering and receiving still life and godbluff when i was 16 . It was amazing . In my view the 2 most perfect album . Arguable the first album have one of their best songs (afterwards ) and the second and third have fantastic songs and third album makes you feel progressive. But these album are vddg coming back often the Italian incident at their peak. I saw vddg Live two years ago. Hamill still great on vocals and drummer and organ still great . But unfortunately jaxon is not there anymore . It was a good experience after 50 years of being a fan , but it showed that in a band every member is essential even if one is the boss . I have seen jaxon with Gabriel in 78 or 79 fortunately but i still hope jaxon and Hamiltonian unit again with rest of the 75/76 vddg
Fools Mate has songs that make me dance, laugh, and cry. Too Many of My Yesterdays from the album And Close As This cuts too deep and is a 'hard' listen unless I'm in a wallowing mood. My Room gets my thumbs up.
@@markmaxwell1013 Vision used to be my favourite song. Another one that made me cry. I love - I Once Wrote Some Poems, except for that last blast - not good when listening full volume with headphones on.
@@markmaxwell1013 Mark, baby! Happy New Year! You predicted around Christmas time - gotta give it to you. So 'Childlike Faith' next. I think it'll skew both ways with JP's commenters. They seem to get a little jumpy with wordy epics. Plus - that song does require some sink-in time. So when will JP post 'Childlike Faith'?
@@anitam7547 Very true, what a perfect description of Fool's Mate you wrote. The last lines in Vision really get to me and everyone I have played it for so far. Too many people only know the "angry sounding" side of Peter Hammill and miss out on his softer songs.
@@vdggmouse9512 Hey man! Hopefully, early next month. You are right, 'Childlike Faith' isn't easy listening and best heard with a lyric sheet for those who do not know the lyrics. I'm sure a few will complain it is too "wordy." That is their loss. I am hoping the majestic sounding buildup of the music will draw them in. We were both surprised the "wordy" Still Life got such favorable comments and instead sparked some interesting philosophical debate and comments so you never know. Here's to hoping!
Thanks, once again. Great song, yes. No need for any bustle or movement (the theme requires a fair amount of stillness). All just so, then. I think the props here might be the pit props that shore up a mine, and that it might even on some level refer to a literal coal mine (in which there's a good chance of coming across sulphurous smells/ H2S gas). There's lots of carbon there, but definitely no diamonds. (Might even be an old miner waiting for the visit from the kids who've become "too busy" to visit? And if so, this might even refer to people he'd know from The North, where most families had some connection at some time with the mines at one time.)
The song I love to play for people who have never heard Peter Hammill sing before. Fool's Mate is a great beginning to a huge discography of Peter Hammill solo albums. Stay the best Justin!
Sorry to be a little off topic..i couldnt find reviews of the rest of Queens sheer heart attack album. If not posted yet...i hope it can be soon. Thanks...i love your reactions.
I was hoping to like this, and in fact did for the first 2 - 3 mins... But then just another 5 of the same ol' same ol', no change, variation, rather uninteresting after that initial start i felt. Some nice sax noodling though. Repetitive, and not in a good way.
@@Marquisla Don't judge me too harshly :), but i've always been a music first guy. I really need the tune to hit me, get my attention, have some kind of impact The words may follow. When i listen to something, about 90% of my brain is analysing the music, leaving 10% for the words. Here i heard something about mining, sulphur, diamonds??? To be frank, once the tune got boring i didn't really care. Now, if the tune gets me i'll pick up the lyrics later. Maybe i'll find meaning, maybe i won't. But i often wonder, if these people have got so much to get across, such a big story to tell, then why not just write a book :)
@@jfergs.3302 believe me the music hits really hard. This song is the slowest on the album so it won’t hit as hard as the other ones but the music itself makes more sense and is more intriguing when you understand the subject. All the little riffs, melodies and overall tone of the song are constructing a world that you immerse yourself in, and once you’re in this world the music hits really hard. Van Der Graaf Generator is all about immersion
A great song from a fantastic album. Most VdGG fans would probably agree that the next one "Childlike Faith In Childhood's End" is the best from this album, and probably in most fans Top Five.
It's a love story that's ended. The singer's not deluded, he knows it's over but would love to mistake. He waits, alone with his pain, that the final word is spoken.
Waiting for wonderland: waiting for a happy ending that it's not going to happen.
I agree, it's more a follower maybe to La Rossa, then a prelude to Childlike Faith. Although it could be both !?
The subtitle ‘waiting for wonderland’ also hints that the song is about PH’s loss of the relationship with his g/f Alice; his sense of isolation and aloneness afterwards. Loss of Alice also theme of a number of songs in this period including of course the solo album Over
I love it, thanks and a mention of Coleridge too!
I really enjoy Hammill's vocal performance on this one: almost like a 'normal' singer. But David Jackson's performance on sax really makes this track for me.
Hammill used this track to open his solo shows for a few years.
"Wonderland" does of course make one think of Alice, and indeed this is what the song is about. Alice was the name of Peter Hammill's wife, and they were in the stage of breaking up. His 1977 solo album "Over" deals with this breakup; the tracks "Alice (Letting Go)" (obviously) and "This side of the Looking Glass" (a reference to the second "Alice" book "Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found there") refer to her name, but the whole album is about this breakup. "La Rossa" apparently also is about her, because in "Lost and Found", the last track on "Over", there is the line "La Rossa extends her hand"; maybe Alice had red hair because "La Rossa" is Italian for "The (female) Red One" (the male red one would be "Il Rosso").
Thats great! "Never really thought about it"
Wonderland seems to me to be more about waiting for a better world, a better time (which fits in with the more Utopian themes of "Childlike Faith In Childhood's End). I think La Rossa is more about a generalized frenzied type of love (Red could be thought of as Fiery, and sexual). By the way, I don't think there's any confirmation when the relationship with that certain "Alice" (who frankly could've had a different name, it would seem a bit strange to directly mention someone's name in your music like that). I believe there is thought that there was a breakup Peter had with a girlfriend who left him for a friend of Peter's in 1971, but I haven't like done research or anything. I'm pretty sure Peter hadn't married before 1978.
^I could be wrong, I've seen your face when lurking around progarchives forums, you could totally know something I don't
Although there are a few references to Alice being Peter's wife mostly when she's mentioned by other people it's as his long term girlfriend. And I think you are misinterpreting La Rossa and Lost and Found; I think La Rossa is about a platonic relationship, that may have been as long as or longer than Peter's relationship with Alice, that ends at the same time as the one with Alice because "one moment of perfect passion" leads to "a lifetime of remorse" . Peter and La Rossa have have many "midnight conversations" but only the one moment of passion. Then, when Alice finds out, on Tuesday she leaves Peter (maybe with one of VDGGs roadies).
Peter's album Over was recorded in 1976 after the break up with Alice but also immediately after all of VDGG's equipment was stolen, in December 1975, on a tour of Italy. VDGG were bankrupt and Peter probably felt might never re-form, so with that and the personal break up he recorded Over and tried to heal from these events by turning them into "song lines" .
As soothing a VGG song as I’m going to get I suspect, and I did enjoy it. Not too overly dramatic but flowing and somber.
When I was a kid, my room was my wonderland, a place to call my own.
We moved quite a bit and some houses I shared a room with my sister. So it was great to have a room for my own, when it finally came. My folks divorced so sometimes I’d hear alcohol fueled arguments so that room became a barrier, a fort of sorts.
Other times, a place to create, draw, record mini monster dramas on my cassette recorder with friends acting out parts with me, as well as, songs off the radio, and build models. Goofy times.
Try:
In My Room by The Beach Boys
My Blue Room by Passengers (U2/ Eno)
Peace and homemade radio drama Music
''House with no Door'' is also flowing, sombre, and not toooooooooo over dramatic. A great song as well. Peter seems to use the house / room / home premise quite frequently as in ''A louse is not a home''.
Just realised i fitted one in there myself - premises ! Lol
love the animated thumbnail hehe.
it's a classic. the last track gets back to the epicness in quick fashion.
"Props" fit best for the picture of the sulphur mine just mentioned before; props are used in mines to keep them from collapsing. As usually - excellent review.
Lovely chord progression and that sax break at 5.47 is pure gorgeousness... superb rhythm section and well recorded piano... one of the best prog tracks I've heard on your channel along with National Health and Egg.
Also World Record is where I would go for the next album. All amazing tracks as well
World Record is such an underrated album and well deserving of a listen.
Yes it is. And a bit different from all the others. Mergulys iii is a standout, even or because the repetitive ending.
The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome is a solid album. Check it out.
Very solid indeed, never get tired of listening to it. I find it amazing that some fans don't like it. Yes, it's a big change, but still VdG(G)!
One of my favourite VdgG songs...a song I've heard countless times...
That voice. And Jax.
This song is one of my favorite with man Erg. Even with a seemingly simple and repetitive melodic line, it features so many textures, subtle variations and is so intimate that it hits the soul in its most touching nostalgia.
Can’t wait for the next one, Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End. Absolute masterpiece of a track
Relaxed and refreshed after that! Sparse yet rich in it’s bass drum sax interplay. 🐩 I saw an orlando florida world advert on the telly this afternoon and thought of u!
Diolch
Best end of year to everyone on Justin's channel, and a Happy New Year to all. Fool's mate is great as is The Pleasure dome… You have to listen Childlike faith very quickly now Justin, to get the answer to your interrogations…
I never was a Saxophone fan ....... until I heard David Jackson - its so sad that he left Van der Graaf Generator
I love this track. It almost "ambient" at times with some of the dark textures. Gives me an "In every Dreamhome.." vibe.
My 'Critique' of this song. For what it is worth...
‘My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)’ - one of those songs on an adrenalin-charged album that takes a step back into a more chilled and contemplative mood, and this one is really lovely. Provides space and time to recover composure and absorb each note and word unhurried in its delivery. Changes of pace are really essential in good album construction, and this is a best case in point, but Hammill at his best is really good at this. The deceptively simple-sounding bass - and Hugh’s bass is a delight on this track - and sax intro introduces the key melody without ado, which is great because it is a lovely, delicate, wistful melody. The lyrics describe the limbo-like state of the song’s protagonist, who while recognising many negativities in existence - the smell of sulphur (is it a mine or is it actually mine, with hints of a demonic alternative personality again?), the rot in the props - is still searching, yearning, waiting, for some essential good or beauty to emerge out of the mystery. That essence is also personified as a friend or lover, for whom one waits more in hope for than in expectation of their coming, and their embrace. Surely there is a little ironic backwards glance back at ‘Killer’ in the ‘sea-monster’, ironically transformed from violent angst-ridden predator, to a pathetic immobilised beast, beached on the strand, or stranded on the beach. The ‘drowned man’ is here again too, but this time drowning in air, not water. The yearnings are matched by the sure knowledge that no-one is coming to release him back to the safety of the depths. I’m getting contrasting resonances in my head of del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’, which was on TV here a couple of nights ago, and the final question in that film relates to the potential deity of the ‘creature’. I would say that the cry of despair - “Finally how could you leave me her to die?” - simply has to have a Christ on the cross echo. (More on PH and Faith and religion in the last song.) Back to the music, for a moment, just to say that the weaving and windings of David’s sax, dancing around and embellishing the vocals, with beautiful little inter-verse excursions, are an absolute joy, and lend themselves beautifully to the ambience of the song, never obstructing, always supporting. The bit between ‘forsaken’ and ‘I wait’ for example. The overall movement is actually downwards from hope towards recognising hopelessness. Yet the song feels neither tragic nor nihilistic. How does that work then? Yes, the tones of the instrumental after “How could you let it happen?” feel plaintive and desolate. And yet the words following - which stick in the mind at least as much and the fear and protest - are uplifting: Dreams, hopes and promises. Though the final challenge of the song is in the familiar vein of a failure to understand, a breakdown of communication, we still end with a balance of both up and down, that suggests that the Hopes, Aspirations, Longings, even if unanswered and unconsummated, have a positive value and energy of their own that persists, something that carries forward to the final song as well. The ‘waiting’ state is negative: waiting for them to be broken, but that waiting still persists without resolution either way. Although this is a fairly long piece, it doesn’t have the classic features of a VdGG epic, it does have the exceptional unrefined qualities of a song rather than symphony - a very excellent song indeed.
The rarer, lighter and softer side that can be heard in this track is my favorite part of VDGG. The music breathes and Peter Hammill no longer has his scratched voice. "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End" to follow, is much more contrasted, alternating calm and ardor but just like "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)", it remains one of my favorite pieces from VDGG.
Really enjoyed it. Thanks
Peter Hammill's solo rendition of this song is something else. There are several recordings of it. I'd recommend the one on "Live at Rockpalast - Hamburg 1981".
Peter and his existential angst is a beautiful thing. And while this song seems a personal story, Hammill's work opened even the personal into a big, big picture.
This could as easily be a song to "god" by Peter as it could be a more personal tale as you say, a child by the door. It is both those things and more. Peter's gift was not one of comfort. No, he managed to convey deeper emotions and philosophical insights with music/word than just about anyone else.
Looking forward to you enjoying "Childlike Faith..." It's the perfect capper for the album. It may encapsulate the "big picture" Hammill as well/better than any other piece.
His songs are about him, but even more so about humanity.
Blessings.
Yeah, you said it right "To see where it goes, and it never comes", - waiting for wonderland, isn't it? So - again - the music fits the feeling.
Love the key change from major to minor! Amazing song!
Praeternaturally melliflouous for the Generator, even redolent of ECM jazz masters. What gives? I'm telling.
Trust is so important in childhood, and in allowing a child to grow at her own rate and without fear.
When trust dies, fear often replaces it. So grateful for a Fern Hill childhood.
I've just been singing this to myself while sitting on a commode.
🚽
Hammill uses "room" as a metaphore for his soul, or the skull where the soul lives.
THIS album is VDGG at their best... It's nice to see how far you've come along in understanding prog, and it's players and can appreciate the complexities therein...So much music yet to hear...La Rossa is an amazing track.
Love your perspective on this, Justin, I've never thought of it this way. The feeling I always got from this is a major abandonment, not a child's disappointment but something life changing for the protagonist; but I can see how a child might have the same emotion for something less serious as an adult would have for a disaster.
I think you're wrong seeing a connection to theatrical props, with the preceding line being about a sulphur mine I think it's a reference to pit props that are used to hold up the mine shaft's roof, so if they are rotten it means there's going to be an imminent cave in.
For me each verse is a different way that being abandoned leads to death. And the album as a whole, tracks in order, is about the journey through life, boredom if things never change on that journey, the predictably bad but unexpected consequences of a change, dying while waiting for a saviour to return, final realisation that this life is just our childhood and how this is going to end isn't something we can know we only have childlike faith.
Well said!
By far my favorite track on the album.
This song was my (quite incidental) introduction to Van Der Graaf Generator.
You know that long note that takes ages to fade away at the end? I didn't want it ever to stop, and I still don't. My Room (Waiting for Wonderland) is the perfect, low-key song that rounds off my VDGG big three alongside Man Erg and The Sleepwakers.
A lot of the criticism directed at VDGG concerns their lack of virtuosity.
Yes, you heard that right. Some people don't think Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton, Guy Evans, and Jaxon are top-drawer musicians. Who the f*** was it playing on this song, then?
This is a song that I didn't appreciate for a long time. I saw it as the "slow spot" on the album. I don't know what I was thinking! Everything about it freakin' rules.
Fools' Mate is one of the best debut solo albums of all time, he said without a trace of bombast. It really is though. I advocate a full album reaction on that. You WON'T be disappointed.
Hammill is no Gabriel or Anderson in the singing stakes but he is a magnificent lyricist and a great mind. This band has risen in my estimation enormously through your Reactions. Cheers Justin.
Hammill stands above both of them as far as I'm concerned.
Hammill’s vocals are actually considerably more impressive, as a vocalist I know how much more difficult his style of singing is. I think people just don’t like the timber of his voice but theres not really anything he can do about it, that’s just how it sounds.
Thank God Hammill is no Anderson!
Ian or Jon ?
@@vdggmouse9512 Jon. I am not a fan of the Tull.
Fools Mate you say...
Great album, shorter songs. VDGG personnel ánd Robert Fripp.
The Quiet Zone you say...
Terrific 👌👌👌 album.
New set up with Graham Smith on electric violin 🎻. And Nic Potter on bass, as he also did on H to He. Songs sound more direct, brutal. You should listen to that one as well. Along with all the PH-material from the seventies, to at least 1986 (And Close As This). One more world lost, one more heaven gained!
And Fools Mate have Lindsfarne playing on couple tracks
VdGG get mellow! Interesting to hear Hammill's idiosyncratic voice tackling this. (Imagine it with auotune? Doesn't bear thinking about) Not the best VdGG but in the context of the album it fits really well. Fool's Mate is a little immature compared with the rest of the catalogue and QZ/PD is a bit different with a new name, a new line-up and violin a-plenty. Even better is 'Vital' - the live album from that period.
Yeah, I believe Fool’s Mate is mostly stuff Hammill wrote back in the 60s and it sounds like it. Good for what it is but a little underwhelming for someone familiar with VDGG or the rest of his solo catalog.
I really enjoy The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome and Vital, different as you say but both are definitely worth checking out!
Powerful they were in their first phase, but Vital is one of the strongest and most hard live albums ever recorded by a rock band (if vdgg fills in that. Of course they do)
I remembered ordering and receiving still life and godbluff when i was 16 . It was amazing . In my view the 2 most perfect album . Arguable the first album have one of their best songs (afterwards ) and the second and third have fantastic songs and third album makes you feel progressive. But these album are vddg coming back often the Italian incident at their peak. I saw vddg Live two years ago. Hamill still great on vocals and drummer and organ still great . But unfortunately jaxon is not there anymore . It was a good experience after 50 years of being a fan , but it showed that in a band every member is essential even if one is the boss . I have seen jaxon with Gabriel in 78 or 79 fortunately but i still hope jaxon and Hamiltonian unit again with rest of the 75/76 vddg
Fools Mate has songs that make me dance, laugh, and cry. Too Many of My Yesterdays from the album And Close As This cuts too deep and is a 'hard' listen unless I'm in a wallowing mood. My Room gets my thumbs up.
Fool's Mate is great! Vision is my favorite love song of all time💛
@@markmaxwell1013 Vision used to be my favourite song. Another one that made me cry. I love - I Once Wrote Some Poems, except for that last blast - not good when listening full volume with headphones on.
@@markmaxwell1013 Mark, baby! Happy New Year! You predicted around Christmas time - gotta give it to you. So 'Childlike Faith' next. I think it'll skew both ways with JP's commenters. They seem to get a little jumpy with wordy epics. Plus - that song does require some sink-in time. So when will JP post 'Childlike Faith'?
@@anitam7547 Very true, what a perfect description of Fool's Mate you wrote. The last lines in Vision really get to me and everyone I have played it for so far. Too many people only know the "angry sounding" side of Peter Hammill and miss out on his softer songs.
@@vdggmouse9512 Hey man! Hopefully, early next month. You are right, 'Childlike Faith' isn't easy listening and best heard with a lyric sheet for those who do not know the lyrics. I'm sure a few will complain it is too "wordy." That is their loss. I am hoping the majestic sounding buildup of the music will draw them in. We were both surprised the "wordy" Still Life got such favorable comments and instead sparked some interesting philosophical debate and comments so you never know. Here's to hoping!
Thanks, once again. Great song, yes. No need for any bustle or movement (the theme requires a fair amount of stillness). All just so, then.
I think the props here might be the pit props that shore up a mine, and that it might even on some level refer to a literal coal mine (in which there's a good chance of coming across sulphurous smells/ H2S gas). There's lots of carbon there, but definitely no diamonds. (Might even be an old miner waiting for the visit from the kids who've become "too busy" to visit? And if so, this might even refer to people he'd know from The North, where most families had some connection at some time with the mines at one time.)
He'd open his solo concerts with this for a long time. Those versions were not mellow.
The song I love to play for people who have never heard Peter Hammill sing before. Fool's Mate is a great beginning to a huge discography of Peter Hammill solo albums.
Stay the best Justin!
In principle a solo album but with vddg
Sorry to be a little off topic..i couldnt find reviews of the rest of Queens sheer heart attack album. If not posted yet...i hope it can be soon. Thanks...i love your reactions.
Thank you Rob, haven't done more Queen yet, but will get to it in the future :)
I was hoping to like this, and in fact did for the first 2 - 3 mins... But then just another 5 of the same ol' same ol', no change, variation, rather uninteresting after that initial start i felt. Some nice sax noodling though. Repetitive, and not in a good way.
It helps to focus on the lyrics while listening and understand how the musicality is affected by the topic of the song
I guess you did not note the key change from major to minor...it is fantastic!!!
@@Marquisla Don't judge me too harshly :), but i've always been a music first guy. I really need the tune to hit me, get my attention, have some kind of impact The words may follow. When i listen to something, about 90% of my brain is analysing the music, leaving 10% for the words. Here i heard something about mining, sulphur, diamonds??? To be frank, once the tune got boring i didn't really care. Now, if the tune gets me i'll pick up the lyrics later. Maybe i'll find meaning, maybe i won't. But i often wonder, if these people have got so much to get across, such a big story to tell, then why not just write a book :)
@@DaniloJovem Haha, it wasn't bad, but too little too late :) From major to minor, sounds like a cue for a song.
@@jfergs.3302 believe me the music hits really hard. This song is the slowest on the album so it won’t hit as hard as the other ones but the music itself makes more sense and is more intriguing when you understand the subject. All the little riffs, melodies and overall tone of the song are constructing a world that you immerse yourself in, and once you’re in this world the music hits really hard. Van Der Graaf Generator is all about immersion