Van Der Graaf - Cats Eye (1977)
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- This incredible rarity has been unearthed by Herman Permentier - so all credit to him!
* EDIT - THIS VIDEO IS NOW INCLUDED IN THE CHARISMA YEARS BOX SET - A 20 DISC COLLECTION THAT IS UNMISSABLE FOR FANS OF THE BAND
Shot on 16mm and lost in the vaults for nearly 40 years, I've added the album audio to this video shoot for the 7" single "Cats Eye," which was only released in France in 1977, and synced up the footage to the improved sound.
Van Der Graaf is of course the band that evolved from Van Der Graaf Generator after the departure of Hugh Banton (Organs) and David Jackson (Saxophones).
Augmenting the two existing members, Peter Hammill (Guitar and Vox) and Guy Evans, were Graham Smith (from the brilliant String Driven Thing) on violin and Charles Dickie on Cello.
The most interesting addition to this line up was the return of Nic Potter on Bass guitar - who had already played with the band from 1969-70.
Herman Permentier: "Here’s another treasure I have , This time it’s coming from a 16mm film which I have for a very long time. I found it 30 years ago in new Zealand.
I brought it to a professional studio to digitalize the clip. Big thanks to Jim Christopulos to encourage me!!"
Van Der Graaf - Cat's Eye (1977)
I was walking in the evening,
I was looking for something good, clean, fine, pure, straight,
but instead I found the bunker wall and gate.
It was open: I was free. I gave a token guarantee,
though I later knew I had promised more
with an I.O.U. I could scarcely score my way...
Oh But I herald Apocalypse anyway!
I was a prime believer in the faith of 'I'
yellow fever in the cat's eye.
And it's everything you want,
And it's everything you own,
And it's everything you love,
And it's everything you hate,
And it's everything you touch,
And it's everything you dream,
And it's everything you trust;
and it's everything you need.
I got a heart like a rocket, I was out of control,
I'd cleaned out my pockets for some luck to show...
really looking like a hopeless case, I found it in my hand,
it was the Angry Ace.
He wants to talk to me, one on one,
he wants to give me his professional opinion...
but I'm running; I just can't wait,
I haven't got a moment to anticipate,
yes, I'm running, I just can't stop,
I've got to get to the bottom just to get to the top,
I've got the dark alleys and the open skies,
I got the yellow fever from the cat's eye.
Oh - I'll let you know how it goes in the ninth life.
You guys here, listening and enjoying this masterpiece... are my favorite people in the universe.
If you think this is good - check out the new footage that we have unearthed of PH playing live on swiss TV from 1974! Jawdropping stuff - The Lie, forsaken gardens and Louse.
Louse! solo on piano!
Google it!
hello ~
VDGG is the greatest Band of all times..just my opnion!
@@MarcusVinicius-we2pg Недооценённая группа всех времён и народов.
OK.It's amazing song.Great.And enjoy everybody.
prog rock with the energy of punk and post punk (eg. early Stranglers). Peter Hammill is great at both tormented and gentle vocal delivery.
Energy and musianship are completaly different things...VDGG King crimson Gentle giant or 70' Jethro tull are 10000 better than any punk rock Band ever produced
Muy de acuerdo con usted,Marc.
@@MarcusVinicius-we2pgWhy not like both?
@@metalheadgamer80 I'm pretty sure it's possible..not in my case.
Progressive punk 😱❤️
Indeed! Hammill's Nadir's Big Chance solo album released in 1975 was a huge influence on the Sex Pistol's Johnny Rotten - you can hear the influence clearly.
@@StevenHargraves Yes, it's also the first album featuring the word "punk". By the way, great album! Also, kraut rock bands like CAN, Faust and Neu! had a huge influence on punk, new wave and indie.
@@StevenHargraves
Absolutely! Except Peter really sings 😏
peter hammill and van der graaf generator could eat punk as a snack for lunch
Amazing! Violinist looks like he is time traveling into the future from the 13th century.
Prog rock has many faces but this face is particularly memorable...
HOLY F***! I just discovered this song today randomly! Where has it been all my life!?
They are one of the best-kept secrets in music! Check out the rest of their albums. Van der Graaf Generator are my fave band.
Welcome in the prog world😉
Things found randomly are often the greatest mindfuck surprises ever.
same here 😅😱
The greatest band ever! The greatest musicians ever! I’ve been their fan since 1976. I got all their CDs on special order at Sam’s music store downtown Toronto.
Geddy Lee is that you?
Well, as to the greatest band ever, there was also Gentle Giant... Kerry Minnear is a monster of composition, he's in fact a PhD in composition.
pete hammill. the unrecognized genius of our times. people talk about bob dylan, robert hunter and peter sinfield's lyrics. hammill is just as good as any of them but never gets any credit from the mainstream. check out the lyrics to his song 'lost'. i'll take pete's lyrics over dylan any day. not to mention pete is a way better singer and his band is far more interesting to listen to.
Dylan is a genius - but I also agree Hammill is light years better. He's untouchable as far as lyric writing goes.
I saw Dylan a couple of years back - good but not great. He was in a huge arena - and I think the crowd were expecting foot tapping singalongs of Hey Mr Tambourine Man etc - but everything he played bore no resemblance to the originals - much to the audiences bafflement.
But every time I've seen PH & VdGG, solo, four piece, trio or even as a duo with the late great Stuart Gordon, I've been utterly blown away. Sad that they had to postpone this years tour.
@@StevenHargraves im getting the word out here in the states. Noone in Racine Wi has ever heard of them. Music was better overseas obviously
@@MrChristopherHaas Spread the word my friend - it's always good to meet a new convert! ha ha
I find dylan to be more consistent lyrically. Sometimes I find peter to be on the overwrought side of things. I find this problem to be most common on pre-Godbluff albums. I think he hits his lyrical peak on A Black Box. Jargon King i could see being put in a Norton's Anthology.
Ибо это не ширпотреб
I am speechless. This is a masterpiece.
Fantastic. Punk with a violin and cello!
Simply majestic. No one comes close to PH, then or now.
You are totally correct!
This was their first studio album without David Jackson . I think it's a vastly underrated album . I love it .
It's a fantastic record - a rocking style that in some ways would augur the K Group. I wished that they had done a few more albums in this vein, as Charles Dickie only appeared on Vital - and so came too late the party to make much impact - and from his solo stuff - it's a shame.
I'd have enjoyed hearing what they could have come up with as Hammill was on fire all thru the 70s - and cello / violin / guitar / bass / drums made for a hell of a racket live.
Such a good album that - they coped without Jackson or Hugh Banton (Though Jaxon pops up with a cameo on the sphinx returns at the very end)
I love Pawn Hearts, but this may be my favorite.
I wish we had more from this line up
I don't think Jackson was on their debut "The Aerosol Grey Machine"
It's my favorite album!!!!
This song has a sense of urgency like no other.
Came across this masterpiece and stuck at this footage for couple hours. this is simply beautiful
Привет, Никита Романюк! Тоже страдаешь извращённым вкусом? ;)
@@pipertoniy почему же извращенным, вряд ли кто-то будет спорить с тем, что это красиво🤩
I was born 1960! Van der Graaf is "THE BAND"!!! The first song I loved was " A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers", than came "Meurglys III" and I was done... I feel lucky, that I found this vid. :-)
Glad you like it mate. They are my fave band too - have you seen the Tintagel by the sea video with Peter Hammill on Kids TV?
Steven Hargraves I watched it after your comment. It gives a different view to PH for me; thanks for this! :-)
Daniel Frank I was 10 when they did this. They're my new favourite band.
Incredible, psychotic, on the edge stuff~and beautiful too. Always loved "The Quiet Zone" and "Vital". Just wish more people could hear Van Der Graaf. Thanks for Posting Man.
Yes indeed. The oversized headband Peter Hammill was in the habit of wearing during this era and the wild eyes (not to mention the unhinged vocal delivery) makes him look like he just escaped from a mental asylum. Lol
@@icecreamforcrowhurst By the time he was playing with the K group - (video is on youtube 1981 rockpalast in Hamburg) - he wore a green medical smock- to complete the asylum look...
...Although now he looks like one of the staff who's joined the inmates...
Viva English music - always different, always magical. Well, it used to be.
Saw them at that time, see-through mac included, at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. A concert so good the audience forgot to cheer, never seen anything like it. Absolutely delightful to see this again.
Many thanks for the comments Peter - I was only 5 in 1977 - so missed out on this tremendous line-up. I would have liked to have seen Graham Smith and Charles Dickie playing together - a far different dynamic to Jaxon Banton - and the metalhead in me would have loved hearing Nic Potter's brtual bass tones.
If you are still a fan - I can't recommend their recent box set highly enough - including lots of vintage video clips.
Sadly their current tour (May 2022) has been postponed due to Peter Hammill falling ill in Germany. Fingers crossed he will make a full recovery after his surgery yesterday.
The footage of an most iconic band in prog rock
Brand new VDGG fan here thanks to Voivod and their fan base. Incredible music!
Awesome! I am a HUGE Voivod fan too of course - ever since Hatross. But came across VdGG a couple of years later.
They were amazing last night in Manchester. They sound like no one else!
This song rocks especially with headphones on
Very underrated track from an underrated album of an underrated band. Sad VdGG (and I guess the VdG lineup here) did not last beyond this and the live album. Their sound was incredible.
Jeezus fuck! No way! Where the hell did this come from! Amazing, one of the best tracks on "Quiet Zone...."! Nic Potter is one of my favourite bassists. His playing on this album and the live "Vital" album is just brilliant.
Fantastic isn't it. See the info above for all the details.
If you haven't already seen it - check out Tintagel video too - another rarity.
agree totally, Vital is one of the great live albums and Potter makes all the difference. This and USA by King Crimson are the reason I started playing bass.
Yes - Wetton's bass sound on USA is stunning - Larks Tongue especially.
You are clearly a man of impeccable taste!
I'm lucky I was born just at the right time ;)
I was born in 72, but by 79 I was totally into music - ACDC, Sabbath, War of the Worlds musical, so in primary school I was just in time for the birth of NWOBHM, - maiden, saxon, etc - then I was a teen just in time for hardcore, thrash, death metal and grindcore - so I can't complain.
I did then get into VdGG retroactively on the recommendations of Voivod and a few friends and they rapidly became my fave band of all time!
Zappa and King Crimson followed, so I worked my way backwards to fill in some cultural gaps!
Great and unique video footage from the quiet zone/pleasure dome era.
It was such a fantastic & interesting line-up (with Cpt. Ahab on violin) - those were the daze! Grz from a german all-time-fan!
I can remember buying Godbluff, Still Life and World Record; later bought Vital album
Somehow, at the time this had entirely escaped me
I love it - brilliant!
Amazing song
This is fucking extraordinary....Wow !!!
Вот ОНА МУЗЫКА конца этого "света"!!! За НОВОЕ ВРЕМЯ СВЕТА🌅🌅🌅
Awesome! How could this not have been a major hit ?
that bass sound..... juicy👍👍👍
Ultravox certainly took notes here!
Nick potter did a great bass job, cheers mate
Oh this is fantastic. Precious little footage of this late incarnation of the band. Utter brilliance.
Amazing Band
The best!
Even the new album is better than anyone could expect it to have been as they are STILL doing new and exciting experimental and boundary breaking music!
Love the PUNK BASS Sound...
Fantastic song! So intense.
Great work - thanks for putting this up here - a fantastic song from a fantastic album. PH performed this later with the Nic Potter and Stuart Gordon (it appeared on the Roomtemperature live album) and a couple of years later when drummer Manny Elias has been added to that trio and they toured as 'The Noise' and it appeared on another live album - 'There Goes The Daylight'. Finding gems like this makes the other 99% of the time I waste on the internet worth it!
'The' Nic Potter!
Thanks for posting this! I've been searching for ANY live footage from this particular VdGG band for decades! This album and Vital kick so much ass! The bass work, the drumming, Hammill's voice- all of it so great!
AWSOME!! Quiet Zone is my favorite album!!
Thank you very much for this video... one of my favorite songs :) I'm really glad to finally see how they did it. Great respect for violinist Graham Smith.
Listening to Van der Graff Generator .... Better than Breathing!
Цепляет,особенно скрипка!
When Graham Smith join (in this time) VDG,coming from String Driven Thing,he could'nt stop exclaiming "Wow,here's MY music !"
Greatest bass tone this side of Lemmy
Yes! Nic Potter was awesome. The bass on Vital was intense.
OH man! Vital is the most intense live recording I have ever heard and it's amazing how it's got sort of a life of it's own. Vinyl vs cds and remasters all sound quite different! What an evening that must have been. Shame there ain't any video of the event.
Potter...Nic was so good.
Thank-you so much for this footage, Herman & Steven: fascinating! The band look great, but what is Hammill wearing?? I have all the Van Der Graaf & Hamill albums from back in the 70's, but never saw them , except on Whistle Test, doing 'Lighthouse keeper'. Always assumed Mr Hammill was just ACTING mental: i think this film proves otherwise...
Splendid! Thanks
One of my favorite songs ever. Love all things Hammill.
How on EARTH is a lifelong Prog Rock LOVER such as i just NOW discovering THIS
Well, they never went mainstream - and spent most of the last 50 years split up.
BUT - now you are here - you have now discovered the band that rapidly became my favourite band EVER - about a month after first hearing them when I was about 18. So - get out there - and dive into their back catalogue.
I saw them live a few months back - and they were utterly fantastic. Again.
@@StevenHargraves thats what im doing. Theres ALOT to take in
Great!!!
I got the 45 in my collection!
I like it!
I love how the violinist looks just as panicked as the music! Great track!
Now this is the side of VDGG that I like the best: energy, heaviness, and Hammill on guitar.
Grande Peter, sei il migliore tra i migliori!
Been following him since 1979 but this is the most exciting thing to surface ever! THANK YOU !!!
First heard them over the radio in Kansas City on a show called Her Majesty's Voice in 1970. Peter would play solo shows there and later with the violinist.
Indeed!
I think maybe Rikki Nadir penned this one.... I saw this incarnation live at Derby Uni in 1977. They did not disappoint...!
Lucky you!
Great sound. Bloody hell this ROCKS!
Cheers. Van Der Graaf certainly do - as you say - rock.
First time I've heard the single version of this track. Sounds like it might have been remixed to really emphasize Nic's bass? Sounds much punchier than the album version to me anyway.
The audio was taken from the 2005 remixes - and I might have slightly tweaked it a little tiny bit when outputting it for this video. I can't help it though - I'm a death metal & Hardcore punk musician - so it infects everything I do - with the possible exception of talking head promo videos for Uni courses....
Super tight drumming and Peter is delightful...
Guy Evans is one of my favourite drummers - he's incredible. He can make complex time signatures sound simple and 4/4 sound intricate!
Much as I love Jaxon/Banton, I wish we had some more Van der Graaf to listen to. QZ/PD is generally underrated and this might be its highlight.
I love their music and wanna say big Thank you for amazing performances and amazing music ❤️❤️❤️
Wonderful! Thanks!
Many thanks for uploading this lovely curio.
Smash the system, the ears, the world with the song ! Just genius
Heavensinger and musicman
Best vdGg-song EVER! 😍
Super song and fabulous playing. Apart from well, ALL the others, Evans' drumming is phenomenal.
+1.
Not sure the headband really works Peter, but great to see this incarnation of VDGG in action, even if they are miming. RIP Nic Potter, looking really cool here.
Thanks Peter! Danke für Alles!
Well done, boys, for resurrecting morsel from the Tardis!
Many thanks Graham - it was a treat to discover that this ever existed!
PS Also I'm a big fan of String Driven Thing as well as VdGG - Heartfeeder is amazing.
Des moments merveilleux - nous étions pauvres, amoureux, des enfants vraiment innocents, mais heureux. L'avenir semblait sans fin, mais maintenant, à la fin de la soixantaine, il est évident à quel point la vie est précieuse et courte
That's true. Sad though. Live life while you can. So glad they reformed in 2005 and I got to see them playing every tour since.
Wonderful!
This is a real, and pleasant surprise. Just great. Saw VDGG several times in the 70s - missed last performance in London because of lockdown, then ill when they did play it.
I would have loved to have seen them in the 70s.
Instead I've seen them in their 70s!
Check out the new live DVD/ Blu Ray/ CD box set that is out in march. From the one clip they've released it looks and sounds fantastic.
I took my son to see them last year. Already a veteran of many live shows - including Hammill solo when he was 9!
VdGG were my favourite band in the 70s and they are still up there with the best of all time.
the perfect transition from prog to punk
Just perfect!
Masterpiece (another one from them) !!! Thank you !!!
Beautiful video piece. The lyrics are magical & with melody a masterpiece. Thanks so much to all participants!
Благодарю, кошачий глаз ивапще VDGG великие!!!
nice music
Wow ! Anger ..sick hammill odd costume ..fantastico !
Fooking great!!! many many THANX!!!!!
Hammill has a handful of songs that sound like absolutely nothing else. What do you even call this, opera-punk?
Спасибо!
Always loved this quick, punchy track
van der graaf light orchestra.
lite,
fixxxed it for ya!
ha!
I saw ELO that tour they synchd.
Came to see Steve Hilliage who opened.
Yeah, this is what would happen if Jeff Lynne had taken the bad acid and seen the Black Dog
@@daphnelawless9194 I doubt peter hammil is the type to do drugs, so why would Jeff lynne need to?
@@kidflersh7807 ... all the VdGG guys were doing serious acid at the time of _Pawn Hearts_, that's one of the reasons they went on hiatus after that album, because it was going too far
A song of incredible musical richness and energy. I remember listening to this back in the 1970s: it blew me away.
fackin amazing beautifull 🔥💖🙏
Thank you so much for posting this. Quiet Zone in my opinion is an absolute artistic masterpiece that I feel has been overlooked. Sometimes Hammill's lyrics completely astound me, a true artist.
Yes - its an incredible record - to switch from the keyboard / organ driven sound - to guitars and strings - and create equally inventive and dramatic music - just superb stuff. Pity that the lineup was short lived.
bloody hell... thunder and lightning :D
Magnificent!!!!
à découvrir pour la voix et le violon
Bravo! Much thanks for this rare artifact.
First tune played in Châteauvallon France,1977 ❤❤❤
Reminds me of Red by King Crimson and also U.K somehow, but with the VDGG flavor.
Outstanding! Thanks for posting.
The version on After the Flood - Van Der Graaf Generator At The BBC 1968-1977 (John Peel Sessions) is also fantastic.
As you're a native speaker (as I presume) can you tell me if in the version of Necromancer from that album Peter Hammil says "When I speak I speak mystically, all my life I have cabalized"? I didn't now "to cabalize" was a verb.
What a power!
Fantastica le Quattro Stagioni del progressive rock E Vivaldi seduto in prima fila ad applaudire Hammill & c !!!!!!
Music of my love