''Still Life'' is the sixth album by English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band

Van der Graaf Generator Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Judge Smith, Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commerc ...

, originally released in 1976. It was their second album after reforming in 1975, the first being ''

Godbluff ''Godbluff'' is the fifth album released by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was the first album after the band reformed in 1975 and was recorded after a European tour. As the first self-produced album by the band, it f ...

''. One live bonus track was added for the 2005 re-mastered re-release. A new re-master, with 5.1 surround sound re-mixes by Stephen W Tayler, was released on 3 September 2021.

Cover

The album front cover, photographed by Paul Brierley, shows a

Lichtenberg figure A Lichtenberg figure (German ''Lichtenberg-Figuren''), or Lichtenberg dust figure, is a branching electric discharge that sometimes appears on the surface or in the interior of insulating materials. Lichtenberg figures are often associated wit ...

. The image was described by journalist

Geoff Barton Geoff Barton (born July 1955) is a British journalist who founded the heavy metal magazine ''Kerrang!'' and was an editor of ''Sounds'' music magazine. He joined ''Sounds'' at the age of 19 after completing a journalism course at the London Col ...

in ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'': "It's actually a frozen-in-action shot of an electrical discharge from a real

Van de Graaff generator A Van de Graaff generator is an electrostatic generator which uses a moving belt to accumulate electric charge on a hollow metal globe on the top of an insulated column, creating very high electric potentials. It produces very high voltage direct ...

machine, set in acrylic."

Response

Geoff Barton of ''

'' wrote: "Where 'Still Life' scores over past LPs is in its precise and accurate reproduction of leader Hammill's vocals. He never really ''sings'', rather he murmurs, shouts, screams or speaks, and this wide range of tonality has presented in the past often insurmountable problems for engineers, technicians and suchlike. Here, however, every subtle nuance of the 'chords has been captured successfully, providing greater variation, an abundance of light and shade. ... 'Still Life' is an essential album. If you think you have problems, listen to Hammill's and you'll probably never be able to worry about anything insignificant ever again." Jonathan Barnett of ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', describing the songs on the album, wrote: "They start off with the kind of morbid over-sensibility, y'know ... smart ass existentialist one-liners like that, accompanied by furtive, lurching manic melodies that emphasise the personality disorientation of the whole thing."Jonathan Barnett, ''

'', May 1976. Steven McDonald, for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, notes that Hammill songs take "... a dead run at a grandiose concept or two – the consequences of immortality on the title track, and the grand fate of humanity on the epic "Childlike Faith in Childhood's End." McDonald concludes: "The true highlight, however, is the beautiful, pensive "My Room (Waiting for Wonderland)", with its echoes of imagination and loss. Hammill did not achieve such a level of painful beauty again until "This Side of the Looking Glass" on ''

Over Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England *Over, South Gloucestershire, England * Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England ** Over Bridge *Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by Pe ...

''." Interviewed by ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

'' in 2002,

Hugh Banton Hugh Robert Banton (born April 1949) is a British musician and electronic organ builder, most widely known for playing organ and keyboards with the group Van der Graaf Generator. Career Banton was born in April 1949 in Yeovil, Somerset, into a ...

said: "I remember doing ''Still Life'', which is possibly my favourite Van der Graaf album of all, and

Charisma Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...

came along and said 'Oh, this is just a stop-gap album'. The stop-gap album!? We don't make stop-gap albums!"

Track listing

All songs written by Peter Hammill, except as noted. ;Bonus track (2005 reissue) #

"Gog" – 10:29 ::(Recorded live at Theatr Gwynedd, Bangor, Wales, on 10 May 1975)

Personnel

Musicians

Peter Hammill Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was 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 ...

– vocals, guitar, piano * David Jackson –

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

and

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

saxophones,

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, bass,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

, piano *

Guy Evans Guy Randolph Evans (born 17 June 1947) is an English drummer and a member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Career Whilst at the University of Warwick (1965–68), Evans played in the university band which was called The ...

– drums, percussion

Technical

* Pat Moran – engineer, mixing * Arun – lacquer cut * Mike Van der Vord – photography (back cover) * Paul Brierley – photography (front cover)

References

External links

*
Still Life (1976)
' at vandergraafgenerator.co.uk
Van der Graaf Generator – ''Still Life'' (1976)
– at

Discogs.com Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...

Van der Graaf Generator – ''Still Life'' (1976)
– stream at Spotify.com * {{Authority control

Still Life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

1976 albums Charisma Records albums Mercury Records albums Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios