I am a lucky boy. Using my neferious powers and contacts, I have mananged to secure an advance copy of the new Van der Graaf Generator album “Present”. For those of you who don’t know, VDGG are a seminal prog-rock band (probably the ONLY one that is still respected and not tagged with the “dinosaur rock” label) that inspired the likes of John “Rotten” Lydon and Mark E Smith of the Fall.

Anyway, this is the band’s first new material since 1978 and it is really, really good. The only problem is that it sounds like the guys haven’t aged at all – it is classic VDGG material. It is a two-CD affair, the first CD being a load of “proper” song with the second being over an hour of improvisations. The first disc is sweet, the second is so-so. I never really liked this side of VDGG (Darren remembers “The Long Hello” album) so I can take it or leave it. But it has me all juiced up for the reunion gig in May. My tickets are safely secreted somewhere in Chez Lock – they are quite valuable fetching handsome prices on eBay.

Meanwhile, I purchased one of my favourite music mags and it features a nice little interview with King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew. In it, he reveals a little about the future of the band and it looks promising – just got to wait for the future to happen. 😉

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