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It's been a long time since I bought a VDGG album, some twenty years to be exact, and, despite good reviews, I approached this with some trepidation. Allmusic, despite the odd good review, is highly unreliable, and the various music mags I dismissed after years of working in Hi-Fi during which time I sold CD's as well. I also have another rule in buying albums - never buy them from bands you left behind years ago, who re-formed after decade or over breaks, or who have only one (or less) original members still ploughing on. So, the album was up against it from the off. I was however, to be pleasantly surprised. Despite one or two poor cuts, the opening track is a throw away, as is 'Drop Dead' which smacks of Roger Waters mistaken attempts at 'right on' bravado, but the rest is pure Van Der Graaf. Gentle, slow paced, often haunting tracks, that contrary to Allmusics view, could indeed have slotted into a classic era VDGG album without seeming out of place. The 'Final reel', 'Lifetime', 'Only in a whisper' 'All that before' and the epic (for today) 'Over the Hill' are finely crafted, quality rock songs, and Hammills voice, unlike so many of contemporaries, can still deliver across the majority of the registers that it could in the 70's. Banton still moves the whole thing along nicely with his epic Organ playing, and Guy Evans, as ever, provides quality drum tracks. As a band, musically, VDGG are still very much alive. Now, if only they could put their personal differences behind them, we could hope for more albums, and better still, tours in the near future. But I'm not a betting man, and if I was, then I'd probably lay it on this being a good way to finish such a distinguished career. After listening to this album though, I hope I'm wrong.Read full review
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