LP - Fontana 6430 083 (Germany, 69)
* The first USA Mercury LP release included 'Giant Squid' in place of 'Necromancer'.
* ** The FIE! Records CD release includes both tracks plus an extra one, 'Ferret And Featherbird'.
*** The Repertoire CD misses 'Squid One', but contains 'People You Were Going To' and 'Firebrand' as additional tracks (both these songs were first published in 1968 as a single) |
Van der Graaf Generator:
The Aerosol Grey Machine
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| Musicians: |
Hugh Banton - piano, organ, backing vocals Keith Ellis - bass, backing vocals Guy Evans - drums, percussion Peter Hammill - lead vocals, acoustic guitar + Jeff Peach - flute |
| Other credits: |
Produced by John Anthony Recorded at Trident Studios, London, July 31/August 1, 1969, except 'Afterwards' and 'Necromancer', recorded in one afternoon in January 1969 at Marquee Studios, London. Engineered by Robin Cable Photography by Gordian Troeller and Barrie Wentzell |
| Notes: |
* The first USA Mercury LP release included 'Giant Squid' in place of 'Necromancer'. * ** The FIE! Records CD release includes both tracks plus an extra one, 'Ferret And Featherbird'. *** The Repertoire CD misses 'Squid One', but contains 'People You Were Going To' and 'Firebrand' as additional tracks (both these songs were first published in 1968 as a single) |
O r i g i n a l R e l e a s e N o t e s
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In June, the original Van der Graaf Generator spit up for a number of reasons, among which personality conflicts figured not at all. We regretted its passing very much and sadly headed off in our separate directions, my own being to work solo in an acoustic context. Eventually the time came to record this album, originally intended to be mine alone. "I'd like to get together again," I said to Guy, Keith and Hugh, "and do some nice sweet, gentle things". "Great", they said.
Six hours of rehearsal and one week later we found ourselves in Trident with three songs completely ready to record, an eager crowd of friends, and the mysterious Jeff on flute, while the unholy twins, John and Robin, lurked in the control room flicking switches and sipping tea. After twelve hours, much sweat and a couple of hundred photographs, we discovered, to our great surprise and elation, that we'd made an album, a band album to boot, albeit with passages of gentleness, but mostly consisting of bare-your-tonsils-to-the-world-music. A lot of things happened in the studio: Hugh sat the piano for ten minutes, playing one note at half speed with one hand and eating a banana out of the other. At one point everyone in the studio was gathered together to form the imtromptu Aerosol chorus. Keith pretended to be Bring Crosby. Guy lurched, grinning, round the drumming room and was very industrious. John flitted up and down the stairs and became an adopted member of the band. The cans kept falling off my head at crucial moments. Gordian crawled round everyone's legs taking photographs. And somewhere amidst all this chaos of people, instruments, empty bottles and plastic cups, Van der Graaf Generator was reborn, slapped into life by the heavy pressure put on us in the making of this album. It's not the same as the old Van der Graaf… by the time we're on the road again, the personnel will have changed, too. But this album is the starting point. Each copy's a bit like a slice of our first birthday cake; in fact, the sessions degenerated into some kind of freaky part after a while, maybe some of that comes through in 'Aerosol Grey Machine'… it was a very happy, if very taxing twelve hours. I wonder if Mr. Robert J. Van der Graaf of M.I.T. knew quite what he was doing when he invented his little bit of electrostatic apparatus!
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