GUY EVANS & PETER HAMMILL   THE UNION CHAPEL CONCERT

1997

featuring a one song, one-off reformation of Van der Graaf Generator with Hugh Banton, Manny Elias, Stuart Gordon, David Jackson, Giles Perrin, Mat Fraser, Patou Soult Disc 1 01. Introduction (0:41) 02. Fireworks (4:40) (Evans) 03. A Forest Of Pronouns (7:53) (Hammill) 04. Anatol's Proposal (4:10) (Hammill/Evans) 05. After The Show (3:14) (Hammill) 06. Roger And Out (3:18) (Hammill/Evans/Ridout 07. Accidents (9:15) (Hammill) 08. Four Kinds Of Rice/Hello/Resolution (11:32) (Jackson) 09. Woman Of Ireland (2:03) (O'Ddoirman/O'Riada/Maloney) 10. Ship Of Fools (9:15) (Hammill) Disc 2 01. Hamburg Station (3:50) (Evans/Williamson/Sawyer) 02. Seven Wonders (10:14) (Hammill) 03. Adagio For Strings (9:32) (S.Barber/arr. W.Strickland) 04. Red Shift (10:50) (Hammill) 05. Lemmings (15:19) (Hammill) 06. Outroduction (3:16) 07. Traintime (7:39) (Hammill) Guy Evans: Drums, Percussion, MIDI Pads & Samples, Blue Drums (Disc 1 /D1/: 2-7,10; D2: 1,2,4,5,7) Peter Hammill: Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards (D1: 2-7, 10; D2: 1,2,4,5,7) Hugh Banton: Organs (D2: 3-5,7) Manny Elias: Drums (D1: 7,10; D2: 7) Stuart Gordon: Violin (D1: 5,6,9,10; D2: 7) David Jackson: Saxes, Flutes, Soundbeam (D1: 8; D2: 2,4,5,7) Giles Perrin: Guitar, Blue Drums (D2: 2,4,7) Mat Fraser: Drums (D2: 2,7) Produced by Evans & Hammill Recorded live at the Union Chapel, London, 3/11/96 Live mixed by Paul Ridout Mastering by Peter Hammill at Terra Incognita Cover by Ridart 'When the Union Chapel offered me an evening to do whatever I wanted, I immediately suggested a duo gig with Peter. I'd been very intrigued by our earlier forays into non-direction & it had been a while since we'd caught up with each other. This time I thought I'd take things a stager further & hi-jack bits of his existing recordings into my own instrumental arsenal via a sampler. Peter would then play & sing to improvise re-arrangements made from authentic components. Peter (naturally) rose to this barely veiled gauntlet & came up with his list of starting concepts - radicalism, minimal personal, responsibility, high-risk & fun, to which I added, seldom performed material, psychedelic guitar & plenty of sonics. Two R&D sessions at Terra Incognita produced samples, proto-versions of songs & the idea of contributions from other musicians we each work with. At an early stage, I suggested that Hugh Banton should play the Father Willis pipe organ. Once Hugh was on board it was unthinkable not to have David. They would each play a solo section & guest, on a couple of other pieces. There could be no ducking the issue. We now had to deal with that V*** moment but avoid all its potential horrors (grisly time-warp event, those trousers etc.) Various panic inducing suggestions for material eventually boiled down to 'Lemmings' as the piece containing all the classic elements & great to play. Hugh immediately declared this the most technologically difficult song to reproduce - his MIDI bass pedals would have to be modified to play an authentic bass pulse. He would have to build a fuzz-box. He would start straightaway. David meanwhile decide to go ahead with a long planned total re-build of his system, banking on being able to finish it in time for the gig. So as the day drew closer, Hugh & David were feverishly building gear, Peter was tucked away in Bath brushing up on riffs & I was in London sorting out stuff like PA & parking. This was definitely my moment of maximum deja-vu. There then followed a surreal period as Peter rehearsed with Manny & Stuart in Bath & I rehearsed with Giles, Mat & Patou in London. Our one chance to check the planned ensembles was a day-long run through on the Friday before the concert - no doubt a bizarre experience for guests musicians as they struggled to guess where sections sections they had worked on would actually turn up. A great deal of faith was demanded & given. From the stage the gig itself was over in a flash. We are left with this record - a real official bootleg courtesy of a couple of PZM mics & a DAT machine which I rigged minutes before going on. To many ears it captures all the warm energy of the evening along with some of those rare moments when an invisible hand takes over to propel music to a wild an beautiful edge.' (Guy Evans) (P) © 1997 FIE! Records