Van Der Graaf Generator-World Record (1976)

Van der Graaf Generator has no parameters or predecessors, his music is completely opposite to that established in progressive rock, and this is not the typical rock band. It is not even remotely similar to any of its from the same times. They lacked the usual bass and guitar, consisted of a very jazzy and technical drummer (Evans), a keyboard duet (Hammil with Banton), and a saxophonist-breeder, David Jackson. The band wove an amalgam of dense sounds with incredible and dark layers of melodies, traced one after another with endless canons, which lasted more than 10 minutes. Moments of total peace are mixed, well represented in his music, with total chaos and pseudo schizophrenic and lysergic distortion.
In their first stage they recorded formidable albums like "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" (1970), "H to He, Who Am the Only One" (1970) or "Pawn Hearts" (1971), all of them considered masterpieces of progressive rock.
During the group's second active stage (1974-1978), more interesting works were recorded. Such is the case of “World Record” (76), album in which Peter Hammill expands his instrumental horizons giving more space this time if his electric guitar
The experimentation is successful and allows the group not to repeat themselves emulating the two previous works "Godbluff" and "Still Life" and this gives the album a unique personality
A result that can be seen in this work that at times is gloomy, dense, exciting and melodic.
Proof of this is its extensive theme “Meurglys III (The Songwriters Guild)”, a very dense suite, totally progressive, but curiously enough, from minute 13:13 onwards, reggae rhythms (although it does not appear to be), forming an already legendary and fundamental theme in the group's career and in the history of progressive rock in general.