Back to David Diggs with Love Song Strings from 1975

Information discogged here.  I had to get this for completion on the seventies output from this wonderful composer, arranger, keyboardist, etc. I ripped two others recently back here, but earlier, the formidable Elusion album wowed us back here.  As usual, you live and learn. And thank the commenter who suggested the artist!

This one is criminally short, only 24 minutes long, and features composition by others, mostly a Chuck Girard, arranged for easy listening orchestra by Diggs. It's not straight out schmaltz, but close. The compositions are quite generic, but at least there are no cover versions or standards. Now that internet archive is down (shut down by Elon's drive for free speech, no doubt), can't put up samples, any suggestions? For once, youtube is shooting blanks here.

Recent info on the internet archive being down:

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Well, would be great if they get back up so we can hear those samples again!

Peter Hammill and Guy Evans in 1988's Spur of the Moment [flac temporary]

 

Well, here's a guy who needs no introduction as they love to introduce the famous...

This is I suppose improvised given the title, but the music is really truly interesting, not too abstract, with enough to hold on to make it well worth listening to. It's such a surprised given it came out in the year 1988. You can see that in addition to the VDGG people, a composer called Paul Ridout contributed compositions. Since the super useful internet archive is down for the moment, hopefully not permanently (shut down by one of our billionaire overlord kings, perhaps Elon himself personally ordered it?), I'll like youtube which has everything almost anyways but less accessible in general, link for this one here. I love the dramatic sound to it.

This album for sure takes over from The Long Hello, Vol. 4 stuff but is far far more thoughtfully complex. At times, like the description, it is indeed experimental, information here.

Another track I appreciated, called An Imagined Brother youtubed in link.

Nic Potter from The Long Hello, VDGG

 

From discogs:

Profile: Bassist, composer and painter. 

Born on October 18, 1951, in Wiltshire, England.

Died on January 16, 2013 in London, England.

Nic was in the Vol. 2 which was perhaps the least successful of the series, setting aside the last one-- sorry to put it that way straight off.

The music on these post-1970s albums is quite libraryish. There are keyboards, little of any other instruments, no guitarwork, and most compositions seem a little underdeveloped.

From Mountain Music, 1984, the Morning Suite:

Sketches in Sound (1986) and Self-Contained (1987) follow along the same lines basically. So it's like the Long Hello stuff from later but more monochromatic.

"The Long Hello" Part 2

What a shame that for Vol. 4 above, they gave up on the surreal and bizarrely creepy cover with the surfing ghost in the top right, in favour of the simple blue beach photo for the cd release-- but how typical.

As I said last time the first installment is by far the best of the lot.

Vol. 2 from 1981 sadly is taken up by library-style simplistic instrumental music with pretty conventional melodies but here's Welcombe Month (composed by Evans):

From the Vol. 3, one of the few standouts is a vocal track which is unusual (sung by later King Crimson vocalist Jakszyk) called Sogno D'Oro cowritten with David Jackson:

On the Vol. 4 there is far more progressive material, surprisingly for such a late year (1983). 

For ex., Der Traum von Julius is a track written by British composer Giles Perring:

So vol. 4 is well worth hearing and digesting thoroughly.

The later Gentlemen Prefer Blues album (1986) unfort. reverts back to more simple music.

Best song, and wonderfully experimental again, is The Main Slide, written by Evans:

"The Long Hello" from 1974 Part 1

 

This was the band behind Peter Hammill in VDGG, for the most part, as per discogs:

The Long Hello first started in 1973 as a one-off project of Van Der Graaf Generator bandmates David Jackson (sax and flute player), Guy Evans (percussionist) & organist Hugh Banton, supported by friends Piero Messina, Ced Curtis and Nic Potter. In 1980 the name 'The Long Hello' re-emerged as the common title for several other albums by these ex VdGG members separately. In total, 4 albums were released :

The Long Hello (volume 1) by Jackson, Evans and Banton

The Long Hello Volume Two by Nic Potter and Guy Evans

The Long Hello Volume Three by David Jackson

The Long Hello Volume Four by Guy Evans and David Jackson

It turns out there was a fifth one though called Gentlemen Prefer Blues, listed here.

In any case the first one was by far the best, though the fourth being more experimental definitely has some worth.

I always loved The O Flat Sessions with its eerie and atmospheric mystery, note that this track was written by Italian guitarist P. Messina:

His other composition on here is Fairhazel Gardens which is also quite lovely with its odd chord progression: