Van Der Graaf Generator - The Killer Lives - Live in Brescia May 21st 1972

The first thing to bear in mind is, if this is a soundboard recording, the guy at the desk has a lot to answer for. But this document of the second night of Van Der Graaf's second Italian tour is essential listening regardless, the sound of the band both attaining the peak of its musical powers, and approaching the peak of the internal tensions that would tear them apart within a matter of months.
Set to a backdrop of a semi-delirious audience, the set itself is a dynamic rendering of the band's settled in concert repertoire, highlighting favorites from the last three albums - "White Hammer," "Darkness," "Lemming," "Lost," and so forth - but wrapping up around a monstrous excursion through their debut's most lasting monuments, "Octopus" and "Aquarian." "Octopus," of course, had been revisited during the sessions for the band's last album, Pawn Hearts, and while the recording was ultimately dropped from the LP, the rearrangement remained on the band's mind. Meanwhile, a snatch of "Theme One" adds a delirious edge to the medley, while "Aquarian" can rarely have sounded so impassioned.
The Brescia gig ends there; the CD, however, continues on with a live-in-the-studio rendering of "A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers." The packaging credits the performance to "London, 1970"; in fact, it's the oft-circulated Belgian TV version, from March 1972.

Disc 1
Track 01 White Hammer 8:28 (11.6MB)
Track 02 Darkness 6:41 (9.2MB)
Track 03 Lemmings 12:49 (17.6MB)
Track 04 Man-Erg 9:52 (13.5MB)
Track 05 W 6:57 (9.5MB)
Track 06 Killer 9:46 (13.4MB)
Track 07 Lost 13:24 (18.4MB)

Disc 2
Track 01 Octopus 1/Theme One/Octopus 2 16:37 (22.8MB)
Track 02 Aquarian 9:16 (12.7MB)
Track 03 A Plague Of Light House Keepers 23:15 (31.9MB)

Lineup:
Peter Hammill
Hugh Banton
Guy Evans
David Jackson