Just went to see Bowie: The Final Act. Very good, and resists the rather daft mythologising of Moonage Daydream. Instead, it's understated and quite emotional. Talking heads that actually say insightful things too. Anyway, definitely a film worth watching: releasing.dogwoof.com/bowie-the-fi...

There's a terrific five star review of Rock and Role in the latest Record Collector - many thanks to Kris Needs!

Cheer up, lads, it might never happen...

Santa got the message. Awesome looking tome from @joebankswriter.bsky.social. Can't wait to get started. Happy Xmas Bluesky peeps.

Here's another in that series of bizarre shock horror ads from Zep...

This advert in Sounds, 7 April 1973, for Led Zeppelin's Houses Of The Holy is quite something... Apparently there was a series of them, all of which were quickly banned.

Poster for Robert Calvert's 1981 Flicknife single Lord Of The Hornets , original artwork and finished product... The single version was actually a demo - here's the finished product from the album (of the book) Hype... www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sfM... #hawkwind

Listen to me, Graham Harfleet, Chris Clark and Andy Tillison blather on about the 'missing' Van der Graaf Generator album that exists (in our heads) between Pawn Hearts and Godbluff! The latest episode of Inside The Generator is here (from 1:00:01)... progzilla.com/the-progress...

Fascinating 'review' of Sabbath's Master Of Reality, Sounds, 14 August 1971. It's arguable that Sabbath had the same impact on the early 1970s music scene as punk would have a few years later. Critics were perplexed by both Sabbath's style of playing and their massive popularity...

My one and only Christmas book promo post (it is only five days away after all)! ROCK and ROLE: The Visionary Songs Of Peter Hammill & Van der Graaf Generator is available for under £30 (inc P&P) here: www.hive.co.uk/Product/Joe-... More books... 1/2

Here's another great review of the book from the estimable Dave Thompson, who knows a thing or two about Peter Hammill/VdGG himself... He describes Rock and Role as "a massive undertaking, and a massively successful one at that." www.goldminemag.com/reviews/new-...

Sounds like it's time to give this a re-read... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

They return...

I've added a couple of other pages to the rockandrole.net site under the 'About The Book' tab for Reviews and Interviews - including the mythical Greek radio interview, which finally took place the other week! I have another big interview coming up tomorrow morning... www.rockandrole.net/interviews

Slowly but surely, there'll be more content added to the rockandrole.net site over the coming months, but here's an early Christmas gift: the (nearly) complete set of Yuji Kaida's amazing photos from one of VdGG's legendary Marquee '76 shows www.rockandrole.net/vdgg-27-july... #peterhammill

Just finished reading The Magic Box by Rob Young, a survey of the stranger end of UK TV & film. It covers The Wicker Man, Quatermass etc, but it's the more obscure stuff that's really interesting, peculiar visions of an enchanted and/or idealised past, still echoing through British culture today...

Latest episode of podcast Inside The Generator is a biggie - Pawn Hearts! Listen to some people excitedly talking about it (me, Graham Harfleet, Andy Tillison & Chris Clark), and then listen to some tracks from it, here (from 1:01:36): progzilla.com/the-progress... #vdgg #peterhammill

Saw the Guy Pearce/Robert Carlyle-starring Ravenous (1999) at the excellent @thenickelcinema.bsky.social last night. Missed it when it came out, but what a weird and rather wonderful film it is. Its central conceit may be totally wacky, but it develops in nicely unexpected directions. Any fans?

Delivered today (as it says on those websites): fantastic looking tome on one of my 'heroes' by @joebankswriter.bsky.social - looks great.

Want to hear more about how I came to write Rock and Role, and what's it all about in general? Then here's a nice interview with me in Progressive Rock Journal! And no, I can't believe my hair's that grey either... #VdGG #hammill

In this week's @thequietus.com Portal, an Aphex Twin deep cuts feature from 2014 that I wrote a couple of entries for: thequietus.com/opinion-and-... 'If It Really Is Me' remains sublime, "belle époque sophistication tempered by a frisson of sci-fi menace" www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRqc...

Like to hear me yack on about Van der Graaf Generator's third album H To He Who Am The Only One, in the company of Graham Harfleet, The Tangent's Andie Tillison and Chris Clark? Then step right this way (from 1:01:20)... progzilla.com/the-progress...

Brock gets shirty... Sounds, 27 May 1972 #hawkwind

Suspected this was coming 🙂. SWT mixes and some interesting looking live recordings - from the BBC? Have they found new sources for these? #hawkwind www.cherryred.co.uk/hawkwind-haw...

Friend of the blog, @joebankswriter.bsky.social has a new book out today on Peter Hammill so here's something he wrote for Wyrd Britain back in 2001 just after the release of 'Hawkwind: Days of the Underground'. wyrdbritain.blogspot.com/2021/02/3-wy... #peterhammill #vandergraafgenerator

It's publication day for Rock and Role: The Visionary Songs of Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator "Banks tackles Hammill's canon with an energetic, imaginative style... an assiduously researched story" MOJO "An authoritative exploration... highly accessible critiques" PROG www.rockandrole.net

And coming in January, a remastered 50th anniversary edition of the original Michael Moorcock & The Deep Fix album, The New Worlds Fair! Includes a 2,000 word essay by me 😉 Details and pre-order it here: www.thinklikeakey.com/release/5596...

Actually a great version...

Quite a lot of coverage coming in around the book - officially out tomorrow! - but here's a great piece from Spain's leading newspaper El Pais (actually, its ICON magazine) about VdGG that includes some quotes from me... elpais.com/icon/2025-12...

"intelligent, informed and articulate" - great review here of Rock and Role by Rupert Loydell at IT... #hammill #vdgg

Joe was kind enough to come and sign the books here at Burning Shed HQ last week We have a few signed copies left if you'd like one - ideal for Christmas! burningshed.com/store/kingma... #musicfeed #musicsky @joebankswriter.bsky.social @kingmakermgmt.bsky.social

In receipt of Rock and Role: The Visionary Songs of Peter Hammill and Van der Graaf Generator by @joebankswriter.bsky.social and very much looking forward to reading it!

Hawkwind's Major Tour Plans contains some interesting - though not entirely accurate factoids - but that Budgie advert is something else... (Terrific album of course!) - Sounds, 9 Sept 1972

Every Sunday night, I'm on The Progressive Rock Show on Progzilla Radio talking about VdGG's back catalogue, on a panel inc Andy Tillison from The Tangent. Click on the link below (from 1:00:45) to hear Andy's incredible story about The Least We Can Do Is Wave... progzilla.com/the-progress...

Ooh, some Black Friday/Final Programme niceness here... @breakfastruins.bsky.social severinfilms.com/en-gb/collec...

Wow, this terrific poster has just popped up on FB, from Keele University, 12 December 1979. Simple Minds supported Hawkwind?? New facts emerge...

Crazy cats that they are, Prog magazine let me do their lead review this month: Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here 50 boxset. This will always be one of my favourite albums, "as beguiling and mysterious as when it was first released." Love the Pete Fowler illustration that accompanies it...

Excited to hear that people are starting to get the book. Here's a picture of one delivered with all due care and attention...

Saw Bugonia, Yorgos Lanthimos' remake of the pleasingly crackers Save The Blue Planet! Very enjoyable, looks and sounds brilliant, and Emma Stone delivers a coolly ambiguous performance - but still not sure whether the whole film is just one black joke or if it has anything 'serious' to say...

Sad to hear that Andrew Lauder has died. Such an important figure in the British music industry. He signed/released many fantastic bands: Hawkwind, High Tide, Can, Amon Duul II, Dr Feelgood, Buzzcocks, Stranglers etc. And he gave me a great interview for Days Of The Underground.

Want to take a closer look at Rock and Role: The Visionary Songs of Peter Hammill & VdGG? Here's Barry Robinson of Classic Album Review to take you through it... (Thanks Barry!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-UV...

There's quite a connection between these two albums, that you'll discover if you read my upcoming Peter Hammill book...

OK, this is starting to get a bit spooky now - apparently the phones are still down between Athens and Crouch End, so my chat on Greece's Channel 1 will have to wait again for another day...

Delayed from a couple of weeks ago, I'm going to be talking about Peter Hammill and the book on Greece's Channel 1 radio in a short while: approx. 5.10pm UK / 7.10pm Greek time. You can listen live here: www.kanaliena.gr www.e-tetradio.gr/Article/4482...

I was at Burning Shed yesterday signing 400 pre-order copies of the book😉Thanks to everybody who got in early. It was amazing to finally get my hands on the physical result of all those months of researching and writing. I think it looks fantastic, and it weighs a blummin' ton (1.5kg to be precise)!

Thought you'd heard enough of me gassing on about Peter Hammill/VdGG? Think again! Tonight from around 9pm, hear me go Inside The Generator on Progzilla radio, a new weekly voyage through the VdGG back catalogue beginning tonight with The Aerosol Grey Machine... progzilla.com/listen/

This was really interesting, Peter Hammill's show on WPKN radio last night, highlighting a lot of the lesser known stuff - at least lesser known by PH fans - he's been involved with. That version of 'Traintime' with the Lille National Orchestra is just tremendous. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

This is the poster for the 1966 screening of Alphaville and La Jetée at which JG Ballard first saw two films he would often mention as SF favourites. He reviewed La Jetée in New Worlds shortly after. John Brunner (at the same screening) reviewed Alphaville in the following issue. He hated it.

Back on my slow tour of classic SF with Robert Sheckley's Dimension Of Miracles (1968). It's an absurdist, space-hopping romp about a man who accidentally wins a galactic lottery, with its talking, sentient prize just one of the plot's MacGuffins, as the book is more a series of comic episodes 1/3