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The Latest Breaking News from Charisma

Peter Hammill to release 20-disc The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971 - 1986 box set in September

Peter Hammill's solo albums for Charisma and Virgin Records have been newly remastered from the original master tapes.

“These techniques are very effective for giving your lines a slippery, rubber band-like sound”: Steve Vai and Guthrie Govan love these long-slide glissando techniques – here’s how you can bring them into your playing

“These techniques are very effective for giving your lines a slippery, rubber band-like sound”: Steve Vai and Guthrie Govan love these long-slide glissando techniques – here’s how you can bring them into your playing

In his latest column, Andy Wood taps into what he learned from Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan and Eric Johnson and applied to the melodies on his new album, Charisma

“We should have toured Europe and taken advantage of the impact our single had. We were lazy and stuck to playing in Britain. It was a huge mistake”: The all-too-short story of promising early proggers Rare Bird

“We should have toured Europe and taken advantage of the impact our single had. We were lazy and stuck to playing in Britain. It was a huge mistake”: The all-too-short story of promising early proggers Rare Bird

A US tour without enough dates, a move away from the sound that got them signed, frequent line-up changes and never any money – just some of the things that went wrong for the band who once stood alongside The Nice and Van der Graaf Generator

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“I played the tapped section on the demo almost as a joke, but my engineer said, ‘That has to be on the record!’” Tapping on a country album? Don't knock it ’til you’ve tried it, says Andy Wood

How Eddie Van Halen-style tapping can add spice to a country guitar solo

“Suddenly he had a different attitude, and from that moment it wasn’t as much fun… It’s strange when one of the guys is a little less keen”: How The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway forced Peter Gabriel and Genesis apart

1974’s ambitious double-album took a heavy toll on the people who worked on it – then its lukewarm reception and bewildering stage show made things even more tense

“We were held together by Sellotape and sealing wax… We knew our days were numbered”: Tired, broke and losing members, Van der Graaf Generator went down fighting with The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome

Peter Hammill remembers trimming down the music and the name to spend 18 months in a ferocious punk-tinged endgame that resulted in stunning live album Vital

“Our contemporaries had numbers that got people up on their feet cheering. We didn’t… We wondered if A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers was the way to go. I thought, ‘We can’t even play this!’”: Van der Graaf Generator’s struggle through the 70s

Keyboardist Hugh Banton on deciding not to emulate Keith Emerson’s stage persona, how he got the band signed, and why it took him so long to accept the “prog” label

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