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Van der Graaf Generator: Pawn Hearts (1971) 
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Section: Reviews | Category: Music | Area: UK | Topic: Music
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It's really interesting to hear how Van der Graaf Generator progressed over four albums from the folky psychedelic proto-progressive sound of The Aerosol Grey Machine (1969) right up to the far more aggressive and hard-edge sounds of Pawn Hearts, their fourth album released late in 1971. Pawn Hearts is regarded by many as their high point, and I have no argument about that. Bassist Nic Potter was gone for good, so obviously, the bass is not as emphasized. This left the band with Peter Hammill, David Jackson, Guy Evans, and Hugh Banton. King Crimson's Robert Fripp also makes a guest here. The album opens with "Lemmings", an incredible epic cut that shows just how aggressive VdGG had became up to that point. The lyrics seem to be about how people act like "lemmings" and how that behavior can be self-destructive. In fact a lot of Hammill's lyrics tended to address social problems, or they simply had apocalyptic overtones (like "After the Flood" off 1970's The Least We Can Do is Wave to Each Other). I especially dig the spacey organ near the end. The next cut is "Man-Erg" which is a bit more mellow, but even here, there are some rather aggressive passages. Check out the sax work of David Jackson. Jackson often had a habit of playing more than one sax at the same time (he wasn't the only one doing it, Roland Kirk was the first to do it, and Colosseum's Dick Heckstall-Smith was also known to do that as well, and if you're well informed on the Italian prog scene, so did Osanna's Elio D'anna). The last cut, "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" is the VdGG sound to the extreme. It's a side-length epic and it's just plane bizarre. There are some mellow parts, and there are some really dissonant parts, and some of it simply sounds insane. Synthesizer and even a little Mellotron happens to be used here, two keyboards that were not used very often on any VdGG album. And if any of you have owned the LP and got the CD and wonder why the killer instrumental "Theme One" is not included, here's the reason why: that song was never included on the original British LP. That song was released only as a single over there in 1972. It was only the American LP that featured "Theme One". After Pawn Hearts, the band broke up, leaving Peter Hammill to release a handful of solo albums until 1975 when the band reunited and gave us albums like Godbluff (1975), Still Life (1976) and World Record (1976). 1977's The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome was actually recorded when the band shortened its name to Van der Graaf because of a change in the lineup and the legality of the Van der Graaf Generator name was in question. Regardless, Pawn Hearts, as well as H to He Who Am The Only One, are two excellent and essential prog rock albums you should own.
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Visitor Comments about Van der Graaf Generator: Pawn Hearts (1971)
Posted by Ben Miler on 2003-03-20 13:49:08
My Score:
Comment: For Oldhippyguy, it happened to be me who did the review to Pawn Hearts, for some odd reason, my name didn''t get popped up there. But I have done lots of reviews right here for many more prog rock and psych albums.
I happen to be born in 1972, so I totally missed out on being actually there in the 1960s and ''70s and witnessing this music as it was new. I remember as a teenager being a bit in the dark of this music. I had to read books, I had to find people who shared my interest in music (which was very difficult). Then I went online, which made my research so much easier. Of course, these days, I live in a small, remote town called Lakeview, Oregon, where people''s interested in music is virtually zero (doesn''t help when the town''s industry, which used to include logging, mainly now just consists of ranching, so you get a large redneck population). Also, I am one of the younger generations who can''t stand rap music. At least I was old enough to know of a time that crap did not exist. Out here in Lakeview, I have to put up with some obnoxious kid in a red pickup blaring that rap music so loud that the rest of the world can hear it (I feel tempted to say to him, "Turn that crap off! Have you ever heard of the Beatles?", which is very unlikely in his case). Doesn''t help when, other than talk stations that blare nothing but sports and Rush Limbaugh (as well as oldies from time to time), the kids only have MTV on their television as their alternative, which keeps them from being exposed to any good music, like prog, psych, Krautrock, avant-garde, and the likes (and make them only be exposed to the latest washed-up gangsta rapper and Backstreet Boys, N''Sync, and Britney Spears clone).
I have some Tangerine Dream reviewed here as well (that is, their first four albums from Electronic Meditation to Atem). I also have Hawkwind''s 1970 debut reviewed as well (which I find is rather underrated).
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Posted by oldhippyguy on 2003-03-20 11:19:37
My Score: 
Comment: I was shocked to see my all time favorite group and album mentioned here!! I can''t recall ( naturally !!) HOW MANY HOURS I SAT IN FRONT OF A PAIR OF JBLl STUDIO MASTERS , tripping my brains out , and hearing Peter Hammill plaintively wailing the strange but ever so meaningful lyrics from " A Plague ..." Hawkwind , Tangerine Dream , the Residents , the old Genesis before all that dance shit started..ah, the old days!! We old hippies have memories of so much more than the current generations can possibly hope for. When hip-hop came out , I knew it was over..they have no concept of what magnificent possibilities we had staring us in the face in the 60''s and 70''s even..we had a chance to liyterally change the world from a square to a round and we made a real difference. God Bless All who read this and peace to the world.
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