Classic and essential for any rock music follower (it exceeds genres).
Classic and essential for any rock music follower (it exceeds genres).
Uhh, no. After Pawn Hearts, they broke up for 3 years. During the hiatus, Hammill made a number of solo albums, the other 3 were involved in the Long Hello project, Jackson drove a delivery truck. Banton was in Seventh Wave(a great underappreciated 3-keyboard band), Evans played with Charlie and the Wide Boys. Then they realized they were better together and reformed, and the first result was Godbluff. So no period of "growth and artistic development". Godbluff is a good album, but it'll never match the 3 that preceded it.Originally Posted by arturs
Pretty simple, really. The band itself was so much better. Of those early Charisma/John Anthony/Tony Stratton-Smith groups, Genesis rates a distant third behind VdGG and the original Rare Bird.
Those are supposed to be scales on the cover, not balls.
But they do look like balls.
At any rate, great, great album. Pawn Hearts is my all-time fave but H to HE is close.
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
Just freakin' kills. What a, well, killer bonus track!
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
had this thing back in the day and after 5 listens I dumped it... just cant take all those horrible vocals
Why is it whenever someone mentions an artist that was clearly progressive (yet not the Symph weenie definition of Prog) do certain people feel compelled to snort "thats not Prog" like a whiny 5th grader?
While we're talking about this album, can anyone shed some light on the title? H to He - fusion. But "Who am the only one"????? Is that some theological reference?
It is not "who" but WHO - tungsten/hydrogen/oxygen, or WHo - tunsten/holmium. I forget which.
Uhh, yeah... I know very well (in far more detail than is healthy!) all the history of VdGG and their breakups and reformations. Growth and artistic development need not take place solely within the context of the group. To me, Godbluff represents everything they were working towards, individually or collectively. Everything came together perfectly on that one.
The albums that preceded Godbluff were certainly very good, very creative, very unique. But the lyrics and the overall ethos are so pompous and pretentious that I just can't listen very often. And this in spite of the fact that I recognize and appreciate the value of pomposity and pretentiousness in music; I am a prog fan after all.
I like the record quite a lot...but I only love "The Emperor in His War Room," the"Lost" medley and bonus "Squids" set. OTOH, I absolutely adore even note, every nanosecond of Pawn Hearts. As great as the albums that follow are (and they are great), for me, PH stands out as an album that came out of nowhere; an album that sounded absolutely unlike anything that had come before it...or, for that matter, that would come after it....
I think he had been more a collaborator than a full band member. He appears only on their secod album Psi-Fi (1975) and only on one track. By the way, a criminally underapreciated band i.m.o. The Second Hand / Chillum connection and the fact that their albums are still cheap and in abundance, should have risen more interest among current progressive rock fans.
I share the same opinion.
Love this album, usually more so than Pawnhearts, though I will admit to often skipping Killer & Pioneers. Sue me.
PS- I've tried Seventh Wave & I really dislike them; too goofy, with little to redeem the songs IMO.
There was an alternate white LP sleeve for H to He which I have, but I can't remember the country of origin at the moment....
Great album, so well recorded, ahead of it's time.
The US pressing (on Dunhill) had the white cover.
According to Ken Elliott, he WAS a full band member, although only for a brief period. Hammill came calling and he went back to VdGG in a flash. Understandable, he had a lot more time invested there. Would have loved to have seen Banton with Seventh Wave. The six-piece band that toured America without him was truly amazing, with him they would have been even better!
Listening to the album reminds me of 3 classic songs... If 6 were 9 (with the freakout ending extended for a further 20 minutes), MacArthur Park (I'll use this recipe again but no tuna) and Barry Ryan's Eloise (I love you, I love you.) Also reminds me of the several funerals I've attended lately... me trying to suss out the tune in hymn 567, 436 etc, wishing the organist had a sax player as a guide!
I'd place it more in the middle than the bottom... But it is one of those albums that's not simple to listen to, even by VdGG standards. If there was another tune ala House With No Door, it'd probably be an easier listen for me
Great added bonus for the remastered album (and the new SACD version), but ultimately, it's in line with the album.. which means good but not ultra-great
yeah, but same artwork... only the purple frame becomes white.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Good album but I prefer all other VdGG albums from the seventies.
My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/
One can definitely feel a distinct sense of progression from The Least We Can Do through H to He, reaching its pinnacle with Pawn Hearts - & it's not clear how the band at that moment could have followed PH. To that extent, it's striking just how different Godbluff sounds to these earlier records.
Prompted by this thread, & this post, I gave H to He another listen this morning. I was struck by just how good the record sounds. It's perhaps a little inconsistent - the lyrics on Killer are are a bit excruciating, even if the playing is glorious (there's a section towards the end of Jaxon's improv when the band comes back in, & Jaxon's playing, around & behind & through the band is astonishing). I was struck by just how raw & dark Emperor is - as well as by how brilliant it is. But, for me, it was Lost that was the real surprise - I'm not sure I'd ever appreciated just *how* good this track is. Somehow, it's a bit of a lurker in the VdGG back catalogue for me - but I find myself inclined to agree with you, John, that it's possibly the standout track on the record.
H to He Who Am the Only One is not one of my favourite Van der Graaf Generator records, but it's still a great album. I wrote a review of it: https://pienemmatpurot.com/review-va...only-one-1970/
My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/
It has a special place for me, because it was my first and the only one I have on vinyl (twice).
Good review. H to He is my least favourite of the first six VDGG albums (up to Still Life), but perhaps I had been a bit harsh in neglecting it. In the remixed version from the Charisma Years boxset both Stephen Tayler and Ben Wiseman brought out the best of it musically, and the album is far better than I remember. This is particularly true for David Jackson’s contribution (in fact, Jackson comes out of the whole Charisma Years project particularly well). Lyrically, though, H to He is a bit weak (IMO). Hammill always walked a tightrope in his lyrics between writing about isolation/alienation and slipping into self-pity; on this album several of his lyrics veer very close to the latter.
I found it interesting that, on Killer, the band was thinking about “what kind of elements their listeners would like”, presumably in the hope of selling more albums and achieving commercial success. This commercial breakthrough eluded them at the time (except for Pawn Hearts, which topped the album charts in Italy!), but I wonder what the band members would have thought if they knew their albums would still be selling (and they would still be performing) 50 years later. Hopefully they would have seen that as the true measure of their success.
We walked arm in arm with madness, and every little breeze whispered of the secret love we had for our disease
My favorite Van Der Graaf Generator album, tied with Pawn Hearts. “Killer” is actually my least favorite song on the album.
Killer is great, but I also love House with no door. I wouldn't be able to choose between them.
You are right: Indeed, David Jackson benefits most from the remix. His parts on H To He cut through much more clearly now.
My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/
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