VDGG - H to HE

[WytchCrypt]

The chorus in Firebrand is sung by Chris Judge Smith, not Peter Hammill...

OMG you're right! Just looked it up in my VDGG book...Judge is quoted as saying, "I was trying to sing like Arthur Brown...I'm supposed to be this demon witch rider. They mixed me dry with no reverb and they mixed Peter with this sweet echo on his voice (laughs)". And all this time I was blaming PH

[Bucka001]

I've read lots of Hammill interviews and I don't recall him ever mentioning Bowie, but I have read that Bowie was influenced by Hammill but I've not seen it substantiated. Don't forget that they both came up around the same time, so I wouldn't assume Hammill was influenced by anyone after 1967. He has said his first ideas for a band were based on his like of Arthur Brown, hence the organ trio format of the first VDGG but after that I think they were pretty much uninfluenced by anyone else. I think perhaps because they are both English and they both sing in an English accent (as opposed to an American one) makes some people think they must be influenced by each other.

Hammill and Bowie knew each other in the late sixties, both were signed to Mercury. In a recent Record Collector interview, PH mentions knowing Bowie back then, and producer John Anthony remembers them being acquaintances. Bowie was also hanging out in the studio with VdGG when they made H to He in '70 (Judge Smith was there also and remembers this). Guy told me once that they'd heard from others that Bowie had the whole PH/VdGG collection at home. I had this confirmed when I asked Peter Doggett (a Bowie biographer) about it. He came across a 1973 quote from producer Ken Scott, who was speaking about Bowie at the time: "[Bowie] likes to listen to records a lot. If he gets into an artist he'll buy all their LPs and play them one by one. The last time I can remember him doing that was Van Der Graaf Generator . . . He's a collector, of anything and everything, experiences, influences, the lot."

[alanterrill]

Hammill and Bowie knew each other in the late sixties, both were signed to Mercury. In a recent Record Collector interview, PH mentions knowing Bowie back then, and producer John Anthony remembers them being acquaintances. Bowie was also hanging out in the studio with VdGG when they made H to He in '70 (Judge Smith was there also and remembers this). Guy told me once that they'd heard from others that Bowie had the whole PH/VdGG collection at home. I had this confirmed when I asked Peter Doggett (a Bowie biographer) about it. He came across a 1973 quote from producer Ken Scott, who was speaking about Bowie at the time: "[Bowie] likes to listen to records a lot. If he gets into an artist he'll buy all their LPs and play them one by one. The last time I can remember him doing that was Van Der Graaf Generator . . . He's a collector, of anything and everything, experiences, influences, the lot."

Interesting! Thanks Jim!

[yesstiles]

Love this album! Just as good as "Pawn Hearts" imo.

"Pioneers Over C" is a masterpiece.

[Adrian]

Love this album! Does anyone know what the title is supposed to mean?

I always assumed "H to He" was a reference to nuclear fusion -- hydrogen to helium. I never did understand the second part. Perhaps a religious reference -- "He who am the only one" -- though in that case, the verb should of course be "is" and not "am."

[calyx]

I always assumed "H to He" was a reference to nuclear fusion -- hydrogen to helium. I never did understand the second part.

For me it's intentionally nonsensical and humorous, playing on the two meanings of the word "He" (one of them, as you rightly point out, short for "helium").