Van der Graaf Generator

[Mirror Image]

Interesting post, Joe. It seems you're not the only who feels Pawn Hearts is their most challenging album. One of my friends, who is a VdGG fan, said that Pawn Hearts was difficult to get into, but the listener who accepts the challenges is repaid again and again. As I mentioned in another post, I remember listen to Pawn Hearts, but I've yet to recall anything about it. I look forward to giving it a spin.

[NJ Joe]

Another thing I would like to point out about VdGG is they were definitely coming from a completely different angle than most progressive bands during the '70s. Here was this guy (Hammill) yammering away while underneath his vocals this machine is grinding away at some of the most menacing rhythms you'll hear in rock music. The fact that the band isn't 'guitar oriented' is also apart of their appeal for me, because it isn't apart of their sound world at all and instead what you have is the sound world being augmented by saxophone or flute and a keyboardist who is running his organ (Hammond E112) through all kinds of effects such as phasers, reverbs, tape echo, distortion, overdrive, etc. It also helps that their drummer is top-notch. He definitely gets a nod here for being able to navigate through all of these odd time signatures.

Nice take, MI.  They were most definitely coming from a different direction, a similar direction to King Crimson, imo.

By the way, PH contributes some excellent vocals on Fripp's Exposure album.

[NJ Joe]

Interesting post, Joe. It seems you're not the only who feels Pawn Hearts is their most challenging album. One of my friends, who is a VdGG fan, said that Pawn Hearts was difficult to get into, but the listener who accepts the challenges is repaid again and again. As I mentioned in another post, I remember listen to Pawn Hearts, but I've yet to recall anything about it. I look forward to giving it a spin.

I wholeheartedly agree.

[Mirror Image]

Nice take, MI.  They were most definitely coming from a different direction, a similar direction to King Crimson, imo.

By the way, PH contributes some excellent vocals on Fripp's Exposure album.

Both bands seem to be more interested in darker themes than most progressive bands around that time, although Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway isn't exactly a lighthearted affair.

I'll be honest here and say that I didn't think much of Fripp's Exposure. I enjoyed certain bits of it like North Star and Gabriel's Here Comes The Flood, but as a total, I don't think it was a total success or at least to these ears.

[Mirror Image]

Since we're here, for those that aren't aware of VdGG's sound-world, here's an awesome song from H to He, Who Am The Only One -

http://www.youtube.com/v/P9xfiAmUycI

[Mirror Image]

Here's The Sleepwalkers which is the closing song to the monumental Godbluff album:

http://www.youtube.com/v/81Y_xrARM0I