Search - Van Der Graaf Generator :: Pawn Hearts (Mlps)

The Epitome of Experimental UK Prog

E. Shaun Russell | 06/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pawn Hearts is the finest album in Van der Graaf Generator's catalog for a number of reasons. The previous three VdGG albums all have excellent moments and strong material which foreshadows this album, but Pawn Hearts is the album which ties all the innovations and experiments together.Perhaps the most prominent difference between prior albums and this one is the prescence of an immaculate production. Use of stereo effects, panning and unusual juxtapositions of instrument volumes all contribute to the seamless whole of this album. Another advantage to Pawn Hearts is the frequent use of Robert Fripp on electric guitar; his playing here is quite different from his work with King Crimson.All three songs have an indescribable quality that separates them from all other progressive rock; though "Man-Erg" begins as rather straight- forward prog, it deteriorates into a schizophrenic 13\8 saxophone-guitar riff with stereo panned screams of "Am I really me, or am I someone else?" All songs take the listener on a little trip into Peter Hammill's mind...both the lyrics and the music are written primarily by him, and only a singular vision such as his could make an album like this work. Though there truly is no comparison to an album of this calibre, albums on a similar intellectual progressive level would be Rush's _Hemispheres_ and King Crimson's _Lark's Tongue In Aspic_."

ALL THINGS ARE APART, ALL THINGS ARE A PART

J. C. Bailey | East Sussex United Kingdom | 09/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I rediscovered this ancient classic during a clear out of the record cabinet. It was one of the half dozen records that I gave a spin to decide if they were worth keeping, and the only one of them to make it safely back to the cupboard (rather than the bin). More than that, it was a moving experience. Although some of the instrumentation and production sounds a little dated, this is a strangely up-to-date work of art that out-achieves many fine recent offerings (e.g. Radiohead) on their home turf.The most remarkable aspect of all VdGG's work was the lyrics. Peter Hammill was (and remains) an accomplished and visionary poet in his own right (how many other rock lyricists have had their work published in book form?) whose prophetic insight has stood the test of history. When he was actually putting pen to paper in the swinging sixties and early seventies his words seemed too black, too preoccupied with social fragmentation, too pessimistic. We still thought we were going to carve out some kind of hippy utopia here on earth.If only New Wavers of the later seventies had listened to Van der Graaf (and Hammill's solo albums) instead of slagging them along with the other glam and prog behemoths of the era, they might have recognised kindred spirits (although no new wave band ever approached Hammill's clarity or beauty of expression). Hammill could have been to New Wave what Neil Young was to Grunge - a sort of grandfather in arms - and who knows we might have escaped the horrific excesses of New Romanticism.Hammill takes the alienation and sorrow and doubt and loneliness that in my adolescent years were mainly confined to the experience of socially retarded individuals, and imagines . . . what if these pains were felt not just by lonely individuals, but collectively by a whole lonely civilisation? ("A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers")? What would happen if a whole society developed suicidal tendencies ("Lemmings")? What will society be like when we are so dehumanised that men and women are thought of as no more than units of work ("Man-Erg")? And of course those nightmarish pictures, which were once so much on the fringe of our artistic consciousness, are now mainstream. Sadly, the price of bringing these patterns within the grasp of a wider audience is that to present-day listeners they no longer seem prophetic . . . merely realistic.The most remarkable thing of all - the aspect that makes Hammill's work into art rather than mere science - is that he is not afraid to find a glimmer of hope in the darkness. And he does so with the finesse that only a wordsmith of genius could pull off: "What course is there left but to die" all on its own means little today - that sort of thing has become the staple diet of Norwegian metal headbangers. But switch the final verse to this: "What cause is there left but to live . . . (falsetto croon) in the hope of saving our children's children's little ones" and you have a call to redemption that will bring string men out in goose-bumps.The final lyrical flourish is to alternate a statement of despair ("All things are apart") with a statement of transcendent unity ("All things are a part"). The fact that you might never spot this subtle exchanging of pain for acceptance without reading the lyrics in print is a measure of the composer's rugged integrity.Imagine this awesome lyrical freight carried by a group of virtuoso musicians unafraid to experiment. The fact that some of the experiments don't quite work is part of the work's radical beauty. Steel yourself for moments of jarring noise and dissonance alternating with moments of melting sweetness. It is arguable that Hammill at his peak had the most beautiful voice in rock, and almost beyond argument that he possessed the greatest musical and dramatic range. Add the searing brilliance of Robert Fripp out of King Crimson, playing the sort of guitar that nobody else can copy even today (although Radiohead have tried once or twice). You end up with a statement unequalled in the history of rock music. No compromise, just art. Easy listening it isn't, but truth and beauty are rarely pretty and never bland."