H TO HE, WHO AM THE ONLY ONE

I remember buying Pawn Hearts years ago based on how highly it's regarded by the prog community, but it never really clicked with me. I think I may have listened to this album too at least once before, but I couldn't say how long ago. I think my biggest problem with Van Der Graaf Generator is Peter Hammill. His voice is definitely the focus, with the music mostly serving to drive the vocals along. I just don't find his voice particularly interesting. He sounds like a prog rock David Bowie, which probably sounds like a great thing, but I have the same problem here that I do with a lot of 60s/70s Bowie songs - the music just isn't interesting enough to grab my attention, being neither catchy or interesting enough for me.

'Killer' and 'House With No Door' go past without grabbing my attention, but 'Emperor In His War-Room' has some nice moments, the flute in particular. 'Lost' is another Hammill-heavy number, peppered with some instrumental sections that, even for someone who is not at all that familiar with VDGG, can only be described as VDGG-esque - repetitive organ/keys riffing with sax. The different sections of the song just seem to flow into each other without a lot of direction (to my ears), and I don't find much of it memorable. 'Pioneers Over C' is the first track where I notice a bass guitar (was it there in the other tracks and low in the mix? I'm not interested enough to go back and check), but the track follows the VDGG formula, just with bass & sax leading the riff rather than organ & sax. Oh wait, a break in the music so the saxophonist can tune his instrument, and then back to the repetitive riffing.

Yeah, I just don't think I'm ever going to understand VDGG's popularity in the prog community. I'm sure this was pretty revolutionary in 1970, but listening to it after hearing what came after in those early-to-mid 70s first, it sounds like the prototype that was improved upon by later bands. I shouldn't fault VDGG for being a trail-blazer, but all the same I just don't find this particularly interesting.