H TO HE, WHO AM THE ONLY ONE

I'm a farily big Van Der Graaf Generator fan, thanks to my step-dad loving them. This is the second album that I have bought from them, and its definatly one of my favorites. Its much better than the first two albums because of its complexity, and much richer sounding songs, to me at least. Peter Hammill (one of the best vocalists ever in Prog Rock history) sings very well on this album, he gives some pretty dark lyrics to this album too. This is pretty jazzy sounding to me too, which I definatly like. Most VDGG albums are pretty jazzy for most of the time, if not all of the album being jazz-influenced.

"Killer" is my second favorite track. The lyrics are kind of silly, but its kind of funny. I think its talking about a killer shark in the bottom of the sea, and its killing people. The music is very good. Its pretty dark, and lurky, dark-jazz sounding to me. The vocals are definatly a soundout, and the acoustic guitar in the song is definatly soothing to me. Its a true progressive rock classic in anyones eyes. "House with no Door" is pretty intersting, very pretty, though not very interesting. The piano on this song throughout is very amazing. The vocals are soft on this song, smooth. The bass sounds really wierd on this track, very mid-rangy and odd sounding, it reminds me of Rush's "Caress of Steel" album for some reason, the bass tone at least. The lyrics are very nice, very sad, the way Peter sings it. "The Emperor in his War Room" is my favorite song of the album definatly. Its the heaviest of all the tracks on the album. The lyrics are dark and pretty scary, but this song is pretty much perfect from my standpoint. Its the perfect length too for that type of song. "Lost" is very good too, though not the best song, its pretty uplifting to me and its so energetic. The vocals and the keyboards are a true standout for this song, the drums are fresh sounding too. "Pioneers over C." is the only song that is too boring to me. It drags a little, though its a fresh idea definatly.

This is a great prog album, a classic, though maybe not as good as the next album. It deserves a good place in my heart for being the second album from VDGG that I have ever bought, and its a good one too.