PAWN HEARTS

'Pawn Hearts' was released in 1971, only savoring commercial success in Italy. Apparently, this album inspired the RPI movement. But despite negative critical reviews, this is one of Van Der Graaf Generator's masterpieces. This album landed #26 on Rolling Stone's '50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time'. Three songs, one sidelong epic/suite, and an uncountable amount of greatness. All the way through, through both the music and vocals, Van Der Graaf Generator keeps you wanting more of this album. The record starts with 'Lemmings(Including Cog)', which introduces you to Peter Hammill's soaring operatic vocals. Some people cannot stand his voice, maybe because they think it's plain bad, or because it's too out-there? I don't know, but I completely disagree. The album starts with 'Lemmings(including 'Cog'), opening delicately with flute and soft percussion, and soon vocals are introduced. The song then explodes into this proggy hard-rock-ish track with wonderful, mysterious lyrics and dark musical elements. This song experiences many different melodies, each better establishing the song's almost gothic mood. The percussion is outstanding, technically impressive, and benefits the music extremely well. If you ever noticed, close to the beginning of the song, Peter Hammill softly and poetically remarks: "What choice is there left but to die?", but later in the song replaces 'die' with 'live' and 'try'. This creates a feeling of hopefulness for the listener and honestly makes you wonder about the concept of this song. (Apparently, it is about destruction and the following return to peace.) Next is 'Man-Erg'. This song is about the infinite fight between good and evil. This has always been my least favorite song on the album but is still great. It opens with piano and delicate Hammill vocals. The music explodes in a powerful chorus very quickly. Hammill depicts his inner demons as 'killers' and his conscience as 'angels'. About a third into the song the music explodes into a hard-rock, guitar-heavy section where Hammill exclaims: "How can I be free?" This melts down into a middle section with a groovy Hammond playing in the background. This is the best part of the song in my opinion, and it encapsulates what this album is all about beautifully. Then a saxophone enters the scene, and everything goes crazy. When the crazy ends, the original melody continues, as powerful as ever. This song has an insane ending. I'll leave it at that. On side two is 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers - Medley'. The crazy, the beautiful, the mind-boggling masterpiece you either love or hate. This is my favorite Van Der Graaf Generator song. It has a concept too. A lighthouse-keeper witnesses past events of ship-crashes and falls into insanity. The end of the song is left open, so the listener (if they can even dissect the meaning of this song) can decide for themselves if the man committed suicide or learned to live with all he has seen. This song has ten parts, each about two minutes long. They tell the story of this man in a complicated way that later prog bands (i.e. The Mars Volta) would enjoy later on. The song starts with distorted piano and soft percussions. Hammill's vocals kick in, singing beautiful lyrics. After about two minutes the melody changes into my favorite part of the song, where Hammill quickly recites what his lighthouse-keeper character has seen. There is an ambient scene where horns interrupt until an organ plays, quite softly. The original melody is reintroduced, this time with different lyrics. Discordant horns shout and the melody changes into possibly the most fun part of the song. It feels groovy and compliments Hammill's powerful vocals beautifully. This section ends and a quiet one with light percussion and vocals replaces it. A disturbed Hammill whispers "Would you cry if I died?" and a new melody (there's a ton of 'em) begins groovy, groovy, groovy. The music builds with discordant horns and slamming piano until it fades away. A melody from about seven minutes into the song is reiterated for a very short time until another one begins. This part sounds very hopeful. It is also very long. When it ends, another one begins, as intense as ever. It shows the true genius of Van Der Graaf Generator. Another one begins, extending the intense feeling of insanity that the first one started. This ends and hope is felt in the next mini-tune. This part is beautiful. If the song ended here it would be just as good. But there's still about three minutes. Hammill shouts melodically: "All things are apart" in a part that could easily make anyone feel moved. The song ends after a guitar solo. This is a great album. Anyone and everyone should check it out, whether you like prog or not. Easily one of the best prog albums ever made.

Share this VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Boi_da_boi_124
• Report this review (#2901752)
• Buy VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR music online with PA partners
• Show all VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR MP3/Stream
• Go to VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Pawn Hearts page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR related discussions