THE LEAST WE CAN DO IS WAVE TO EACH OTHER

The first true VdGG album is an incredible performance from the band, which if there were any justice would have propelled them to the front rank of the nascent prog scene just as King Crimson's debut did them. If I had to pick out three albums to represent the end of the 1969s and illustrate the cultural shift from the optimistic and (arguably) naive views of the hippy generation to the darker and more foreboding tones of the 1970s, I'd pick out Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones, the first Black Sabbath album, and this one.

I defy anyone to listen to the opening track, Darkness 11/11, and not have the hairs stand up on the back of their neck as the song begins. Guy Evans and Nic Potter establish a foreboding, marching rhythm, Hugh Banton's keys whisper of supernatural forces gathering, and Hammill's vocals begin as whispering rumours and rise to bellowed prophecies of utter destruction. David Jackson's blaring saxophones sound like the last trump and band gets into full swing. Hammill's lyrical subject matter over the rest of the album ranges from refugees escaping the end of their former life to benevolent magic standing tall against evil forces until we get to After the Flood and the gradual lowering of the floodwaters unleashed at the start of the album. In each case the band as a whole devote themselves entirely to realising Hammill's visions in musical form; Refugees in particular has an eerie beauty to it which places it in the front rank of the band's output. A truly remarkable debut, particularly considering the rapid growth evident in Hammill's songwriting, and genuinely sounding like nothing that preceded it. If this doesn't deserve five stars, nothing does.