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THE AEROSOL GREY MACHINE

Van Der Graaf Generator

Eclectic Prog

3.26 | 548 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Proghead
Prog Reviewer

Not as bad as some might think it is. This album is like many debuts: showing promise with even more great things to come. Think of this album like the first two YES albums or GENESIS' "Trespass". The lineup is a bit different from their classic albums, this album featured guitarist/vocalist Peter HAMMILL, drummer Guy Evans, keyboardist Hugh Banton, and bassist Keith Ellis (who quickly hopped on to a band called JUICY LUCY). Notice that David Jackson is absent on this album. Some anonymous figure by the name of John provided a little flute.

This album is more of a proto-prog/psych/folk type of offering. It was intended to be a Peter HAMMILLl solo album (since VdGG broke up) but since VdGG reformed, it became a VdGG album. Strangely the album did not initially receive a British release, the US print on Mercury is the original pressing. It later appeared in Britain on the Fontana label in the 1970s (as well as Vertigo over in Italy). The album still has good material on it, like "Aquarians", "Octopus", "Necromancer", "Running Back". The title track is one of the rare times the band showed a sense of humor. "Aquarians" seems to have more strong hippie overtones than what is normal for the band. "Octopus" is by far the most progressive song on this album, with extended organ solos. Certainly this album shows that many of the late '60s psychedelic elements have not left, but it's still a nice album worth having. Of course, start with "H to He" or "Pawn Hearts" before you come here.

Proghead | 4/5 | 2004-8-31

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