THE AEROSOL GREY MACHINE

In contrast to some other reviewers, I do not have a problem with "Aerosol" being a starting point to explore the dark worlds of vdgg. As the matter of fact I did get hooked on them via "68-71" compilation first (2 songs from here included), then went on to "Aerosol" and "Least" which I still enjoy very much. I will not repeat what other members had to say, I am just stressing that this is quite acoustic album with strong Ellis' wah wah bass rhythm and lots of organ/piano, mirroring the age of psychedelia which is mostly evident in lyrics of "Afterwards" and "Aquarian" along with the cover art. Other highlights include acoustic ballad with wonderful bass melodic hook and flute "Running Back" and a hint of what VdGG would sound soon after this, "Necromancer", which was even a minor hit! Overall excellent album keeping in mind the circumstances under which it was recorded (Fie CD issue, along with bonus "Ferret and Featherbird" and "Giant Squid", contains valuable historical liner notes by Hammill personally!), which IMO can serve as mellow introduction to the novices. Far from masterpiece of course, but surely for any prog (and not only prog) collection!