H TO HE, WHO AM THE ONLY ONE

This is an excellent album by Van Der Graaf Generator, but I feel like they hadn't quite yet found the sound that would make their next two albums masterpieces of prog. I personally might say this is a five star album to me, but only because I have been in a VDGG mood the past couple days and im really loving all their music. I realize, however, that this album has a few flaws and is not quite up to the level of the albums their future peak. For those who have not heard anything by Van Der Graaf Generator, they are definitely different from the other 70's prog bands in the symphonic section. Their music is dominated by saxophone rather than guitar, and Peter Hammill has a distinct voice that many love, but some do not. If you have never heard any of their music, this is not the best place to start, I think Godbluff is a better and more accessible album. For someone who already like the band, though, this would be an excellent addition to your music collection.

The first song, Killer, is a dark heavy and chaotic song to match the lyrics about a fish that isolates itself by killing the other fish, which is interesting when you think about the metaphor. This is followed by another depressing song, House With No Door (VDGG is not a particularly happy band) that highlights Hammill's emotional vocals. While very sad, I think it is a beautiful song and one of the highlights of the album. Emperor In His War Room, Lost, and Pioneers over C are all good songs, but they are not quite as compelling or memorable as say the songs on godbluff. They have a lot of great parts, but there is something missing as though the band was getting very close to something great, but just not quite there yet. Emperor In His War Room, features guest musician Robert Fripp of King Crimson playing guitar, and his addition makes this song a little more like classic guitar driven prog than the others, but this is still not an album I would recommend for someone who has never heard anything by the band. Nevertheless, this is an excellent dark prog album and it would make an excellent addition to any prog collection. If you are a fan of the band, you need to have this album. If you just dont like them, it probably wont change your mind. If you have never heard them, start with Godbluff. It is hard to rate this album because I recognize that VDGG is polarizing, so it is hard to generalize this album's place in all prog music collections. I will give it four stars because I think it is excellent and I would hope that there arent two many prog lovers out there who just cant stand Van Der Graaf Generator.