THE AEROSOL GREY MACHINE

As (almost) everybody knows, this was intended to be the first Hamill solo album. Van Der Graaf Generator had broken and Hammill, armed with a bunch of songs and his acoustic guitar, went to the studio to record his album. He then called Guy Evans and Hugh Banton to play, along with bass player Keith Ellis. This is proto-VDGG, not the band which would record four of the greatest albuns in all prog-rock history: "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other", "H To He Who Am The Only One", "Pawn Hearts" and "Godbluff". Getting back to the album: "Afterwards", "Running Back", "Octopus" are all great songs, which stands as high as all other VDGG's classics, but this album is still primitive and doesn't give a newcomer a glimpse of all the glory this band would achieve. So, if you are a new fan, check out for one of the four albuns mentioned above; if you are familiar with VDGG, you will like this album, but somehow you will find it less interesting than other releases. Maybe it's because "The Aerosol Grey Machine"'s production is far below the standards of the next releases, or maybe it's there is no David Jackson at all! I like this album a lot, but the nest four are better. The four albuns mentioned above should be called "The Fantastic Four" (you know, Moody Blues fans call the seven albuns between "Days of Future Passed" and "Seventh Sojourn" as "The Magnificent Seven).