PAWN HEARTS

VDGG's finest hour, more melodic, colourful and varied in mood then their later work. But still, approach with care. Their style is quite lyrical and extreme and tends to divide the audience into devoted fans on one side and disapproving naysayers on the other.

If you can stomach the band's eccentricities and Hammill's vocal gymnastics, they're a real treat though and bring some of the best progressive rock in the business.

I see not much of a point in discussing the tracks separately. They all sound equally perfect to me and each one covers an incredible range of melody, rhythm and intensity, ranging from sugar sweet to frightening madness. Especially so on the Plague of Lighthouse Keepers, the most astonishing 20+ minutes track in prog history!

Or was that Echoes? Or no Tarkus? No Ommadawn! ... Aren't we lucky guys with all that choice :-)