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Van der Graaf Generator: H to He, Who     Am the Only One

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Virgin Records
Released: 1970
Time:
 47:17
Category: Progressive Rock
Producer(s): John Anthony
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk
Appears with: Peter Hammill, David Jackson
Purchase date: 2000.01.05
Price in €: 10,99





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Killer (Banton/Hammill/Smith) - 8:07
[2] House with No Door (Hammill/Jackson) - 6:03
[3] Emperor in His War-Room (Hammill) - 9:04
        Part 1: The Emperior
        Part 2: The Room
[4] Lost (Hammill) - 11:13
        Part 1: The Dance in Sand and Sea
        Part 2: The Dance in the Frost
[5] Pioneers over C. (Hammill/Jackson) - 12:25

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Peter Hammill - Acoustic Guitar, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Vocals
Guy Evans - Bass
Hugh Banton - Organ, Bass, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Hammond B3 Organ, Vocals, Farfisa Organ, Oscillator
Guy Evans - Percussion, Drums, Tympani [Timpani]
David Jackson - Flute, Keyboards, Alto- Baritone- & Tenor-Saxophone, Vocals, Wind

Nic Potter - Bass on [1], [3], [4]
Robert Fripp - Guitar on [3]

John Anthony - Producer
Robin Geoffrey Cable - Engineer
David Hentschel - Assistant Engineer
Paul Whitehead - Artwork
Keith Morris - Photography
Paul Whitehead - Cover

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Rock 'n' Roll, klassische Strukturen, Folk, elektronische Einflüsse, schwerblütigen Keyboard-Rock und widerborstige Jazzklänge vereinte die Band in surrealen Arrangements, deren atmosphärische Dichte bis heute unerreicht blieb.

C. Graf in HiFiVision 8/92



A superb album, it includes the heavy metal-ish "Killer" and a guest appearance by guitarist Robert Fripp.

Michael P. Dawson, All-Music Guide



Now, as it happens, I was already listening to this disk when the topic of "Killers" came up as a thread on rec.music.progressive. The topic being whether Hammill had written the lyrics, what they meant, and was there meant to be some humour value in them (the "fishes can't fly, fishes can't fly" refrain was the cited example). I'm thinking not, and it is more commentary that one cannot be something they're not.

Anyway, I was planning to review this album after spending some more time with it, but since I am now thinking about it, I'll do it now.

Because I wasn't already familiar with Van Der Graaf Generator (except by name), and there had already been much talk on the newsgroup about them in other contexts, I thought I'd best go exploring. Anyway, the subject of "Killers" came up, and as it also begins the album, I'll start there.

I was struck by these two thoughts - how much "Killers" sounded like Fish's performance of Pink Floyd's "Fearless" and thus, also how much it sounds like Pink Floyd's "Fearless." Not throughout and not exactly, but the whole beginning acoustic section is so reminiscent of it. When you listen to them side by side of course ... or actually side by side by side ... not so much. And, of course, when the vocals start, well Peter Hammill doesn't sound a bit like Roger Waters, or much like Fish either ... though there are occasions where I can see why some think Fish can sound like Hammill. If that makes sense.

"Killers" is quite a weird track, and though electric, is quite acoustic at its base. On the surface, one might dismiss it as a quirky aquatic track - Hammill is seemingly singing about whales (or sea dwelling mammals at least). But if one thinks about the lyrics in more metaphorical fashion, one can start thinking of Oedipus Rex or Hamlet, at least in some context. With the lyric "Your mother gave birth to you and died immediately ... 'Cos you can't have two killers in the same pad ... " Well, we know what happened with Oedipus and Hamlet ... maybe I'm stretching a bit.

"House With No Door" seems more like 70's David Bowie material than ... well, than what I was initially expecting to hear. I like the track, understated though it is. (In Ed Macan's Rocking The Classics he includes VDGG and Hammill with the minimalists; not surprising). A gentle flute line from David Jackson leads the instrumental section ... in converse to some progressive patters where rockier bits give way to more pastoral sections, this is mostly pastoral that gives way to rockier sections - yet still not rock, of course. Acoustic based is still the order of the day.

In trying to describe this in non-anachronistic terms, I find I must in saying that "The Emperor In His War Room" contains what I would call Floydisms, except the Floydism I'm thinking of post-date this VDGG release. I think of Genesis, too, but in 1970 they were just getting going ... Robert Fripp guests on guitar here, too.

"Lost (Part I)" has a very theatrical feel to it ... and is not mis-subtitled "Dance In Sand And Sea" as there are sections where you can almost picture anorexic dancers twirling and swirling around the stage - the set is, of course, sparse, leaving the set to the imagination. But, of course, theatrical in the sense of some of the great musicals - though with a little bit more meat than your typical Gilbert and Sullivan-like fair. A bit like avant-guard theater, I suppose. And yet ... there are points where Hammill's voice reaches heights - imagine him standing center stage, chest out, arms open wide, singing to the rafters. I don't that he ever did, but that is the effect. Saxes and Hammonds swirl about adding even more atmosphere. The two-track suite continues in part two "Dance In Frost." Lyrically it is rich enough to be open to many interpretations - depending on what level you dig down to. On the surface, it could be about a disintegrating relationship between a man and woman, but then again, it could be about the loss of faith - that is, a disintegrating relationship between man and god (or God, as some prefer).

It is this idea of loneliness that underpins almost every track here. Taking the title into consideration, we can almost call this a concept album. Between the sections of the album's title, H To He Who Am The Only One, there is this: "The fusion of Hydrogen nuclei to form Helium nuclei is the basic exothermic reaction in the sun and stars, and hence is the prime energy source in the universe." An oft used cliché is the idea that two people who come together (romantically usually) soon become as one. But here, rather than it being so, this particular nuclei has no like counterpart. Of course, that, I think, is too simplistic. Given that Hammill was an existentialist (or so I've read), it does seem contradictory to suppose that Hammill (or the protagonist of this album) is trying to reconnect to god ... an absent god, perhaps. But then again ... perhaps this is the beginning of his existentialism. Without further study of VDGG and Hammill I can't, nor should I, take this digression any further as it would be no more than speculation.

So, does this mean I like this album or not? Hammill isn't the greatest of vocalists, but he isn't bad, though I can see why some say that not all will take to it. But the answer is yes, I do like it.

Stephanie Sollow
www.progressiveworld.net - Your Ultimate Guide To Progressive Music

 

 L y r i c s


Killer

So you live in the bottom of the sea,
and you kill all that come near you ....
but you are very lonely, because all the other fish
fear you .....
And you crave companionship and someone to call your own;
because for the whole of your life
you've been living alone.

On a black day in black month
at the black bottom of the sea,
Your mother gave birth to you and died
immediately ....
'Cos you can't have two killers living
in the same pad
and when your mother knew that her time had come
she was really rather glad.

Death in the sea, death in the sea,
somebody please come and help me,
come and help me
Fishes can't fly, fishes can't fly,
Fishes can't and neither can I, neither can I ...

Now I'm really rather like you,
for I've killed all the love I ever had
by not doing all I ought to and by leaving
my mind coming bad.
And I too am a killer,
for emotion runs as deep as flesh
and I too am so lonely, and I wish that I could forget
We need love,
We need love,
We need love ..........


House with no Door

There's a house with no door and I'm living there
at nights it gets so cold
and the days are hard to bear inside.
There's a house with no roof, so the rain creeps in,
falling through my head as I try to think out time.
I don't know you, you say you know me,
that may be so,
there's so much that I am unsure of ...
You call my name, but it sounds unreal,
I forget how I feel, my body's rejecting the cure.

There's a house with no bell, but then nobody calls;
I sometimes find it hard to tell
if any are alive at all outside.
There's a house with no sound; yes, it's quiet there
there's not much point in words
if there's no-one to share in time.
I've learned my lines, I know them so well,
I am ready to tell
whoever will finally come in
Of the line in my mind that's cold in the night,
it doesn't seem right
when there's that little dark figure running ...

There's a house with no door
and there's no living there:
one day it became a wall ...
well I didn't really care at the time.
There's a house with no light,
all the windows are sealed,
overtaxed and strained NOW NOTHING IS REVEALED BUT TIME
I don't know you, you say you know me,
that may be so,
there's so much that I am unsure of ...
You call my name, but it sounds unreal,
I forget how I feel,
my body's rejecting the cure .....
Won't somebody help me ......?


The Emperor

Standing in the space that holds the silent lace
of night away from you
You think that you can hold the searing, molten gold
between your fingers ...
But it slips through, tearing tendons as it goes,
exposing the white of a knuckle ...
flesh-and-metal forming letters in the mould.

Cradling your gun, after choosing the ones
you think should die -
Lying on the hill ... crawling over the windowsill
into your living-room
They stare out, glass-eyed aimless heads,
bodies torn by vultures ..
you are the man whose hands are rank with
the smell of death.
Saviour of the Fallen, Protector of the Weak,
Friend of the Tall Ones, Keeper of the Peace ...
Ah, but it is the only way you know .....

Looking out to sea, a flattened plane of weeds which bear no living
You crush life in your fist as your heart is kissed by the lips of death
Ghosts betray you, ghosts betray you,
in the night they steal your eye
from its socket ...
and the ball hangs fallen on your cheek.
Complaining tongues are stilled; a thousand mouths
are filled with rusting metal.
Your face a shade of green; somehow you try
to speak through all the garbage in your mouth
But it won't come out, and you cannot frame the words
as your stepson
throws your fame into the flames and you are burned.
Saviour of the Fallen, Protector of the Weak,
Friend of the Tall Ones, Keeper of the Peace.
Ah, but it is the only way you know ..........


The Room

Live by sword and you shall die so,
All your power shall come to nought,
every life you take is part of your own,
death, not power, is what you've bought.

Cringing in your room as the outriders of doom step
on your threshold;
Begging for your life as the impartial knife sinks in your
screaming flesh ...
without malice, merely taking murder's toll,
you must pay the price of hate, and that price is
your soul ....

Live in peace or die forever in your war-room.


The Dance in Sand and Sea

So here we are, or rather, here I am, quite alone,
I'm seeing things that were shared before, long ago ...
my memory stretches and I am dazed: you know I know
how good the time was and how I laughed ..
Times have changed, now you're far away, I can't complain:
I had all my chances but they slipped right through my hands - like so much sand;
I know I'll never dance like I used to

I'll just wait till day breaks upon the land and the sea.
hoping that I can catch all of the memories,
then I must crawl off upon my way, all of me
listening hard for the final words.
But there are none; the sunrise calls, I've lingered on
too close for comfort and I don't know quite why
I feel like crying -
I know we'll never dance like we used to.

I look up, I'm almost blinded by the warmth of what's inside me
and the taste that's in my soul,
but I'm dead inside as I stand alone ....


The Dance in the Frost

I wore my moods like so many different sets of clothes
but the right one was never around;
and as you left I heard my body ring
and my mind began to howl
It was far to late to contemplate the meaning of it all:
You know that I need you, but somehow I don't think
you see my love at all

At some point I lost you, I don't know quite how it was;
The wonderland lay in a coat of white, chilling frost
I looked around and I found I was truly lost:
without your hand in mine I am dead .....
Reality is unreal and games I've tried just aren't the same:
without your smile there's nowhere to hide
and deep inside
I know I've never cried as I'm about to ...

If I could just frame the words that would make your fire burn
all this water now around me could be the love that
should surround me.

Looking out through the tears that bind me
my heart bleeds that you may find me .. or at least that I can
forget and be numb, but I can't stop, the words still come:
I LOVE YOU


Pioneers over C

Left the earth in 1983,
fingers groping for the galaxies,
reddened eyes stared up into the void,
1000 stars to be exploited
Somebody help me I'm falling, somebody help me, I'm falling down
Into sky, into earth, into sky, into earth .....
It is so dark around, no life, no hope, no sound
no chance of seeing home again ...
The universe is on fire, exploding without flame.
We are the lost ones; we are the pioneers;
we are the lost ones
We are the ones they are going to build a statue for
ten centuries ago or were going to fifteen forward ...

One Last brief whisper in our loved ones' ears
to reassure them and to pierce the fear
standing at controls then still unknown
we told the world we were about to go
Somebody help me I'm missing, somebody help me
I'm missing now
touch with my mind, I have no frame,
touch with my mind, I have no frame ...
Well now where is the time and who the hell am I,
here floating in an aimless way?
No-one knows where we are, they can't feel us precisely ..

There is no fear here.
How can such a thing exist in a place where
living and knowing
and being have never been heard of?

Doomed to vanish in the flickering light,
disappearing to a darker night,
doomed to vanish in a living death, living anti-matter, anti-breath
Somebody help me I'm losing, somebody help me, I'm losing now
people around, there's no-one to touch,
no people around, no-one to touch.
I am now quite alone, part of a vacant time-zone,
here floating in the void,
only dimly aware of existence, a dimly existing awareness,
I am the lost one, I am the one you fear,
I am the lost one,
I am the one who went up into space, or stayed where I was,
or didn't exist in the first place ...

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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