Van Der Graaf Generator
H To He Who I Am The Only One

THE REVIEW

Well, since the review on this site isn't very... how should I put it... "detailed," I'll try to make another one that's a bit longer (even though I, too, think there are no words for this masterpiece. Anyway...). So, it's the year of grace (for progressive) 1970, and VDGG releases their second album in a year (Peter Hammill's pace has always been at the limits of human possibilities, with an average of AT LEAST one album per year during moments of "scarce" inspiration), namely this "H to He".

Put in the CD (or LP for those who are a bit older), and you're immediately hit by the killer riff of "Killer" (excuse the crude pun, but it truly is a killer riff!) with its flutes and sax; then Hammill's desperate and ruthless voice arrives to narrate about a monster from the depths that kills its kind, relegating itself to the solitude of someone who hates others; then there's a thundering tempo change where the line "death in the sea, death in the sea / somebody please come and help me, come and help me" is repeated with a deliberately slightly cacophonous rhyme, and the song concludes in a crescendo because on an even more desperate melody, we learn that the protagonist's solitude in the song is nothing other than that of all of us. "House With No Door" arrives like water in the desert of emotions that the previous track caused, with its sweet and melancholic piano, at the same time serene and quietly restless. It's a ballad with a dream-like atmosphere, and the piano solo by Hugh Banton (or by Hammill himself? Excuse my ignorance, but both played the piano!) is worth the entire price of the CD and forces you to chase it through the fading of the track that arrives, alas, too soon (but perhaps it's even more beautiful because of this!). In "The Emperor In His War Room", it's once again Jackson's flute that dominates, with the chorus where Banton presses the same note of his organ over and over to achieve that first seemingly irritating effect, often to the point of being unbearable, which VDGG's tracks often have. "Lost" is perhaps the best track on the album (okay, there are only five!), with its chorus that personally reminds me of an Asian chant; but just the beginning because when Hammill sings "I had all my chances but they slipped right through my hands / like so much sand", well, the soul melts, and you think that such a delicate and sad passage (in a good way) has rarely been written many times in music history. "Pioneers Over C.", finally, is a space painting, both in the lyrics and the music (thankfully, this often happens with VDGG), which with its organ and echoes takes us to float in the black and empty space. "Truly fun" is Banton's bass line (yes, he plays that too, these VDGG guys are geniuses!) that arrives after the verse "people around, there's no-one to touch, / no people around, no-one to touch": it's the kind of thing I've hummed with immense pleasure for days and days, give it a try to believe it! VDGG has often been labeled as "dark," in my opinion, unfairly so (dark are The Cure, Sister Of Mercy, Nine Inch Nails, but NOT VDGG): as for this album, yes, there are "dark" tones, but it is more dominated by a sense of emptiness and bewilderment than anything else.

If you don't listen to normal stuff and have very refined tastes (very), you will surely enjoy it (very much! [Seriously, it's truly beautiful!]).