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Rating: In 1970, right after "The Least we can do is wave to each other", for some considered their first true album, VDGG released "H to He Who Am the OnlyOne". It is a work that stands among the classics of their discography and features the notable guest presence of Robert Fripp from King Crimson, with his guitar in "The Emperor in His War Room".
The album opens with one of the group's most beloved classics among fans, "Killer", a very effective and immediately impactful track characterized by a striking sax and organ "riff" and Hammill's "expressionist" voice at the peak of his vocal abilities. The song tells the story of a monster from the depths, speaking of love and death. The following track, "House With No Door", is a very sweet gothic-romantic ballad (yet pervaded by an atmosphere of death) with Hammill on piano accompanied by Jackson's flute: we find ourselves in front of another timeless classic from VDGG, a track with a very effective and hauntingly poetic melody that borders on the sublime. The atmosphere always reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe's tales.
The second part of the album is characterized by the presence of three mini-suites, which demonstrate how the group was laying the "programmatic" groundwork for the next album, positioning themselves, although in a unique way compared to the competition, among contemporary groups of the time like ELP, Yes, and Genesis. "The Emperor in His War Room" (featuring the aforementioned Fripp) and "Lost" are fragmented and at times hyperbolic, though "The Emperor…" appears more compact and cohesive: the atmosphere is sepulchral and of black science fiction. "Pioneers Over C" is instead a long science fiction epic that begins with the hiss of an oscillator and then unfolds epically thanks to the celestial organ sounds of Banton and Hammill's apocalyptic-cosmic lyrics, once again revealing the stature of his "songwriting".
In essence, "He to H.." can be considered the album of VDGG's international consecration, who would soon reach mainstream success with the epochal masterpiece "Pawn Hearts".
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Killer (08:24)
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 a 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.
04 Lost (11:17)
''a.) The Dance in Sand and Sea''
So here we are, or rather, here am I, 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.
''b.) The Dance in Frost''
I wore my moods like 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 that 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 blind 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.
05 Pioneers Over C. (12:42)
(Hammill)
We 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 this 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 wander 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 crossed through space, or stayed where I was,
or didn't exist in the first place .....
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Other reviews
By MuSo
Epic, monumental, aesthetically beautiful, diverse.
No need to beat around the bush.
By alan clark
You’re immediately hit by the killer riff of 'Killer' with its flutes and sax; Hammill’s desperate and ruthless voice narrates a monster’s solitude that reflects all of us.
Van Der Graaf Generator has often been labeled as 'dark' — unfairly so — this album is dominated by emptiness and bewilderment rather than darkness.
