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Are you fans of the legendary Van Der Graaf Generator? Are you unfamiliar with this debut album of theirs, even overlooked by the recent remastering effort that included all their other records? Well, let's preface by saying that it isn't as essential a work as those that would come later, but it is especially to the curiosity of the group's enthusiasts that I recommend listening to it.
Curiosity that might turn into wonder upon hearing the first, stunning track. It's "Afterwards": an organ intro with subsequent acoustic guitar, dreamy, that opens the atmosphere to open spaces… Then Hammil's voice, very sweet here compared to the gothic harshness of the later albums, which declaims a wonderful, broad, sunny melody before giving way to a delightful piano solo (Banton's work)… Then the finale, with the majestic crescendo of the voice… The impression is of a world of light unfolding before the eyes, with a flare of that warm and soft melancholy that engulfs the listener's deep emotions… So, not a song in the typical dark-jazz-prog Vandergraffian style, but more in the melancholic-melodic direction that songs like "House With No Door" would later assume. Nevertheless, an exceptional piece, among the group's best. A must-listen.
Unfortunately, however, the wonder induced by the splendid "Afterwards" is not matched by the subsequent tracks, decidedly not as transcendent, although many are noteworthy. Compared to the albums to come, one can feel the naivety of artists not yet fully aware, there's also the absence of that peculiar dark dramaticity, probably also due to the lack of such an important member, David Jackson's sax. Many tracks are mostly acoustic, often dreamy, like the excellent "Running back", which still favors Hammill's melancholic side, who here already begins to show off his exceptional timbre and chameleon nature. Moreover, with that long central flute solo, the progressive tendency (still in its infancy at the time) is already noticeable. An interesting piece is also "Ortenthian St.", another excellent example of proto-prog, consisting of alternating melodic and radiant parts and accelerations sustained by the piano's repeated notes, with the singer in great shape and already comfortable with changes in rhythm and "mood"; the subsequent "Into a game", very similar, is in the writer's opinion much less successful, despite a more convincing final instrumental section (especially noteworthy is the bass part). After two intermezzos, one, the title track, playful and cabaret-like, the other, "Black smoke yen", instrumental for piano, bass, and drums with jazz veins, comes "Aquarian", which reiterates almost all the features already developed by the other tracks but leaves no mark on the listener, heavy and not very melodically appealing.
The finale instead brings two excellent tracks, the mystical but catchy dance of "Necromancer" and perhaps the track that would have fit better on the subsequent albums, "Octopus", decidedly dark, which anticipates VDGG's tendency to use a motif (in this case a pounding organ and bass riff) and to resume it various times during the song, interspersed with slower intermissions: the result here is already optimal, with a slow and dark central part, full of suspense, surrounded by two impetuous and dramatic symmetrical sections, with Hammil's voice taking the lead with his passionate, desolate, and theatrical tone (the organ parts providing the backdrop throughout the song are also delightful).
An enjoyable album, therefore, which already presents some essential peculiarities of Hammil's group, some more developed, others less so, a record that, in my opinion, flows even better if its duration is reduced by "skipping" some of the heavier and less successful songs.
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