Year: 1971
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 23 mins. 8 secs.
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Formed in Manchester, England in 1967, Van der Graaf Generator has always been personified by its leader, poet and singer (in this order) Peter Hammill, who is also the only founding member to have stayed in the group for more than a year or two. The other key members are Hugh Banton, organ and bass guitar; Guy Evans, drums; and David Jackson, saxophone and flute.
This lineup was already in place on the group's second album The Least We Can Do is Wave to Each Other (1970), although at that time there was also a fifth member, Nic Potter who played bass while Banton fully concentrated on his organ. Potter left, and the four-member dream team recorded H to He, Who Am the Only One (also 1970) which already gave a clear indication that something great was going to come out of this group.
Still, nothing really prepared audiences for the powerhouse fourth album Pawn Hearts (1971), which was a stunning achievement in symphonic prog, and a couple of steps more challenging than your average Yes or Genesis albums.The first classic on the album is its opening track, about 10-minute Lemmings, but the real goldmine is to be found on the vinyl's B side: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers, a 23-minute masterpiece in several movements, playing styles and time signatures.
Van der Graaf Generator was always more alienating than "regular" symphonic prog groups to your average listener because of its choice of instrumentation. There was really no lead guitarist, although Hammill did play guitar occasionally. Also, there were really no other keyboards than Banton's trusty organ. This left us with Hammill's raw, throaty voice (when it came to singing, the man was no Jon Anderson) combined with drums, organ and Jackson's saxophone playing where lead guitar would normally play. The end result was truly in a league of its own. Saxophone gave Van der Graaf Generator a jazzy sound texture by itself, and it was emphasized by their obvious jazz influences, especially when it came to the use of constantly changing rhythm patterns.
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers is a masterpiece that exemplifies everything that was always great about Van der Graaf Generator. It begins with an easy, beautiful section called Eyewitness which invites the listener into believing that he or she is about to hear a "normal" symphonic prog composition. This is followed by an excellent, quiet instrumental sequence which reproduces a coastal soundscape with the use of musical instruments: Jackson's saxophone sounds like a foghorn, Evans' percussion imitates a ship's motor starting to run, wind instruments are used for the sound of seagulls, etc.
Things get progressively more complex as tempo intensifies and Hammill's voice develops from quiet and peaceful to noisy and aggressive. Instrumentation intensifies, and time signatures start to vary. The plot really thickens in sections The Clot Thickens and Land's End, where you can hear influences from free jazz and where you need a Doctor's degree in music to be able to determine the time signatures - which themselves keep changing during the track!
Close to the end, the music gradually descends into total cacophony, and it is therefore a big relief to the listener when the last section We Go Now begins with a beautiful piano melody and Hammill's singing is once again more restrained and melodic. This brings the unforgettable piece to a moving climax.
It was fairly obvious that after accomplishing something like this, Van der Graaf Generator had nowhere left to go. How could you top something like Pawn Hearts, and more specifically, the 23-minute masterpiece that closed it? To solve this problem, Hammill decided to leave the group in order to fully concentrate on his solo career.
The departure took place on amicable terms, so when Hammill decided to give another try to working as a member of Van der Graaf Generator, there was no problem with rejoining. Hammill, Banton, Jackson and Evans returned to the studio only to emerge with another, albeit very different, masterwork called Godbluff (1975). Their story continues to this very day, although there have been again long periods of silence, and David Jackson is no longer part of the group that released their very latest recording less than two weeks ago.
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