Anteater

Album Title: Pawn Hearts
Artist: Van Der Graaf Generator
Nationality: British
Year: 1971
Subgenre: None.
Player(s): Peter Hammill (Guitars, Pianos and Vocals), Hugh Banton (Keyboards, Bass), Guy Evans (Drums), David Jackson (Sax and flute) --- with guest appearance from Robert Fripp on guitar
Familiarity: I've had this album a lonnnnng time.
Favourite track(s): "A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers"
Why? Hammill is at his absolute best here: some people believe this to be the best "epic" prog song pre-Close To The Edge, and I suppose there's something to that. Jackson's sax work in particular is an absolute stand out.
Least favourite track(s): None
Why? N/A
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Considering how much I like VDGG, I guess its hard to have preconceptions when you're already aware at how good the music is.
Factoids you'd like to share? Nothing that comes to mind.
End impression: A great listen as always, and distinctive even within their own catalog of output. It's not too long and not too short.
Comments: Probably the most underrated classic progressive rock album of the first half of the decade besides Gentle Giant's Acquiring The Taste, and like that record, there's a sense of vitality to the music that still resounds even decades later. I don't use the word "striking" very often, but that's what Hammill and co. were when they got in the zone, and in the zone they were all throughout Pawn Hearts. Their ace in the hole was definitely David Jackson though: did anybody outside of the fusion circuit even try to bring in sax to a pure prog rock context back then besides these guys? Nope, and that tells you a lot right there.

Rating: 5. It's not even my favorite record by VDGG, but its fantastic music when your in the right mood and its progressiveness is undeniable.

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