Review Summary: The first masterpiece of the band. An even further step forward.
“H To He, Who Am The Only One” is the third studio album of Van Der Graaf Generator that was released in 1970. The line up on the album is Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton, David Jackson and Guy Evans. The album also had the participation of Nic Potter and Robert Fripp.
Van Der Graaf Generator is probably with Gentle Giant and King Crimson the three most creative and original prog rock bands that ever existed. The music of these three bands is very complex and very uncommon, even for a progressive rock band’s standart. Still, we can say that they’re three very different bands in terms of music style. With the exception of King Crimson, which always had a very impressive number of fans, Van Der Graaf Generator and Gentle Giant, had only a very small but very faithful group of supporters, probably due to the originality and the difficulty of their music.
About the line up mentioned above, we mustn’t forget the presence on guitar of the master Robert Fripp, as guest. Fripp participates with some guitar work on the third track of the album “The Emperor In His War-Room”. By the other hand, their bassist that participated on their previous second studio work, Nic Potter, left the band mid-way through the recording sessions. After that, the band decided to carry on without a new bass guitarist, with Banton alternating bass guitar and organ bass pedals. So, Hammill, Banton, Jackson and Evans quartet became the classic Van Der Graaf Generator’s line up. With it, they released their following great masterpieces, “Pawn Hearts”, “Godbluff” and “Still Life”.
On “H To He, Who Am The Only One” the songwriting is pure genius. Some disharmonious elements begin to appear, making an interesting contrast to the more melodic parts and adding some incredible energy to the music. The music was mostly written by the genius of Hammill, who has a unique way of composing with feeling and emotion. He sings like he composes and plays, from the heart. Whether he’s screaming or singing on the top of his voice, it fits the music. It’s all part of the great emotional expressions. Very important for the sound is the saxophone. It’s used for a foundation on which the rest of the composition is built together with the organ, but also for solo melodies. Besides, the organ is the instrument that leads all the music and one of the trademarks of the band. But we can’t forget the rich rhythm section of Potter and Evans. We have the bass of Potter and not bass pedals of Banton used on their following works.
“H To He, Who Am The Only One” has five tracks. “Killer” is a catchy, beautiful dark song. The saxophones of Jackson and the organ of Banton are a continuous presence, very well supported by a great rhythm section of Potter and Evans. It’s one of my favourite songs of the band. It portrays the usual hunting atmosphere created by the band. “House With No Door” is the calmer song on the album. It’s a beautiful ballad in terms of music but a depressing track in terms of lyrics. It’s a delicate and dark song, another favourite of mine. It shows how great they can be even in the quiet moments. “The Emperor In His War-Room” is divided into two parts, “The Emperor” and “The Room”. It’s another dark song. It’s about living a life of war and death and the act of a tyrant with torture and the dying of the emperor. It has violent lyrics. It’s the fear and aggression that speaks here. It’s another brilliant piece with great lyrics and a nice flute work by Jackson. Here we can listen to the great guitar work of the master Fripp. He would come back on their next work “Pawn Hearts”. “Lost” is also divided in two parts, “The Dance In Sand And Sea” and “The Dance In The Frost”. It’s another brilliant track. It’s about loneliness, loss, love and madness, with great lyrics too. There’s a lot of variety in this piece. It’s one of the most depressing pieces written by Hammill. “Pioneers Over C” has also the usual hypnotizing sax and keyboard lines. “C” is the scientific name of the speed of light. It’s a sort of an interpretation of faster than light travel and its consequences on the travellers on their long voyages. It’s one of their strongest songs that sounds great. It finishes well, this great masterpiece. “Pioneers Over C” is a mature and complex end to a superb collection of songs.
Conclusion: Van Der Graaf Generator has, for me, four great masterpieces, “H To He, Who Am The Only One”, “Pawn Hearts”, “Godbluff” and “Still Life”. Of all these four masterpieces “H To He, Who Am The Only One” is the only one that I bought a copy of a few years ago. Due to the high quality of the others, I never paid much attention to it. I thought that it probably wouldn’t be at the same quality level. I was wrong. This is another great album released by this so fantastic and unique band. This is perhaps their most beautiful album. “H To He, Who Am The Only One” was probably released too early even for the prog standards. It remains as unique now, as it was then. It has so many parts of Van Der Graaf Generator’s music that have set the benchmarks for bands to come next. I think every progressive collection should have, at least, four Van Der Graaf Generator’s albums, this one, “Pawn Hearts”, “Godbluff” and “Still Life”.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
