Pawn Hearts (studio album) by Van Der Graaf Generator

In September 2019, I gave my intitial rating on this prog masterpiece, stating (more hoping) the vinyl re-issue would become a reality. And so here we are, I have at last got a copy (well two actually given the cult status and rarity of the original). I put this album on a parallel to Close to the Edge, In the Court of the Crimson King and Selling England by the Pound. With dark parts like tar and light parts like moon dust, the album is an amazing audio journey, Plague of Lighhouse Keepers may well be the best prog track in history.

From IlMala 02/03/2022 15:46

What to say... if you slightly like progressive rock... cannot absolutely miss this album; with close to the edge the most exemplificative example of prog.

From llibnanoon 08/20/2020 12:19

Not my thing at all. I gave them a low rating but much respect for their musicianship. Rating (55.00)

The quotes below are - for the most part - from “Van der Graaf Generator - The Book” by Jim Jim Christopulos and Phil Smart.

John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) - "When we [RHCP] started touring for the album By The Way, I and the rest of the band would always be listening to Pawn Hearts on the bus and back stage... With Hammill's singing there are so many vocal gymastics, he's capable of so much with his voice, and he's pushing himself even beyond his capabilities! Anthony [Kiedis, RHCP singer] has a couple of Van der Graaf albums, and he likes that extreme kind of singing very much. As a singer myself, I'm really in awe of Hammill."

Stephen Morris (Joy Division & New Order) - [names Pawn Hearts as one of his all time faves] "At the time, with Pawn Hearts, all of your mates would say: 'Ooh, there's a track that's three days long… it's pixie stuff'. But 'A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers' is... like a nightmare with saxophones... terrifying. I really like Peter Hammill. He's another guy who's really unique - he has a really individual way of singing, and it's very raw."

Simon Gallup (The Cure) - "'We Go Now' [a SG 'desert island' pick off of Pawn Hearts] is brilliant. Van der Graaf weren't involved in all mysticism and stuff, they were still a bit hard, there was some attack. Peter Hammill was a bit of a god as well."

Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) - "I liked them, especially Pawn Hearts... [Peter Hammill] is one of the most brilliant songwriters of his or any other generation."

Julian Cope (Teardrop Explodes & solo artist) - "Prog wasn't all Genesis and Gentle Giant, baby. VdGG were punks in a prog rock style... Pawn Hearts is a masterpiece in the old-fashioned sense of the word, that is: it is a musical blueprint on which to build in the future and has as sensibly structured an anti-structure as you could wish for. It is in turns beautiful, ridiculous, foul, overwhelming, irritating, mutating, and magnificent... First time I ever heard Pawn Hearts was in [summer 1972]. How I adored this record. However, thirty-one years and a couple of hundred spins later I'm still genuinely disoriented by this extremely everything LP, and even more in shock and awe of Peter Hammill than I was all those years ago."

Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) - "Peter Hammill was one of my childhood lyrical hero's but, you know, you say 'Peter Hammill' to most people and they go, 'Huh?'... And it's such a shame cause they had so much more to them, I think, than Genesis. They were a bunch of pansies compared to Van der Graaf, really... I was talking about this with the manager of Entombed, Dave Thorne, who's a huge Van der Graaf Generator fan and we were talking about how amazing some Van der Graaf Generator songs would sound if a metal band did them. It'd sound really f***ing heavy... I mean, can you imagine 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' done by a real prog metal band, it'd be amazing!"

Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, frequent Jeff Buckley collaborator, solo artist) - "Pawn Hearts to me was the summation of all that was great about Van der Graaf. Lyrically and instrumentally, it was haunting, elegiac, eerie, and mad. It gave new credibility to the words 'progressive rock.'"

'Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers' is an epic prog masterpiece! I wait in anticipation of this being re-released on vinyl. With the huge new interest in vinyl I am hoping I don't have to wait too much longer.

From ExTeaSea 08/28/2019 02:59

There's just no bands like Van Der Graff Generator, truly a genre unto themselves. Progressive, yes.. but uniquely so. Strange, hard rocking and not of this world.

Though I prefer Godbluff, this is also one of the absolute greatest albums ever. I just don't think music could get any more real than this. Every moment is great. I love when Peter screams, "How can I be free, how can I get help? Am I really me or am I someone else?" It's definitely melodramatic, but in a good way. Van Der Graff Generator puts so much passion into it that nothing ever comes across as fake.

This is a really progressive record. In fact, it may be too progressive for me...

The Darkest album iv'e ever heard. Compelling

Brilliant album. Arty, interesting and challenging. It's one of those albums that gets better with each listen. It's certainly stuck in the seventies but there's no doubting it's eccentric brilliance. Very good.