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Editorial Reviews

Pawn Hearts, Van Der Graaf Generator's third album and its second most popular, was at one time a major King Crimson cult item due to the presence of Robert Fripp on guitar, but it has more to offer than that. The opening track, "Lemmings," will call to mind Gentle Giant, with its eerie vocal passages juxtaposed against extended sax, keyboard, and guitar-driven instrumental passages, and the weird keyboard and percussion interlude. Peter Hammill vocalizes in a more traditional way on "Man-Erg" against shimmering organ swells and Guy Evans' very expressive drumming, before the song goes off on a tangent by way of David Jackson's saxes and some really weird time signatures. The monumental "Plague of Lighthouse Keepers," taking up an entire side of the LP, shows the same kind of innovation that characterized King Crimson's first two albums, but without the discipline and restraint needed to make the music manageable -- the punning titles of the individual sections of this piece (which may have been done for the same reason that Crimson gave those little subtitles to its early extended tracks, to protect the full royalties for the composer) only add to the confusion. The band was trying for something midway between King Crimson and Genesis, and came out closer to the former, at least instrumentally. Hammill's vocals are impassioned and involving, almost like an acting performance, similar to Peter Gabriel's singing with Genesis, but the lack of any obviously cohesive ideas in the lyrics makes this a very obscure and obtuse work. [This Japanese release includes bonus material.] Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

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