"H To He Who Am The Only One" by VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR (May 2005 UK Virgin/Charisma 'Expanded Edition' CD - Peter Hammill and Kathy Bryan Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...The Emperor In His War-Room..."

Named after the American Engineer Robert Van De Graaff's surname and his particle accelerator device for creating static electricity - Van Der Graaf Generator's second studio album for 1970 came hot on the heels of their January debut - "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other". Released December 1970 by the newly formed Charisma Records - home of Audience, Rare Bird, Everyone, Merrill Moore, Atomic Rooster, (Keith Emerson's) The Nice and that other huge British Progressive Rock band Genesis – VDGG’s second platter expanded the experimental musical horizons laid down by their acclaimed debut.

Equal to its predecessor's quirky moniker - "H To He Who Am The Only One" is reckoned by Prog Rockers and VDGG fans alike to be up there as one of the Manchester boys wildest and best outings – a boundary pusher resplendent with mad Paul Whitehead artwork (a fave of the Genesis lads too). And this rather brill little 2005 CD Remaster (complete with two lengthy bonus cuts) bears that out. Here are the Houses with No Doors...

UK released 30 May 2005 - "H To He Who Am The Only One" by VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR on Virgin/Charisma CASCDR 1027 (Barcode 724347488825) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Two Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (71:29 minutes):

1. Killer [Side 1]

2. House With No Door

3. The Emperor In His War-Room Part 1. The Emperor Part 2. The Room

4. Lost Part 1. The Dance In Sand And Sea Part 2. The Dance In Frost [Side 2]

5. Pioneers Over C

Tracks 1 to 5 are their second studio album "H To He Who Am The Only One" - released January 1970 in the UK on Charisma Records CAS 1027 and March 1971 in the USA on Dunhill/ABC Records DS 50097.  Produced by JOHN ANTHONY - Track 1 was written by Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton and Stratton Smith, Tracks 2, 3 and 4 written by Peter Hammill with Track 5 written by Peter Hammill and David Jackson.

BONUS TRACKS:

6. Squid 1/Squid 2/Octopus [15:24 minutes]

7. The Emperor In His War-Room (First Version) [8:50 minutes]

VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR was:

PETER HAMMILL - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar and Piano on "House With No Door"

HUGH BANTON - Vocals, Hammond and Farfisa Organs, Piano, Oscillator and Bass on "House With No Door" and "Killer"

DAVID JACKSON - Vocals, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Saxophones and Flute

GUY EVANS - Drums, Tympani and Percussion

Guests:

NIC POTTER (of The Misunderstood) - Bass on "Killer", "The Emperor In His War Room” and "Lost"

ROBERT FRIPP (of King Crimson) - Guitar on "The Emperor In His War-Room"

The 20-page booklet is a pleasingly thorough affair with new liner notes from MARK POWELL - soon to be head honcho at Esoteric Recordings over at Cherry Red UK - home to all things Avant Garde, Left Of Field and Proggy. There are period photos of the four-piece hairy men live, loitering in parks and outside French cafes, lyrics, the inner gatefold of the original release repro'd on the centre pages, trade adverts and their 9-album strong catalogue of Virgin/Charisma Remasters listed on the last page next to the extensive re-issue credits. It's all very tastefully done.

All four members of the band had a hand in Remastering consultation (including principal songwriter PETER HAMMILL) with the tape transfers done by KATHY BRYAN at Abbey Road Studios. I had this album on one of those early 'Pink Scroll' Label Charisma pressings with Audio that was always good but never great. Here the instruments have real power and even the two Bonus Cuts sound like they could have made the grade. Let's dance in the Static Sea...to the music...

We're informed by the opener "Killer" that someone who lives at the bottom of the sea is lonely – a solitary predator made manifest by earnest men with saxophones and doom-laden churchy organs. The 8-minutes of Side 1's "Killer" is in fact more Atomic Rooster than VDGG in my books. Things become very melodic on "House With No Door". That hissy beginning is still there, but there's warmth and clarity in the bass now and the piano feels less muddled than it did on the LP. It's a dark song actually - a home with no roof that lets in the rain and cold at night - Hammill's hurting vocals at times sounding like a melancholic David Bowie circa "The Man Who Sold The World".

Things get deathly heavy with "The Emperor In His War-Room" - a tin-pot dictator cradling his gun in his chamber of ghosts (dig those cascading flutes and chunky organ stabs) - Robert Fripp's very King Crimson guitar notes sailing into "The Room" just when the piece needs some Prog uplift. Speaking of KC - the 11-minutes of "Lost" is probably the most Crimson-sounding piece on the album - ideas and had-all-my-chances lyrics falling over each other as instrument piles on instrument. Album No. 2 ends with nearly fourteen minutes of "Pioneers Over C" - VDGG stretching out everywhere and thinking intergalactic travel will be commonplace in 1983 and they have the Bass Lines. Sexy Saxophones and Fiery Keyboard sounds to prove it.

In truth VDGG were never nearly as commercial or frankly as good as Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Co over in Genesis – but there is a lot to like in this adventurous and challenging album.

"...One last brief whisper in our loved one's ears..." – Hammill sang on tone of the lovelier passages in "Pioneers Over C" - David Jackson's saxophone slipping in soft at first and then going solo mad after that. Mad after that – a bit like VDGG and their music really...