H TO HE, WHO AM THE ONLY ONE

I never understood why any of the VDGG albums before Pawn Hearts gained any recognition. H to He, Who Am The Only One, showcases some of the weakest song writing and lyrics that Peter Hammill has ever produced. Overly dramatic, songs with far too many parts or far too few (none of which flow together), and all around mediocrity.

Killer, with its admittedly cool hook, fails miserably with its absurd lyrics. Had the band re-worked this song several years later, it could have been much better.

House With No Door is easily the best song on this album. Just a humble ballad, it is the only song I can take seriously. Hammill manages to get past the angst and write lyrics that I feel are genuine. This song really saves the album from complete failure.

Emperor in His War Room has been called a number of things on this site: influential, creative... but no one but myself has called it boring. A nine minute song with all of two parts? Is this Van Der Graaf Dylan? Fripp's guitar work carries it at the end, but couldn't save it from being what it is - a boring song.

Lost is probably the second best song here, but I can't listen to it without thinking of ways it could have flowed better. Whatever success is gained with Lost, sadly, is immediately forgotten when the awful Pioneers Over C comes around.

Never has an epic failed so incredibly as with this beast of a closer of an album. Parts flow into one another with the grace of a bird with one wing, Hammill's lyrics fail miserably at conveying whatever semblance of a plot there is for this song. Listening to this song in it's entirety is an exercise in endurance for me. Just so bad... and for nearly 13 bloody minutes.

I have listened to this album nearly a dozen times trying to understand what makes it one of the cornerstones of prog-rock, and I just cant understand. I enjoy other VDGG albums, Pawn Hearts and Godbluff mainly. But this album just seems to be the work of a much, much less mature and competent band. Fortunately, VDGG had much better work in their future, this album just simply is not among that work. Listen at your own risk.

Two Stars.

Share this VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to The SaidRemark
• Report this review (#300125)
• Buy VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR music online with PA partners
• Show all VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR MP3/Stream
• Go to VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to H To He, Who Am The Only One page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR related discussions