PAWN HEARTS

The third of "The Fantastic Four" is generally considered as VDGG's masterpiece. With only three songs, "Pawn Hearts" begins with "Lemmings", one of the heaviest songs in all VDGG's canon. Folowwing it we have "Man-Erg", with interesting lyrics by Hammill. It starts almost as a ballad, then gets faster in the middle section. The last song is VDGG's greatest epic, "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers", with another great lyric. This song is somewhat uneven, with some pieces weaker than others, but overall is a great work. Robert Fripp again guests on electric guitar, but he's almost buried in the mix. "A Plague..." is my vote to the greatest prog-rock epic (sorry, Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd fans, this one is a major achievement, both in melody and lyrics).