H TO HE, WHO AM THE ONLY ONE

Van Der Graaf Generator has always been a dark and strong band, with an obscure atmosphere in their songs, the energetic Peter Hammill's voice and David Jackson's inevitable saxophone, all these built together over the great sound of Hugh Banton's screaming organ, Guy Evans' astonishing drum playing and Nic Potter's bass (before he left the band for a while). And all these elements can be found in "H To He, Who Am The Only One", which is, with no doubt, one of the highlights of group. With two albums released before this one by the band, here we finally discovered the sound they would develop within their long career as musicians.

Since the very beginning we can hear the strong sax playing its tune loud but clearly. "Killer" is a great opener which shows the whole potential of this band, with all instruments, including Hammill's voice, blowing your head off until the end of the song. "House with no door" begins with a beautiful piano structure over the rest of instruments start to appear joining the melodic voice and the emotion it emanates. I really like the great flute solo around the middle of the song. The next song combines successfully melodic lines with strong chords and guitar riffs. Here we have the great Robert Fripp playing his guitar in the way he only knows to do it, adding a great solo near the end of the song. "Lost" is considered one of the most representative pieces of the band. And it makes sense. Here we find psychedelic music united with epic sound and voice and distorting bridge parts which are usual in the band first period discography. I enjoy the part of the song which begins around the forth minute, with the sax atmosphere and Hammill's voice floating over it. "Pioneers over C" follows its predecessor musical style and talks about a futurist theme in space full with crazy organ and sax riffs. It ends with Hammill singing in psychedelic style and a last riff of the sax and the organ.

In conclusion, this is a great album which I highly recommend to start with in order to really appreciate VDGG music, due to the fact that here you can recognize elements from the whole discography of the band. "H To He, Who Am The Only One" it's not only one of Van Der Graaf best albums, but one of the best in progressive rock scene. Hope you enjoy!