Van Der Graaf Generator

Whatever you do! For all that is dear in this world! Don't get 'Pawn Hearts'!  Well I'm just kidding, but most peoples first reaction to Pawn Hearts isn't pretty, It's a masterpiece though, Once you're prepared for it I guess.

Try 'H to He Who Am the Only One', Great album

I would begin with "H to He" a fantastic album and one of VDGG most
accesibles ones. I agree with Winter Wine, left "Pawn Hearts" (a fantastic
album) for later.

Get Pawn Hearts. It's really not that difficult an album to get into, it was the first VDGG album I heard and I loved it instantly.

They have not made a single weak album. And, unlike others, I rate their live album "Vital" very highly (5 stars to me). Yes, it is not in the usual line-up; yes, the sound quality is not great; yes, they did have technical problems with the sax during the first three tracks. But all of that doesn't count; the raw energy of this album will give you an uppercut, and when you come down again send a left hook right afterwards and throw you against the wall. Nic Potter's bass is a real killer; I never heard such a brutal bass again (except on Magma "Live Hhai"). I don't give a damn about the poor production of this album; it is the music that counts! And the music is fantastic!

I started with Pawn Hearts, and I have always liked it! However, it may be a bit tough to get into for some, so start with Godbluff and H to He first!

H To He, Who Am The Only One (1970)
Pawn Hearts (1971)

are quintessential albums

First album I got was The Aerosol Gray Machine (their first album, '69). I loved it, Hammill's voice more than anything. It's probably best to start at the beginning.

By the way, Vital is (to me) brilliant. Many prog fans don't like it because it's more punk than prog. But, it's not meant to be a traditional prog album. If you like punk and really raw, ballsy rock (with the severely non-linear approach that only the stamp of Van der Graaf can provide), then it's a brilliant album. It came out in '78 and sounds like it could have been written and made today in 2006 by some hungry, young underground group, unlike other '78 offerings i.e. Tormato, And Then There Were 3, etc. (those albums are firmly stuck in 1978). VdGG were altogether way more clued in...

To emphasize the point, in the VdGG book there's a picture from '78 of Hammill chatting with Johnny Rotten (a big VdGG fan) backstage at the Marquee (where Vital was recorded). At the time, Rotten was *The Man* - probably wouldn't have caught him backstage at a Gentle Giant, Yes, or Genesis concert in '78! (Now may be different, of course...)

But I'd work through the other albums before you ever get to Vital (their ninth record). That album will also make a lot more sense if you listen to Hammill's solo album "Nadir's Big Chance" (his pre-punk masterpiece) first. Vital is like Rikki Nadir putting on a concert with Van der Graaf as his band.

The VdGG book is available at the amazon site ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/095513370X/qid%3D11 35266700/202-8745730-2635847 )

and

( http://www.vandergraafgenerator.co.uk/book_sell.htm )

(can't resist another plug for the book, sorry!)

Oh and do remember to get the re-masters if you can too, you won't be disappointed (unless you decide you dislike them!).  Aerosol Grey Machine is the hardest to obtain, but it was infact the first VdGG I listened (I did have the MP3s from this site of course, so I'd heard Refugees, Man-Erg and the rest of the tracks on here) to in album format.  I tried to work through chronilogically, but I didn't have Pawn Hearts, so I went from H to He to Still Life (I missed out Godbluff to) and this was in pre-remaster days of course.  So I actually heard Still Life before Pawn Hearts.

As Sean Trane rightly says, try and get Peter Hammill's solo efforts.  Fool's Mate has been remastered, but it far more lighthearted than most Peter Hammill albums, but then maybe that's a good place to start.

It would be wise to wait a while, as Peter Hammill has announced that Virgin are remastering all his solo albums (not all of them, just up to Over I think, or maybe it's The Black Box or pH7, I forget!), so you'll get better sound quality (which is very important in terms of "Chameleon In The Shadow Of The Night", as that has pretty poor quality and a strange hissing sound (on my version it does anyhow) and obviously better availability.

The main three albums to get of Peter Hammill's solo works are: "Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night", "The Silent Corner and The Empty Stage" and "In Camera".  His best rated album is "Over" (which I do not have, nor have I heard it).

This is a lot to taken in, sorry about that.