Pawn Hearts

Occupation

  • Hugh Banton: Hammond Organ, Farfisa organ, piano, Mellotron, synthesizers, bass guitar
  • Guy Evans: drums, timpani, percussion, piano
  • Peter Hammill: vocals, guitar, piano
  • David Jackson: tenor, alto and soprano saxophone, flute, vocals
  • Robert Fripp: guitar (on Man- Erg & Presence of the Night )

Pawn Hearts (1971 ) is the fourth album by the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator and the most successful after Godbluff. The album contains three pieces: Lemmings and Man- Erg, each with a running time of around ten minutes on the A-side as well as the the 23 -minute A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers on the B-side.

Characterization of the pieces

  • Lemmings reminds some listeners with its instrumentation of saxophone, keyboard and drums as well as shorter guitar passages to the music of Gentle Giant, but also possesses the typical Stylistics Van der Graaf generator. Lyrically, it comes to life at the edge of the cliff and the temptation to jump down.
  • Man- Erg treated the topos of the sleeping beast in man that can awaken suddenly. Musically the beginning of the piece is a piano and organ characterized by idyllic, then the piece abruptly changes to a faster section with sprawling drums and guitar playing and singing restless, and then returns by slowing the beats back to the initial pace.
  • A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers finally, is a progressive rock epic that similar Supper's Ready by Genesis joins a succession of different musical ideas loose. Content appear motifs such as death and ghostly apparitions.

Classification within the genre Progressive Rock

Pawn Hearts is a work that is negotiated as other albums by Van der Graaf Generator on the text layer a lot of negative emotions. Striking addition to the typical saxophone passages of David Jackson is the high proportion of obscure passages. Van der Graaf Generator are often compared to King Crimson and Genesis, with Pawn Hearts has more influences the style of King Crimson, even if the work of Robert Fripp in the mix has not been placed so prominently, as yet on the previous album H to He Who Am The Only One from 1970.

Others

The tonally revised 2005 edition contains in addition the Hugh Banton - piece Diminutions. It is reminiscent of ambient music, is characterized by synthesizer and electric organ and numerous Hall effects. The band found itself at the time incapable, these relatively exotic electronic music shall be included her main work.

Title list

  • Eyewitness
  • Pictures / Lighthouse
  • Eyewitness
  • S.H.M.
  • Presence of the Night
  • Cosmos Tours
  • ( Custard 's) Last Stand
  • The Clot Thickens
  • Land's End ( orange line )
  • We Go Now
639398
de