VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: PAWN HEARTS
Paolo Carnelli SONICBOND PUBLISHING
Small but perfectly formed anatomy of a prog classic.
Reviewing Pawn Hearts on its release in 1971, an unnamed Record Mirror hack conceded: “I have to confess complete ignorance of precisely what Van der Graaf Generator are trying to achieve.” This frank admission illustrates just how at the vanguard the band were when they unleashed their masterpiece, particularly with the 23-minute, multipart A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers. Released a year ahead of labelmates Genesis’s Supper’s Ready, it seemed to elicit more bafflement than wonder, with the group’s status as Charisma top dogs foundering as a result. This excellent little book by Paolo Carnelli traces where it all went wrong/ right, depending upon which moment in history it’s being viewed from.