Pawn Hearts is the fourth album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released on 12 November 1971 on Charisma Records.

Following the tour and in preparation for the album, Hammill invited producer John Anthony to his home, where Hammill played songs intended for the album unaccompanied on acoustic guitar and piano, allowing Anthony to take recording notes. "Man-Erg" was written about the conflict between good and evil, represented as "angels" and "killers" in the song. "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" was inspired by Hammill's fascination with the sea, and the narrative is about a lighthouse keeper who keeps seeing people die offshore. He feels guilty about not being able to help, and the song's ending is left open, leaving the listener to decide if the keeper has committed suicide or rationalised events to live in peace. Banton was against putting "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" on the album, wanting more commercial material such as the previous album H to He, Who Am the Only One's "Killer", but after a band meeting he agreed to rehearse the song and worked out an arrangement. The group moved to manager Tony Stratton Smith's house, Luxford House, Crowborough, Sussex for two months in summer 1971 to rehearse material.

Recording and production

Recording ran from July to September 1971 in Trident Studios. In addition to the band and Anthony, Robin Cable, David Hentschel and Ken Scott helped with engineering. The first tracks to be recorded were "Theme One", a cover of the George Martin composition used as the original closing theme to BBC Radio 1, and "W", which was ultimately left off the album. The music, particularly "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" was recorded in short sections between two and five minutes, which were later edited together. In addition to Hammill's original suite, Banton contributed the "Pictures/Lighthouse" section, an Olivier Messiaen-influenced organ piece, Evans wrote "Kosmos Tours" around a short piano riff, and Jackson wrote the music to the closing theme, "We Go Now". The piece was edited together by Banton and Anthony towards the end of the session. Banton used an effect called a "psychedelic razor", a customised tape recorder that could rewind and record simultaneously. The device appealed to the band's sense of humour. At one stage, every tape machine in the studio had to be used for mixing.

The album was originally conceived as a double album similar to Pink Floyd's Ummagumma (1969). The first half was made up of the album as released, while the second was to be divided between personal projects and live-in-studio versions of older Van der Graaf Generator songs such as "Killer" and "Octopus". Charisma ultimately felt that the group should simply release a single album, and vetoed the live and solo recordings.

Release

The album was originally released on 12 November 1971 on Charisma Records. In Europe, where Pawn Hearts only contained the three tracks, "Theme One" was released as a single in February 1972, with "W" as its B-side.

When the Van der Graaf Generator catalogue was remastered for reissue in 2005, several of the tracks from the missing half of the album were found and added as bonus tracks. A live, in-studio version of "Squid/Octopus" was added to the H to He, Who Am the Only One reissue, while the Pawn Hearts reissue added "Angle of Incidents", "Ponker's Theme", and "Diminutions". The CD also contained the original mix of "Theme One", which is different to the one released as a single, and an earlier take of "W". "Theme One" was also released on the 2003 compilation CD The Best Prog Rock Album in the World... Ever.

Composition and music

Sean Murphy of PopMatters described the album as being "for people to whom even Gentle Giant is not out-there enough". He explained: "Here it is, for better or worse, work that embodies many of the best accolades and worst epithets of the genre: ambitious, self-conscious, literate, sprawling, obscure, and unadulterated." Evans contributed an avant-garde piece "Angle of Incidents", which featured drums being recorded backwards and the sound of a fluorescent lighting tube being dropped down the studio's stairs. Jackson recorded "Ponker's Theme", a short jazz piece, and a longer piece, "Archimedes Agnostic", with Latin lyrics written by Hammill.

Artwork

The cover was designed by regular Charisma album artist Paul Whitehead, who was told by Hammill: "no matter if you're a king, a pauper or whatever you're a pawn", which led to a design containing the Earth and a curtain. The inner gatefold picture was taken by Keith Morris at Luxford House and featured the band playing Crowborough Tennis while appearing to give Nazi salutes to each other, though Banton later said that this was simply the band attempting to look ridiculous in the vein of Monty Python.

Reception and legacy

The album was not commercially successful in the UK. A Record Mirror review said: "I have to confess complete ignorance of precisely what Van der Graaf Generator are trying to achieve", though Melody Maker were more enthusiastic, saying: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' is one of the most fascinating and dramatic items I've ever heard". However, the album reached number one on the Italian album charts.

The group toured Italy to promote the album, where they were treated like superstars and surrounded by army vehicles and riot police. They followed this with a short European tour, during which they filmed a live version of "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" for Belgian television. The production took two hours to film as the band had not intended to perform the song live and had forgotten it. The resulting film shows Hammill singing the song while reading a lyric sheet. Regular tours of Europe followed over the next four months, but the strain of the workload became too much for the band, and they split up in August 1972.

Retrospective reviews have been favourable. Q magazine called the album a "misunderstood masterpiece", while Mojo said that it was "one of the most extraordinary albums of its era".</small>

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Personnel

Van der Graaf Generator

  • Peter Hammill – lead and backing vocals, piano, Hohner pianet, acoustic and slide guitar
  • David Jackson – tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, flute, vocals
  • Hugh Banton – Hammond E & C and Farfisa Professional organs, piano, Mellotron, ARP synthesizer, bass pedals, bass guitar, psychedelic razor, vocals
  • Guy Evans – drums, timpani, percussion, piano

Additional personnel

  • Robert Fripp – electric guitar on "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers"

Technical

  • John Anthony – production
  • Robin Cable, David Hentschel, Ken Scott – engineering
  • Mike and Dave C – tape op
  • Howard – brightest hope
  • Paul Whitehead – sleeve design
  • Keith Morris – inner sleeve photography

Charts

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! scope="row"|Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)

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! Chart (2021–2022)

! Peak<br />position

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Notes

References

Citations

Sources

  • Pawn Hearts (1971) at vandergraafgenerator.co.uk
  • Lyrics from Peter Hammill's official site
  • Pawn Hearts – scans of album covers
  • Van der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts (1971) – review by Julian Cope at www.headheritage.co.uk
  • Van der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts (1971) – review by Bruce Eder at AllMusic.com
  • Van der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts (1971) – at discogs.com
  • Van der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts (1971) – at ProgArchives.com
  • Van der Graaf Generator Pawn Hearts (1971) – stream at spotify.com