Album title: The Aerosol Grey Machine
Artiste: Van der Graaf Generator
Nationality: British
Label: Mercury
Year: 1969
Grade: A
Previous Experience of this Artiste: I've heard some of their albums; some I like, some not quite so hot. Also heard some solo Peter Hammill material.
The Trollheart Factor: 4
Landmark value: Although they would never have a hit or even a successful single, Van der Graaf became inextricably tied into the prog movement, with icons like Peter Gabriel and, later, Fish from Marillion using Hammill's distinctive vocal style as their template.
Tracklisting: Afterwards/ Orthenthian St., Part 1 and 2/ Running back/ Into a game/ Aerosol grey machine/ Black smoke yen/ Aquarian/ Necromancer/ Octopus
Comments: Once again Spotify lets me down: one of the only VdGG albums they don't have is this one! So off to YouTube I again must go. This album was supposed originally to have been a solo Peter Hammill record, and you can see that from the fact that he writes almost every track on it. It did, however, become the springboard for what would become one of the perhaps quietest in terms of commercial fame and overlooked prog bands of the era. Nice easy opening, sort of reminds me a little of “Lucy in the sky with diamonds” as “Afterwards” gets us on our way with a gentle push. Immediately you can hear that Peter Hammill is a special voice; there's something very distinctive about the way he sings, and as the album goes on you'll hear him change from altar-boy to devil, though he's the former here. Really nice piano solo here too. This is the kind of VdGG I prefer, rather than the more manic, disjointed, freeform songs they often play, though they can be good too.
Slightly more uptempo for “Orthenthian St Pt 1 and 2”, and anyone listening to this for the first time would certainly hear the inflections that would make their way into the style of Fish from Marillion. Very gentle midsection then Hammill gets a little manic again, and there's a really good buildup at the end, including a rather excellent sort of drum solo. “Running” seems to be another low-key acoustic style ballad with a sort of echoey vocal, as if Hammill is a long way away. Some lovely flute here, proving that it doesn't always have to be in your face (Ian!) to be effective. Another fine buildup intro to “Into a game”, really great actually, and then it runs on a soft little piano line, almost classical. This is an early example of VdGG's propensity for sudden stops in the middle of songs, then picking them up again a half-second later, something the likes of Yes would also engage in. On either side of the “gap” here the song changes – and there are two gaps, one from ballad to rocker and then one from rocker back to ballad. It's a system that works well for them.
Great instrumental break there in about the fifth minute, mostly driving on thick funky bass and some almost honky-tonk piano from Hugh Banton. The title track is a bit Soft Machine-ish, a twenties style little thing which lasts less than a minute and takes us into “Black smoke yen”, another short little instrumental driven mostly on organ and percussion and on into “Aquarian”, where the organ continues to hold court and the vocal gives Hammill a chance to be a little more forceful than he has up to now. Good backing vocals too. And a nice catchy melody. For an eight-minute song it doesn't drag. The next track could be “Giant squid”, as that was on the original pressing, but thanks to Spotify not having this album I have to go with what YouTube gives me, and what it gives me is a later pressing on which the penultimate track is one I remember hearing already.
“Necromancer” comes in on a marching beat and some sort of whistling keyboard, perhaps pre-dating Rush's mythic tales of sorcerers and wizards, and the vocal is expectedly strident. It's uptempo but quite short with a kind of cringeworthy chorus that then hits into a thumping drumbeat. Could have been better. The album closes then on “Octopus”, which is an example of the more psych sort of track they often did, though to be fair, again, for an eight-minuter it doesn't drag and there are some pretty cool instrumental parts in it.
Favourite track(s): Afterwards, Running, Into a game, Aquarian
Least favourite track(s): Necromancer, The aerosol grey machine,
Overall impression: Very much together for a debut album, though I can see why it failed to score commercially. Kind of an acquired taste, especially Hammill's vocal, which was something really quite different to anything around at the time. A very influential album though, as it brought Hammill to the public consciousness for the first time.
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