Nel 1970, subito dopo "The Least we can do is wave to each other", per qualcuno il loro primo vero disco, i VDGG pubblicano "H to He Who Am the Only One". Si tratta di un lavoro che si pone fra i classici della loro discografia e in cui troviamo l'illustre presenza come ospite di Robert Fripp dei King Crimsonh presente, con la sua chitarra, in "The Emperor in His War Room".
L'album si apre con uno dei classici del gruppo più amati dai fans ovvero "Killer", brano molto efficace e di immediato impatto che si caratterizza con un "riff" dirompente di sax e organo e con la voce "espressionista" di un Hammill qui al meglio delle sue potenzialità vocali. Il brano narra la storia di un mostro degli abissi parlando di amore e morte. La successiva "House With No Door" è una ballata gotico--romantica molto dolce (ma pervasa da un’atmosfera di morte) con Hammill che si cimenta al piano accompaganto dal flauto di Jackson: ci troviamo di fronte ad un altro classico senza tempo dei VDGG, un brano che si avvale di una melodia struggente e poetica molto efficace che sfiora il sublime. A me l’atmosfera ha sempre ricordato i racconti di Edgar Allan Poe.
La seconda parte dell'album si caratterizza per la presenza di tre mini-suites, a testimonianza del fatto di come il gruppo stesse ponendo le basi "programmatiche" del disco seguente inserendosi, anche se in modo del tutto peculiare rispetto alla concorrenza, ai gruppi coevi dei periodo come ELP, Yes e Genesis."The Emperor in His War Room" (con l’apporto del citato Fripp) e "Lost" sono frastagliate e a tratti parossistiche, anche se "The Emperor…" risulta più compatta e coesa: l’atmosfera è sepolcrale e da fantascienza nera. "Pioneers Over C" è invece una lunga epopea fantascientifica che si apre con il sibilo di un oscillatore per poi dispiegarsi in modo epico grazie alle sonorità dell'organo siderale di Banton e ai testi apocalittico-cosmici di Hammill che rivela ancora una volta la statura del suo "songwriting".
In sostanza si può considerare "He to H.." il disco della consacrazione internazionale dei VDGG che di li' a poco sfonderanno definitivamente presso il pubblico grazie al capolavoro epocale di “Pawn Hearts"
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Killer (08:24)
So you live in the bottom of the sea,
and you kill all that come near you...
but you are very lonely, because all the other fish fear you
and you crave companionship and someone to call your own
because for the whole of your life you've been living alone.
On a black day in a black month at the black bottom of the sea
your mother gave birth to you and died immediately....
'Cos you can't have two killers living in the same pad
and when your mother knew that her time had come
she was really rather glad.
Death in the sea, death in the sea,
somebody please come and help me, come and help me
Fishes can't fly, fishes can't fly,
fishes can't and neither can I, neither can I....
Now I'm really rather like you for I've killed all the love I ever had
by not doing all I ought to and by leaving my mind coming bad.
And I too am a killer, for emotion runs as deep as flesh;
and I too am so lonely, and I wish that I could forget
we need love,
we need love,
we need love.
04 Lost (11:17)
''a.) The Dance in Sand and Sea''
So here we are, or rather, here am I, quite alone;
I'm seeing things that were shared before, long ago;
my memory stretches and I am dazed.
You know I know
how good the time was and how I laughed.
Times have changed, now you're far away, I can't complain -
I had all my chances but they slipped right through my hands
like so much sand;
I know I'll never dance like I used to.
I'll just wait till day breaks upon the land and the sea,
hoping that I can catch all of the memories;
then I must crawl off upon my way,
all of me listening hard for the final words.
But there are none, the sunrise calls, I've lingered on
too close for comfort and I don't know quite why
I feel like crying -
I know we'll never dance like we used to.
I look up, I'm almost blinded
by the warmth of what's inside me
and the taste that's in my soul,
but I'm dead inside as I stand alone.
''b.) The Dance in Frost''
I wore my moods like different sets of clothes
but the right one was never around
and as you left I heard my body ring
and my mind began to howl.
It was far to late to contemplate the meaning of it all;
You know that I need you, but somehow
I don't think you see my love at all.
At some point I lost you, I don't know quite how that was.
The wonderland lay in a coat of white, chilling frost;
I looked around and I found I was truly lost...
without your hand in mine I am dead.
Reality is unreal and games I've tried just aren't the same:
without your smile there's nowhere to hide
and deep inside
I know I've never cried as I'm about to ...
If I could just frame the words
that would make your fire burn
all this water now around me could be the love
that should surround me.
Looking out through the tears that blind me
my heart bleeds that you may find me
or at least that I can
forget and be numb,
but I can't stop, the words still come:
I love you.
05 Pioneers Over C. (12:42)
(Hammill)
We left the earth in 1983, fingers groping for the galaxies,
reddened eyes stared up into the void, 1000 stars to be exploited
Somebody help me I'm falling, somebody help me, I'm falling down
Into sky, into earth, into sky, into earth .....
It is so dark around, no life, no hope, no sound
no chance of seeing home again ...
The universe is on fire, exploding without flame.
We are the lost ones; we are the pioneers; we are the lost ones
We are the ones they are going to build a statue for
ten centuries ago or were going to fifteen forward .....
One Last brief whisper in our loved ones' ears
to reassure them and to pierce the fear
standing at controls then still unknown we told the world we were
about to go
Somebody help me I'm missing, somebody help me I'm missing now
touch with my mind, I have no frame,
touch with my mind, I have no frame ...
Well now where is the time and who the hell am I,
here floating in an aimless way?
No-one knows where we are, they can't feel us precisely ..
There is no fear here.
How can such a thing exist in this place where living and knowing
and being have never been heard of?
Doomed to vanish in the flickering light,
disappearing to a darker night,
doomed to wander in a living death, living anti-matter, anti-breath
Somebody help me I'm losing, somebody help me, I'm losing now
people around, there's no-one to touch,
no people around, no-one to touch.
I am now quite alone, part of a vacant time-zone,
here floating in the void,
only dimly aware of existence, a dimly existing awareness,
I am the lost one, I am the one you fear, I am the lost one,
I am the one who crossed through space, or stayed where I was,
or didn't exist in the first place .....
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di MuSo
Inutile fare troppi giri di parole inutili.
Epico, monumentale, bello esteticamente, vario.
Di alan clark
È veramente un riff assassino!
Un passaggio così delicato e triste difficilmente è stato scritto molte volte nella storia della musica.
