The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other
Van der Graaf Generator - LP
- Artist: Van der Graaf Generator
- Format: LP
- Year: 2011
- Number of Discs: 1
- UPC: 646315121612
- Item Number: FMEN512161
- Release date: 02/21/2012
Price: $21.13
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The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other by Van der Graaf Generator on LP
Peter Hammill has always had an abiding interest, it seems, in the blurred boundary between the mystical and the scientific, and between the rational and magical mind; this is certainly evident on the debut Van Der Graaf Generator album, even though Hammill had yet to really begin focusing himself on what it was that was driving him (despite the fact that the band's very name referenced a device that resembles a bastard mix of scientific apparatus and shamanic totem). The Least We Can Do brings those concerns to the fore with ferocity, with time out for a couple of more personal pieces ("Refugees" and "Out of Our Book"). Hammill's lyrics, delivered with all the passion and intent he can muster, reference mysticism, numerology, astrology, various religious pantheons, the Malleus Maleficarum (leading Hammill to conclude, a bit too hopefully, that magic needs to be gray to be balanced), Robert van deGraaf himself (in "Whatever Would Robert Have Said?"), the future of humanity, and surviving ecological catastrophe. This being the start of the 1970s, the hopeful notes are drowned out by the tidal wave of fear, sadness, and despair, despite which, the music does tend to be rather uplifting, thanks to the undercurrent of barely restrained majesty VDGG tended to have (possibly thanks to Hugh Banton, who had been rather used to communicating with God via church and cathedral organs; he brought that expertise to a position more normally occupied by determined B3 thumpers engaged in battle with show-horse guitarists). The main thing that The Least We Can Do is in need of now is a good remastering job (and the addition of a few leftover tracks, such as the "Refugees" single version and its B-side.) [The Virgin CD transfer is a lazy example of taking an album master and making a CD master from it, leaving the album lacking dynamic range and sounding a bit muffled.] ~ Steven McDonald, Rovi
- Artist: Van der Graaf Generator
- Format: LP
- Year: 2011
- Number of Discs: 1
- UPC: 646315121612
- Item Number: FMEN512161
- Release date: 02/21/2012
- Label: 4 Men With Beards
- Genre: Pop/Rock
- Vital: Van der Graaf Live
- Godbluff
- H to He, Who Am the Only One
- Pawn Hearts
- The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome
- Still Life
- World Record
- First Generation (Scenes from 1969-1971) (Import)
- Godbluff [Bonus Tracks] (Import)
- Still Life [Bonus Track] (Import)
- World Record [Bonus Tracks]
- The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome [Bonus Tracks]
- Vital [Bonus Tracks]
- Time Vaults (Import)
- The Aerosol Grey Machine
- The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other [Japan Bonus Tracks]
- H to He, Who Am the Only One [Japan Bonus Tracks]
- Pawn Hearts [Japan Bonus Tracks]
- Godbluff [Bonus Tracks]
- Still Life [Japan CD]
- Vital: Van der Graaf Live [2006]
- A A Grounding In Numbers (Ltd)
- Grounding in Numbers
- The Aerosol Grey Machine
- Real Time
- Live at the Paradiso
- Live at the Paradiso 14:04:07
- Quiet Zone/Pleasure Dome
- Vital [Bonus Tracks]
- The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other [Japan Bonus Tracks]
- H to He Who Am the Only One
- Pawn Hearts
- Godbluff
- Still Life
- World Record
- Trisector (Import)
- Live at the Paradiso 14:04:07
- Maida Vale: The Radio One Sessions
- H to He Who Am the Only One
- Pawn Hearts
- H to He, Who Am the Only One [Bonus Tracks]
- The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other [China Bonus Tracks]
- Pawn Hearts [Bonus Tracks]
- The Box
- An Introduction
- Present
- Present
- Time Vaults
- Now and Then
- Real Time
- The Aerosol Grey Machine
- Inside Van der Graaf Generator: An Independant Critical Review
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