When you think of progressive music from the 70’s, many people probably come up with bands such as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull. Some may mention King Crimson, but Van der Graaf Generator tends to be forgotten. They started in 1967 and slowly grew into a massive progrock beast, arguably artistically peaking from the early to mid-70’s.

This post will focus on their 1971 and 1972 releases during which they released their, now, critically acclaimed album Pawn Hearts and non-album single Theme One.

In the beginning…

Their history was plagued by many break-ups and misfortune though their line-up remained fairly consistent throughout their career with Peter Hammill (vocals, guitar and keys), Guy Evans (drums and percussion) and Hugh Banton (organ and bass pedals) being the core trio. Honorable mention goes to David Jackson who provided great saxophone and flute input on many of the band’s musical output and was a prominent member throughout most of the 70’s.

The band ca. 1971, from left to right: Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton, Guy Evans, David Jackson

The band made their debut release on the Mercury Records label in January 1969 in the form of the single People You Were Going To which was supposedly withdrawn shortly after due to a label dispute. Eight months later, their debut album (which was more or less a Hammill solo album) The Aerosol Grey Machine was released, supported by their second single Afterwards. Sales were not good and the band was released by the label which enabled them to sign to UK label Charisma (aka The Famous Charisma Label). A fitting deal as they could share label duties with Genesis.

Charisma was artistically rewarded with the band releasing their second album in February 1970 called The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other. It features fan favorites Darkness (11/11) and After The Flood or my personal favorite Whatever Would Robert Have Said?. Single Refugees was released to promote the album, but did little to nothing. The album was followed up by H To He, Who Am The Only One, their third album, issued at the end of 1970. This was another step forward towards dark progressive rock, featuring complex arrangements and deep personal lyrics by Hammill. It was however again not a commercial success for the label, nor the band.

Pawn Hearts album

Then came 1971. The band were struggling financially due to their releases selling not too well. Live performances were however attracting a fair amount of people which kept them afloat.

For their fourth album, the band initially envisioned a double album where disc 1 would possibly feature the songs as ultimately released. Disc 2 would contain live-in-the-studio recordings of older songs such as Killer and Octopus, paired with solo efforts by each band member, similar to Pink Floyd’s 1969 album Ummagumma. Some of those additional recordings where ultimately discovered and released on 2005 CD re-issues. The live-in-the-studio recording of Killer and a Jackson solo recording are, at the time of writing, presumably lost.

The label was weary of releasing a double album for a band who weren’t selling that well and thus decided to release it as a single album instead.

The album got the title Pawn Hearts and features three songs: Lemmings, Man-Erg and A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers. The latter occupies the whole second side of the record. A feature that Genesis repeated a year later with Supper’s Ready on Foxtrot, enhancing the familiarity between the two bands.

I will not discuss the greatness of these three songs. You have to listen to them yourself. This album was my introduction to the band back in 2015. It didn’t click immediately until 6 years later after which I became hooked and even dared to dive into Hammill’s solo career.

UK release

Pawn Hearts was presumably released on the 12th of November 1971 in the UK on the pink Charisma label. Later pressings would feature the so-called mad hatter Charisma label. Two of my favorite label designs.

The album was released with a gatefold sleeve in most countries, though later pressings in the 70’s switched to non-gatefold sleeves.

The front and back artwork, designed by Paul Whitehead, features a distant view of the Earth and a huge curtain. It is adorned by many historical and non-historical figures due to a comment made by Hammill to Whitehead at the time (“no matter if you’re a king, a pauper or whatever – you’re a pawn“).

The back and front gatefold artwork of the 1971 UK LP release

The A and B-sides of the 1971 UK first pressing LP

The inside of the gatefold of the 1971 UK LP release

The inner gatefold imagery is, in my opinion, striking. It shows a rather surreal photo of the band during a self-made game which they called Crowborough Tennis while appearing to give each other Nazi salutes. The band however always denied any Nazis references and instead said they were just trying to look ridiculous in the vein of Monty Python.

Despite the potential controversy, I think it looks great. The filter used for the image enhances the impact of the photo and with the lack of any background information, you are left wondering what is going on here.

Apart from the photo, you see the credits for the album on the left. I think it is always amazing to see how small a recording team was back in the day: 5 people who made music (including guest musician Robert Fripp on guitar!), 1 producer, 3 engineers, 2 tape operators, 1 artwork designer and 1 photographer. Just compare that to contemporary popular music!

The 11.5″ x 11.5″ lyrics sheet of the 1971 UK LP release

The UK edition also comes with a single-sided black 11.5″ x 11.5″ lyrics sheet. It is interesting to note that the second song of the album, Man-Erg, is listed first. Was this a design error or was this song maybe originally going to be the opener for the album?

Interestingly, the artwork does not feature the track listing at all. You will only know about the song titles by looking at the record labels or the lyrics sheet (though again note that the sequence is wrong on that sheet).

Spanish 1972 release

About a year later, sometime in 1972, the album was released for the first time in Spain. Instead of using the regular UK sleeve, the label, Philips, decided to do something different and use the gatefold’s inner photo for the front artwork. The photo is surrounded by a white border and is adorned by the album title and band name in a beautiful font. The back sleeve is plain white, this time featuring the song titles.

Above: the front artwork of the 1972 Spanish LP release
Below: the back artwork and A-side label

Based on my previously shared enthusiasm and love for the inner gatefold photo, it is hardly a surprise that this cover variant is my favorite for this album. The cleanliness of the plain white back sleeve enhances its appeal. To top it off, the cover is fully laminated, giving it a nice smoothness to the touch.

This album variant is rare, especially in good condition and can fetch high prices on the second hand market.

Brazilian 1972 release

The album was also released in Brazil in 1972 for the first (and only) time, featuring an alternative cover. This one combines the UK’s front and back as one full image on the front. The back is the gatefold’s inner photo with song titles and credits.

I will share that edition in this post whenever I can get my hands on a (near mint) copy.

1980 oddity

An uncommon album-related oddity occurred in 1980: Charisma released a compilation called Repeat Performance on LP and cassette. The cassette contains a bonus track called The Clot Thickens which is 25 seconds longer than the version featured in A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers, making this a nice stand-alone version.

Theme One single

After the album was released in November 1971, it was decided to release a single a few months later. Interestingly enough, the two songs featured on this single, are not available on the album. Apart from the US which had the single’s A-side on their album pressing.

The A-side contains a cover of the 1967 George Martin instrumental Theme One. The band originally played this song live before they decided to make a proper studio recording in 1971. It took until 1986 before it made its digital debut on CD on the First Generation (Scenes From 1969-1971) compilation. An alternate longer mix was released on the 2005 CD remaster of Pawn Hearts and a June 1971 BBC version first appeared on a 2000 4CD box set.

The single’s B-side is a fantastic album out-take called W. This song was also played during a BBC session, broadcasted on the 23rd of September 1971 which was released for the first time on a 2006 BBC 2CD compilation. The B-side version got its digital debut on a 1993 CD compilation. An early take was released on the aforementioned 2005 CD remaster.

Both songs were seemingly once a candidate to be featured on the double LP edition of Pawn Hearts.

The single was only released in four European countries plus Australia. All releases came with a unique picture sleeve apart from Australia.

United Kingdom

Picture sleeves were very uncommon in the UK for singles up until mid or late 1970’s. It is therefore a surprise that this single got a lovely picture sleeve in the UK. Was the label trying to make the single stand out in the shops for potential buyers?

As you can see, they went with the album’s gatefold inner photo in monochrome colors for the front. The back is blue and highlights the band’s released albums at the time plus Hammill’s 1971 solo album Fool’s Mate.

This single was re-released in Europe in April 2022.

Above: the front artwork of the 1972 UK single release
Below: the back artwork and A-side label

France

The song was also released in France – with a picture sleeve. It was released on the Philips label just as the Spanish 1972 album and the other European Theme One singles.

Unlike the UK version, the label decided to use a nice alternative band photo and used some odd effects to make the artwork stand out amongst the rest (or at least, that is what I guess they wanted to achieve). As with many French singles from that time, the back is plain white.

This single is notable for the fact that both sides contain a mono mix. The Australian single also contains mono mixes and I assume that they are the same. To date those mono mixes haven’t been released digitally or beyond these two singles.

Above: the front artwork of the 1972 French single release
Below: the back artwork and A-side label

Germany

Obviously, Germany had a single release as well, as they had a nice following over there. The single comes with a striking, yet fairly odd, band image outside in the woods.

The back is an advertisement for other artists on the Philips label which is typical for German releases at that time.

Above: the front artwork of the 1972 German single release
Below: the back artwork and A-side label

Italy

Last but certainly not least, is this Italian edition which comes in an arguably great psychedelic cover. I don’t know where they got the screaming face from, but it is splattered with some elements from the Pawn Hearts album.

This may very well be my favorite picture sleeve out of all four, even though I really like that Crowborough Tennis game photo.

This single seemingly went to number 1 in the Italian charts which led to a successful Italian tour.

Above: the front artwork of the 1972 Italian single release
Below: the back artwork and A-side label

Aftermatch

In the end, none of these releases seem to have helped increasing the band’s profile apart from a brief moment of VDGG mania in Italy.

Plans were made for a new album, though the lack of support from the label, continued financial struggles and no breaks from work led to the break-up of the band around mid-1972.

Luckily for the fans, all was not lost, as the quartet joined forces again in early 1975 which led to a new masterpiece called Godbluff.

From a collector’s point of view, the Pawn Hearts era produced several nice releases with the Spanish LP edition and the Italian Theme One single being amongst my favorites.

What are your thoughts about this album or era and its releases?