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**Van der Graaf Generator - The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other**
★★★★☆

In the pantheon of progressive rock's most uncompromising acts, Van der Graaf Generator stands as a towering monument to artistic obstinacy and sonic brutality. While their peers were crafting pastoral symphonies and whimsical fairy tales, Peter Hammill's apocalyptic quartet was busy soundtracking the end of civilization itself. "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other," their 1970 sophomore effort, captures the band at their most accessible—which, in VdGG terms, still means about as welcoming as a nuclear winter.

The album emerged from the ashes of the band's tumultuous early period, following their debut "The Aerosol Grey Machine," which was essentially a Hammill solo project masquerading as a group effort. By 1970, the classic lineup had crystallized around Hammill's theatrical vocals and piano, Hugh Banton's Hammond organ wizardry, David Jackson's multi-saxophone assault, and Guy Evans' thunderous percussion. Notably absent was any guitar—a deliberate choice that forced the band into uncharted sonic territories where organ and saxophone became the primary weapons of mass musical destruction.

The opening salvo, "Darkness (11/11)," immediately establishes the band's apocalyptic worldview with Hammill's dramatic proclamation over a churning organ foundation. It's a mission statement wrapped in velvet gloom, setting the stage for an album that treats existential dread as high art. The title track follows with its haunting refrain and Jackson's mournful saxophone, creating one of the band's most emotionally resonant moments. Here, Hammill's voice—part Peter Gabriel, part operatic banshee—delivers lines about human disconnection with the weight of biblical prophecy.

"Refugees" stands as perhaps the album's masterpiece, a nine-minute epic that showcases everything that made VdGG essential. Banton's organ work ranges from church-like solemnity to industrial fury, while Jackson's saxophone alternately weeps and screams. Hammill's narrative about displacement and alienation feels both deeply personal and universally relevant, his voice scaling impossible emotional heights. It's prog rock as catharsis, using technical virtuosity in service of genuine human drama rather than mere showboating.

The album's genius lies in its restraint—by VdGG standards, anyway. Where later efforts like "Pawn Hearts" would push their sound into even more extreme territories, "The Least We Can Do" maintains just enough melodic accessibility to draw listeners into its dark embrace before subjecting them to the full weight of the band's vision. "White Hammer" builds from gentle beginnings to crushing climax, while "Whatever Would Robert Have Said?" offers a rare moment of something approaching levity, though still filtered through the band's characteristic existential lens.

This album sits perfectly between VdGG's two other essential statements. Their 1971 masterwork "Pawn Hearts" would push their sound to its logical extreme—a single-LP containing just three tracks of increasingly uncompromising music that would influence everyone from King Crimson to modern post-rock. At the other end of their classic period, 1976's "World Record" found them incorporating more diverse influences while maintaining their essential darkness, proving their vision could evolve without compromise.

The production, handled by John Anthony, captures the band's live intensity while allowing space for each instrument's unique voice. Banton's organ doesn't just fill space—it creates weather systems. Jackson's saxophone work ranges from tender to terrifying, often within the same passage. Evans' drumming provides both rhythmic anchor and explosive punctuation. And through it all, Hammill's voice serves as both narrator and participant in his own psychological dramas.

Today, "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" stands as a crucial bridge between the first wave of British progressive rock and the more experimental territories that would follow. Its influence can be heard in everyone from Radiohead to Tool, artists who understand that technical proficiency means nothing without emotional honesty. The album's themes of isolation and communication breakdown feel eerily prescient in our digital age, making Hammill's 50-year-old observations about human disconnection feel urgently contemporary.

Van der Graaf Generator never made easy music, and this album is no exception. But for those willing to embrace its dark beauty, "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" offers rewards that most