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Rando Ken

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Rando Ken's Song Reviews

On The Least We Can Do..., Out Of My Book stands out as a lush respite, following the mystical considerations of Whatever Would Robert Have Said and preceding the whole torrent that is the apocalyptic closer After The Flood. It also stands out as being the one track on the album that Peter Hammill co-wrote, rather than wrote solo as he would most of Van der Graaf Generator's songs and his own. He wrote it with David Jackson, who also deviated by performing only flutes on this song rather than saxophone as he does throughout the album. As much as Hammill sings marvelously crafted lyrics like "running along in sunlight meadows, your eyes were never more than half closed," Jackson provides excellent instrumental accompaniment matching in beauty.
The song's theme at its simplest concerns unrequited love, an idea that would permeate Hammill's output for years to come, including many of his best songs and albums. But in presenting it in such a lighthearted way, as though to make it into a real love song, Out Of My Book turns out to be not only the 'happiest' song on the album, but also arguably that of the whole of Van der Graaf Generator's classic output, much of it directs itself thematically in a dark and mature direction. It's hard to classify the vocal sections as 'verse' and 'chorus', although the general ABABCAB structure of the music suggests such a structure to the song. The whole song has a very warm, folksy feel, with the B sections being comparable to a pastoral dance. The C section gives way to a brilliant mostly instrumental section, continuing the festive excitement of the preceding B section, while broken only by Hammill's complaint at the relationship's unfolding, "How am I supposed to seem when we hit another problem and the answers are torn from my book?". The song retains its connection with other Hammill songs of a similar theme more or less by ending unresolved, with Hammill stating "How can I be sure?"
Personally, this is my most played song from the band, one of if not the single song I have heard the most, and therefore stands close to being my favorite song ever. As soon as I first heard the fluttering flute and organ unison that defines the B section, I knew that Van der Graaf Generator would be my favorite band as they are to this day.
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