History
The Aerosol session eventually made them reform. Guy brought Nic along, and
Peter hired David after hearing the Heebalob demo (Jon Anderson of Yes didn't
like it, though!). They shared a flat in London and played and composed all day.
Tony Stratton-Smith had recently put up his record company Charisma, and VdGG
was one of the first bands to sign the new label. They recorded their first real
album The Least We Can Do in four days in mid-December 1969. The first of the
the classics! After its release they started touring heavily in England to promote
the album.
During spring 1970 they met filmproducer Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli (of 007 fame)
through Tony S.-S. and started recording loads of stuff for his film Eyewitness (also
called Sudden Terror, directed by John Hough and starring Susan George). Most
of the recordings were considered 'too sinister' and never used. Only a few of
Jaxon's saxophone squeaks might be heard in the movie. There was no
soundtrack-album and the recordings remain unreleased to this very day. Some
elements might have inspired the making of A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers (of
1971's Pawn Hearts), though. At least the title (clue: check the title of part one and
three of A Plague!). [London-band Fairfield Parlour (called Kaleidoscope in the
60s) also provided music for the film and can to some bigger extent be heard in
the filmscore.]
The next album H To He was recorded in between gigs. Nic left autumn 1970 after
Killer, The Emperor In His War-room and Lost had been recorded. Nic: "It wasn't a
case of musical differences. It was a desire to explore. But also, during the making
of H To He, there was something about the music that freaked me out, and I felt I
had to get out. It was just one of those odd things. I just sort of knew 'bang, I have to
go... now'. So I left and that was that. I think in a way it was probably the right thing
to do, because I was only seventeen, and in view of all the horrendous stuff that
happened in Italy (see VdGG VIa), I'm not sure I would have been ready for that,
age-wise." (Pilgrims no. 19)
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