Van Der Graaf Generator - Ship Of Fools (1977)

You don't tend to think of Van Der Graaf Generator as a singles band, as they are more known for their string of esoteric prog-rock albums such as 'Pawn Hearts' and 'H To He Who Am The Only One', but they did release a number of singles throughout their career in a failed bid to crack the charts, and a couple of them and their b-sides weren't taken from their then current album. They also recorded some additional material during the 'Pawn Hearts' sessions, as that album was originally intended to be a double, along the lines of Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma', with two sides being by the group and two sides consisting of individual solo contributions from the band members. As we know, this never came to pass, but I've included three of those solo tracks on this collection, along with the aforementioned singles, b-sides, and a couple of rarities. The cover is taken from the inner gatefold of the 'Pawn Hearts' album, and shows the band playing Crowborough Tennis, a game that they'd invented, which unfortunately seems to show them giving Nazi salutes - which we're assured they were not doing! 

Track listing

01 The Boat Of Millions Of Years (b-side of 'Refugees' 1970)
02 Theme One (Original Mix of the single 1972)
03 W (b-side of 'Theme One')
04 Angle Of Incidents (Guy Evans - 'Pawn Hearts' sessions 1971)
05 Ponker's Theme (David Jackson - 'Pawn Hearts' sessions 1971)
06 Diminutions (Hugh Banton - 'Pawn Hearts' sessions 1971)
07 Squid 1 - Squid 2 - Octopus (Previously unreleased 1971)
08 Ship Of Fools (b-side of 'Cat's Eye' 1977)
09 Door (Previously unreleased studio version 1977)