“Darkness (11/11)” by Van der Graaf Generator
From the 1970 album The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other

Van der Graaf Generator is considered one of the most “important” prog bands, although I’ve never gotten into them very much namely because I find Peter Hammill’s voice, like that of Dagmar Krause, too strident to enjoy much. That said, their music kicks some serious ass, especially the slowly building “Darkness (11/11),” presumably (though I’ve never bothered to research it) a reference to the World War I armistice on November 11, 1918. This song has a special significance to me personally, as it was a big influence on one of my own original compositions, “The Salton Sea, Pts. III & IV” from my 2008 RPM Challenge submission, Unnatural Disasters.

It’s also interesting to see on this video that David Jackson plays two saxophones at once, a trick I’ve previously only witnessed by myself (on a 1990 Bassius-O-Phelius recording called “Room 34″) and the inimitable Rahsaan Roland Kirk who, to be fair, actually played three saxophones at once.