The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other is the second album by the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in February 1970 on Charisma Records.

The lyrics covered a variety of themes including relationships with friends, witchcraft and apocalyptic catastrophes, while the music ranged from ballads such as "Refugees" to unusual and aggressive playing on "White Hammer" and "After the Flood".

[5] Banton had a background as a church organist, and he found his enthusiasm for modern French classic music combined well with Hammill's songwriting.

[4] "Darkness (11/11)" got its title from being written on 11 November 1968,[4] and was the first piece to feature Jackson's Roland Kirk influenced double horn section, playing alto and tenor saxophone simultaneously.

[6] "Refugees" was written by Hammill for ex-flatmates Mike McLean and Susan Penhaligon, while "White Hammer" was about the Malleus Maleficarum and witchcraft in the Middle Ages.

[8] The lyrics partially quoted Albert Einstein expressing his concern about the arms race between the US and the Soviet Union that led to the Cold War.

[9][10][a] "Boat of Millions of Years", a recording from the sessions which was released as a non-album B-side, draws on Egyptian mythology with lyrics that tell of a conflict between the gods Horus, Osiris, and Set.

Tony Stratton Smith founded Charisma Records in late 1969, signing Van der Graaf Generator as one of its first acts.

[16] The band was well rehearsed and completed recording quickly, allowing bassist Nic Potter time to overdub electric guitar onto some tracks.

[23] François Couture, reviewing the album in AllMusic, described Hammill's distorted delivery of the word "Annihilation" in "After the Flood" to be "one of the scariest moments in the history of British prog rock".