s/d popol vuh

thanks for all your help.

http://www.eurock.com/features/florian.aspx

My favorites (of the ones I've heard so far) are Letzte Tage - Letzte Nachte and Einsjager und Siebenjager

http://www.ultimathulerecords.com/

Popol Vuh (1972)
Quiche Maja (1973)
Stolen From Time (1975, credited to Popol Ace)

Destroy:

Anything by those German guys.

The debut 'Affenstunde' is the one predominantly electronic one. The second one, 'In Den Garten Pharoahs', keeps it going but side two is improvised solo organ. All the Hertzog soundtracks are keepers, 'Aguirre', 'Heart of Glass', 'Nosferatu' (the soundtracks are compilations from their studio records, but they're the ones I throw in the player more often)

Avoid 'City Raga', their techno remix experiment. Also I'd say stick to the seventies before venturing into the eighties.

A UNREASONABLY SUBJECTIVE GUIDE TO POPOL VUH (Part One)

Affenstunde (1970)
I'll be honest with you, I'm not especially interested in Florian Fricke as an electronic musician. This album is one to admire rather than play too often. Allegedly one of the first "rock" albums to be made entirely (almost) with the Moog of Dr. Robert's invention. Admirably, Fricke’s approach to the Moog seems to be that (like Sun Ra) he doesn't bother trying to get a tune out of it but concentrates instead on producing weird noises. However (like Sun Ra again), you wonder whether this is deliberate or because he CAN'T get a tune out of the damn thing! All in all, this album is quite different from other German "electronic" albums of the period in that genuinely IS electronic (for the most part) and, unlike Tangerine Dream and the "Berlin School", it doesn't just sound like the weird bits on a Pink Floyd record stuck together. 6/10

In den Gärten des Pharaos (1971)
Better than "Affenstunde". The title track has more of Fricke's wayward Moog noodling (Moogling anyone?) but with more (ahem) musical elements added. Finishes with a long section played on a Fender Rhodes that is actually quite jazzy (in an ECM sorta way). The other track, "Vuh", is the first evidence to date of Popol Vuh as THE ultimate Goth band - a looooooooooong drone piece on a mighty swelling church organ overlaid with cacophonous percussion and mewling moogs. Good stuff! 7/10

Hosianna Mantra (1972)
Woah, talk about a volte face! The Moog is consigned to a (very roomy) closet, rarely to appear on a Vuh record again and in its place we have Piano, Cembalo, Oboe, Electric Guitar. Very classically influenced and entirely devotional, Fricke's wonderful piano playing is well to the fore, unfortunately so is Conny Veit's echoplexed "early 70's" guitar, which over-eggs the pudding in places. Djong Yun adds vocals so wispy they barely exist. Somewhat meandering but I dare anyone to take actual OFFENCE at so diaphonous a creation! 7/10

Seligpreisung (1973)
An odd album in the oeuvre. This is like a more muscular version of "Hosianna" with similar "songs" which are (with the exception of the instrumental, "Tanz der Chassidim") made up of successive themes rather than having any kind of verse-chorus-middle eight structure (in fact this album probably has more different tunes than the entirety of all the albums that follow it!). The presence of Amon Düül II's erstwhile drummer Daniel Fichelscher edges some of the songs towards prog rock or even (heaven forfend!) jazz rock. Fricke handles the vocals himself in an unlovely but sincere voice which adds to the album’s singularity. 7/10

Einsjäger und Siebenjäger (1974)
The album that cements the partnership between the two core musicians of Popol Vuh - Florian Fricke and Daniel Fichelscher. Fichelscher's pounding, cymbal-heavy drums are all over this album but who would have thought a humble drummer (sorry any drummers out there!) would turn out to be such an astonishing guitarist? His acoustic playing (on his own "Morgengrüss") is beautiful enough but with his electric playing Fricke found the perfect vehicle for his compositions. Fichelscher's playing is not unlike Conny Veit but he has a warmer tone, a stronger melodic imagination and he's more of a virtuoso (the last the least important of the three). The title track is an amazing 19½ minute magnum opus which could conceivably pass for prog rock were it not so heartfelt and unpretentious, Djong Yun shows up to coo sweet somethings every so often. 8/10

Klaus Schultze's "Big Moog" is in fact this instrument, or part of it is, I think parts of it were stolen back in thee 1980's. Fricke siad that he got this female voice sound that he liked out of it, but didn'e care for it otherwise. IIRC he avoided electronic instrumentation thereafter 'till he got a Synclavier for "Cobra Verde"

Danny Fichelscher is an astonishing guitarist, it's true. At times I think there has never been anyone better, actually. I am amazed that he isn't better known.

I'd forgotten about 'Letzte Tage, letzte Nächte'

A UNREASONABLY SUBJECTIVE GUIDE TO POPOL VUH (Part Two)

Aguirre (1975)
The first of Fricke’s confusing soundtrack albums from the films of Werner Herzog. I say confusing because the albums often bear little resemblance to what you hear in the film. The opening scenes of the film feature the once-heard-never-forgotten “Lacrimae di Rei”, which utilises the “choir organ”, a mellotron-like instrument also used to good effect by Amon Düül II. The only the other music which actually appears in the film is a brief field-recording of pan pipes. "Morgengrüss II" and “Agnus Dei” are both re-workings of tracks on “Einsjäger und Siebenjäger” and “Aguirre II” consists of the first part of “Lacrimae di Rei” (or “Aguirre I”) and a lush guitar piece from Daniel Fichelscher. Which leaves “Vergegenwaertigung” (snappy title huh?), a proto-ambient moog piece consisting of sundry whooshes and rumbles which appears to date from the early 70s. 7/10

Das Hohelied Salomos (1975)
Having made the useful discovery that Fichelscher could play the guitar a bit, it sounds on this album as if Fricke got a bit carried away and allowed Fichelscher to solo over every nook and cranny on every track - if you are not a fan of guitar solos, this is not the album for you! For the first time, Fricke is cutting songs down to their essentials, instead of using successive themes here he concentrates on one repeated theme or one piano sequence and builds pieces this way. Here, he also begins re-visiting and re-configuring themes from other albums ("Hosianna Mantra" in particular). All in all, this is a very "rock" album. 6/10

Letzte Tage, letzte Nächte (1976)
Even rockier than "Salomos" and considerably heavier. Wall-to-wall Fichelscher on this album with heavy drums and waves of guitar - some people have called this the beginning of Vuh's "raga rock" period but it’s really more rock than raga. Renate Knaup jumps ship from the fast-sinking Amon Düül II and sings “Dort ist Der Weg” and the title track, which are surprisingly straight folk-rock songs which even have English lyrics! Happily, it must be admitted that it still doesn’t really sound like anyone else. The highlight is probably the instrumental, “Oh wie nah ist der Weg hinab” which is used to memorable effect in the opening sequences of Werner Herzog’s “Heart of Glass”. 8/10

Herz aus Glas (1977)
Throughout this period in Popol Vuh's evolution, Florian Fricke's piano playing recedes further and further into the mix until, with this album, it disappears altogether! Although he's credited as playing piano on this album, I cannot make out a single note of piano - and as the album is all-instrumental this effectively makes this a Daniel Fichelscher solo album. The compositions are still recognisably Fricke's though (one Fichelscher piece aside), the soloing guitars of the last few albums are placed further back WITHIN each track, which makes this album considerable less easy to date precisely. Also worth noting that hardly any of the music on this album actually appears in the Herzog film it’s nominally the soundtrack to – in fact, most of the music on the film is from “Letzte Tage, letzte Nächte”. 9/10

Nosferatu (1978)
Another muddled soundtrack album from Herzog’s slightly redundant version of the F.W. Murnau’s silent classic. Once again, not all that much which is on this album is actually in the film and much of the music is from previous albums. A case in the point is 12 minutes or so of creepy electronic music included here, which, unless my ears very much deceive me and I don’t think they do, is merely the moog parts from “In den Gärten Pharaos”. Mind you, at least that music actually IS in the film (where it works very effectively), a lot here isn’t. 6/10

Bruder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts (1978)
Having taken the guitar-army raga rock approach as far as he could, Fricke moved back towards more placid waters on this album: longer and more hypnotic songs with largely acoustic instrumentation and a more overt "Eastern" influence. The title track is the best of Popol Vuh’s long tracks – moving through a Gregorian chant like opening; a classically influenced section with glacially beautiful woodwind before the main body of the piece: a long long, hypnotic folk-influenced mantra. All in all, absolutely stunning. “Höre, der du Wagst” and “Das Schloss des Irrtums” if anything are even more repetitive and trance-like – a bit too much for some tastes I would expect. The closing, “Die Umkehr”, is a slightly doomy and foreboding folk-rocker which lies somewhere between early Steeleye Span and Eastern European folk music. 9/10

Der Nacht der Seele (1979)
Very similar in mood and sound to "Brüder" but with shorter, more concentrated tracks and more use of vocals. Some pieces, such as “Mit Händen, mit Füssen”, are as beautiful as anything in the Popol Vuh catalogue, others are more Gothic. Some quite odd percussion pieces too. Another good album and another short one too! 8/10

Sei still wisse ICH BIN (1981)
Probably the most idiosyncratic Popol Vuh album of them all and one of the best. Soundtrack to Fricke’s extremely odd “film” of the same name (sometimes also called “Sinai Desert”) The mantra-like chanting and extreme repetition that Fricke had been exploring in more and more detail finds its ultimate expression on this truly unique album. Using the choir of the Bavarian State Opera, Fricke builds dense and rather unsettling walls of vocals over thundering, thumping percussion and Fichelscher’s pleasingly primitive guitar or else strips the music right down to simple modal melodies. Pretty special. 9/10

Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Not an album I actually own, but given that all of the Popol Vuh music on it (there’s also some opera on here) is from previous albums, owning it would be somewhat redundant. One thing to note is that, once again, some of the music heard in the film isn’t on the soundtrack, specifically: a sequence which uses, “Singet, denn der Gesang vertreibt die Wölfe”, which is actually from “Herz aus Glas” (though not actually in the “Heart of Glass” film – told you it was confusing!)

Agape-Agape (1983)
OK, eclectic sort of album, which picks up on various threads from the previous four or five albums. Unfortunately, the re-recording of old pieces starts in earnest on this album and you wonder why they bothered following this course. The other problem I find with this album is simply that it isn’t as well produced as previous albums. But this has good things on it – the title track for instance while “Why Do I Still Sleep” is hypnotic to the max. Nice to see Conny Veit back after an absence of ten years! 7/10

Spirit of Peace (1985)
Just four tracks on this. The opening chant, “We Know About the Need” can be heard in a Werner Herzog documentary about Reinhold Messner. The title track is part two of a three part piano suite which is worth hearing in its entirety, if you can track it down – shows the hitherto unsuspected influence of Keith Jarrett IMO. “Song of Earth” is the old “Agnus Dei” tune (used previously in various PV albums) rearranged for choir and acoustic guitar – 8 whole minutes which is either extremely boring or extremely hypnotic or (more likely) somewhere between the two. The 17½ minute “Take the Tention High” (sic) seems to be striving for a similar feel to “Brüder des Schattens” but lacks dynamics and is simply TOO repetitive. 6/10

Cobra Verde (1987)
Extremely obscure but surprisingly good soundtrack (probably better than Herzog’s self-parodic film deserved) – the last good Popol Vuh album in fact. For the first time in fifteen years, Fricke makes extended use of electronics, namely the synclavier keyboard. This is used to create a series of ominous drone pieces and to provide a subtle orchestral-like backing to the utterly beautiful “Ha’mut, bis dass die Nacht mit Ruh’ und Stille kommt”. The title track is a reworking of “Mit Händen, mit Füssen” done in full Gregorian chant mode. Worth picking up if you can find it – though that is extremely unlikely! 7/10

For Me and You (1991)
This is the later Guido Hieronymous-guided Popol Vuh which means: some music which has nothing to do with Popol Vuh as we know and love them; some pointless re-workings of old material; some good stuff where Fricke and Fichelscher seem more involved. The stand out here is the four-part “Om Mani Padme Hum” which is built around Fricke’s piano and Renate Knaup’s voice, which can only be a good thing. Part 4 is especially exquisite. 5/10

City Raga (who cares?)
Played this once I think – didn’t hear enough of Popol Vuh on this to play it again. No rating therefore.

Definitely the title track is the standout on this one, for me--has a Native American feel. I am still trying to figure out if they are chanting the poem on the back of the CD, with the "gully gully ram sam" or whatever.

BTW if anybody reading this owns Crispy Ambulance's Plateau Phase and the Nosferatu soundtrack, can you confirm that the CA track "Simon's Ghost" is a direct ripoff of the opening theme from Nosferatu? I don't have the soundtrack (and in fact don't know if this theme made it to the soundtrack as per Dadaismus' caveats) but saw the movie again recently, then shortly after that listened to the CA disc and noted the extreme similarity. on Plateau Phase the piece is credited to the group.

I'm not finished yet!

Last part…

ALSO OF NOTE
Gila – Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1973)
Gila was Conny Veit’s band before joining Popol Vuh, their first album (with a different line-up) is apparently quite psychedelic and spacey but this particular album is of special note because it’s basically Popol Vuh: but playing Conny Veit's songs as opposed to Florian Fricke's. Not surprisingly this sounds a bit like the Popol Vuh of this period (1973-75): melodic rock with folk and classical elements and with not enough progginess to render it unpalatable to the discerning listener - but not as GOOD as Popol Vuh of course! One of the problems is that it's some kind of concept album about the plight of the Native American - cue po-faced and awkward lyrics and vocals delivered with a Teutonic over-earnestness which spills over into (unintentional) comedy at times. Nice lush piano throughout from the late great Florian, Danny Fichelscher drums as athletically as ever, Conny plays nice guitar.

ADDITIONAL FILM WORK
As you may have noticed Florian Fricke’s music is often used in the films of Werner Herzog and it’s hard to imagine one without the other (just how many faux-naif mystics are there in Bavaria exactly?) As I confessed at the beginning of this marathon, I don’t have all Popol Vuh’s albums and I certainly haven’t seen all of Werner Herzog’s films so there may be some films which use Popol Vuh’s music which I’m unaware of.

Lebenszeichen (Signs of Life) (director: Werner Herzog, 1968)
I confess I haven’t seen this, Werner Herzog’s first feature film. I do know however that Florian Fricke appears in it as “a pianist”, some years before Popol Vuh too!

Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (Even Dwarfs Started Small) (director: Werner Herzog, 1970)
Truly one of the strangest films you’ll ever see. This is supposed to have some Florian Fricke music on the soundtrack, but I must admit not to noticing it.

Die Grosse Ekstase die Bildschnitzers Steiner (The Great Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner) (director: Werner Herzog, 1973)
This is a typically idiosyncratic Herzog documentary on the Swiss show jumper, Walter Steiner. Features some lovely Popol Vuh music, music which I’ve yet to hear on any album – damn it!

Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) (director: Werner Herzog, 1974)
Florian Fricke has a brief but striking role in this wonderful Herzog film. He plays a blind pianist called Florian (what else!), who is first seen playing (and singing – sort of!) a version of “Agnus Dei” (see numerous Popol Vuh albums) for the foundling Kaspar Hauser and his guardian (and looking very Beethoven-like in the process). He pops up again at the end of the film, in Kaspar’s deathbed scene, where he stares rather disconcertingly into space while humming “Agnus Dei”!

Sei still wisse ICH BIN (director: Florian Fricke, 1981)
Not really a film (though shot on film) and not really a video (though resembling one in form). This is the visual accompaniment to the album of the same name (and vice versa). Shot entirely in the Sinai Desert, this largely consists of Herzog-like poetic landscapes, sometimes empty and sometimes peopled by mysterious figures in white robes: walking, standing on mountainsides or in large circles. The figures are following “The Prophet”, a Jesus-like figure who, bizarrely, is played by a woman with a false beard (60’s fashion model, Veruschka)! (Actually, now I come to think of it, it would have been even more bizarre if it had been a woman with a REAL beard). If you think Herzog’s films are slow and uneventful wait till you see THIS!

Thanks for the link to the Florian Fricke interview. I admit that Guido Hieronymous doesn’t appear to be Florian’s son – I’d always assumed that he’d allowed Mr. Hieronymous the latitude to ruin latter day Popol Vuh out of some kind of fatherly indulgence. Also fascinated to discover that Esther Ofarim was almost the vocalist on “Hosianna Mantra”, at about the same time that her husband was (mis)managing Can! It is stated that this is the first known interview in English with Florian Fricke – this isn’t true, I came across an interview with FF in a old copy of Sounds (UK music weekly – now defunct) which dated from 1978-79, the interview was with Sandy Robertson.

I would also recommend seeking out “Herzog on Herzog” (edited by Paul Cronin, published by Faber), a series of interviews with Werner Herzog which contains interesting info on Florian Fricke – including a practical joke played by him on the apparently notoriously gullible Herzog. Actually, I would recommend it in any case as an insight into Herzog who is a truly amazing man, even if he hasn’t made a decent feature film in years. Delighted to discover that Herzog, in the grand tradition of German intellectuals and film auteurs (see Fassbinder), was a more than useful footballer (that’s proper football not the musclebound rubbish which goes under that name in the USA).

A friend who I haven't seen in years had this brit electronic 'zine from the early eighties, which contained a FF interview. t was wierd, in that the interviewer had obtained FF's phone no. from somewhere, & called him up on spec. Fricke's response was, like, I don't do interviews, and where did you get my number from anyway!!?? But, seeing as I'm here, i'll answer a couple of questions. I can't remember much except for the bit about him selling the big Moog to Klaus S, and FF being slightly disparaging abt KS' musick "nice music for supermarkets" is how I remember he put it. Great stuff Dadaismus, anyway.

Don't hear much difference in sound if they were remastered (doubt it), but the packaging at least is way superior to Spalax (plus, it's nice to have Digipaks rather than standard jewel case).
Can't wait for them to do Letzte Tage - Letzte Naechte and the others...

Actually, listening to the title crack of Aguirre right now, and I can hear the vinyl clicks. Jees, and they licensed this from Fricke's family, too! Guess the original tapes are long gone...

I believe they are. Bounus tracks?!??!?

Disappointing if that is true, especially since as it is their albums are already pretty notorious for shuffling around (or re-recording) the same music on different albums.

i've seen just about all of herzog's films at least once. 'signs of life' is really pretty good. i had no idea that florian was in 'kaspar hauser', and that he's in some of my favorite scenes in that film. the guy who plays kaspar hauser, bruno s., is also in another of herzog's called 'stroszek' which is pretty good too.

In Kaspar, Fricke looks uncannily Beethoven-like, as if he had stepped right out of the Romantic era...

Affenstunde
Agape/Agape
Einsjäger und Siebenjäger
Hosianna Mantra
Aguirre

They are very good, and I A/B-ed them with my Spalax issues, and the new ones sound a bit (though noticeably) better - more "open" sounding, perhaps. some of them are vinyl transfers by the sound of it. Pretty well done, though not as good as the transfer on High Tide's "Sea Shanties, for example. They all come in little gatefold cardboard sleeves w/a little booklet. It appears that there are only 2 booklets, going on the ones I have - one for the regular albums, one for the soundtracks. Some of the blurb in the booklets is OK, but it's a little unsatisfying in some way. There are some good pictures, including a few I hadn't seen before. the bonus tracks are generally good, though the one on "agiurre" sounds suspiciously like one of the regular album tracks with a sampled ethnicky percussion loop overlayed, which sucks. The extras on "Einsjaeger..." are the best, 2 little pieces in the Hoheleid Salomos/Letze Tage..." style, IE more of the same, but bore of this same = more of what I want. I am REALLY looking forward to picking up "Das Hoheleid Salomos", "Letzte Tage Letzte Nacht" and "Der Nacht der Seele", because they are my favourites. I'm also interested to hear what's on "Cobra Verde" because I remember there being tow different versions of this when it came out.

I found myself getting faintly annoyed at how little Danny Fischelsher got mentioned in the blurb. That seems unfair somehow.

It would be good if they also issued "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"

I should also point out that all the reissues I bought have the proper dynamics, IE they haven't been loudness-maximised. Honestly, I was so relieved about this that I had a lump in my throat! (true!)

A little while ago, I also picked up the reissue of "shepherd's Symphony" (or whatever it's called) from the same series. It's really bad.

Also Also Also!!! ! I tried to play my CD of "For You and Me" the other night, and it had self-destructed!! All the metal foil had come away from the plastic disc!

been listening to Nosferatu a lot recently. I would rate that one much higher than dadaismus does, but I rate the spare minimal electronics much higher, and think they balance out the other lovely band parts... actually I'd even say it's a good place to start for the atmospheric side of the band. With Letzte Tage, letzte Nächte being a good place to start for the transcendental heavy rock side.

that was great ned, thank you! also, why have i never listened to 'spirit of peace' before?

stirmonster: definitely the former

"Florian Fricke" sounds like the sort of name Longmont Potion Castle would come up with

Einsjager & Siebenjager (1974)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auLz3ssCsdg

lol

what's the deal with 10 minutes of "Brüder Des Schattens" just being lopped off on all the Nosferatu releases? it's not like there isn't room for it. weird how nearly all the PV soundtracks are like 25% retreads from other albums, 25% aimless Moog stuff, and 50% the most beautiful music you've ever heard in your life

Apparently Herzog used to rummage around in tape boxes to find bits of music that fitted what he was after. Almost all of the music in Herz aus Glas isn't from the Herz aus Glas soundtrack but from the album before it, for instance.

The moog stuff in Nosferatu was almost certainly recorded in the early 70s and not recorded for the film itself.

one of the tracks is just an excerpt from "Vergegenwärtigung" from Aguirre - which is also (I assume) not in the film. (the original Vergegenwärtigung, not the one that cobbles together stuff from a previous album)

isn't there a site which sorts this all out? back in the old days of the internet there would've been a www.popol-vuh.freak which would break down the lineage of each album in 30,000 words

The bonus tracks on their CDs are all over the place, there's no indication of when anythinng was recorded and the titles are often totally misleading.

I was wondering abt that, I have some weird ones from a CD version of the 1st LP

This is a defining feature of Popol Vuh — there are really only a handful of motifs that keep emerging in different forms in different places.
There are outliers (LT-LN for example) and I feel like its bc they’re heavily Fishelscher.

Here's a PDF I've consulted to make more sense of what's on which record, what is a remix/repeat from earlier albums, what pieces are in which film, etc.:

http://www.venco.com.pl/~acrux/misc/disc7.pdf

oh wow...that is a lot to sift through

and yeah sleeve if you're talking about "Train Through Time" on Affenstunde that is an all-time weird bonus track. not only was it actually recorded for the LAST Popol Vuh album (3 decades later!) but it also sounds nothing like any of the other material on the album

there is also this perfect sound forever article that is quite detailed -there are 4 parts to it

That document I linked to is a little deceptive on the subject of Nosferatu, because it was released with two different running orders, and they get the two mixed up.

sorry, link didn’t post, but it’s on the furious.com website

xxxp to frogs, yes that one and the "Dream Part x" series

I've been meaning to reorganize my Vuh stuff on my music server but have sorta got fond of the chaos

Just gave Cobra Verde a spin for the first time in years. For an instrument that cost a quarter of a million at the time, the Synclavier sure does sound like a piece of shit doesn't it? They just about manage to make a listenable record anyway despite the synth pads.

got the first volume of the box sets for christmas. so psyched

enjoy. it sounds amazing, way better than the MP3s I was listening to. hope vol. 3 is coming soon.

Been on a big Popol Vuh kick lately, but it's weird how like half of their albums are relatively easy to find, while the other half are a lot tougher (specifically prompted by looking for a CD copy of Letzte Tage – Letzte Nächte that doesn't cost north of $50).

https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/2367863446 ?

I guess $35 is less than $50, still a lot...

for sure, I paid $10 in 2013 for that same edition

yea like a lot of overtly spiritual musicians who don't tend much to the business side their catalogue is a total mess. I never gave any thought to actually collecting the physical products until the recent box sets, which are not only very well pressed but also somewhat "definitive", assuming there's a 3rd and 4th one to come

But even those boxsets skip around a little bit, no?

they do but I think that's fine because PV doesn't really have 'eras' to me, each album is sort of its own thing and a lot of them incorporate elements of past albums. so like the first one has the Aguirre & Nosferatu soundtracks on it, which incorporate elements of Einsjager and Affenstunde, so it makes a little sense to put them altogether. Hosianna Mantra is also on there just to bridge the gaps a bit. idk I'm fine with it so long as they eventually get everything together.

Yeah, my complaint is more minor, it's just interesting to see which of their albums are in plentiful supply and which aren't. When I decided to check them out more closely a few years ago, I didn't even have to go out of my way to get the first five I bought (Aguirre, Nosferatu, Affenstunde, Einsjager and Hosianna), but I've really slowed down since and stumbled across a used copy of Sei still, wisse ich bin in Michigan a few months ago.

But since then I only find copies of those same five albums. I don't think I've ever even seen Letzte Tage – Letzte Nächte in the wild at all.

I am still grateful to la lèchera for hooking me up with the Spalax edition of Letzte Tage which to me sounds much better than the remasters

:) that one remains one of my all time fave albums

i am satisfied with my current state of Popol Vuh releases

I have everything up to "Brüder Des Schattens - Söhne Des Lichts", what else should I check out? Cobra Verde? Fitzcarraldo?

and man you wanna talk about a discographical mess, crosscheck the various bonus tracks between editions if you dare

TBH I almost never listen to those two but I do like Agape-Agape a LOT

ty!

Sei still, wisse ich bin is really good too, imo

Yeah I dig that one quite a bit, was happy I found it.

noted, hey the 2017 Wah Wah version of that isn't insanely expensive!

yea I mean Aguirre alone - a bunch of Side A is alternate takes from Einsjager, Side B is a long discarded track from the Moog era called "Vergegenwärtigung", but later editions replaced it with 3 other tracks from later albums, though on the CD it's still one long track called "Vergegenwärtigung". some editions have "Aguirre III" and others have the 3-part "Spirit of Peace" on it. very little of this was actually in the film, though one of the tunes that was (the bit at the end of the first title track) isn't even listed on the sleeve. so what, exactly, would the definitive edition be??

This is from Agape-Agape and has the slow burn propulsion I love in this band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2WMsM-c4bY

Agape-Agape is good but the production is just so lo-fi, I don't know what that was about.

Sei still, wisse ich bin is really good too, imo

^^^

fourth'd

just got the 2nd box. wow Seligpreisung is really good. sounds like Magma attempting Hosianna Mantra. sure wish Djong Yun was on it though!

I love Seligpreisung. It sounds to me like a jammier Obscured By Clouds-era Pink Floyd. Fricke's vocals are definitely the weakest thing about it. I don't actually mind them that much, but I would have preferred Djong Yun to sing it too. But it's all good because we have Das Hohelied Salomos for that. I recently treated myself to a clean OG German vinyl pressing of that one for my birthday, and I couldn't be happier with it. I love everything about that record, down to the whimsical/menacing cover art--spiritual psych perfection.

i adore that record.

hosianna mantra

This thread is ilm at its best innit: knowledgeable, obsessive, in love with its subject in a way that can only make you go wandering.

Don't think it's actually linked here, but ended up at the 1996 Edw1n P0uncey interview this morning. https://popolvuh.nl/archive/bibliography/34-archive/bibliography/180-my-strange-life-florian-fricke-interview

That's a great read, thank you!

irl lol:

FF - Sometimes I think about this. There's only one person in Germany I like (except for Gerhard!), to sit together with him. It's Boris Becker! He's a good man. My son knows him. And he's sung for the disco

Hehehe.

Also liked:

GA - Have you ever been in England, Florian?

FF - Yes, I was very early in London in the 1960s .. .l met some people, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. The London 'underground' scene ... the Pink Floyd.

EP - Did you see Yoko in her gallery?

FF - No, it was private. It was terrible. The doors had no locks on them; there was a chair. The chair was half. I had claustrophobia. I need closed doors. And so the first doors I (whoosh) opened them up and then no possible more come out this terrible woman out of the room.