very hard proposition. My Danny vote is for Herz aus Glas, my Florian vote is for Bruder des Schattens, but Hosianna and Einsjager have both been climbing in the ranks lately. And LT-LN is unbeatable in its way. Bruder is probably the most emotional for me. And side A of Einsjager. While Herz speaks to me as a guitarist the most. And "Aguirre" (the track) sits by itself being this monstrous beauty.
ian you need sei stille
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Friday, 3 January 2014 18:50 (ten years ago) link
Never totally understood the love for LT - LN. I mean, it's good, but...
As for later albums, I can tell you quite definitively that City Raga is tough. As in, tough to listen to.
I do not know Sei Stille! I should correct this immediately I guess.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Friday, 3 January 2014 19:04 (ten years ago) link
that's my favorite to sing along to
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 19:09 (ten years ago) link
this thread needs some visual assistance
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7344/9875112824_ef41972025.jpg
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 20:20 (ten years ago) link
anyone here actually read the popol vuh book? you know, the mayan one?
― tylerw, Friday, 3 January 2014 20:25 (ten years ago) link
i have it in spanish but i only read a few pages because the print is really small!
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 20:28 (ten years ago) link
voted Einsjäger but really there are five or six others I like just as well
― Brad C., Friday, 3 January 2014 20:29 (ten years ago) link
voted affenstunde cause the early stuff has been sounding better to me in the past year than ever before
― 69, Friday, 3 January 2014 20:30 (ten years ago) link
the Popol Vuh orchestral composition by Ginastera is really good btw, in the 20th century "composers from various nations do their own stab at the Rite of Spring" sweepstakes
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Friday, 3 January 2014 20:48 (ten years ago) link
voting garten, despite my love for the later more characteristic stuff. it was the first i heard and it still sounds to me like one of the greatest musical recordings ever made whenever i listen to it.
― fit and working again, Friday, 3 January 2014 20:59 (ten years ago) link
Cast my vote for Einsjäger & Siebenjäger today. Could pick another one for every other day of the week.
― Call the Cops, Friday, 3 January 2014 21:02 (ten years ago) link
who would have thought a humble drummer (sorry any drummers out there!) would turn out to be such an astonishing guitarist?
one of my favorite quotes from ilm. fichelscher is amazing.
― fit and working again, Friday, 3 January 2014 21:02 (ten years ago) link
you need sei stille
yes, it is excellent.
― fit and working again, Friday, 3 January 2014 21:04 (ten years ago) link
i really like agape-agape for post 78 materialreally pretty
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 21:08 (ten years ago) link
did any of you guys ever hear the weird silly long remix thing Fricke jr did called "Future Sound Experience" or something-- when I joined eMusic in 2004 it was the only thing available there that contained vintage PV material, albeit awkwardly reconfigured.
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Friday, 3 January 2014 21:19 (ten years ago) link
yeah -- i was really confused by it for a really long time, but it grew on me
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 21:20 (ten years ago) link
What is the best Fichelscher record?
― grandavis, Friday, 3 January 2014 21:23 (ten years ago) link
whoo that's a good q
einsjager? herz/glas? lt-ln? all equally transcendent imo
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 21:32 (ten years ago) link
his drum playing is so hard for me to figure out because of the way they recorded everythingalso his sense of rhythm is one of my favorite in all of musics
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 21:36 (ten years ago) link
Thanks! Have definitely spent time with einsjager and dabbled around some of the other albums but don't know any of them super-well (never owned a copy of any of them).
― grandavis, Friday, 3 January 2014 21:39 (ten years ago) link
you'll like it, i promise.
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 21:43 (ten years ago) link
Oh, I have no doubt, I have liked about everything I have heard, but they are just one of those bands I haven't tracked down actual records from yet. I look forward to it, one of many future listening projects to get excited about.
― grandavis, Friday, 3 January 2014 21:45 (ten years ago) link
The pun on the title is annoying me so much! It gives me semantic satiation every time I try to read it.
― Moka, Friday, 3 January 2014 21:47 (ten years ago) link
Sorry. I'm ok with a mod fixing it, actually. PoPOLL Vuh makes SO much more sense. I was so worried I was going to fuck up the poll by forgetting to italicize a title or something.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Friday, 3 January 2014 21:51 (ten years ago) link
slight derail/PSA: if anyone has any fichelscher-style noodling lying around that could use some drums, i would be honored to give it a try. i do feel super weird posting that, but my philosophy is that it might work out better/safer than craigslist or trying to find like-minded people purely by chance. thank you for reading this PSA.
also the title has a spelling error so i agree with fixing it
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 21:53 (ten years ago) link
LL i will provide this! When I play fingerstyle on my danelectro (ie no pick) i tend to get fichelscherische. I'll send it along with the fear bff overdub I owe you!
xposts my favorite for Danny shreddage is Herz aus Glas. Closely followed by LT-LN. And of course the Amon Duul records he plays on.
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Friday, 3 January 2014 22:27 (ten years ago) link
I need little encouragement to do those little bagpipey pull-off/hammer-on flutters he loves so much
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Friday, 3 January 2014 22:28 (ten years ago) link
:) awesome!!
i need little encouragement to go nuts with the cymbals
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 22:30 (ten years ago) link
Aguirre sounds really great on headphones when you're walking around Paris on a cold night.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Friday, 3 January 2014 22:37 (ten years ago) link
May I also put a vote in for Tantric Songs? Hugely underrated!
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Friday, 3 January 2014 22:40 (ten years ago) link
I'm afraid I'll be the only vote for Das Hohelied Salomos. That plus LT-LN are the peak for me.
― J. Sam, Friday, 3 January 2014 22:44 (ten years ago) link
I have too many gaps in my collection to really make an informed decision but right now it's gonna be Das Hohelied Salomos (xp!) or Aguirre probably. Maybe it's time to pick up Seligpreisung and Einsjäger Siebenjäger and see if they blow my mind.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Friday, 3 January 2014 22:44 (ten years ago) link
Those are both mindblowers, so probably!
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Saturday, 4 January 2014 01:02 (ten years ago) link
I just listened to Heart of Glass, and it's pretty awesome.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Saturday, 4 January 2014 01:05 (ten years ago) link
W/r/t fischelsher... J. Mascis started out in drums as well.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 4 January 2014 01:10 (ten years ago) link
Kinda like PV the less chord changes there are (my preference is for none tbh) and more droney/ mantric (is that a word?) the music, so my fave period is 1976-81, that covers the amazing sort of raga rock of "Letzte Tage" and "Herz aus Glas" and the phenomenal pholk rock of "Bruder" and "Tantric Songs". "Sei Still" is something else altogether, it just isn't like anything else (a bit like "Aguirre" in that regard). It's unfortunate that "Agape" is produced in such a flat way as it could easily have stretched my fave period out to 1983.
Beginning to think "Singet, denn der Gesang vertreibt die Wölfe" is my ultimate PV track, even though Florian Fricke isn't even on it!
― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Saturday, 4 January 2014 16:00 (ten years ago) link
My people
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Saturday, 4 January 2014 16:34 (ten years ago) link
Vuh Tang Clan
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 4 January 2014 18:05 (ten years ago) link
When I say Vuh you say Tang
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Saturday, 4 January 2014 18:28 (ten years ago) link
Affen in the backready to attack
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 4 January 2014 18:33 (ten years ago) link
In Den Gärten Shaolin
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Saturday, 4 January 2014 18:48 (ten years ago) link
Ok so I obtained flacs of the Spalax version of Nosferatu today and am listening to them at the snowy bus stop now. In the other thread I mentioned that the spv reissue of this sounded distorted to me but I didn't have the Spalax to compare. Now I do: the Spalax sounds great, miles better than the spv. So my running tally of vuh discs to "accept only Spalax" is Nosferatu and LT-LN. Have yet to hear the spv of einsjager to compare to Spalax. While most of the spv I've heard are fine, none of them are improvements over Spalax editions.
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 4 January 2014 20:38 (ten years ago) link
Also this (Nosferatu OST) is such a bizarre three headed PV item. You've got eastwest chamber vuh, haunted electronics florian, and majestically strumming Danny all on one platter.
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 4 January 2014 20:42 (ten years ago) link
I might guess that after bruder des schattens was scrapped for the film, fricke went ahead and stitched the new OST together from odds and sods? Or even bibs and bobs?
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 4 January 2014 20:44 (ten years ago) link
How do the Wah Wah vinyl reissues rate, sound wise? I just ordered a few and may get some more.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Saturday, 4 January 2014 21:35 (ten years ago) link
― tylerw
I've read the book, but outside of a handful of songs I've only heard the band's soundtrack albums. What's a good starting point for their other work?
― EZ Snappin, Saturday, 4 January 2014 21:39 (ten years ago) link
You should hear Heart of Glass or Eins/Siebenjager imo. I think you'd like the Fichelscher-heavy stuff.
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Saturday, 4 January 2014 21:44 (ten years ago) link
Also I think the sound on the reissued LPs is pretty great, but I'm so accustomed to listening via headphones that it was nice to just hear the records being played in a room.
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Saturday, 4 January 2014 21:45 (ten years ago) link
Thanks, milady. Will start with those two.
― EZ Snappin, Saturday, 4 January 2014 21:46 (ten years ago) link
I guess one of those is a soundtrack album but you should listen to it again.
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Saturday, 4 January 2014 21:50 (ten years ago) link
i agree. it was the second album of theirs i heard after garten and remains one of my favorites.
― fit and working again, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 04:24 (ten years ago) link
I voted Hosianna!
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 05:54 (ten years ago) link
Um, any love for Yoga? I must give it a second listen one of these days (note: the first listen was decades ago).
― bleak strategies (Matt #2), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 10:40 (ten years ago) link
Listening to a lot of these again, I like Seligpreisung a little less than I remembered and Einsjäger & Siebenjäger a lot more than I remembered.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 21:46 (ten years ago) link
i've never heard yoga.
Quoting from an interview Fricke gave to Eurock.com: "YOGA is an unauthorized release. Some Indian musicians visited me in my studio, and somebody else took the tapes and sold them under the name of Popol Vuh, but it had nothing to do with Popol Vuh, really. I'm playing harmonium, and organ. I think it was released in Italy."
― fit and working again, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 22:03 (ten years ago) link
Maybe this is off topic (this being a poll, and there being a s/d thread already), but is there any decent (non-web) literature out there on this band? I know there are a few Fricke anecdotes in the Herzog book, and I'm sure Cope talks about Popol Vuh in Krautrocksampler (which I've never actually read), but has there ever been a sort of Our Band Could Be Your Life kinda thing about this scene?
There's this, about which I know nothing:
http://www.amazon.com/Krautrock-Cosmic-Rock-Its-Legacy/dp/1906155666/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389139516&sr=8-1&keywords=krautrock
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 00:09 (ten years ago) link
i still haven't gotten over the cover art for the second album
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 00:14 (ten years ago) link
Aside from reviews of some of their albums there isn't much about Popol Vuh in Cope's book.
― fit and working again, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 01:06 (ten years ago) link
There are so damnably few resources on PV and Fricke. Maybe in German...?
For about a decade when the CDs were expensive and hard to get (in the nineties up to file sharing) my PV bible was the little write ups of all the discs in the (print) forced exposure catalog.
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 02:25 (ten years ago) link
I memorized those and dreamed of what the music would sound like.
― yes, i have seen the documentary (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 02:26 (ten years ago) link
Not exactly non-web literature, but this is worth a read : http://www.furious.com/perfect/populvuh.html
― bleak strategies (Matt #2), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 10:33 (ten years ago) link
I remember our v. own Tom D doing an excellent Popul Vuh alb rundown somewhere on this board
Feel like a bit of an outlier on this thread, in that while I like most of the PV recs I've heard, Einsjäger & Siebenjäger is by some distance my fave - such an uplifting rec
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 11:30 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Saturday, 1 February 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link
btw if anyone is still looking for copies of those Wah Wah reissues, Fusetron just listed a few!
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Saturday, 1 February 2014 12:43 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Sunday, 2 February 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link
Winner is sorta shocking here! The rest makes sense except for 0 votes for Seligpreisung and Cobra Verde.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Sunday, 2 February 2014 00:08 (ten years ago) link
Aw, Agape Agape deserves more than 0.
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Sunday, 2 February 2014 01:09 (ten years ago) link
the winner is the album most pick tbh
― ۩, Sunday, 2 February 2014 01:15 (ten years ago) link
Really? Ah, man, I like those first two but, err...had no idea people rated IDGP so highly. I should listen again.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Sunday, 2 February 2014 01:20 (ten years ago) link
It's the second side -- it's totally grandiose and captivating. Respectable choice!
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Sunday, 2 February 2014 01:27 (ten years ago) link
Glad my two favorites were tied in votes too.
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Sunday, 2 February 2014 01:28 (ten years ago) link
I bought Seligpresung and have been listening to it! But while it is pretty, it didn't move ahead of Aguirre or Heart of Glass for me.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Sunday, 2 February 2014 01:31 (ten years ago) link
Seligpreisung that is
Yeah, I remember liking that one more than I did when I listened to it again recently
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Sunday, 2 February 2014 02:15 (ten years ago) link
I'm glad someone else likes Messa di Orfeo!
― with hidden noise, Sunday, 2 February 2014 18:57 (ten years ago) link
Kind of surprised "In Den Gärten Pharaos" won this tbh. Anyway I came here to say "Meditation" by Eberhard Schoener sounds very like that early electronic side of Popol Vuh, which is not that suprising as it was recorded in the same studio Popol Vuh used, on (I'm almost certain) the same equipment, some of the sounds used are pretty much identical.
― Let's Get Ready to Trimble (Tom D.), Saturday, 30 July 2022 12:07 (two years ago) link
I guess In Den Gärten Pharaos (and Affenstunde) stand alone in the catalogue; people who like that electronic side of the band have only those to pick from, whereas the remaining records feel like variants on a different template (whether vocal or instrumental, rocking or contemplative).
Of the eleven I've heard, I might pick Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächt for its concision and breadth.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 30 July 2022 13:11 (two years ago) link