AGUIRRE

This is the first work by Popol Vuh I have ever heard. I was really enthralled with Florian Fricke's personal modesty and musical philosophy. But this might not be the only group that used to implement the various all-acoustic instrumentations. In general, Popol Vuh's music is very pure and almost never pretentious. The skills of the musicians are either matched or simply out-balanced with a tranquil mood or a convincing emotion. If a Popol Vuh ditty is neither one of these, then at least it's just pleasant to the ear. This album simply proves my whole general point about this group's music.

If you have heard of the group, then it is very likely that you have learned what they are most notable for - the opener of the record. "Aguirre I" opens up a whole new world of drama with a lengthy catharsis on a Mellotron or a "choir organ" (whatever the difference is) that was not done to a click track. There is nothing gothic a la 'The Court of the Crimson King.' Than we see the rest of the picture that was not shown in the film itself, "Aguirre, the Wrath of God." We see a twist into a happy key as if some kind of a salvation was found by someone. And all that is concluded with a brief section called "Flote", which, as the title in German suggests, features a melodic "flute" solo, but it's not really a flute. It's actually a bunch of wooden or bamboo pipes tied together (just telling you a fact if you haven't seen the film yet.)

So, what is my whole point about this piece? My brain tells me it's the mixture of 1) carefully crafted chord progressions; 2) the voicings of those chords; and, of course 3) the sound of the Mellotron that make all the difference between a deep Mellotron passage and commonplace junk. The passage is simply perfect. Too bad that Florian resolved to simply give up all of the instruments that were not acoustic ones.

The rest of the album also deserves mass attention, and, like the second half of the opener, it was not used in the film mentioned above. For instance, 'Morgengruss II' would have been nothing had it not been for the smooth, benevolent electric guitar. It's the blood and nerves of the track. But then the acoustic guitar somewhere in the middle proves that otherwise, showing itself as more blood and nerves of the instrumental.

If you want more textures similar to the aforementioned ones, move on down the list. You will also encounter some piano on the way. And that's pretty much what the whole album is based on - pure ambient magic. R.I.P. Florian.

Before I go any further, allow me to mention that my Google research on the album had shown that there are actually several versions of this album. "What?!" Yes! The version of "Vergegenwartigung" (The Dream) that I have features a repetitive texture composed of parts performed on a piano, a tambourine, an electric guitar, and so on, and so forth. I also found somewhere (can't remember where, though) another version of the "same" thing, but when I played it, it sounded like an outtake for "Affenstunde"! "What?!" I know! Weird, huh? There is a third version of the record (or maybe it's the same second version, although I really don't remember it that way) that features "Aguirre III" as the bonus track. "????" I know. It has percussion getting in the way. Eh. There is also a rendition that features three bonus tracks called "The Spirit of Peace", broken down into three parts. Those are the ones I downloaded, those are the ones I love the most, and so those are the ones I'm going to discuss.

They are called "parts", but they don't really make up a single unified and seamless composition. They are more like brief movements of a piano concerto in my mind. If you want to hear something that I personally consider as compositions that are more poignant than those on Brian Eno's cold effort "Ambient #1: Music for Airports" (because the former has more musical ideas), get those three tracks.

I still think the main body of the album is a 4.5 kind of material because if you add the aforementioned "The Spirit of Peace" (all three parts), I think you will get yourself a better package, a full five right there. Also note that I do not see a single "loser" on this version.

Stamp: "I like it." (the best of the Deutsch Avantgarde scene that I had found so far.)