PYRAGONY X

Amon Duul II's 'Tenth' album. This one is not to be compared to ANY of their albums prior to this. When I listen to this LP, I actually enjoy it quite a bit. The band is down to a 5 piece here - only original members being guitar/sax/violin player Chris Karrer, guitarist John Weinzierl and Drummer Pete Leopold, with new members Stefan Zauner (Keyboards/vocals) and Klaus Ebert (Bass/vocals) providing a more stream-lined approach to composition and the tendency to head towards commercial territory. The opening tune, 'Flower Of The Orient' holds promise, really a pot-pouri of great sounds, lively colours and Eastern flavours, but by the time it actually 'takes off ', it fades with some wonderful violin lines. 'Merlin' rocks with little magic actually, but contains some Mellotron choirs (which is a positive), 'Crystal Hexagram' (nice title !) is a melodic instrumental with an excellent keyboard intro and a laid-back rhythm - not spectacular, but interesting. 'Lost In Space' starts out 'poppy', but ends quite spacey, with a very competent mini-moog solo.

'Sally The Seducer' and 'Telly Vision' are both short songs, incorporating great keys, amusing (some may say 'silly', but I like 'em) lyrics and odd time sigs. Karrer's 7 and a half minute 'The Only Thing' is a guitar-oriented track which chuggs along nicely, but not much in the way of technical instrumental display, and 'Capuccino' is a shorter pop-song. This direction the band has chosen, a mainstream prog sound with an inclination toward 'Pop', may not be to everyone's taste, but the album holds together fairly well, something of an 'excellent addition to your collection if you're a fan/collector'. 3.5 stars.