EINSJÄGER & SIEBENJÄGER

I could almost award this one another halfstar but I won't for a few reasons i will explain further on in my review. With this album , Popol Vuh is down to a trio and it is this basic trio that will be the line-up for many excellent albums to come. Only the vocalist will change for sometimes being the japanese Yun and sometimes ex-Amon Duul II Renate Knaups (very different female vocalists).

We are now almost halfway through their second period (the first being experimental , this one, I shall call more symphonic, and the later being more Ambient mostly because of all the soundtracks from Herzog movies) and this fifth album is close to their artistic peak.

side 1 picks off where the previous Seligpreisung left off and smooths out the few "rough edges"/imperfections (if we could call them that) and we find that they have always this very contemplative music . Overall , the music stays very calm serene but does have a few climaxes and great interplay between the electric guitars and the acoustic pianos , the whole thing divinely underlined by those ethnic percussions. Yun's vocals are very discreet.

Side 2 is made of one side-long title track (no epic, though). This must be my fave track from Popol as it is simply breathtaking in contemplation (it is also one of my fave make-out tune and it can be repeated without too much noticing - provided you are still taking care of your mate at the third time this track ends) , again typically Vuh-ish.

I think that proghead newcomers to this bands should maybe get a peek/preview hearing at this one before deciding if Popol Vuh is worthy of their investigation. I certainly think so.