ONLY HUMAN

AMON DÜÜL 2 has always had this strange style: bizarre, not really catchy, very German light prog compositions. They do good music, but what is amazing is that I do not find them catchy and accessible at all, despite I can feel in their compositions the many tries to be pop and catchy. Compared to the 2 other older records of them I own, the keyboards and sound here are more modern: it gives you the feeling of a more pop album, maybe. They still remain very German and marginal. The are some violin, piano and sax parts. The songs are loaded, and the instruments are well played, but there are many bits that do not retain my attention. But some bits are interesting, especially on side 2.

Sad to have it end this way. Even John Weinzierl had bailed by this time. Chris Karrer manages to retain a smidgen of his dignity on the Near East-flavoured "Kismet", but it's not enough to make us forget rubbish like "Ruby Lane" or the horrid flamenco-disco of "Spaniards and Spacemen". An appalling sell-out, hard to believe this is even the same band that once brought us DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS. Technically, it's not.

So, they are "only humans" - and humans make mistakes! Truly, this is a minor work of AMON DUUL II, which is highly disposable. They changed the style completely, trying to sound as a pop-rock group, even with some disco hints (as in "Ruby Lane"), but not in a condition to make decent pop-rock. Still, there are two good moments: eastern-tinged reminder of their prog roots "Kismet" and "Pharao" that curiously resembles the mid-1970s GENESIS style. Overall, this album is not good enough to be recommended - 2,5 stars!

Okay, look. This album is way better than people give it credit for. Granted, it does not sound like Phallus Dei at all, but that doesn't make it bad, just different. What we have here is a band stretching out to encompass the style of the times, while adding its own unique flavor. As such, Only Human shows strong Disco influences, often incorporating elements from World Music.

Spaniards and Spacemen is a delightful highlight, fusing flamenco guitar with cutting edge electronic dance music. Kismet is also wonderful, with a distinct Middle East flavor. So if you're open minded and not averse to a little Disco, give Only Human a listen.

Now only human for starters is a better album than almost alive its a kind of pop album so alot different from most duul albums and i think thats what people dont like about it and plus no john weinzierl on this album so it might be a big put of for some people,the first song another morning isnt to bad its got the same feel as starters as almost alive but better,another morning is something you can listen to as its not a bad song but not duuls best though it would of made a single i think and might of worked,dont turn to stone the single from the album aint as good as the first song but still listenable both the first song and this have keyboard in it which sounds dated and sounds poppy but its ok,kirk morgan sounds to me ok but not very keen on this as its to much keyboard,and spaniards and spacemen has that keyboard in again which i hate and lasts to long just to poppy in the 70s for mealthough its an instrumental and one bit of spoken bit in it which is like wat is that in this for,kismet now this is great a brilliant songwith chris karrer on vocals and he sounds brilliant here everyone must hear this song its worth having this album just for this song alone its starts brilliant with trippy sound and then it starts with a keyboard and guitar which sounds great and the lyrics i love everything about this song i love and its about the only song i like on the whole album as it kind of has the old sound of duul in it in places kind of and at the 3.28 mark it sounds greater and mellow then at the 3,56 mark it has a bit which cypress hill sampled into one of there songs but dont know which one[and yes i like cypress hill to] its just a pity john weinzierl werent on this song it would of been better but still a good song for duul who had lost it by this time and karrer uses a mouth harp in this song to,pharao starts weird with something which reminds me of something recorded backwardsand not very keen on this track but the weirdness is kind of good as it shows duul are stiil able to be weird ,ruby lane starts with a bass bit which sounds okand not to bad but not great but ok its listenable but as its the last song i just carry on with it till it ends and think i should of listened to one of dull albums upto made in germany,the bonus tracks first one eistanz in timbuktu starts very eastern sounding and i quite like the sound of this as its kind of different and a little indian sounding or something like that but not brilliant,no sushi for camelsstarts ok and kind of spacey and has a womans voice in it oooing and agrrring which sounds ok and then a mans voice comes in and it sounds ok these two bonus tracks are not to bad and better than most of the album except for kismet,so really this album isnt great but kismet ia a must have but the only track on here really worth having,i give this a 2 star.

The most important thing about this album is that you should know "Kismet", even if you're not interested in the rest. Kismet is truly great. It would be a perfect opener of my favourite ADII setlist, it starts dark and mysteriously and builds up nicely, has a number of interesting melodies and changes, strong oriental influences, and Chris Karrer's mysterious voice is wonderfully suited for this. The only reason why they didn't start the album with this is probably that then the listener would expect too much from the remainder of the album and would be badly disappointed. In any case, this song is a strong reason not to dismiss "Only Human" completely. Unfortunately , Kismet towers head and shoulders above the rest of the album, which is pretty underwhelming. Well, it won't hurt you to lsten to it from beginning to end, much is rather easy going and there are some OK melodies with the odd twist or turn. I personally like Spaniards and Spacemen with its light feathery feel although many hate its disco sound. Anyway, Kismet is great and all the rest is, while not unbearable or really bad, still rather unremarkable.