POPOL ACE / POPOL VUH

"Music Box" is my best favorite track from the band. It reminds me to my childhood when this track was popular in my country. "Between You and Me" is a nice ballad with excellent piano, touchy melody line with powerful voice of the lead vocalist. "Queen of all queens" is an excellent classic rock song with distinctive guitar work. "Dark nights" is also not bad at all. It flows with piano as main rhythm section. "Mrs. Randalie" demonstrates he band's adventure into symphonic prog music. I like the bass lines for this track. Duration-wise this track is like typical prog tunes with 8 minute duration.

This band is good in combining various instruments to build a compelling nuance of the music created. "For Eternity" may fall into this category. With nice introduction of acoustic guitar and keyboard, this track moves in crescendo from long acoustic guitar - keyboard duets. The opening part reminds me to the psychedelic adventures, supported with ambient and nice melody. It also gives symphonic nuance that brings beautifully into lyrical verses. The first singing part gives a nuance similar to seventies music like Trapeze (Glenn Hughes band prior to joining Deep Purple). I like the interlude part with two guitars play intertwiningly with the support of mellotron work. Oh yeah, you might sense an influence of King Crimson as well right here with this track.

For those who have not known the band before, this compilation is recommended. Keep on proggin' ..!

"I'm sitting in a music box , I'm making songs - wanna know what for? Is there really more to tell , or haven't you really had before? Oh . uuuhhhh . who can tell? Oh .. in the end it won't make us different. - Music Box by Popol Ace

"Today Another Day" is composed in the same vein like opening track. In this song Jahn Teigen (vocals) demonstrates his quality voice with a firm accent that makes the music is quite enjoyable. Guitar provides its solo at the background and never been exposed as soloist. The song changes its style into bluesy one in the middle of the track - or minute 4:00 to be exact. The guitar portion is now quite apparent. "The Jester" is another classic rock tune combining guitar fills, keyboard and energetic voice. Jahn Teigen proves his voice which works well at high notes - followed with excellent keyboard work. "Soft Shoe Dancer" is good composition with bluesy style, nice vocal. This song provides good break for the album. It's an enjoyable song that represents 70s music. "Sleepwalker" concludes the album in medium tempo rock music combining guitar and keyboard and good vocal quality.

It's definitely a good album that suits those of you who want to make a complete collection of 70s music which typically called as classic rock.

"Nothing is useless. Even a spoilt clock shows the right time twice everyday!"

What music that surrounded you when you grew up? What would be your reaction if you listen to the music 30 years later? Do you feel like a journey to the past or you feel like living in the past? In my case, I feel both. The fact that I'm spinning back the music (or even hunting the CD like hell until I got it in my collection of CD!), is like a journey to my past. But when I'm listening to it I feel like living in the past. And I always feel excited whenever I'm listening to music which was written in the 70s which practically most of them has some prog elements in it. At that time I did not know the term "progressive" yet and any rock music was just "rock" - no further categorization which one fall under which category. I just accepted whatever flew into my ears and try to digest it. As for the case with Popol Vuh, I was not aware about this album at that time. The first time I knew about the band was a compilation cassette produced by our local music magazine which was very famous, i.e Aktuil. The cassette was labeled "Rock Vibration 2" with the opening track "Music Box" by Popol Ace. Wow! This track had blown me away at first spin. I started to wonder who this band was and found practically nothing. Hello, it was 70s, my friends! There was no internet and information was not distributed in proper way. Only decades later - I think it was 2000 or 2001 I found this album. Oh, finally I found vintage band Popol Vuh / Ace!

So "Music Box" is the connector why I was hunting this CD and luckily I got it from local music store. Hey, Jakarta rocks and progs man, don't underestimate people who live in "rest of the world" countries like Indonesia (which you might know only our beautiful island of Bali). Our passion for music is very high and we have many rock communities with strong passion for rock and prog music. When I listen to "Music Box" I always remember vividly the 70s period where our rock passion was at the top like right now. "Music Box" is a wonderfully crafted ballad rock with great melody line, excellent acoustic guitar fills and singing style.

"I'm sitting in a music box , I'm making songs - wanna know what for? Is there really more to tell , or haven't you really had before? Oh . uuuhhhh . who can tell? Oh .. in the end it won't make us different.

Oh .. my friend.what a mind boggling lyrical verse and touchy melody backed with wonderful acoustic guitar fills. The lyrics also tell about the wondering of a musician who is ready to write music but he doesn't know yet if the music has already been created by someone else. What a great meaning from great song "Music Box"!

Actually, when I purchased the CD I didn't really care about other tracks because I only chase "Music Box" and it would justify the investment - money wise! But some tracks are also in fact good ones to enjoy. "Between You and Me" is a nice ballad with excellent piano, touchy melody line with powerful voice of the lead vocalist. "Queen of all queens" is an excellent classic rock song with distinctive guitar work. "Dark nights" is also not bad at all. It flows with piano as main rhythm section. "Mrs. Randalie" demonstrates he band's adventure into symphonic prog music. I like the bass lines for this track. Duration-wise this track is like typical prog tunes with 8 minute duration.

I can consider that this album is really good. Those of you who love classic rock and symphonic prog - well, sometimes the band sounds a bit psychedelic too - you may enjoy this album as well. I put my neck that you would definitely love "Music Box". Guaranteed. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I always feel excited whenever I'm listening to music which was written in the 70s which practically most of them has some prog elements in it. At that time I did not know the term "progressive" yet and any rock music was just "rock" - no further categorization which one fall under which category. I just accepted whatever flew into my ears and try to digest it. As for the case with Popol Vuh, I was not aware about this album at that time. The first time I knew about the band was a compilation cassette produced by our local music magazine which was very famous, i.e Aktuil. The cassette was labeled "Rock Vibration 2" with the opening track "Music Box" by Popol Ace. Wow! This track had blown me away at first spin. I started to wonder who this band was and found practically nothing. Hello, it was 70s, my friends! There was no internet and information was not distributed in proper way. Only decades later - I think it was 2000 or 2001 I found this album. Oh, finally I found vintage band Popol Vuh / Ace!

As a classic album, my first impression about listening to this one was the quality of "sound" that really represents the true sound of the seventies: high mid range, truncated bass and treble sound. This kind of sound is of course sub-standard as compared to modern recording technology like Porcupine Tree's albums, for example. But this classic sound creates a unique touch of the past.

Classic Rock meets Symphonic Prog

"Hunchback" represents the band experimentation with combined styles of classic rock and symphonic prog. The opening part reminds me to the music of Khan "Space Shanty" backed with excellent vocal of Jahn Teigen which is similar to John Lawton (Lucifer's Friend, Uriah Heep). This also uses mellotron / long sustain keyboard as background. What surprises me is that this track has excellent flute work as excellent as Thijs Van Leer of Focus. The interesting part of this track is when there is a narration just before the song ends. The music of this album is very similar in nature from one track to another. "All We Have Is The Past", for example, is in similar style with others. Performed in relatively slow tempo, the interlude part reminds me to the structure of King Crimson's "I Talk To The Wind". I think the flutework that makes me think that way. The vocal style reminds me also to PFM especially in "Chocolate Kings" album.

This band also good in combining various instruments to build a compelling nuance of the music created. "For Eternity" may fall into this category. With nice introduction of acoustic guitar and keyboard, this track moves in crescendo from long acoustic guitar - keyboard duets. The opening part reminds me to the psychedelic adventures, supported with ambient and nice melody. It also gives symphonic nuance that brings beautifully into lyrical verses. The first singing part gives a nuance similar to seventies music like Trapeze (Glenn Hughes band prior to joining Deep Purple). I like the interlude part with two guitars play intertwiningly with the support of mellotron work. Oh yeah, you might sense an influence of King Crimson as well right here with this track.

Do you know Dutch blues band Livin' Blues who had its glory days in seventies? Or Climax Chicago Blues Band? If so, listen to track 4 "Leaving Chicago" and you would have a great joy of the seventies music. The combination of rock'n'roll singing style, southern rock guitar sound (which sometimes being played in sliding technique) and piano work gives a nice harmony in happy-go-lucky mood. It's a simple track with nearly no prog elements at all - but it's enjoyable.

If you really love vintage rock .

.this album is definitely yours. You would get everything you might expected: the sounds of the seventies that you might have been longing for; especially if you never heard this album before. You would be brought by the music into the seventies nuance and it might reminds tyou to bands like King Crimson, Livin' Blues, Climax Chicago Blues Band or even Trapeze (especially "Medusa" album). If you get used to modern prog music, you might still be able to enjoy this album. I leave it up to you to decide but I humbly say that this album is an excellent addition to any rock music collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Even though Norway has a great number of good progbands, they haven't been among the big "Prog Country", and there hasn't been a lot of prog-albums on the charts here.

From what I know, this was the first Norwegian prog album to enter the charts, back in '73, and Popol Vuh is Norways most succsessful prog band ever.

This is a great record!! Jahn Teigen, who later went on to do musicals, European song contest and comersial pop, has a very karismatic voice, wich suits this genre well. The guitarist does an absoloutly wonderfull job, and Pjokken Eide is as strange as always....

The album starts of with "Hunchback", a wonderfull, powerfull song in the ways of ELP, Focus and Genesis. It's a really groovey tune, with a beautifull middle part. Hunchback has some amazing flute-work, and a cool sounding organ.

Next song is "Joy and Pleasure", wich has a very "gentle gianty" vibe. Its funky and weird, and absoloutly astonishing. The track is jazzy, and the peep-bob courus fits the song.

Then we have the ballad "all we have is the past", wich was the single from this album, and was some kind of hit back in the day. It's your typical, symphonic ballad with lots of orchestra, mellotron and drammatic vocals. Mr.Teigen does a great job on this song, and lifts it abowe average.

"Leaving Chicago" is a funky blues-rock track with a very good bass-line. It's a very good song, and the most accessable track on the album. This song just makes you feel good, and the powerfull vocals, the great guitar and piano work and the eceptional bass makes this among my top 10 songs ever.

"For Eternity" starts of with a very ITCotCK-like guitar-flute intro, and ventures out into a great mellow, floating prog track with lots of great guitar-work. This is the most symphonic track of the album, and reminds a lot of old King Crimson and Genesis, with lots of mellotron. An exeptionally good track, with great instumentalisation.

"Suckling Pig" is the most progressive track on the album, with great fluete-work by Pjokken Eide, great drumming and unbeliveable drumming. It's somewhat Jazzy, and reminds of a mix of Gentle Giant, Focus and Camel. It's all instrumental, and very interessting. An absouloutly increadible track.

"Medicine" is the longest track on the album, and is a funky prog-track with unbeliveable vocals, great drumming and good orchestration. The track never gets boring, and is IMO among the highlights in Scandinavian prog.

All in all, Popol Vuh manage to have a recognitiable sound, and it's very good. This album is very well produced, and it's not hard to understand why they are the most succesfull Norwegian prog band ever.

Itf you're into Scandinavian prog, this is an essential album. For anyone else it is an excellent adition to your record collection, and should be among the first 500 albums you buy.

This double DVD is the first ever from a Norwegian progressive rock group, and I doubt if there ever will come any better than this. The first DVD in the set is from Popol Ace's reunion concert at the 23rd of January 2003 at Rockefeller in Oslo where they performed together with an orchestra (Kringkastingsorkesteret). The main selection of songs is from "Stolen from Time", but we're also getting goodies like "All We Have is the Past", "For Eternity", "Hunchback", "Dark Nights" and "Queen of All Queens" from the two first albums. Pete Knutsen has nicely arranged all the songs for the orchestra. Personally I think "Dark Nights" and not at least " Jester" is the ones that has benefited most from this treatment compared to the original studio versions. Other highlights include "Bury Me Dead", "Today Another Day" and "Sleepwalker". And the melody of "Between You and Me" shines much brighter in this orchestral version than on the original. As a bonus you're also getting clips from the rehearsals, some shots from backstage right before the concert started, and interesting interviews with Teigen, Knutsen, Methi and Andreassen.

The second DVD is taken entirely up by archival footage from the 70's. It starts with a concert in studio from 1976 where the band performs the whole of "Stolen from Time" with the exception of "Mr. Bigalow". Looking at Teigen here and his costumes during "Jester" and "Suicide" reveals a clear fascination and inspiration from what Peter Gabriel did in Genesis (Teigen later actually auditioned for Genesis after Gabriel left). Watching this sequence only makes me more sure that "Stolen from Time" is the band's finest album. The material is as good and solid as it can be. Next out is some black and white footage from the band's performance at the Ragnarock Festival in the summer of 1974. Here they perform "Queen of All Queens", "Political Man" (that never appeared on any of their albums), and "Leavin' Chicago". A funny and energetic performance that shows the band in very basic rock-mood, although not very representative for their progressive side. Then we're in for yet another black and white shot, this time from the TV program "Flimra" from 1975 where they mime to "Suicide". This is actually one of my favourite clips here, even if they just mime. The rest of the DVD is made up of the videos for "Leavin' Chicago" (1972), "Queen of All Queens" and "Music Box" (both from 1973). The latter one shows the band in Rosenborg studio during the recording of "Quiché Maya". The technical quality of both the picture and sound on these clips is close to perfect considering the age of the footage. There's also a very nice commentary track with Teigen and Andreassen where they comes with lots of interesting comments, stories and trivia. The hidden bonus track at the end shows the band in the Norwegian finale for the Eurovision Song Contest from 1976, where they perform together with Gudny Aspaas from Ruphus and guitarist Terje Rypdal on his song "Voodoo". Included in the package is also a booklet with full biography of the band, pictures and lyrics to all the songs. "Silently Loud" is a beautiful DVD that just has further strengthened my respect for this great band.

If you like the first 3 albums, you may find some intresting stuff on this one!

Popol Ace is a well known band here in Norway. Too bad they're not so known in other countries. I recommend this album to prog fans who especially likes Art Rock and prog related stuff.