Amon Duul II bonus tracks

Hi,

I didn't write on this before, as I needed 2 days to re-think what I wanted to write.  It is no secret to anyone that this is the band I have always loved the most, and forever will. However, amidst all their upheaval that supposedly brought us such great music, there has always been an undercurrent that was not good, at least the way I saw things and understood them.

A few years back, I was looking for "Utopia" on CD, and another copy of "Nada Moonshine #" which had finally hit the skids for me and I wanted another copy. I had never found a CD copy of "Utopia" that went under $100 which was ridiculous! But one email to the AD2 website, got a response that was bad ... "b*****d' was the word that was given to that album and its existence, and in it was at least one piece that had been used before, and AD2 brought it out in a couple of live shows, all of which were ridiculously poor and did not give the original any credit or favors. There also is other stuff in that album that is really nice and special, even a little jazz piece that is tasty as heck, even if it is nowehere near the AD2 flavor at the time!

Sadly, what was evident and shown later, in their albums, is that there was a lot of bad blood and feeling that these folks never got clear on. Stupidly, and pathetically, just like you and I, they were not capable of clearing the air and appreciate their younger days, when they created some amazingly outstanding music! This is sad ... it's like saying that your younger days were stupid, and there is no such thing. It all adds up to today and what you do, and for all intents and purposes, they threw it all away. The band that was so good at theatrical improvisations, all of a sudden could only write songs, and did not even know how to extend a piece anymore. And when they did, it was not focused and the best you could get was Renate going crazy and angry about something or other that ... you and I go ... so what? The serenity of the MM soundtrack and the iconic visual images of "Yeti" and other pieces, all but gone, lost in a haze, they all went to the Big Bear ... in their skybikes! We could not grow up past being children and appreciate our own childhood!

Almost all the bits and pieces here and there, are re-hashes of stuff that has been done before, and even though it pains me to say so, this band lost it 30 years ago, and they do not have the inner desire or ability to hug each other and say thank you, and appreciate the amount of work they did, regardless of how each and everyone of them feels about it.

It makes the 60's and 70's "revolution" worthless ... you fought for nothing ... it meant nothing, except that you were all so ripped and stoned that it didnot make any difference. All of a sudden the stuff that was released from AD1 seems to be much more interesting and attractive ... they, at least, did not pretent to mean something or other that was not there! For some of us, it was not BAD at all ... it provided a nice frame of focus, that otherwise most ignored and went on to spend their time getting stoned and leaving trash behind ... and totally ignoring the song that wabeing played over it ... that's pride for you ... you don't care ... and AD2 became the most disappointing symbol I have ever seen of a generation that spent its time stabbing and cutting each other and then ... it's over!  It's like there was nothing to learn!

Sorry to sound bad, AD2, but there is no hate here. Just a sad exposition of my feelings and how this band fell apart. Hatred kills, and destroys creativity ... and this band lost it ... and was not able, or have the intuition to help bring it back to life ... they wanted it to die. And die hard, ugly and bad, it did!