ON THE WAY TO A LITTLE WAY

This album is - and is not - the soundtrack of Herzog's film of the same name. It contains most of the music that was used in the film but not all of it. The missing tracks appeared on another 1978 release Brüder des Schattens Söhne des Lichts. There's also quite some material here that has nothing to do with the film at all. Confusing... Luckily, there's a 2004 Nosferatu reissue that combines (almost) all music from both albums.

Just like Aguirre, the Nosferatu album has both electronic music from Florian's pre-1972 vaults and a selection of more recent acoustic and ethnic music, all of it compiled from various sources. By consequence the album is rather incoherent. On the other hand it can serve as a decent introduction to the band. Actually it was my introduction as well some ages ago.

The pieces that appeal most to me are the beautiful melancholic Indian sitar music of Mantra I & II and Through Pains To Heaven. Also the eerie Aguirre-alike choirs of On the Way should not be missed. More spooky early electronic music of varying quality follows on Die Nacht der Himmel, Der Ruf der Rohrfloete and To a little Way. The remainder of the pieces sound like remakes and outtakes from previous Popol Vuh albums. Mostly good but nothing essential.

I wouldn't give more then 3 stars to the original album release, but the 2004 re-issue adds some excellent material from Brüder des Schattens Söhne des Lichtsand it has the beautiful original film poster as artwork. There's also a couple of pages with liner notes that you could read to kill the time should you decide to actually watch the movie!