YETI

4.5 stars really!!!

After their stunning Phallus Dei debut album, ADII could only up the ante with the voluminous Yeti album, a double disc affair that was filled with a live jam for the duration of one disc. Again released on the Liberty Records label in the early part of 70, graced with an ape-grim reaper outer gatefold and a shrine-in-heaven inner gatefold artworks (both again courtesy of KB-man Rogner), Yeti often comes within the top 5 Krautrock albums listed. Original drummer has now left leaving Peter Leopold (of AD1 fame) the stool and guesting on the Sandoz In The Rain closing track is part of the AD1 line-up (3 of the 6 members).

Opening on the uber-fantastic Soap Shock Rock, AD II strikes just as hard as they did in PD with Kanaan, but here the 14-mins four-part suite is the album's absolute highlight. The eastern-folky 4-mins She Came Through The Chimney is quite a change SSR, sounding like Comus mating with Quintessence, with Karrer's violin sounding like High Tide's Simon House. If you'll make abstraction of the Eastern flavour of Chimney and Karrer's violin, you'll find Cerberus is much in the same folky vein, as well, a tad more Comus-like, until the fuzz guitar gives it an unlikely electric finale, which suits my ears just fine. Renate gives a weird vocal overtone to Archangels, a track hinting at later albums (Carnival and Wolf City), with some huge riffs and makes this song one of AD II's harder rocking tracks with the short proggy guitar-laden Return Of Ruebezahl. The following Eye Shaking King is the album's second highlight and one of the band's better-known tracks, with an immediately recognizable riff, a searing & soaring guitar solo and filter-trafficked vocals. The aptly-titled Pale Gallery is somewhat of a filler, even if it offers some downright trippy/spacey soundscapes over a repetitive beat.

The second disc (speaking of the vinyl, as the Cd version is crammed into one disc) is completely different, spreading lengthy loose spacey jams over two sides, which contrasts quite starkly with the first disc's relatively tight songwriting and playing. While the first disc was relatively hard rocking, this one goes to great extent into space rock, somewhere in the region of the Saucerful-era Pink Floyd. So Yeti is overstaying its welcome a bit, yet its companion piece Yogi does more of the same. Definitely toking music. But for the closing Sandoz In The Rain, AD II is joined by AD1 members and the resulting track sounds very much like the Paradieswärts Düül album of the other section of the commune. BTW: Sandoz is the name of the pharmaceutical labs that developed the LSD. With its light folky acoustic feel and a cool flute, Sandoz is Yeti's third highlight and a charming closer.

Yes, ADII had managed to top their debut album, but it was a tough task, needing a double disc to manage it. And if most progheads would agree to Wolf City and Carnival in Babylon being their best albums, this reviewer is much more inclined to the first three albums that we should call the Liberty era. Soon after Shrat and Dave Anderson would leave AD II (bound for Sameti and Hawkwind, respectively), leaving Lothar Meid to fill up on bass, but the former would not be replaced and the group would go on to record the third album in their Liberty Records trilogy TDL, which would go on as yet another seminal Krautrock record. Just as essential as Phallus Dei, this one is a bit more diluted, but then again there is more goodies as well. Start chronologically.

Ah Yeti... this was my first ADII album, and what a way to begin. When Germans get experimental, the heavens rejoice. What can I say? If you like searing guitars and buzzed out basses and pummeling drums all assaulting your brain for 24 minutes straight, then you have a destined meeting with the two-part improvisation which is "Yeti/Yeti talks to Yogi". Grungy, psychedelic guitar jam monsters do not get better than this! "Eye-Shaking King" is one of my favorite pieces of music to play when I need to stomp around my apartment in a blissful musical frenzy -- simply one of the most authoritative guitar riffs of all time, you must hear it. These guys are afraid of nobody; their music snarls and lurches from your speakers like no other band I've heard. "Archangel's Thunderbird" is possibly THE definitive early ADII song: in 3 and a half minutes you get their whole bag of tricks (demonic chord riffing, blasting beats, surging keyboards), plus a stunning vocal delivery from female singer Renate Knaup. Oh, I haven't mentioned her? Well, apparently her voice is an acquired taste, but she truly knocks me out... powerful, dramatic, never unsure, she possibly may be compared to Grace Slick in style and delivery. In any case, the magical mix of all of ADII's broad talents is stunning to behold and is in full display on YETI, making this album indispensable for fans of "Krautrock" and adventurous music in general.

"Yeti" was the second album by AMON DÜÜL II and is IMHO quite a musical achievement. Originally this was a double vinyl album set and now has been released and re-mastered on 1 CD. "Yeti" contains some of AMON DÜÜL's most impressive work from my perspective, delivering their thick, full-fledged, multi-layered sound with dense instrumentation and a certain epic vastness... in many ways not unlike the craftmanship of early CAN. This is Krautrock in the full mass of its power: huge, towering, dark and completely devoid of any happy optimism, but still bound full of energy. Instrumentally this album is pure magic with some great psychy sitar'ish acoustic guitar plucking and hand percussion interplay. "Yeti" is abundant also in the fusion of electric guitar, bass and drum interplay. The 2nd album is totally devoted to improvisation and in itself stands up as some of the most intriguing music you will ever hear. The first few AMON DÜÜL II albums are essential bits of the psych/prog era and "Yeti" likley would be my personal fav... Try it... you will like it Mikey!

The abominable album?

A double album from 1970, this offering is to say the least challenging. Sides 1, 3, and 4 are made up of long experimental pieces with only side 2 (of the double LP version) offering any form of respite.

The three tracks on sides 3 & 4 are all subtitled "improvisation", but are in reality wandering drivel. Side 2 consists of shorter, slightly more accessible tracks. "Archangels thunderbird" is the nearest they come to commercial, but sounds much better on the "Live in London" album. There are at times, hints of modern day bands such as the Flower Kings, but given the lack of appeal this set has for me, I am at a loss to offer any other meaningful comparisons.

It is perhaps a little unfair to listen to this album today and judge it against those which have been recorded in the 30 plus years since. At the time, it would have been extremely original, pushing back the boundaries, and would have been heard is amazement by those who heard it. That's not to say they would necessarily have enjoyed it, this is an example of a situation where originality does not equate with quality.

All that said, I found it a difficult album to enjoy then, as do now. I cannot in all honesty recommend it.

A darn good cd with lots of spacey elements and very long jams. I didn't sense one set style throughout the cd but thats usually a good thing, and this cd is no exception. A must have once you have explored TDream, Art, faust and can.

Fantastic!!!!!!This is krautrock!This is music!The opener soap shop rock is unbelievable, it has all the right ingredients and is one of the best AD2 songs.Archangels thunderbird is a great rocker and pure fun!The YETI improvisations are amazing too (but maybe a little too long)....If you like krautrock, you need this album, it's a masterpiece.Renate Knaup has such a beautiful voice it couldn't be better.This music is unique, realy!This masterpiece deserves more respect! Try this one.

Have not heard anything quite like this...really weird stuff here. After listening to this recording and coupled with the fact that Krautrock never hit it big in the States, I am starting to believe in conspiracy theories :). The question is: What was Amon Duul II saying and why did the government not want us to hear it? I leave the room after a listen to Yeti and do not feel quite the same. I feel somewhat disoriented and rearranged inside. There is definitely no need for drugs to heighten the listening experience of this music. The songs provide that entirely...with compositions that are loud and discordant...and also very addictive. Belatedly, America needs to come and discover a group and in a broader sense, a genre, that sadly passed us by in the 70's. There is a lot a great music here.

For an initiation into Amon Duul II, one might want to start with Wolf City as it offers shorter and somewhat more accessible songs (but still rates as classic Duul fare).

Superficially, Amon Düül II can be linked to countrymen Can and Faust (and a few others I haven't heard, I'll bet). After all, all three German groups were children of the 60s, who locked themselves up, dosed on psychedelics and improvised music accordingly. But as far I'm concerned the similarity ends there, for while I dislike Can intensely and have not exactly taken to Faust, I've been bowled over by Amon Düül II.

Yeti may contain a little too much improvisation for its own good, and thus is probably not as strong as its successor Tanz Der Lemminge, but it's still among my favourite German prog albums of all time! I don't know why Can with its dull interminable electronic twiddling has the loftier reputation, cos Amon Düül II is superior in every department.

The opening track, the four part Soap Shop Rock is probably the highlight of this album. It's got heavy riffs aplenty, an Arabic-tinged jam with some dazzling violin work from Chris Karrer with atonal, heavily accented, and slightly fanatical lead vocals as well as a mock opera section. She Came Through The Chimney is a delicate instrumental with what sounds like a distorted violin solo-ing over acoustic guitar and tablas. Archangel Thunderbird is pure stomping hard rock with an incredible raging vocal performance from Renate Knaup (whose vocals were definitely underused by this group). I still can't put my finger on whose blues rock jamming Amon Duul reminds me off ... is it Hendrix, Cream, Quicksilver Messenger Service, early Zep or even early Sabbath? I suppose QMS is the best bet as Amon Düül often have two duelling leads. Anyway, it's great stuff!

Cerberus is an intoxicating folky tune (in the Comus vein) with duelling acoustic guitars and tablas, even if it does overstay its welcome a bit. The Return Of Ruebezahl is a brief Eastern influence heavy rocking instrumental that leads into Eye-Shaking King which is more psychedelic bluesy jamming. Pale Gallery is a brief instrumental powered by drums and a barely audible ominous bassline, loads of feedback and volume swells on top but no real melodies to speak of.

Where this album might be a real challenge is in the last three tracks (which made up the whole second album of the original double LP) Yeti, Yeti Talks To Yogi and Sandoz In The Rain, all of which are group improvisations. Yeti Talks To Yogi narrowly pips Yogi in terms of accessibility (perhaps because it is significantly shorter!), although both are fuzzy stoner space rock explorations that should appeal to fans of Pink Floyd, Hawkwind and even the Grateful Dead. On the other hand, Sandoz In The Rain is one of those delectable flute/acoustic guitar/violin/tabla ragas with improvised vocals. It calls to mind the Incredible String Band and Quintessence ... and the dawn of time.

Absolutely essential for proggers who enjoy their psychedelic rock as well! ... 74% on the MPV scale

Strap yourself in and prepare for a total mind trip for this beaut. As with all early Amon Duul II this is fueled with pure LSD 25. The standout piece is the shortest and most structured on the album. It only lasts for a little over 3 minutes in the form of Archangel's Thunderbird featuring Renate Kanup`s Grace Slick-like vocals. Amon Duul were perhaps the original '''jam band" if long stretched out unstructured songs, drugs and unmitigated brain experiences are your cup of tea pick this one up and turn the amp all the way up to 11!

the only album that i have from amon duul 2. what a great masterpiece!! that's how prog rock should be played. every song is a psychotic creation. the album is so dark and everysong is perfectly structured. an endless trip into magic and imagination. one of the best albums of all time....can't wait to find the other albums too. great band-great record-no less than 5 stars!!!!

I was a bit let down by this one when I finally heard it. It definitely feels like a bit of a come-down after the brilliance of PHALLUS DEI. Certainly, after the standard set by the unforgettable title suite of their debut, the rambling "Yeti/Yeti Talks To Yogi" improvisation (all 24 minutes of it) is absolutely bereft of focus, with no handles for the listener to grab hold on. Chalk it up to TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS syndrome, the temptation to gratuitously overextend everything when presented with the luxury of a double album.

It's almost beside the point, though, as the first disc is brilliant. The lengthy "Soap Shop Rock" cycle is entrancing, and Side 2 of the original album contained some of their most searing guitarwork. "Eye Shaking King" in particular is heart-stopping, the sort of thing that makes Black Sabbath look like a bunch of wimps.

Not a bad intro to Krautrock - but tails off a bit towards the end

A masterpiece of Krautrock, treading the line between improvised jams and well thought-out composistions - and even finding time for some more conventional songwriting to provide a balance. The balance, however, is tipped in favour of those jams on side 2, which tend to get a little tedious on repeated listens, hence I am docking the full Masterpiece point.

"Soap Shock Rock" is a wonderful slice of psychedelia, using a conventional song structure and, *gasp*, strong melodies, with great textures enhanced by a good production. Around 4 minutes (presumably the change to "Halluzination Guillotine" - the times given above seem inexact) we get a change that fully demonstrates ADII's mastery of the psychedelic jam - this doesn't just noodle around the same themes ad nauseam, but explores textures with well thought-out punctuation giving breathing space.

ADII enter a really nice groove then develop it, each instrumentalist putting in work that contributes to the overall team effort, building and layering, stripping back and even diving into new themes. I find some of the male vocals to be a little on the "silly" side - but nothing as bad as Daevid Allen at his worst.

Interesting textures and sounds are pushed to the fore - we get violin melodies winding around the voices, odd rattles and delicate guitar motifs providing complexity in texture, with Middle Eastern flavours being constantly hinted at behind the almost Romany gypsy flavour of the violin.

A recapitulation of the opening bars wraps things up nicely.

This is something many modern so-called experimental bands could learn from - improvisation and experimentation isn't just about jamming and playing the first thing that comes into your head, it's about being able to improvise as part of a group, and collectively produce new musical sounds whilst being sensitive to the music you are creating and observing (even if not following) its rules.

"She Came Through The Chimney" starts like a typical psychedelic song a la Kaleidoscope, etc, replete with bongos, but with better production. When the violin makes an appearance around 1:00, it sounds more like a wind instrument, then it is layered and effected some more for good measure - and the remainder of this short piece explores this texture some more, meandering into practically white noise territory, but remaining generally chilled throughout. Nice!

We sit up with a start from the intro to "Archangels Thunderbird", which is a great rocker which feeds into a terrific riff, with imaginative guitar work, an unpredictable feeling yet strong vocal melody, and some wicked little effected interludes. This all adds up to a great little song that sits in a really good headspace and plays odd tricks with time!

"Cerberus" has a strongly rhythmic almost Flamenco feel to the start, with a flurry of acoustic guitars and tambourines, later joined by the (slightly predictable but welcome) bongos. I'm getting flavours of the Incredible String Band - minus the really wierd stuff that tends to spoil some of the ISB's material. Some might find this repetitive, but those people are missing out on the almost hypnotic mantra that is being built, as the texture morphs to mean electric guitar and bass, and the kit enters sensitively. The excitement is built, then drops... you really want this to develop into something huge after this, but sadly it doesn't.

Happily, we get "The Return of Ruebezahl" instead - a strangely short little ditty presumably dedicated to the Ruebezahl of the Giant Mountains in the Czech Republic - a legendary figure known as Krakonos in Czech. Ruebezahl allegedly means "counter of turnips" in German, and was a character capable of great good and evil - many local people agreeing that Krakonos is a personification of the forces of nature.

There's a legend that he once decided to amuse himself by counting the turnips in a field, and the local people ridiculed him for this. In order to escape the humiliation from the villagers, he ran off and hid in the mountains, where his spirit remains to this day, ready to spring a surprise on the unwary. Will it be a nice surprise or a nasty one? That is up to Ruebezahl.

ADII play around with time in this short piece, a striding riff motif surrounded by swirling guitars and underpinned by a driving rhythm. But too short!

"Eye-Shaking King" starts off with an eye-shaking intro. The riff that follows borders on the bizarre, but makes sense when the drums and bass enter to give some perspective. It's kinda more of the same but different... then it changes around 1:24 into the first of many really odd vocal sections. The main riff to which the band return could have been written by Pink Floyd... except that it wasn't...

ADII do some more of their brilliant exploration of the material, the guitar soloing away seemingly impervious to the changes of riffs and textures below. It's a bit noodly, but it all stays in key, and you realise that the guitar solo is but a part of the overal texture rather than an ego-fest. This is nicely topped off with an eye-shaking finale.

"Pale Gallery" begins with some wonderfully odd textures built up with layers of keyboards and guitars with all the top and bottom EQd out. This really is a quite unique sound, then we get guitars dive-bombing around it. Forget so-called "Post Rock" - this is real experimentation with music - ADII have the enviable touch of being able to maintain a sense of coherence within the music even while keeping it unbridled.

"Yeti" continues this, with more great spacey sonic structures, hanging crystalline in space - maybe hurrying in slightly too rapidly with the percussion for my taste, but building up in a kind of "Saucerful of Secrets" way, with many sounds that remind me of the Floyd classic, but also some really great ADII touches.

The problem with this kind of improvisation is that the overall picture that is being built up by the music can so easily be lost in the blink of an eye - a mistimed guitar run, a wrongly anticipated fill on the kit, a bass line that just gets lost, poorly chosen keyboard sounds, riffs that go on too long - that kind of thing. ADII kind of sit slightly over the bleeding edge with Yeti, where all the pitfalls I mentioned loom their troll-like faces over the bridge, but somehow ADII keep it together. The expected jam comes around 6:00 after a build up that lasts more than 2 minutes. It may be ADII, but it's still essentially a garage jam. Most enjoyable a few times, but you won't be revisiting this part of the album as much as the earlier material, as it simply doesn't offer anything new on the whole.

OTOH, if you just want some psychedelic aural wallpaper for a slightly more up-tempo chill-out session, this is perfect. The sound is great, the rhythms driving and constantly ebbing and flowing, with some nice sonic changes and the textures are nicely swirly.

Yeti Talks to Yogi is more of the same but different... didn't I already use that phrase? More intense and darker, with tunnels of keyboards shimmering around bass and guitar textures, flitering through to a drum solo of sorts - the soloing is kept sympathetic to the feel of the improv, and brought back again to allow the instrumental textures to build. It does, however, wander around uncertainly in circles for a while - maybe one less chillum would have worked wonders for the imagination here? Around 4:30, a vocal brings everything back to life again and we ride in this territory to the end.

"Sandoz in the Rain" is more improv, but starts with a nice acoustic guitar/bongo/flute Eastern flavoured section, joined by meditative vocals and violin, creating a unique texture with hints of Gong. This is kind of spoiled slightly when the guitar picks up the rhythm, but after this moment of exuberance, the meditative feel returns nicely.

The improv ends with the exuberant passage, which I'm not altogether happy with, and certainly stops me from feeling any remorse at having to dock the Masterpiece point from what is a superb album of Krautrock with a great "feel" and wonderfully "hippy" sounds.

If you're considering getting into Krautrock, you could do worse than start here. A most excellent addition to any prog music collection.

This, the second effort of Amon Düül II, consist more actual compositions and less improvisations than their first one. I think that's a good thing because the compositions are better. Not to say that the improvisations is necessarily bad, but I loose my attention during them. Best are "Soap Shop Rock" and "Archangels Thunderbird". The last mentioned must be as conventional Amon Düül II could be at this time but it can also as a precursor of what was to come. Other good compositions are "Cerberus", "The Return of Ruebezahl" and the shorter version of "Pale Gallery" while I can't say much at all on twenty-minute improvisations such as the title-track. My version of the album also contains the bonus tracks "Rattlesnakeplumcake" and "Between the Eyes". The last one is, if I'm not wrong, a composition made out of a part of the Phallus Dei improvisations.

A conspicuous hole in my music library was recently plugged by the belated discovery of Amon Düül II, pioneering Krautrockers who in the 1970s operated not too far from the controlled anarchy of CAN or FAUST. After falling under the spell last year of their 1971 epic "Tanz der Lemminge", it was only a short hop to this formidable beast, a cult favorite when first released in 1970, and still able to shred your headphones when played at the proper volume (i.e. loud).

Unlike their later, more refined efforts, this embryonic recording showcases the more urgent sound of a band with strong ties to the European counterculture barricades of 1968. The music is almost raw in spots, but not without a certain primitive beauty, moving from the dreamy psychedelia of "She Came Through the Chimney" (complete with bongo drums and more than a whiff of cannabis) to the feedback-soaked power of "Archangel Thunderbird", on which the strident upper-octave singing anticipates Johnny Rotten's angry vulpine growl by more than half a decade.

Elsewhere the album is very much a product of its time: spaced-out one-chord guitar jams with pounding drums and thrashing cymbals, ghostly violins in Middle Eastern echo chambers, and the amps all cranked to maximum distortion. For lack of a better comparison (always the cheapest form of criticism, to be sure) think of a shotgun marriage between "Space Ritual" HAWKWIND and the more cosmic digressions of early PINK FLOYD, circa "Ummagumma".

It's worth noting that the original 1970 release was a double-LP, with the entire second disc (the last three tracks on the CD) improvised in the studio. But good luck trying to find any significant difference between the songs and the jams. There's a sometimes astonishing uniformity of style throughout the album, to a point where the composed portions sound no less spontaneous than the unrehearsed playing.

That sort of creative balance was of course not uncommon in the early '70s (especially in Germany). But its absence from too much of what passes for popular music these days is what makes a band like Amon Düül, and an album like "Yeti", even more valuable a generation later.

And, for all you aging, unreformed vinyl junkies, here's the final aesthetic icing on a still tasty cake: the 2006 Revisited Records CD re-issue has been packaged to make the compact disc resemble a little LP, grooves and all..!

In all honesty, I must say that I am shocked. Shocked that the majority of reviews for this album are not justified by a written review, and that the average rating of these ratings-without-reviews is over a full star higher than those of ratings with reviews (keep in mind that ratings-without-reviews are weighted less heavily than ratings backed by written reviews, which are, in turn, worth less than reviews by collaborators). Shocked that this album is given a cold reception on a site dedicated to progressive rock music. Shocked that I am just the second registered forum member (and first collaborator) to give this album the full five stars it deserves. This album is clearly a masterpiece of Krautrock, but it is truly much more as well. It is a masterpiece of all music. Very few works ever reach the heights of Yeti (in fact, I can only think of two: CAN - Tago Mago and Magma - Mekanik Destructiw Kommandoh).

Speaking of Tago Mago, this album automatically draws comparisons to that album. In my mind, Tago Mago and Yeti are the two defining Krautrock albums, but that's not where the similarities die. Both are double albums, with one album full of *accessible* material (but still quite difficult) and one full of experimental improvised madness (and, in both cases, the madness is found on disc two). Thankfully, however, the similarities end there. The music of the two are radically different. CAN is full of strange psychedelic jams with huge emphasis on drumming and Damo Suzuki's inimitable and indescribable vocals, while Amon Duul II take a more psychedelic hard folk rock approach to their music. Yes, the drumming is still a huge highlight (as is the case for much Krautrock), but we are also treated to delectable guitar riffs and passages you'd never find in CAN music.

Before I get into the album more deeply, let me present a brief history of Amon Duul II. They and Amon Duul I (a band I have not yet come to discover) were originally joined as one commune, called Amon Duul. This was a political, anarchist commune that protested German government, improvised music, and overdosed on psychedelic drugs. A pleasant combination, to be sure (and I'm only half-joking as I say that, given how the music of at least this one offshoot turned out). The commune split into two factions, one wanting to focus on the political side of things, one on the musical end (Amon Duul II being the musical faction). Legal battles over who would get to keep the original name and who would have to stick a "II" on the end of their name ensued, and Amon Duul II, the musical faction, came out on the losing end. At that point Amon Duul I engaged in a large jam session which produced four studio albums (only their album Paradieswarts Duul - widely regarded as their best - came out of a different session) and then focused on politics. Amon Duul II, meanwhile, endured multiple lineup changes and went on to produce such wonderful albums as Phallus Dei, Tanz Der Lemminge, Wolf City, and, of course, Yeti.

One thing we need to get past is that this album is experimental. There is nothing wrong with this, and indeed, it can be a huge bonus for the music, as noted by fellow prog reviewer Corbet, who said, in describing this album, "when Germans get experimental, the heavens rejoice." I can't speak for the heavens, but I can speak for myself, and to me, there is nothing better than experimental Germans. Far from being the "abominable album," as Easy Livin suggests in his (admittedly well-written) two star review, Yeti is an excellent example (and indeed, perhaps the best example, behind Tago Mago) of why I consider Krautrock my favorite style of progressive rock. I will grant Easy Livin the point, however, that this album is a monster. It is indeed a monster of an album, but only in the sense that it was innovative and groundbreaking and stood for so much and did so much new that only a monster of an album could possibly maintain itself with all that content. With Yeti, Amon Duul II capture a wide range of styles, all of them interesting (and all heavily tinted with psychedelia), ranging from the soft and mellow She Came Through the Chimney to the hard rocking Archangel Thunderbird, from the folksy Cerberus to the 34 minute improvisation extravaganza of Yeti/Yeti Talks to Yogi and Sandoz in the Rain.

Yeti opens with the mini-epic Soap Shop Rock, perhaps the greatest song they ever recorded. It is a fourteen-minute odyssey in four parts, ranging from accessible, almost straight rock to insane violin passages, complete with stoned vocals about burning sisters (presumably something to do with protest and anarchy, as was the case with most of their non-instrumental songs). Trippy guitar is ever-present on this track as it races between ominous, brooding sections and pounding rock, sometimes noodling (but only in a good away), sometimes completely focused, and always essential. This song essentially defines the entire idea of a "krautrock freakout" (in my mind the very best part of Krautrock), insane, crazy, strange, and ultimately appealing. There are traces of hard rock here, but all focus should be put on the song as a whole, and not the individual styles in encompasses (of which there are many), for it truly gels as a single piece of absolutely stunning music. This might be more than just my favorite Amon Duul II song (already quite an achievement); it might just be my favorite song of any band (and if it isn't, it certainly comes very, very close).

This song was the entire side one of disc one of the original album, and based on my description of it, you'd certainly be right to worry that they might have trouble following it. Thankfully, this potential disaster never comes to pass, as, starting with She Came in Through the Window, we are in for a wild ride the rest of the way. She Came in Through the Window is a soft and mellow instrumental that provides *some* relief, though is still crazy in its own way. It is probably the weakest song on the album, but it's still amazing, and this only speaks volumes about the quality of the remaining songs.

Of these remaining songs, excluding the sidelong improvisations, Archangel Thunderbird is among the best (along with Cerberus and Eye-Shaking King). It contains vocals about god-knows-what which greatly enhance the track, which is built around an amazing hard rock riff and some great drumming (and even a drum "riff"). This song is as close as the band will ever come to being "catchy" on this album, though even then, it's not at all catchy, for, while the music might grab you on some levels, the vocals are such an acquired taste that it would never make it mainstream (which I doubt they would have wanted in the first place). Also, keep in mind that anything I say about this song or any song on this album that sounds like a negative I mean as a plus, because there is nothing wrong with this album as I see it (hence the perfect masterpiece rating).

Cerberus is right on the level of Archangel Thunderbird. It revolves around psychedelic folk and serves as a hypnotic and infectious instrumental that anchors the album as a classic. You can sample the song on this site, and I strongly advise you do, for if you like it at all you will like this album. Also, keep in mind that while it sounds great out of context, it sounds unbelievably awesome in context. For its finish, it takes on a marvelous hard rock nature with great twin guitars that is one of the single greatest moments on this album (not surprising, considering that this is among the greatest songs on this album that is among the greatest albums).

The Return of Ruebezahl is a short track, fairly repetitive, that captures an excellent hard rock sound for the minute and a half or so it deigns to stick around, serving as the perfect transition between Cerberus and Eye-Shaking king. Like most of the songs on the album (the only exceptions being Soap Shop Rock, Archangel Thunderbird, Cerberus, and maybe, just maybe, Eye-Shaking King), it only works in context, but that's no sin.

Eye-Shaking King opens loudly, featuring great twin guitar work and Amon Duul II's traditional stoned vocals. Like Archangel Thunderbird and the latter part of Cerberus, as well as The Return of Ruebezahl and parts of Soap Shop Rock, this album shows Amon Duul II's penchant for a mix between hard rock and Krautrock, a combination they perfected with this album. Also, they show that they can use repetition well enough that it prevents the listener from drowning in a wave of "progginess" while still keeping things interesting enough to hold the prog listener's interest. This tendency loses the interest of the mainstream audience because of uncommerciality, and it loses the prog rock audience for the exact same reason. Because, even for prog, this is uncommercial stuff.

After Eye-Shaking King, we have only one more song before we reach the apex of the album, the inimitable Yeti/Yeti Talks to Yogi. This song, Pale Gallery, is apparently a shortened version of the song (perhaps it was extended live, I'm not sure), and, like The Return of Ruebezahl, is another "only in context" song, which, I will say again, is not bad at all (just look at Yes' Fragile album, where most of the songs only work in context).

And now it's time for Yeti. The album alone is one of Krautrock's - no, one of MUSIC's greatest achievements, but even that could not prepare me for disc two. Even though it's improvisation, it feels as if every moment was planned, that's how perfect it is. Another reviewer pointed out, and I will, too, that many musicians need to realize that improvisation isn't playing what you feel like playing, it's playing what will work with what your fellow musicians are playing. Many jam bands never quite realized this, and their music ended up, not surprisingly, as an unlistenable mess. Amon Duul II, on the other hand, perfectly grasped this concept, and it shows. When I first bought this album, I mostly listened to symphonic progressive rock and the big names of prog (Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Jethro Tull were my favorites), and while I was starting to enjoy Tago Mago, it was all I could do to get into this album. In fact, after my first listen to Soap Shop Rock, I stashed it away for quite some time, sure I would never make it through the improvisations. How blissfully wrong I was. As far as you can call it an epic, Yeti is among my favorites. I don't want to say too much about the song itself, because you really have to experience it to "get it." It can't be force fed to you with a spoon; you must open your mind and let it in.

The same goes for Yeti Talks to Yogi (essentially Yeti part 2) and Sandoz in the Rain (the only improvisation with vocals). I simply cannot force them upon you and hope you understand. I can only present them to you and leave you to choose whether to accept them or not. If you choose to accept them, you will be able to form your own opinion on them. If not, you will dislike them for the sake of disliking them. Some people might prefer gold removed from its natural environment, processed and reprocessed to get out all "impurities" (I refer to symphonic progressive rock), but with Krautrock, and with these thirty-four minutes of improvisation especially, we see gold in its natural form, we see it in context, and that, ultimately, makes it much more enjoyable for me.

There's not much more for me to say about this album, other than that I cannot recommend it highly enough. This is an album everyone ought to own, for it is a landmark of Krautrock. Perhaps it isn't the best way to get into Krautrock, but, in reality, with genres like Krautrock, Zeuhl, and RIO/Avant Prog, there really is no easy way in. You must choose to dive in without having had a chance to dabble your toes. At first, the genre will probably seem cold, but you will soon warm up to it, as I have done. Yeti may be approaching the deep end, but I will say that it was one of my first Krautrock experiences, and I haven't left the pool yet. It's a good life when there's a Yeti to keep you company.

Infectious kraut-improvisations forever!!! This album culminates Amon Duul II career with the unmistakable "Tanz der Lemminge". We find the ingredients that made the success of their previous effort "Phallus Dei" but the band injects an incredible sense of improvisation, with absolutely mind-blowing "mantric" ambiences. Almost all compositions are cosmic-kraut classics but the peak of "Yeti" is in the three long epic improvisations. The title track is a vertiginous, aggressive spacey, stoned act that is progressively growing in you. Guitars made a large part of work, the instrumentation is amazing despite that the sound and the technical skills of musicians are not at the same level of a band as Agitation Free or Embryo (also from german krautrock). Some nice floating-keyboards notes come after ten minutes of furious guitar improvisations. "Yeti talks to Yogi" takes back the same schema for propulsive, tripped out, wha wha, fuzzy guitar strings and some trancey like interludes. Distorted kraut-psychedelica, a better representative of the genre than the unfamiliar Can. Similar and sometimes more achieved musical experiences can be reach with albums from Agitation Free, Guru Guru, Gila (two first), Gaa...

I'm not sure about the cover but it looks like a guy in a dress with a sickle in his hands. Anyway it's the music that counts right ? This was released as a double album in 1970. The first album having more structured songs while the second one consisted of improvisations. Eroc from GROBSCHNITT remastered this recording. The second album is what blows me away and bumps this up to 5 stars.

"Soap Shop Rock" is almost 14 minutes long and is divided into four parts.There is a real 60's feel to the guitar sound on this track, even bringing Neil Young to mind.The vocals are dramatic at times. Some violin as male and female vocals join in.The male vocals get quite theatrical as violin comes back. The original melody returns to end the song. What a way to start the album ! "She Came Through the Chimney" is a laid back tune with percussion, guitar and violin.This is a 3 minute instrumental. "Archangels Thunderbird" has more 60's sounding guitar that supply some riffs. I really like the vocals in this one as well as the percussion and drums. Great tune ! "Cerberus" is a really cool song with tambourine, bongos and guitar leading the way.The sound gets heavier with some good bass. "The Return Of Ruebezahl" has an Eastern sound to it.This is the shortest song on the record." Eye-Shaking King" is a very psychedelic tune with crazy vocals. I love the guitar and bass in this one.The final song on the first album is called "Pale Gallery". It's a short,mind bending song that really prepares us for the improvs on the second album.

The first of the improvs is called "Yeti" and it's over 18 minutes long. There are outbursts of various sounds as some screaming guitar gains our attention, some good bass too. After 5 minutes it's like the sun comes out for a minute. They then jam for a long time, then some atmospheric guitar plays and the bass is upfront.This song blends into another improv called "Yeti Talks To Yogi". Now i'm thinking that this probably isn't Yogi Bear but with all the acid they did back then who really knows ? This is so trippy.The highlight of this one for me is the drumming that starts to build 2 minutes in. "Sandoz In the Rain" is the final improv and it's a more delicate song with flute, acoustic guitar, light drums and violin. The vocals repeat "The sun drops in her eye". I really like this one.There are two bonus songs on my version."Rattlesnakeplumcake" which has some incredible guitar melodies in it while "Between the Eyes" is a heavy tune with some crazy vocals.

If your into Krautrock this is a must ! Highly recommended.

Yeti talks to you ...

Since the 70s my preference was always on listening to the second LP with the improvisations. I never was enthusiastic about the other songs. They show their musical potential without a doubt. Rough and anarchic - some are controversial indeed. Eye-Shaking King for example is outstanding dissonant in parts, probably with malicious intent. The vocals are also very special. But not to forget: this is from 1970 representing an innovative and experimental phase. Archangels Thunderbird with a stringent structure and Cerberus with an unplugged beginning are very successful.

Centerpiece is the 24 minute jam session Yeti which was devided in 2 parts. A magical mystery tour from the beginning to the end. Absolutely fascinating and I'm quite sure this could only played in that way under well dosed drug influence. Psychedelic guitars, often very sentimental and melancholic, various bass playing, hypnotic repetitive but also detached as a solo instrument and a very interesting drum timing. By all means a unique Krautrock gem. Sandoz in the rain afterwards is for relaxing after the Yeti was around - a nice flower power piece with acoustic guitar, flute and percussion.

An important milestone in the development of Psych/Krautrock in any case. Recommended first of all because of the fantastic improvisation parts.

Although "Tanz der Lemminge" is largely considered as the best classic Amon Duul II album, I prefer "Yeti". It is also a double LP, but the musical journey produced on this album by this crazy bunch of hippie experimentators surpass even the toughest and the most daring listeners' expectations! It is almost one long, trippy, psychedelic acid rock improvisation streched across four sides of an LP set. Pumping and intoxicating rhythm section accompanied by the screaming solos of jangly guitars and occasional violin makes its peak here on "Yeti". Crumbs of VELVET UNDERGROUND "dirty" sound and of San Fransico acid scene are heard here and there but they are ever more expanded into a dangerous, unknown experimental territories, at least up to this point of time (remember, the year is 1970!). I am aware that listening of this album can be a painful and rather devastating experience for novices or the people who prefer melody, arrangement and nice production. But for those others, go ahead and try this potion - you may well experience rather different realities without chemical abuses. This is one of the most powerful and uncompromising records I ever listened and definitely among the top 10 Krautrock albums!

Amon Duul II is my favorite Krautrock band and this might be my favorite album by em, a double album thats yust perfect from start too finish. The opening mini epic Soap Shop Rock is no doubt one of the best krautrock songs ever, and the rest of the songs aint that bad ither, Archangels Thunderbird, The Return of Ruebezahl and Eye-Shaking King, all of em are build on amazing riffs that stick in your head for days or forever. The other short songs are small psychedleic deliciouses, Yeti and Yeti Talks to Yogi are probobly the 2 best Psycedleic space jams the band ever did and the ending Sandoz in the Rain is so beautiful yust amazing. This is one of the ultimate Krautrock albums and one of the best ones to start with for newbies that havent heard so many it got the archtypical krautrock sound and the whoel thing is simply stunginly good. 5 solid stars to this masterpice.

Amon Duul II's Yeti is a generally well-rounded, enjoyable record, but it's not mind blowing. There are a few good tracks such as 'Archangel's Thunderbird' and 'Cerberus', however, these compensate for the predominant remainder of the album, which is bland.

Here Micky comes to one of the most interesting groups in all of prog. The history of the group is well noted in the groups bio here so I invite you to read it if you are not familiar with them. ADII released what must honestly be considered if not THE prog trilogy of all time (Gong I guess may get that nod) then surely among the greatest of trilogies in prog none the less. The debates among prog fans are endless as to which of those 3 albums is best; Phallus Dei, Yeti, or Tanz der Lemminge. Most will agree the the last two are the most fully realized. With this review.. I cast my lot ...as I have in the forums... with the mighty Yeti.

'Tanz is like walking through a haunted house; Yeti is like being chased through one'

Read those words one time in regard to this album.. and man alive is it so true. ADII is a bit of an aberration from the typical Krautrock you may or may not know about. Much of the music from that movement was cold, dark, and depressing. ADII and Yeti is no exception. Where ADII differed was, at least for these 3 albums, was a different mode of Krautrock eschewing the minimalist principals that many Krautrockers latched onto. The sounds is a catatonias explosion of guitars and all kinds of instruments under the sun. A multi-layered, doom laden , sci-fi sound that was more futuristic than anything around at the time even more than Floyd. Though put into Krautrock here.. and correctly so. Fans of psychedelic prog and space rock will adore this album.. and those of the trilogy.

The album kicks off with a bang and the multi-sectioned 14 minute long suite: Soap Shop Rock. The first section Burning Sister is a riff laden explosion of bass and guitar with the trade mark SR cascading drums. The operatic Halluziantion Guillotine is a real mind [%*!#] haha. With the always terminally underused Renate *heart*. Gulp A Sonata has some sweet violin and crunching guitar in it and nice 2 part vocals in it. The aptly titled Flesh-Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm sounds like a soundtrack from a horror movie. The piece is brought to a conclusion by a reprise of the main riff from Burning Sister. A Fabulous if not exactly a coherent flowing piece of music.

After that sonic assault on the ears She Came Through the Chimney come next bring a more sedate guitar, violin and bongo drum driven piece of music that is a bit of respite from the opening track. Not exactly my favorite moment on the album.. but nice contrasting piece that leads into one of AD II's signature songs and one my personal favorites.. the driving Archangels Thunderbird with a driving guitar riff but featuring my favorite female prog vocalist of all the incomparable Renate Knaup-Krotenschwantz. Such a dynamic.. powerful.. expressive voice. God I love that song. Cerberus is up next beginning with a strong driving folkie acoustic picking with congos accompanying then explodes into an electric orgy with harsh guitars.. driving bass. Excellent stuff. The instrumental Return of Ruebezahl is next, a short piece that is basicly a multi-layered guitar riff carried on for a minute and a half. Eye-Shaking King follows and would have done any horror proud as a soundtrack hahah. Distorted voices.. shrill guitars. Creepy as hell. Top notch stuff full of dark atmosphere. Pale Gallery follows next a short track LONG again on creepy dark atmosphere. With Organ... disjointed guitars.. a plodding drum pattern. Feels like a trip into the cosmos without hope of a return ticket. Great stuff.

The rest of the original album is taken up of 3 improvisational pieces. For some this is where the album begins to tail off.. for others though.. this is the meat of the album. Full of the atmospherics that made up the first half of the album but as the nature of improvisational pieces.. lacking in structure.. or great melodies or largely the vocals which I always saw as a strong suit of the group. Great stuff if you love the dark gloom and doom of the atmosphere of the first half of the album. Yeti Talks to Yogi being the best of these in my opinion. The recent reissue has two bonus tracks and these are actually two of my favorites on here surprisingly. Rattlesnakeplumcake is a punchy number with a a great bass and Renate vocal section that just grabbed from the first listen. Between the Eyes is a track that would surface on Tanz der Lemminge under another title (Stumbling Over Melted Moonlight). This version here on Yeti smokes that with pure manic energy. Renate's Geddy Lee like shrieking is simply priceless and the monstrous guitar riff which leads into a extended atmospheric exit make for a definite headphone experience.

Ranking the album. Easy... a Krautrock.. a Space Rock.. and a Psychedelic Prog masterpiece. This album should be in your prog collection. 5 stars. For me.. preference. 5 stars. Next to Wolf City my favorite AD II album and has a fire, and passion that Tanz lacks.. but that is for a future Tanz der Lemminge review to elaborate upon.

Michael (aka Micky)

Whoah ! What an incredible album ! Probably the best krautrock album of all times, concurrenced by Can's Tago Mago. It was a double album before released on CD (now it's a simple disc CD). My favorite tracks ? Maybe the first, Soap Shop Rock, separated into 4 tracks (the last, Anti-Aircraft Flesh-Coloured Alarm, is the longest, and the best). I also love Cerberus, which is a very terrifying instrumental. Yeti is a 18-minutes improvisation, totally wonderful. Eye-Shaking King seems to be influenced by the Velvet Underground's Venus In Furs. In its globality, this Amon Düül 2 album has a Bergmanian atmosphere. It's quite indescriptible, but it's bergmanian. One of the albums I would kill for.

Wow! This is amazing! For those not familiar with Krautrock, this is a great place to start. This is probably Amon Duul 2's greatest album, and I truly believe that the ratings may be deceiving because this tends to be a starter album for those getting into the genre. For a cross-genre comparison, this album reminds me a lot of Saucerful of Secrets and Ummagumma-era Pink Floyd.

SOME CRACKS IN ONE OF THE PILLAR OF PROG!

In my time growing up in the seventies, AMON DUUL2 was considered one of the most important prog band and the face of German ''Krautrock''When it was my turn to be ''initiated'' to the wonders of AD2 and time to buy their first LP, YETI was recommended overwhelmingly as a first choice by the ''connoisseurs'' who knew better. Simply put, the feeling in those great times (was 1972) you ain't a prog guy not having YETI part of your collection. So you didn't want to look retarded and as a result, i purchased YETI, supposedly one of the pillar of the prog civilization. Rejecting Yeti and the reaper pictured on the cover would get you!

I did love this double LP to death, fitting perfectly with the hallucinogenic athmosphere of those beginning 70s. Oh yes we had good times with my friends blasting YETI in our smoked rooms.....that was a great trip guaranteed!! But that was then!!

Now some 35 years later and some ''maturity'' added or with a different outlook on life with music, my perspective towards this album has changed a bit, a little bit. This is still great music, still a fresh and adventurous sound no one else comes close to, but sometimes i find it hard to go through the whole 4 sides or, keeping up with the modern times, the whole CD.

YETI follows the steps started with PHALLUS DEI playing this psychedelic-jamming-stoned-ethnic- spacey-rocking (did i forget something)music sure to please every Kraut lover. The first disc is comprised of new songs as the second contains only ''improvised'' music.

My main problem comes with the sound of this album, be it 33rpm or CD. By sound, i mean 2 things: One is the production, seems all instruments are mixed together, there is no clarity, sounds muddy to me especially the rocking parts. Two is the aggressivity , the sonic assault as wrote the eminent Micky in his own great review ,coming to your face (to your ears i should say) non-stop giving you no time to catch a breath. I have especially the first disc in mind that starts very well with the multi- parts SOAP SHOP ROCK which show a new side from AMON DUUL 2, an AD2 that know how to rock with strong guitar licks, energetic vocals ( still not great coming from the men of the band, be it John Weinzierl or Chris Karrer). Thanks god, Renate Knaup definitely enhances the soundscape with her Grace Slick-like voice whether she sings lead or adds ''celestial'' backing vocals.

Don't get me wrong! there is great music to be heard here.. i love the instrumentals like SHE CAME THROUGH THE CHIMNEY, nice acoustic piece with only guitar, tablas and a nice violin soloing all over or the beautiful closing piece PALE GALLERY with its mysterious athmosphere!

ARCHANGELS THUNDERBIRD could be the anthem from the Kraut nation, great Knaup singing, but again this song is suffering from over-instrumentation mixed together. I am not really fond of CERBERUS which has more to do with the sound of the other AMON DUUL band (AD 1).. a congregation of hippies playing long acoustic improvisations going nowhere.

The worst comes with EYE-SHAKING KING (what a name) with its harsh distorded ugly vocals and frontal musical assault ....5 mns of suffering to my ears., especially during the freaked-out guitar solo!

What about the second disc? actually i like it better. Strange knowing i am not fond of long jams, especially when it is ''improvised''...but it works! However, i have some trouble to believe the 3 pieces included which are YETI, YETI TALKS TO YOGI and SANDOZ IN THE RAIN are fully ''improvised''. YETI for exemple sounds kind of structured to me , at least as much as the title track from PHALLUS DEI. The mood is close to ALPHA CENTAURI from Tangerine Dream that was released around the same time, maybe a little bit more aggressive with soaring guitars and those different kinds of percussion, not forgetting stoned vocals!

After this psychedelic mayhem, SANDOZ IN THE RAIN brings YETI to an end with its 9mns pastoral athmosphere lead only by an acoustic guitar, flute and bongos. I don't know who sings lead on this track but that's not bad, very trippy for sure. Still not sure it was an ''improvisation'' as mentioned on the album.....sounds ''organized'' to me!

So how to end up this review?? YETI is still a great album, but not the masterpiece we all thought it was back then in the day! You have great songs like the 14mns opener, brilliant instrumental interplays especially when Chris Karrer violin is involved. The sound is rich,but sometimes too rich and the music (and the vocals) becomes too aggressive..at least to my ears.

YETI was my favorite AMON DUUL 2 album for a very long time but now lags behind WOLF CITY, PHALLUS DEI or TANZ DER LEMMINGE. Maybe my tastes have changed.But that's only me! I like YETI but i come out completely exhausted at the end of it.Too harsh!

The cover artwork is fantastic, but has anyone noticed how the reaper on the cover looks like the esteemed Christian Vander!/lol!

3.5 STARS.........................still quite an experience!

Yeti has got to be amon duul 11s best album the first track soap shop rock is so addictive that i play it twice everytime and every song on the cd is brilliant i think the songs i like the best are soap shop rock,eye shaking king,yeti,yeti talks to yogi,songs i play twice everytime,this was the first amon duul 11 album i got and i,m so glad that it was the first i got as after i bought it i bought every amon duul 11 album,so i advise that if you want an amon duul 11 album make sure you get this first as its that good and it reminds me of pink floyds a saucerful of secrets song its just brilliant,you definatly cant go wrong buying this i know i will be listening to this when i get old[32 now] like when i,m 80 if i,m still around and hope this album will be to,go ahead you wont be disappointed an album everyone should have who likes 60s rock psychedelic krautrock and prog for that matter.i give it 5 stars.

Yeti, Amon Duul II, 1970 Now this is a very interesting one to try to break down. Amon Duul II's second effort is huge leap  forwards from the already pretty strong Phallus Dei, and, interestingly enough, it uses the double-LP format to allow the band to both expand their existing lengthy, bleak and atmospheric improvisations and to complement them with the sonic seltzer of a half dozen or so classy, energetic rock pieces. The resultant album has many, many high points, an astoundingly unique mood to it, and throughout displays both compositional and performing excellence and some very charming, despite the accents, vocalists. Where the problems creep in is maintaining the listener's interest for the whole length of the album and in trying to create a coherent work from so many improv-rooted pieces. That, for me, weakens the album's impact and keeps it, at least, a notch below Wolf City in terms of listening time. 'Objective'/importance says 5 stars, but my enjoyment only allows for 4.

The lengthy opening suite, Soap Shop Rock, transforms quickly from a slightly clumsy rocker to an intense, involving and surrealistic bit of psychedelia, with particularly memorable work from the rhythm section of Peter Leopold and Dave Anderson, as well as the multi-talented Chris Karrer. More unusual, perhaps are Renate Knaup-Groschweitz's high and distinctive backing vocals, taking over the role a keyboard or two normally would. From the raw rock of the opening Burning Sister to the psychedelic craze of Halluzination Guillotine to the light-hearted operatic vocals of Gulp A Sonata, this piece is excellent, but the real gem is the final 'movement', the astounding Flesh-Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm, opening with an absolutely jaw-dropping violin lick from Karrer and then developing with crazy going-off-all-over-the-place vocals and whistling mixing in with the unpredictable rhythm section and some astounding violin soloing and high-register organ. A quick repeat of the opening phrase rounds off the song, and, even though it's quite neat, you have to admit that the anti-climactic ending doesn't quite fit it. An astounding piece of music, in terms of conceptualisation, playing and ideas, and the mood is set quite nicely for the album... as micky remarks, not exactly coherent, and that does hurt it a little.

The following She Came In Through The Chimney is a much more calm and collected number, with a relatively consistent six-string guitar part being imaginatively expanded upon and improvised over, with some particularly superb Ratledge-like work from Falk Rogner on what I think is a lowry organ. The imagination of the bongo parts is very neat as a feature... you don't get all that many bands really treating them in the same way they would another instrument. Smooth stuff, not really a highlight for me, but a nice lead up. Edit: took another look at the reviews already up, and the consensus is that some of said Ratledgeism is a violin. They're probably right... though I'm still somewhat convinced the organ's on there.

The most straightforward rocker on the album follows this on pretty sharply, with a kicking main riff, killer drumming, lead vocals throughout most of it and some psychedelic organ and guitar soloing thrown into the breaks. Always nice to see a very eclectic band take on and easily conquer the basic rock song, and Renate Knaupf throwing her range all over the place as a lead vocalist is a real bonus, even if her backing parts are maybe what makes the album so atmospherically dense.

A bit of a storm-in-a-teacup next with the high-tempo folk-based number Cerberus, fully exploring the interplay between the two guitarists, with the bass (Dave Anderson) and the bongos (Shrat) effectively taking on the part of soloists for this one, before electric-feedback-land comes in and takes over the groundwork of the acoustics. A very unique and well-explored piece, with a bit more of an eastern European vibe... maybe the best prepared track on the album.

The Return of Reubezahl is an intense, concise, almost soundtrack-like preparatory piece for Eye-Shaking King, with its smoking blues/rock ending leading into the fiery maw of viciously distorted-vocals, distorted guitar, fuzzed-up-bass and thundering drumming, a heavy trip from that prelude through the wilderness of the mind. Exceptional.

The briefer, on my reissue, at least, Pale Gallery, is a bit less astounding, relying on a slightly insistent and mechanical drum pattern as well as some very interesting organ and violin work. Unfortunately, the sort of ghosts-flitting-around image doesn't really transform into something really solid and striking. Nice, but is it really adding anything?

The second original LP is made up of three distinct, individual and creative improvs, and I think it represents the album and creates a mood even more effectively than the first. You can see the band is confident enough to strip back its sound, and to try some new and effective things even in full improvised flow. Describing it fully is obviously a waste of time, but a general mood thing isn't out of order.

The title track, a dark, brooding, scenic number, in addition to the typically excellent and pacy work from the rhythm section, features all sorts of feedback, demonstrative twangs from the 12-strings, and violently clashing electrics, producing an overall dense forests-and-mountains mood accompanied by an impressively dense aggression and movement. Some wordless vocals, both male and female, fill out the abstract fog in this musical forest, while a more mournful conclusion harnesses all this restless energy to a more introspective and exotic end. All in all, Yeti is an extremely well thought-out and followed-through bit of improvisation, with a wonderful freedom of interpretation, as well as some distinctly avant-garde organ and violin work.

Yeti Talks To Yogi is a bit more light-hearted, starting out with a dense clump of instruments, which gradually collaborate (with some fantastic bongo-work from Shrat) to work out each others' space and produce a very dense, dark mood, from which the conversational wails of the violin or the feedback from the guitar pre-empt the very loose and touching herdlike vocals. Admittedly, the ending is a bit overly curt, but otherwise another amazing piece.

Sandoz In The Rain, with guest flautist 'Thomas' and a further guitarist/vocalist and bassist, features a much calmer and more capable mood, with some superb acoustic work, a full, probably improvised, lyrical section, pretty work between the violin and the flute, and for me, it conjures up memories of walking along steeper paths by rivers in Wales and the North, with a slight misty/rainy vibe to it. Again, evocative, touching, and excellent improvisation. Particularly lush is the amazing roll of the drums and thundering feel of the line, 'Sundrops in your eyes.' Simply put, the inclusion of the lyrics gives this the most pictorial and absolute feel of the three improvisations, but at the same time, the band adapt that to create a more free-flowing, abstract picture for your mind to fill in. Again, maybe trails off a bit too sharply, but that doesn't obscure the merit of the rest of it.

So, all in all, a collection of The Good Stuff. The second half is particularly good and has clarity in those improvs that Phallus Dei wasn't quite self-confident enough to achieve, as well as a really striking mood, and most of the first half isn't much weaker at all. Still, problems creep in from trying to unite and compile all this work into one album. Yes, it's not quite perfect, and yes, there are some tracks which are markedly less interesting than others, but just look at the release date... 1970: it really sounds nothing quite like anything else out there. Remarkable for its time, and it's a gem of the Kraut Rock and Psych Rock (and, you could say, 'Heavy Prog') genres... a must have for anyone, and a very secure four stars. Maybe worth listening to the two 'halves' separately if you find it a bit too much heavy going.

Rating: Four stars, 'Objective' five, 13/15 Favourite track: Sandoz in the Rain

My first full experience with Krautrock (I have heard various pieces, particularly from Can before) has left me hungry for more. This is a lengthy album full of music that sits just on the edge of my musical comfort zone, inviting me to trespass further outside it. Overall, this album is a blend of psychedelic rock and conservative experimentation; I expect that those who enjoy RIO / avant-garde progressive rock or space rock would be generally pleased with this work. Vocally, however, this album is a wreck. Call it experimental vocals- whatever it is, it sounds exaggerated and just plain awful. Fortunately, singing isn't what this record is about, and the music is incredibly intriguing and enjoyable. This is definitely something worth acquiring, especially for those looking for an entry point to help them to move beyond the classic bands.

"Soap Shop Rock: Burning Sister" What comes to mind here is the sound of psychedelic rock of that time period, like Pink Floyd's debut. It's full of crispy guitar and slightly unconventional chord progressions.

"Soap Shop Rock: Halluzination Guillotine" A flat, fuzzy bass is the main instrument of this more laidback section. The lead guitar stays respectfully reserved.

"Soap Shop Rock: Gulp A Sonata" This terse interlude is weirder, as it mainly consists of bizarre vocals.

"Soap Shop Rock: Flesh-Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm" The highlight of the four part piece, this has exquisite yet rough violin throughout. The male vocalist warbles along, sounding completely distinct from the rest of the music and just generally bad. The drumming is the strongest constituent, and I particularly enjoy the riff the band uses to end the song (incidentally, it sounds like the start of a new track).

"She Came through the Chimney" Exotic guitar and distant percussion make for a pleasant listening experience. The addition of the pipes adds a mystical, Middle Eastern air to the piece.

"Archangel Thunderbird" This is downright funky, and simply the coolest song on the album- I really dig that bass and guitar groove. It is interrupted by a brief organ part (an electric guitar part the second time around) before resuming. It is one of my favorites- at once very catchy and still "out there."

"Cerberus" The first Amon Düül II piece I ever heard, this is what piqued my interest in the band and served as the impetus for my purchasing this album. It mainly consists of complex acoustic guitar and drumming, which soon morphs into stranger electric fare.

"The Return of Ruebezahl" It's a shame this piece is so underdeveloped, because it truly is one of the strongest moments on the album, full of intricate guitar and bass.

"Eye-Shaking King" Upbeat and all over the place, this heavier piece has stimulating guitar and dramatic vocals that don't show up until toward the very end.

"Pale Gallery" Yet another brief interlude, this one is much more reserved, with subdued backing instrumentation and a some strange sonic experimentation on top of it.

"Yeti (Improvisation)" When I noted the track time in conjunction with the word "improvisation," I thought to myself, "Oh great- here comes "Moonchild," only it will be twice as long!" Admittedly, the beginning is quite a bit of wandering, but I, as someone who values premeditated composition over impromptu creating, could have easily been fooled into believing this piece was constructed over a number of sessions. True extemporaneous creation is a rare art form; it is distinct from "jamming," in which the different musicians take turns soloing over an established rhythm. Those involved must be musically intimate and comfortable enough with one another- they must know each participant's style well enough to somewhat accurately predict what a given player might do next. The bassist and drummer almost seem to be of one mind in this respect, repeating certain phrases and gradually changing the riff until it evolves into something completely different. Two lead guitarists work around and on top each other, such that neither steals the show or produces a cacophony of dissonance. What's more, there are even vocals snuck in, and they really fit. Also, there's a repeated riff toward the end that completely shifts the feel of the song into something more nostalgic, and like a real pro, the bassist adopts the suggestion and helps develop the piece. All in all, this is an amazing example of improvised music.

"Yeti Talks to Yogi (Improvisation)" This picks up from where the previous track left off. There's something of a percussion solo here, with insidiously arcane music loitering in the background. Soaring feminine vocals emerge from this.

"Sandoz in the Rain (Improvisation)" Another distinct favorite of mine, this final piece has a gorgeous acoustic guitar theme and a woodwind that transports me to the hazy desert (despite the title). The hand percussion is a lovely touch, and the descending bass riff about halfway through is just remarkable. I honestly don't believe this is improvisation (again, despite the title), because it's simply too well constructed and an all-around amazing piece. If I'm wrong, though, then Amon Düül II are the masters of the art of improvisation.

Two years ago I had a bit of a Krautrock fascination which resulted in me purchasing a few more albums than I should have had in retrospect. I began with Faust and Amon Düül II which then got me into Can and Ash Ra Tempel. I finished that circle by exploring Klaus Schulze's early recordings and eventually crossed over to the electronica genre from there.

I honestly have no clue why I chose Yeti as my introduction to the band considering that it's a rather lengthy record. Maybe it was the only widely available Amon Düül II album or that I became fascinated with the cover art? Either way this album gave a consistent look at this outfits early material so I guess that Yeti fulfilled its main purpose as an introduction record.

For me this album's highlights consist of the multi-sectioned Soap Shop Rock and all of the fine acoustic guitar compositions like She Came Through The Chimney and Cerberus. Unfortunately in order to truly enjoy this whole experience one also has to like the other side of Amon Düül II which consists of some really trippy material which builds around loose improvisation numbers. That second part really makes the album feel dated and in some cases unbearable for me.

This release is definitely a mixed bag to say the least, still if you liked everything that I mentioned above then Yeti is definitely a record worthy of your attention!

***** star songs: Soap Shop Rock (13:24)

**** star songs: She Came Through The Chimney (3:56) Cerberus (4:18) The Return Of Ruebezahl (1:35) Sandoz In The Rain (Improvisation) (8:55)

*** star songs: Archangels Thunderbird (3:30) Eye-Shaking King (6:37) Pale Gallery (2:11) Yeti (Improvisation) (18:00) Yeti Talks To Yogi (Improvisation) (6:06)

Yeti is an album that keeps surprising me. Despite having all ingredients to make me fall in love with it, it took me decades to fully capture its brilliance.

It starts excellently. Soap Shop Rock part 1 really sounds like a piece of dirty blues rock that you won't be able to tidy up even if you use an entire shop's worth of soap. Part two is ok as well and starts like it's taken from a Floyd live outtake from the same year. The track features some talking vocals and noisy guitar playing, also Chris Carrer's violin stand out. The vocals took me quite a while to appreciate, which can be blamed on an overdose of metal and sympho listening. Be warned, but be open as well.

A couple of short psychedelic tracks follow of which Archangels Thunderbird is the most remarkable. It has a very cool and groovy guitar riff that rocks the house. Also the vocals are surprising, sounding not entirely unlike a crazed version of Jefferson Airplane. The first half of Cerebrus features ethnic percussion and Indian influenced acoustic guitars, quite a typical feature in kraut rock (and psychedelic rock in general). Pale Gallery has a surprising sonic texture that was easily 10 years ahead of its time. I'd rather expect this on a post rock album from Tuxedo Moon or the likes then on something from 1970.

Then the alum takes a turn from the short composed pieces that preceded to improvisations Yeti Improvisation is a mind-blowing psychedelic jam with a short electronic start followed by a brief section with abstract guitar sounds that all post-rock bands have shamelessly nicked and made endless variations on. Well, you certainly can't blame Amon Düül II for a lack of creative and innovating ideas. Yeti Talks seems like a continuation of the same improvisation or an outtake from a similar jam. It has a great early Floydian vibe and while not as stellar as the Umma Gumma live tracks, it comes close. Sandoz in the Rain ends the album with another Indian flavoured ethnic track.

The 2 bonus tracks on the 2001 reissue are good for fans but don't add anything essential. Between the Eyes has a riff that reminds me of Gilmour's Narrow Way.

I've come a long way with this album, at first mild appreciation for its innovating stance, and now recently full appreciation, after submerging myself to the marvels of Kraut rock, of which this album is a sure masterpiece.

It's time for dinner! Today, some freshly picked mushrooms. Yum! Amon Duul II is a band that's part of the experimental German movement that began in the late 60's, making experimental and psychedelic music rather than popular schlagers. The sound that Amon Duul II created on Yeti is very psychedelic, perhaps comparable to that of early Pink Floyd, though it has a more eclectic feel with some eastern touches now and then.

The album makes its striking entry with the suite "Soap Shop Rock", which might very well be the absolute highlight of the album. The music here is very dynamic, moving from a heavy rocker to somewhat more spacey and back again. Also, notable are the vocals of Renate Knaup, who delivers some lovely operatic vocals here. Renate's vocals are just as outstanding on the track "Archangels Thunderbird", a guitar driven rocker on which her somewhat harsh vocals really shine. Apart from "Archangels Thunderbird" there are more shorter pieces to be found on the album, such as the folky "Cerberus"; the brief but fierce "The Return Of Ruebezahl"; and the intense "Eye-Shaking King", featuring distorted vocals and having an overall very dynamic feel. It's tough to say much negative about this pieces actually, despite that none of them quite reaches the utter brilliance of "Soap Shop Rock".

The second part of the album consists out of three improvisations. This is where the opening line of this review really makes sense. Tedious, aimless and dull, or perhaps atmospheric, interesting and soaring? I can't guarantee you which is the right option, as that all comes down to taste. Personally I enjoy all three of the improvisations, of which I probably find "Yeti Talks To Yogi" to be the most interesting. They are wonderful soundscapes, not all too dynamic but certainly not lacking any energy. Also, these improvisations convince me of the abilities of the band, as the band truly acts like one in these pieces, rather than a group of musicians living on their own islands.

Yeti is an excellent album, though it might take a while before it grows on you. I don't consider it to be a masterpiece, though it's only a very thin hair away from that title. So, in the end I'm going to give it four stars, though perhaps four and a half might suit it better. Yeti might appeal to those who enjoy experimental and psychedelic music, and aren't scared away by the length of the improvisational pieces.

Ah, the year 1970, when experimental music found its footing and Amon Duul II was at the forefront of the krautrock scene. Unlike Phallus Dei, which was almost completely extemporized, Yeti has one LP of near-complete improvisation and another LP of tightly-composed space rock. The second side is something of an attestation to their improvisation abilities, seeing that it's actually better than the first. And, in all honesty, the two LPs aren't very contrastive, which further proves that they're the kings of extemporaneous music. Take my advice, and add this record to your collection. It's their magnum opus, without a doubt.

Amon Düül II set the bar VERY high for themselves with their debut, Phallus Dei. After that wonderful masterpiece of an album, what exactly could they do to keep on top of things, I wondered. Then I discovered the answer...they could record a wonderful double album! After my first couple listens of this, I wasn't exactly sure what to think of some of the tracks, so I kept on listening and listening and listening and finally everything came around to be at least a very good track.

From the beginning I was a bit confused...the opener, though still a bit crazy, didn't remind me much of what I had heard on Phallus Dei. Time brought out the real beauty of the track, though, and it makes one thing perfectly clear; this band really knows how to rock out, play some calmer material, go a bit nuts, and generally play some excellent music. They continue to prove all of these things over and over again throughout the album, covering a variety of styles and moods along the way. Like some of the others here, Cerebus was one of my earliest Amon Düül II tracks, and actually one of my first forays into the strange and wonderful world of Krautrock. Needless to say...it's hooked me pretty strongly. I owe quite a lot to this song. It may not be overly representative of Krautrock (as if any one song, or even one album or even any one band could be), but it does give a nice peek into the wonderful world on the inside.

The album on a whole is full of wonderful stuff, as I said. Eye-Shaking King was the next track to really catch my attention after Cerebus, with its heaviness and slightly unusual guitar sounds. Some of the best material, though, comes in the improvised tracks. Unless you know they're improvs (and the track titles give a pretty good hint) it's hard to tell...as Rob said, these sound like well-rehearsed compositions a lot of the time. That, to me, shows that the band members were totally comfortable playing with each other, which is always a good thing.

Overall, this album is a very excellent addition to any prog collection. It's ALMOST excellent enough to warrant five stars, but as I enjoy Phallus Dei more and Tanz der Lemminge at least as much I don't want to get too hasty with handing the band so many Masterpiece ratings. This one gets a very strong four stars from me.

Yeti sees Amon Duul II developing the approach seen on Phallus Dei, focusing on tightening up their song structures and improving their skills when it comes to composition - though if you're into improvisation, the entire second disc consists of nothing but. It's good, but it's a bit of a transitional album; it doesn't quite have the free-flowing ecstasy of Phallus Dei, nor are the structured compositions quite as compelling as those on Tanz der Lemminge. The band are also still struggling to work out how to incorporate their vocals into the compositions, the delivery of which is probably the weakest part of the album. (And the grating, Dalek-like vocal effects in Eye-Shaking King are just obnoxious.)

My first rating in the site! An album that show perfectly the link between (ehem) psychodelia to put it lightly and experimentation, or say prog if you want. What its so great about this album? I mean the voices are no exactly bareable, and the production is poor, as the sound of guitars are so muddy....Well is IMO the kind of experimentation fuelled by some (ehem) aditives so beloved in that era...it makes the sound reaches unmaginable hights of feeling, music openess to new planes, blissfull dementia and progressive punkism ( !I dont give a damn what you are expecting to listen! ! I will do whatever i want!). The album opens with the monster track "Soap shop rock" a uncanny vindication of the revival of neo-paganism....the lyrics could talk about the earth destiny under western cristian pragmatic civilization or could be talking about a witch trial.....escenes of torture, and insinuated rape.....absolutely nut parts with mocking opera singing, violins riffs from the hiperborean ages... to much...in this case you really have to listen to it because is literaly indescriptible. "She come trough the chimney" opens with a reference to the lyrics of SSR, thats frighting because for me it means something like: they were judging the witch, but !she really was a witch , hear her coing through the chimney! and what a wicked song, above the mundane, theres a lot of details in this piece of music worth of atention, but i will focus on the otherwordly violin high pitched frases ...incredible. "Archangel thunderbird" a monster riff, great song full of SydBarret Floyds era details !Cool and catchy in a strange sense! "Cerberus" is eastern folk ritual music, the feeling (el duende) of the exotic acoustic guitars is innegable even if they make some technical mistakes for so to say, the tension and odd excitement generated in this song is really great, towards the end some gigantic electric guitar riff enters to make a blissfull pandemonium that wouldnt give peace till the end of the song. "the Return..." is as uncanny and monstrous ("Yeti", isnt what is all about?) as mystical. "Eye-Shaking king" is a stone-d age , primitive riff thats mixed with electronicaly treated voices (¿So are we in the future or in the past? Im afraid we would never be sure), then it turns to a all fuelled psychedelic jam in full flight, always getting more and more intense, without a moment to catch breath...What can i say? Great!!! ...but the end, when a normal voice enter, is not very much of my taste. "Pale Gallery" has a great name since this song is the musical definition of ghostly...a medium trance into the world of the deads. "Yeti (improvistaion)" is wierd as a trip to hell, the psychodelic jam slowly builds with what seems like musical ramblings and wanderings...near the third minute a wailing guitar sets the controls for the heart of the night, and the atmosphere gets more and more dense and tripy. around the sixth minute there is a climax a sudden break and we are in another psychedelic jam improvised over a monolithic base line, thats always wandering into the other side without any hope of returning back home. Around the twelve minute the music gets quiet and keeps on with the strange journey, not exactly structured but not without form, like intrigin strange signs left by the waves of the sea into the beach sand. "Yet talks to Yogi" a blissfull weirdo of a song (by now ¿what you are expecting?), a little brother of "Interstellar Overdrive". Expresive without the need of melodic coherence. Around the fifth minute the atmosphere is so dense that you cant cut it with a knife ( !Wait a minute! ! Thats exactly what you could never do with this kind of atmosphere!). "Sandoz in the Rain" is quite beatifull folkish pagan expresionism but no very expecial in comparision...!Is almost listenable! !What a dragg! A soft way of ending a frightening disc. What can i say? i just love it!!!! But for the sake of the coherence laking in this gem i would only give it four stars because is an excellent adittion to a prog collection but if its a masterpiece ( wich i dont doubt) is in an style of its own.

This album opens on a fantastic and wild psyche song. "Soap Shop Rock" is a wonderful combo for all psychedelic rock lovers. One of the godfathers of the genre is featured (Airplane) and this song is just a wonderful rendition of what was available during that period (even if AD II did not invent the style).

The great and psychedelic style that I love so much was quite some years old while this album was released. The psyche scene was born in the mid sixties and got its peak a couple of years later (68). Anyway, this album is a great testimony of that period and should worth your listening for sure. Krautrock being only a sub-genre as far as I am concerned.

After such a great opener, it is of course difficult to release songs of the same caliber.

The last section of this epic is just splendid. "Flesh-Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm'' features such a sustained and great violin part, an emotional vocal section, a wonderful beat and a superb instrumental part. This is a GORGEOUS song by all means. It will overshadow any other one from this album with no doubt.

At least the short studio tracks which follow. Even if most of these tracks are quite satisfactory in terms of hypnotism, sustained beat, great vocals ("Archangels Thunderbird") they can hardly compete with the giant opening number. The powerful instrumental "Cerberus" is a good example: strong and wild, that's a given. But it offers little more.

I far much prefer the superb (but alas too short) "Return of Ruebezahl". It is such a complex track which only lasts for just over ninety seconds! Such a track could have reached the ten minutes and up mark easily. It is so much better than its follower ("Eye-Shaking King"), although the closing part of this song is just memorable.

As I have outlined, the best is featured on this album but the even is also present. At the end of the day, the best parts are the improvised ones which start with the title track. I have to confess that it borrows a lot to the great ASOS of whom you might have heard. Still, this wonderful piece of music should please any ears found of the psyche scene. I am just found of it. It is the best of this offering (together with the opening song).

It is much way better than the lamentation closing track for sure ("Sandoz in the Rain"). In between, there is another ASOS like track available. Since I am quite in love with this "track", I can only be touched.

Four stars overall for this great album.

It would be insane of me stuck in 1970 to not review this monster, except that it does things to me. Messed up things. It's a total freak-out of a performance with some jammin' crazy guitar antics, weird vocals and a dense overall sound that somehow doesn't veer into cacophany. Barely at times. Man, maybe it does on occasion; I'm not sure.

I cannot deny the musicianship involved; there's some killer riffing thrown in here, with some cool basslines to try and make sense of it all. Still, there aint much I can do to give this thing any sort of reference. It's like a bad acid trip captured on vinyl. Psychedelic as hell, yet darker and bleaker than what you'd want out of a trippy experience.

How do I pick a favorite? Ok, I dig the bongos in "She Came In Through The Chimney". Man it gets weird though. What's goin' on? Trying to keep my head together. "Archangels Thunderbird" rips. Gotta love it. Those vocals are out there. It's hard to descibe right now; I'm feelin' a bit off, ya know? Was someone drinkin' coffee at the beginning of "Cerberus"? I don't need coffee right now, bad idea, but I'd dig some now anyways. This music is gettin' to me even more intensely now. Whoa.

"Eye-Shaking King" is a monster. Damn! Heavy as a monolith yet just as freaked out and trippy. What a lumbering BEAST. I'm in trouble. Them vocals, oh man what am I even writing about now? Prog Archives. Yeah, that's it. Keepin' my spelling check in check...not easy anymore. Gotta watch the language too. It's a cool song. Acid drenched guitar up the wazoo.

Them improvisations on the second disc. Pretty messed up, but they aint bad for sure, especially the first and longest entry into some warped dimension. What does that even mean? I shouldn't be writing a thing right now. I need to get out and explore the world ya' dig?

I don't know how I'm supposed to write a clinical review of this album. This always happens when I play it. 1970 album in a nutshell. Trippy like the late 60's but dark and foreboding enough to crush any thoughts of peace and love. Yikes! I gotta get it together.

Forget it. Listen for yourself. I'm a mess at this point. Earth is a long ways away.

The entire album is actually a deal you would expect in the late 60's, so if you are a kind of person who can't put his/her finger on the experimental psychedelia of the old, this album is for you. From where I'm standing, it is nothing but a collection of lengthy trippers and really good ditties. Most of the music here is guitar-driven. The guitar tone is really cool, so the chords ring loud and true. Also, the melodies of the guitar are simply "stoney", or "weedy", and there are lots of such melodies. What more could a rock-n'-roll lover possibly want? The experimentalist spirit of the group is present on the record, so that's other good news, unless you are not into timbre play. And, to top it all off, there is this awesome front cover featuring a scythe-man who is about to slash your head off and use it for golfing by a pink flag in the haze of fire. I really like that combo of red, yellow, and evening-blue. There you go. There is power in the music and there is power in the visual art.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

'Soap Shop Rock' - **** ('Halluzination Guillotine' is my personal favorite on this one)

'She Came Through the Chimney' - **** (at one point I gave this a five)

'Archangels Thunderbird' - **** (pick up your guitar and play that tune!)

'Cerberus' - **** (part-ethnic and organic, then crunchy and tight)

'The Return of Ruebezahl' - **** (my biggest favorite, perhaps)

'Eye-Shaking King' - *** (groovy and way ahead of its time)

'Pale Gallery' - **** (half-dead, almost dormant, yet somewhat dreadful, menacing, having that shimmering organ timbre)

'Yeti (Improvisation)' - * (why don't you make your own conclusion on this one)

'Yeti Talks to Yogi (Improvisation)' - * (why don't you make your own conclusion on this one)

'Sandoz in the Rain (Improvisation)' - * (why don't you make your own conclusion on this one)

Stamp: "I like it."

The second album from this band.

This German band is an exponent for long spaced out pieces of music from outer space. Or is that from the LSD labs ? Yeti is not exception from this rule. The first half of the album contains songs which is around the three minutes mark. The final part of the album contains songs which is a lot longer though. But even the shorter songs are pretty spaced out despite of some of them sounding pretty commercial to me. The title track is a long improvisation though and that is the main impression of this album. You know what you will get from an Amon Duul album.

The use of tabla and some oriental instruments are really good. The sound is pretty dirty, but still spot on for this music. That's what we call Krautrock, really. For those of you who wonder what is Krautrock, Yeti is the answer. This album, that is. Not the hairy creature from the Himalayas who eats and molest goats for dinner. A big difference, there.

The eighteen minutes long title track is an improvised piece of music and the best song here. Not everything on this album is great. But I am still sitting with the overall impression of having heard a truly great album.

4 stars

Satori

The now legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan once spoke about the parallels between a great big symphony orchestra in harmony and the elegance of a flock of birds swooping round the sky screen. Completely oblivious to the fact, Karajan successfully describes one of the key albums of the Krautrock movement - a record notorious for being indescripable.

When Yeti takes off to wherever - far away - completely over yonder, and then some, this be-winged flock of musicians use the power of improvisation. Now I know what you're thinking, but this is so far from your everyday psych jam, it's insane. Yeti is truly in a class of its own. While Karajan's symphony orchestra had him at the helm - holding onto those invisible strings tying all of the involved penguin suited players together to make a grand musical whole, you get the feel with Amon Düül ll that nobody's behind the steering wheel, or maybe all are at the same time?

It's satori, A musical meeting, where everything seems preconceived even if it's happening on a dime.....short moments of musical bliss that defy descriptions such as elaborate improvs and successful jamming. Satori seems about right to me.

Listening to this music is exactly like looking at flocks of birds - at least during the loosy goosy sections that are scattered throughout the playing time of Yeti. Hell even the more together tracks on here, like Archangels Thunderbird and Eye Shaking King, are full of experimentations and laissez faire instrumentation whilst still holding on to things like verses and bridges. These two tracks are additionally extremely heavy. The guitar riffs coming out of John Weinzierl sound like a psychedelic power saw running amok. He throws these things haphazardly around in the music, which in turn grows wonderfully immense like a buzzing swarm of locusts. I've said this time and again, you can use this album as paint-peeler. It will literally have your room unwrapping itself like organic Andy Warholy banana wall paper. The heaviness is actually all around - even on the breathtaking second LP, where the improvisations really come to the fore with Yeti, Yeti Talks To Yogi and Sandoz In The Rain.

Another marvellous attribute to this saucy thing is the rhythm section. The rampaging Peter Leopold on drums, who pulls brilliant and magical things out his sleeve, that you just can't copy. Impossible! He was never the most technical drummer, but I'll challenge any modern prog rock Neil Peart aficionado to replicate the grooves he manage to cook up on this thing. Opposite Leopold we are treated to the bobbing bass lines of Dave Anderson, who quite easily could be mistaken for a more fuzzy and labyrinthian version of Richard Sinclair. Anyway these guys work together like bees and honey - asphalt and tar.

Finishing up the broad and delirious tapestry of Amon Düül ll we find the thick underlying organs, the heiiyya heyyiaa Indian wails of Renate, and the equally baffling male vocal work that sounds like a large cat on anabolic steroids. Slapped onto parts of Yeti, these vocal stints feel like a giant Indian ghost jumping on top the music, like was it an actual tangible sonic sprinting mustang.

I love the way the album starts too. Opening up with Soap Shop Rock, the path is quickly paved with everything under the sun, and preferably a violin to boot. Chris Karrer does a magnificent job acting as janitor during most of Yeti - either picking up said violin or joining in with the guitar fun during the long wobbly stints of the improvisations. I kinda prefer him on the violin though, and Soap Shop Rock is surely testimony to that. Truth be told, I don't think I've ever heard the instrument being played like Career does. Slicing, jaggedy, droning, screeching - sounding remarkably close to the kind of folk music you'll find on the rings of Saturn.

I find this album mesmerising. It takes my breath away. Quite literally. It pumps out of the speakers like a deranged explosive expressionism - transforming back and forth through wild psychedelic sections and alluring sprinkling acoustic bits. Yet that doesn't quite relegate how Yeti sounds......and feels. Back then in Germany, there was a generation of musicians who tried to free themselves of the surrounding musical world - especially the western one, and then start from scratch - invent their own language. Carte blanche and all that.

Nothing exists in a vacuum though. As much as I'd like to say that Krautrock, and Yeti in particular, sprang out the foreheads of the musicians like some ancient Greek mythological birth, I can't deny the obvious links this music has to what happened in the US and Britain during the second part of the 60s. The heavy psychedelic tendencies along with a fondness for Indian and other such Eastern touches run straight through Amon Düül ll's DNA code. Yet what they did was to create their own take on it - move it around, stretch around - cram that baby right through the shoe! I'm inclined to say that Yeti does the 60s better than the 60s ever did. It's just far more out-there, weird and intense. I could spend days on end listening to this album while looking up at the skies - hoping for an ascending army of feathers.

This is a classic. It genuinely is. It sets the bar high. This is how far you can take music - how untethered it can get, whilst still being unbelievably tight and together and beautiful and soaring.................................................. If you haven't heard it yet, then make haste and run to the shops! Godspeed. The guy in the dress awaits holding a sickle... 732 stars

The first two tracks on here I could live without but once they are over this album takes me deep into a musical trance where i'm pretty much mesmerized throughout the remaining run of this double album from 1970. If the debut album was like gleeful little children hopped up on sugar and caffeine daring to be as mischievous and playful as possible displaying their newfound freedom in the larger world away from their Amish paradise then this album displays the opposite effect of a band who has taken on the overstimulation of the world at large and possibly dropped healthy doses of mescaline or LSD to sort it all out.

The music like the those drugs seems like it induces synesthesia which is a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to experiences in other cognitive pathways. The fact is that I have listened to this album many times always wondering why in the world do I like this? If you are in a resistant mood and are not allowing yourself to meld with the music it sounds repetitive and uninspiring with a total disregard for any sort of traditional songwriting structure. But then again I think that's the point and when I just surrender to the experience I find myself sucked into the hypnotic bass with some unique guitar sounds swirling around in repetitive loops with subtle variations that swallow up mammoth chunks of time.

This was my very first AMON DUUL II album so what a surprise when I discovered all their albums have a unique flavor all their own. This one holds a special place in my musical heart also being one of my first Krautrock albums as well. If this were trimmed down a bit this would be a masterpiece in my mind, but because I could never really appreciate the two opening tracks and the very last track (Sandoz In The Rain) could have been trimmed off as well i'm left with giving this a very strong 4 stars.

The politically-charged Amon Duul II enjoyed a relative success after the release of their debut album Phallus Dei. At the turn of the 70's, the band released their sophomore effort Yeti, which has grown to become one of audience's favorties and a classic krautrock record.

The sound of Yeti is strongly rooted in psychedelia. Remember it's 1970 and krautrock was not yet fully developed as a genre. However, it is not an ordinary psychedelic rock album. The band adds unique exotic spices to create Amon Duul II's signature musical extract. Congas and bongos, trippy wah-wah guitar, electric violin, electronic effects, distant, lengthy acid vamps - this is what makes Yeti such a unique experience. Musically, it bases on already established dry psychedelic rock with bluesy influences, however the band adds a unique piquancy in form of frequent atonality and dissonancy.

The musicianship is on the release excellent. Definitely not classically-trained, yet precise, accurate, and classy. John Weinzierl's guitar parts are really the nucleus of the band's sound. Peter Leopold's drumming is tight throughout and keeps up well with the group's dynamic sound. Falk Rogner is responsible for keyboard parts, which give Amon Duul II a very unique dreamy nature. Renate Knaup's voice has a very distinct timbre.

All in all, Yeti is a classic German masterpiece and a hint of what would grow to be Krautrock. This is highly recommended for fans of all three: Krautrock, Psychedelic Rock, and Progressive Rock. Wunderbar!

The Adorable Psych Monster

After the experimental "Phallus Dei", AMON DÜÜL II brings more structure to their compositions and offer one of the greatest krautrock record ever, the seminal double-album "Yeti". Heavier, more mature and accessible than its predecessor, but still preserving the same creativity and audaciousness regarding the mixture of western and eastern influences, this second opus is a genuine trip to unknown worlds, in space and time. Surprising, thundering, mystical, esoteric, psychedelic, unique, out of time are the few words that come to mind during this hallucinogenic listening multicolor experience. However, these mushrooms come from another dimension.

About the cover art, the man in a dress with a scythe is a sound engineer of the band, Wolfgang Krischke. A few months after he was photographed, he died due to a LSD overdose. The German krautrockers paid him tribute by putting his picture on the cover.

The first half consists in structured compositions. "Soap Shop Rock" is divided in four parts. The mystical hard rock "Burning Sister" section sounds quite unreal with its bizarre voices and heavy guitars, while the incantatory "Halluzination Guillotine" is slower. The tiny opera-like "Gulp A Sonata" introduces the depressive "Flesh-Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm" part, which displays a slight gothic ambiance. Truly unique, this suite is simply one of AMON DÜÜL II's best compositions! The mood changes when arrives the calm "She Came Through The Chimney" and its ethnic percussions and middle-eastern textures. Then comes the powerful and mystical unidentified massive rock object "Archangel Thunderbird". The most remarkable point concerning this track is the contrast created by the over-heavy guitars duo and Renate Knaup's demented crystalline voice. Mindblowing! This song will become a concert favorite. On the opposite, "Cerberus" is a tribal folk of unknown origin, finishing in a crazy distorted rage. Where am I now? Seeking ancient temples, in some middle-eastern desert, my soundtrack is the cool heavy instrumental "The Return Of Rübezahl"... Except that Rübezahl is a Germanic mythological being from giant mountains, but it does not matter anymore. But then... when am I? The hard psychedelic "Eye Shaking King" seems like a strange oriental ritual with... robotic voices, whereas the mysterious"Pale Gallery" displays a threatening atmosphere happening at an undefined period, as if the past and the future were mixed together.

The second half is less varied, but still also very good, as it features one of the best psychedelic improvisations ever recorded. "Yeti" can be described as a long jam in a style similar to PINK FLOYD's "A Saucerful of Secrets" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", but still the AMON DÜÜL II way. It alternates rocking and softer passages. "Yeti Talks To Yogi" extends the trip with a more mystical ambiance. The spacey ethnic folk "Sandoz In The Rain" finishes these 70 minutes of unreal musical madness in the calm.

"Yeti" is one of the most fascinating krautrock album in existence! A treasure of creativity, weird arrangements, unexpected marriages and audacious tripiness. Unique, out of time, the music are a perfect balance between craziness and accessibility, creativity and melody, heavy and calm moments. The listener is never bored and always surprised by the various influences displayed on this disc. Needless to talk about the band's personality here, as not many bands manages to merge such opposite genres with this talent.

Like the Yeti, the creature remains mysterious, of an unknown origin. AMON DÜÜL II's best album, an unequalled masterpiece of the genre, highly recommended! Fans of krautrock, psychedelic, space rock or PINK FLOYD, listen to this record, otherwise the abominable snow monster himself will come at your house and eat you!

We will see the Krautrock light through heavy-guitar-riff-based German psychedelia blended with shabby voices ... a large number of musical (especially of rock) essence can be heard, and this kaleidoscopic sound environment would have got to be one of the starting lines in the Krautrock scene we suggest.

The first heavily swift bullet "Soap Shop Rock Suite", that must grab your soul out, can be called as a masterpiece not only all around their discography but in the whole Krautrock scene. The very beginning of the first movement "Burning Sister" has catchy immersing impressive (but eccentric) phrases created by heavy guitar riffs and strict, deep rhythm section tools. Their repetitive guitar synchronicity could remind the audience of sorta heavy space rock but luckily freak-out shabby voices give us something like mysterious relief. Their energy upon playing is too powerful and too bombastic for us to ignore ... the audience should get immersed apparently.

The following stage "Halluzination Guillotine" sounds like a heavy stone or a bulky bull on the contrary. Deep solid rhythm basis and every space of time are quite hallucinogenic. "Gulp A Sonata" is a short phrase but we can directly touch pretty massive experimental elements diluted with each other. The last "Flesh-Coloured Anti-Aircraft Alarm" is another real Krautrock world launched by a chopping guitar ... at last the refrain sounds a tad twisted and I guess they all would have had comfortable fatigue after finishing 'a big work'. It's quite amazing this suite consists of various material of progressive rock, and "Yeti" can be told completely with this fact.

By the way, every other track features colourful messages respectively. "Archangels Thunderbird" is another hard psychedelic rock keen to absorb hard rock freaks definitely. Powerful female voices are impressive, in the same vein of Rush's Geddy. Ethnic soundscape injection can be heard via "The Return Of Ruebezahl" or "Pale Gallery", the former has black magic religious flame, and the latter enthusiastic tribalism ... this texture is fit for German psychedelia indeed. Contrary to such a rock-ish rock, "Cerberus" reminds me of "Coffee Rumba", filled with South-American atmospheric acoustic guitar whispering. Improvised "Yeti - Yeti Talks To Yogi" combination can be mentioned as an innovative underground psychedelic jam session, kinda comfort, dreamy dream.

Their miscellaneous approaches exert magnificent influence upon younger Krautrock combos (e.g. a Japanese funny funky Krautrock project Omoide Hatoba). In this sense, this album can be called as one of authentic collections in the Krautrock scene. A superb gem really.

Born out of the ashes of an artistic and political community called Amon Duul, who undertook some free improvisation sessions in the late '60s, Amon Duul II hit the German scene in 1969 with their debut release 'Phallus Dei'. This stunning debut is often heralded as the high point of their long and varied musical career but this follow up certainly scales the dizzy heights of that seminal release and even manages to surpass it in some respects. I hesitate to use the term 'Krautrock' to describe this record as it was used as a somewhat derogatory term to describe a host of experimental bands that were spawned in Germany around that time so let's just describe this as progressive psychedelic rock.

The approach on here is similar to their debut both in its delivery and musical character but the ideas are rather more distilled. While 'Phallus Dei' relied on building atmosphere and groove in a rather sedate manner, most notably on the extended title track, Amon Duul II opted here for shorter song formats and more panache in their song-writing. Even the multi-part suite 'Soap Shop Rock' is merely a loosely connected set of distinct songs with musical bridges linking the whole. But this seemingly patchwork approach doesn't actually detract from the flow and integrity of the music. There are such a plethora of bold ideas thrown onto this album, yet with such attention to maintaining the darkly unsettling vibe, that it never fails to titillate. One moment you will be swaying along to buzzing psychedelic riffs and languid leads, then a few bars of unhinged madness will devolve into a glorious mess of shrieking atonality before a caterwaul of screeching violins carry you on a mystical Eastern tinged magic carpet ride. And that's just the first 10 minutes or so of this psychedelic masterpiece.

'Archangel Thunderbird' is possibly the coolest song title of all time and it lives up to its promise. Renate Knaup's vocals soar above the irresistible freak-beat style riffs, flappy bass lines and scraggy rhythms. The ponderous 'Eye Shaking King' introduces itself with a grinding Zeppelin-esque groove before evolving into a head-swaying morass of swirling psychedelic Daleks, jarring keyboards and bluesy guitar licks. But this album isn't only about fuzzy riffs and strident rhythms. 'Cerberus' is a meandering instrumental piece full of undulating lines, South Asian style percussion and grunting angular licks and 'Sandoz In The Rain' is a lysergic trip full of hypnotic cadences, haunting violin and lavish flute.

There is a 'loose jam' feel across the whole record, even during the more succinct pieces, but on the title track (explicitly referred to as an improvisation) Amon Duul II really let go and space out in style. The ideas are spread rather thinner over this 18 minute jam than elsewhere on the record but it is eminently suitable as a musical inspiration to chill out and spliff-up, as is the shorter improv 'Yeti Talks To Yogi'. However, it is within the tighter compositions that the true magic of 'Yeti' lies and finds Amon Duul II at the peak of their prismatic powers. This record is a truly mesmerizing experience from start to finish and, along with 'Phallus Dei', an essential listen for anyone remotely interested in psychedelic music.

I first heard this when I was in high school, when I first learned about "Krautrock." Amon Duul II was maybe the most alluring of the Krautrock bands I heard about, from their mysterious, sequalised name, to their communist lifestyle, to their colourful album covers and imagery. They immediately become enshrined in my mind as one of the craziest bands I'd ever heard of.

When I got around to actually listening to them, I wasn't disappointed at all. I think at the time I first listened to 'Phallus Dei' and then 'Yeti.' Yet, this album fell short of the high expectations I'd gotten through browsing reviews in books and online music sites. 'Phallus Dei' felt like the stronger release to me then, and 'Yeti' took up in my memory as being somewhat overhyped.

Revisiting this album now, about 15 years later - I think I listened to 'Yeti' in intervening years, though it didn't really leave an impact - I'm hearing it fresh, and I think it's probably stronger than I gave it credit for. The last half of the album is admittedly bogged by aimless jamming, but I guess that's part of what makes AD II the band they are. Long on duration, rich in imagery and aesthetic, only a bit shorter on content.

The front half of the album comes running right out the gate. I won't review each individual track, but will only comment on the overall sound of the band and the album here.

The guitar is very distinctive, crunchy, playing many quick chords - I think I hear two guitars, and Wikipedia confirms there are two guitarists. The bass often plays quick, arcing lines. And the drums almost constantly play a skittering, driving beat. There is a violin in many of the songs, giving the band a slightly more rustic sound. The production helps it all gel in an appealing way. Compositionally, one of my favourite things about AD II, which they do a lot, is to sink into long, jammy sections, feeling very free and loose and organic. Then they break suddenly into more composed, melodic sections, always with those distinctive guitars leading the way. This quick contrast of sections is aurally intriguing and pleasing. And from track to track there is enough variation to keep it interesting. The final half of the album, while not bad, doesn't have the same tight transitions that were, to me, the most enjoyable aspect of the album. All in all, I'll be listening again. Very good album.

After the pure mediocrity of their first album, this is more or less a refreshment. A lot of the music on this album sounds a lot like Hawkwind, except the vocals are far worse. There is no singing on this album, only tribal sounding chanting, which is honestly distracting from the instrumentals, which are really good. "Archangels Thunderbird" s a real banger, "The return Of Ruebezahl" has a very arabic sound, "Cerberus" sounds like old folk music, and "she came In Through The Chimney" has a nice soft sound, with the flute setting up a very docile calm mood. All in all, the vocals were pretty bad, so i cant give this 5 stars, so ill give it 4. Still, a really great album