YETI

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.