Popol Ace anyone?

Hi from Norway!

 The best norwegian band of the seventies, in my opinion, was Popol Vuh (not to be confused with the German band of the same name), which changed their name to Popol Ace after two albums. This was a GREAT band, with lots of vocal harmonies, intricate arrangements, and multi-layered synths/mellotron/rhodes etc.

I was surprised to see they're not included here on progarchives (although I'm a newbie, I've listened to prog for eight years now ) ....anyone got an opinion abouth them?  They put out four fantastic albums from 1972-1978 ("Popol Vuh", "Quiche Maya" , "Stolen from Time"  and  "Curly Sounds").....could be compared to a mix of Genesis, Gentle Giant and Black Sabbath

... Thanks for the reply Biekin! Popol Ace is a bit difficult to find, but if you like seventies-style progrock with zappa-like arrangements and good vocal (Jahn Teigen), I recommend them strongly!

 what other music are you into by the way?

Actually I heard the two Popol Vuh albums but never anything as Popol Ace. But Asbjornssen says that out of those 3 Ace albums only the first one is good , the second just OK!. Are they prog after the name change?

 I mean , they were prog before but not a full-blown outfit, just rock with good prog tonalities!

I could make a case for them , but if they get accepted , I would need the infos, and artworks!

olafr wrote: ...that's true Mategra! StrangelyTeigen didn't accept the offer from Genesis, but instead chose to develop his solo career, which is mostly awful stuff (sadly). However, they got together in 2003 for a concert at Rockefeller in Oslo with the Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, which is quite good actually!   ...this concert was put out on double DVD together with old archive stuff, mostly which is very good! Recommended!!  : ) to Sean: could send you a short biography and some album info if you're interested?  The last album they made, "Curly Sounds" from 1978, is more readio-oriented, and they disbanded shortly afterwards.. but the first three albums are very good I think

Can Do !!!

I'll PM you my personal e-mail address!!

I'll need mostly the full discography , the group composition and the album sleeves in Jpeg. No rush , though , the Archives are here to stay!

 

 Thank you Sean! I'll see what I can do!   Just started studying again, but in a couple of weeks I guess you'll have something in your mailbox!

 

Yeah, I think they should probably be added. I certainly don’t hear any Black Sabbath, but the Genesis parallel is pretty spot-on. The first Popol Ace album (self-titled) is actually just a compilation drawn on the two Popol Vuh albums.

I have Stolen From Time and it really is quite good. A bit prog-pop, somewhere between Kestrel and Kayak to my ears, but good. Jahn Teigen’s voice can be something of an acquired taste, he kinda goes over the top at times, but I must say I’ve heard worse in my day. Pete Knutsen’s keyboard work is exemplary, he plays a little bit of everything (Hammond, grand piano, harpsichord, Moog, string-synth and Mellotron!) on album-opener “Bury Me Dead”. I think the only real throwaway on the album is the commercial hard-rock tune “Mr. Bigalow”. Other than that it’s a fine album.

Supposedly, Curly Sounds isn’t worth bothering with. There’s apparently a Popol Ace box set out now, collecting all the Vuh/Ace output with extra tracks and a bonus DVD.