Popol Vuh

This period of Popol Vuh contained one classic album after another, and Einsjäger & Siebenjäger ("ones Soldier & seven soldiers") is no exception. Here we are pared down to the core of Popol Vuh, the musicians that would constitute the heart of the group for years; Florian Fricke, Daniel Fichelscher (who now plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar and percussion) and the return of Djong Yun on vocals. Olaf Kubler, another member from Amon Düül II, guests on flute.

Fichelscher would have an enormous influence on the sound of Popol Vuh, especially now that that Conny Veit was gone, and Fricke seemed more than happy to let his musicians influence the music, whose visions seemed only to enhance his own. Here again we're treated to some of the best music ever to emerge from the "rock" genre, and there must have been a lot of overdubbing going on, as the drums, electric and acoustic guitars are often exhibited simultaneously, winding in and around each other in a magnificent way. Fricke's piano is much less to the fore here as in previous works, only emerging periodically to guide the way.

Side one contains five shorter superb instrumental tracks. The only negative one could really come up with in the work of Daniel Fichelscher is perhaps his over-reliance of cymbal crashes as part of his drumming style. While this can occasionally wear, it also fits in with a style of music that ebbs and flows and continually goes for higher and yet still more dramatic highs. Nowhere is this demonstrated more than on the sidelong nineteen-plus minute track on side two, "Einsjäger & Siebenjäger." We are again joined by the occasional soaring vocals of Djong Yun, and this is the one track in Popol Vuh's entire career that comes closest to the realms of progressive rock in terms of structure. By the time it's over, one is left exhausted, yet exalted - another indispensable work from another near-perfect album.