TANZ DER LEMMINGE [AKA: DANCE OF THE LEMMINGS]

To a certain extent, Amon Düül II have woken up from the psychedelic daze of their first two albums here. They put more focus on vocals, story-telling and song writing, and while the music is still weird and unusual, the entrancing jammy vibe of the preceding albums is lost.

What we get instead is an album that, if you're hungry for a reference, isn't far removed from Zappa or Captain Beefheart. But it lacks the skill and bite of those grandmaster of anarchistic crank-rock. There are occasional flashes of inspiration but generally it sounds too sought after and deliberately artsy. Also the album's mix doesn't help, the drums are mixed so much to the background that you can hardly hear them. As a result, the songs sound disjointed and flat. A real turn-off for me.

There are only few tracks later on in the album that manage to move me. The short but intense Riding On A Cloud does the trick, as do the hypnotizing closing tracks. The highlight of the album would be the long noise experimentation of The Marilyn Monroe Memorial Church, abstract music, with a free organic flow and that typical 'cosmic' spooky ambience. It blows anything that preceded out of the park and makes the album relevant all by itself. Strong enough to grant 3 stars instead of 2 to the album as a whole.

Tanz Der Lemminge isn't the easiest Amon Düül II album to get into and I'm a bit surprised it's seen as the best albums by the fanbase. There are some great pieces here but I find it too uneven, concept-oriented and indulgent. Especially the songwiritng and production of the first half hour doesn't deliver.