AGUIRRE

I bought myself a vinyl copy of this album reissued by "Think Progressive" in 1997. The adorable album covers do not relate with the film, and also the music is outside from the monumental "Aguirre" theme heard on Werner Herzog's interesting but slightly unbalanced film debut with Mr. Kinski. I understood from some interviews that the device creating massive wall of choir is not Mellotron, but some similar device without the looping time restraints of the legendary tape rolling machine. Though this melody associates powerfully with the film, it is also enjoyable as a separate listening experience. A more confusing detail is the fact that the other tracks with different name than "Aguirre" do not relate at all with the movie. There are even some sequences missing at least from the version I bought, for example the dreamy guitar chords from the scenes of gazing to the swirls of the rapids, and discovering the small mammal which sleeps trough it's whole life. From the other songs, "Vergegenwärtigung" filling the B-side of the LP is most wonderful, building up from three motives for acoustic mantras, flowing with the similar joyful pace as the mid 1970's masterworks of the group. "Morgengruss" and "Agnus Dei" are reprisals of the famous themes, found from Florian's earlier albums, molding the musical obsessions further on the path of creativity.