PHALLUS DEI

Deep in the German underground Amon Duül II was formed out of a hippy commune. They were highly original and experimenting with new territory like eastern influenced psychedelia, proto-punk, opera vocals, bizarre vocals, and spacejamming. At first Amon Duül II was a improvising jamband. Early critics hailed them as being as important for the German scene as Pink Floyd was for England and the Velvet Underground was for the US. Only Amon Duül was somewhat better...

Amon Duül finally got the chance in 1969 to release their debut record after they got two days for studio recording. And this Phallus Dei certainly belongs to the most important underground albums. It belonged to the first examples of experimental rock in Germany together with Can's Monster Movie and introduced totally new aspects within rock. The music is related to avant-garde artists like Captain Beefheart, because of their strange vocal experimentation, artistic freedom and proto-punk combined with strong psychedelic influences.

The musicians played with guitars, keys, drums, bass and very important: violins. The somewhat out of pitch violins are very important for the unique sound Amon Duül has on their debut. The organ sound is much like in Pink Floyd's Saucerfull of Secret track. The first side contains four shorter songs wich end with "Henriette Krätenschwanz", which is a marsrhythm lead elegant and majestic operatrack. The second side contains a long jam, which starts with psychedelic/horrifying spacejamming turning into avant proto punk psychedelia.

I must admit that the first side is the better one and rightly deserves the masterpiece rating. The second side is interesting, but somewhat less good after the spacejamming has turned into avant proto punk psychedelia. The second side is still recommended for spacerock lovers. While this record is somewhat plaqued by a not optimal production I still find this one essential.

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