DAS HOHELIED SALOMOS

If I did not award the previous album another halfstar, I do with this one: 4.5 stars!!!

With this album (and the previous) Popol Vuh reached their apex , their peak. Very similar to Seiligpreisung and Einsjager, this is still a slight progression on the refinement of this type of near-acoustic prog (well there is plenty of electric guitars but not power chords or seering feedback-ladden solos). The is the most accomplished album yet in their typical contemplative and meditative laid-back (and very instrumental -Yun's vocals are often used as an instrument) "rock" the whole thing underlined by Indian percussions. Actually , one track is very much Indian music augmented by two guests.

This album is warmly recommended as an introduction to anyone looking to investigate Popol Vuh.

4.5 stars

Released in 1975, after the excellent "Einsjäger & Siebenjäger", this album belongs to the second era of the band. The most progrock, thanks to the rhythmic section and guitar's presence.

Compositions are short and dense, some moments are energetic but most pieces are in a meditative vein. The opener "Steh Auf, Zieh Mich Dir Nach" , is wonderful. It starts with a solemn introduction, and then the piece slowly builds up with piano and female back vocals and eventually explodes with an aerial and lyrical guitar flight supported by a powerful rhythm.

On this album, Popol vuh reaches a perfect balance and manage to do a perfect synthesis of the progrock sound, the eastern influences (sitar and tabla) and the spiritual inspiration; by creating out-of-this world and highly spiritual atmospheres, thanks to the use of sitar, spacey and expressive guitar playing, also using sometimes repetitive guitar/drums patterns creating a hypnotic mood. The background vocals by Djong Yun contributes to this ethereal, celestial feeling typical of the band at its best.

Here is a band I can never get enough of.... Popol Vuh's early years are some of the most important and influential albums of the 70's electronica. "Das Hohelied Salamos" is a masterpiece from start to finish and is one of the most played albums from Popol Vuh in my collection. This album is the ultimate veg out Sunday morning spin ! Nothing too raunchy or loud here with pretty well a steady ebb and flow of soundscapes. The album also features some great guitar work reminiscent of Pink Floyd put to a moreharmonic new age vibe. Instumentation includes the sitar, various synths , table , sound effects ... wow what else could you ask for ?

An other charming floating, pastoral rocking "trip" from Popol Vuh. Far more accessible than their beginning in abstract, tribal electronics. This album delivers some beautiful compositions in the genre ever developed in "Hosianna Mantra", including epic semi- improvised guitar solos and enchanting, almost sacred female chants. The opening "Steh auf, zieh mich dir nach" can sum up the typical electrical, ecstatic sound of the band at their most progressive moments, A spacious, pastoral rocking composition, featuring very inspired floating guitars. "Du schönste der Weiber" follows the same schema but stresses the nostalgic, introspective dimension with long, linear voice parts and repetitive acoustic / electric guitar parts (with ravishing spacey mini guitar solos). "In den Nächten auf den Gassen I" is really closed to sacred, religious music with massive, deeply meditative voices. With "Du Sohn Davids I" we return to a more dreamy rocking trip, always dominated by guitars and accompanied by the piano. Beautiful and highly recommended.

What a tragedy.

This is the most remarkably beautiful album but it is partially wrecked by rampant, unchecked, and unnecessary cymbal crashes throughout. I cannot comprehend why they thought it best to drown such beautiful music in this manner on half of the album. Seriously, it stuns me. In certain places it literally sounds like they gave the sticks to a 2-year old and told him to go ahead and smash the drum cymbals like crazy while the grown-ups are making pretty music. I'm not against percussion. Far from it, I love great drumming on rock albums and even on music like this percussion could have worked if employed differently. The sections without these cymbal-smashfests are pure heaven: delightful meditative piano, tablas, sitar, gorgeous electric guitar leads, and the dreamy, angelic vocals of Djong Yun. Truly wonderful stuff throughout aside from this. But I simply cannot tune in to the beautiful sounds and lose myself as one should with music like this when those high-end distracting crashes are so prominent in the mix. I can't believe no one else has mentioned this in their reviews, it seems like such an obvious problem to my ears. Great cover art that comes alive on the high quality Japanese minis of 2006, along with a nice booklet with photos, bio, and tributes to Florian. Certainly a great album even if I believe it seriously flawed for the reason above. I'm deducting a full star for what I see as an unforgivable flaw and rating it 3 stars. If you don't think you'd be bothered by this then add another full star for sure.

As usual with POPOL VUH we get a lot of pleasant and beautiful music delivered with a lot of care from Florian Fricke. Florian plays piano throughout, while Daniel Fichelscher provides the percussion and guitar. What makes this especially beautiful are Djon Yun's vocals. Also some guest tablas and sitar are added to the mix.

The album opens dramatically with heavy drums as those lovely female vocals come in. They come and go throughout. A great sound after 2 minutes. Tasteful guitar 4 minutes to the end. "Du Schonste Der Weiber" features some excellent guitar and vocals. Some tempo shifts as well. Guitar takes the lead after 3 minutes. "In Den Nachten Auf Den Gasson" has vocals and a more serious mood. "Du Sohn Davids I" opens with vocals, guitar and piano that build in the intro.

"In Den Nachton Auf Den Gasson II" is an instrumental that is more urgent sounding, not as laid back as the rest of the album. "Der Winter Ist Vorbei" features vocals, percusion and sitar, with guitar coming later. "Ja,Deine Liebe Ist Suber Als Wein" has some gorgeous guitar in it as vocals join in. "Du Sohn David II" takes a while to get going with sitar playing sparingly. Vocals after 1 1/2 minutes as guitar and drums join in. "Du Tranke Mich Mit Deinen Kussen" is a great track to end it. The guitar is pretty amazing and what a finish to the song !

Beautirful meditative music from the master. One of their best.

Some parts in music character at which Florian Fricke aimed. Especially, music that drew the flow of the search for some unknown areas and the directionality at which the band had aimed might have been expressed if it thought about an essential part.

The creativity of Florian Fricke that had both a superior capability might have been expressed in the field of classics as opening the creation since time when Popol Vuh debuted before the activity as Popol Vuh. The change in the music character and getting rid of from an electronic element in "Hosianna Mantra" meant the flow and establishment that expanded the width of the band enough from the debut in the activity in the especially 70's.

Methodology of expression of music mainly composed of acoustic as band. Element of various music added to it. And, it is necessary to have developed an original methodology by doing the part of ethnical and the construction of the sound. Getting rid of the electronic element selected as a flow of the music character was a method of the expression by uniting an exactly mental part for the band and a mysterious part. The album that concretely showed it will have been "Hosianna Mantra".

A consistent flow doing might have been development natural as development from an electronic part emphasized the culture of the Orient and the West and the music characters by them while assuming an acoustic part to be a subject. And, it is impressive of the admiration that flows incessantly as a theme added to opening a mental element that continues from "Hosianna Mantra". Or, it suggests a variety of and the theme of the Bible is introduced including the mystery. Those parts might be being succeeded also by this album. A mystery part including the impression of the Old Testament is expressed as for this album. However, it might be also true to conceive some senses of relief compared with a past work. As for this album that gives the extension of the width of the sound and the expression to the construction of a consistent flow, a kind of light is included. Especially, the song of Djong Yun that listens in this album might have a certain kind of sense of relief. Flow to which psychedelic and mysterious element are taken while following construction of done consistent music character. And, the solemnity and the sense of relief cohabit. These are satisfactorily demonstrated with this album.

"Steh Auf,Zieh Mich Dir Nach" is a melody with the part of a complete solemnity. Melody that is reminiscent of music of the Orient where the atmosphere is continued. Part of rhythm and guitar that repeats four rhythms and five rhythms. Part of decoration with metallic cymbals. The song of Djong Yun might be a symbol of Popol Vuh at this time. Transparent feeling of guitar that appears after it shifts to rhythm of shuffle. The guitar of Daniel Fichelscher consistently constructs a good flow.

"Schonste Der Weiber" continues atmosphere with the arpeggio and the expression of feelings of a beautiful guitar. Beautiful chorus in close relation to consistent expression of feelings. Part of obbligati of guitar. These continue flowing. And, bright light by the transposition of Chord emphasizes the part of admiration further.

"In Den Nachten Auf Den Gassen" is a chorus and progress of perfect piano Chord. A piano melody is decided to the flow with a mysterious composition.

"Du Sohn Davids 1" is a flow of the guitar in close relation to the chorus of quiet admiration. And, a piano melody that continues atmosphere. The performance creates one space exactly in union.

As for "In Den Nachten Auf Den Gassen 2", the element of a few psychedelic and Blues might be included in the melody with expression of feelings. The overall atmosphere of this album continues. It succeeds in the content of the impression of the solemnity Chord is transposed in the tune.

"Der Winter Ist Vorbei" is a flow that is reminiscent of the music of India by guest's musician by the part of the sitar and Tabla. Sense of relief caused by chorus and guitar in close relation to the flow. Expression of sense of relief that adds element of various music to done consistent theme exactly. And, it is overwhelmingly a song of beautiful Djong Yun. The tune expresses complete ensemble and the mystery.

The progress of Chord that there is a transparent feeling in the sound of a beautiful guitar of 12 bowstrings pulls "Ja,Deine Liebe Ist Suber Ais Wein". Effective sense of relief caused by cymbals. How to take song that doesn't obstruct tune. The composition that puts the melody with expression of feelings on the flow of a few Folk and expresses it might be splendid.

In "Du Sohn Davids 2", the melody of a quiet flow and the sitar is features. Solemn and mystery part that flows consistently. Chorus of admiration. The element of a few Folk and psychedelic is taken and it turns up the volume gradually. The chorus tells the theme of this album.

The construction of a beautiful piano melody and the guitar progresses to "Tranke Mich Mit Deinen Kussen" attended with the element of psychedelic and Blues. The whole continues atmosphere as the part of Rock with power twining a little.

Part of mental on which they worked exactly. Flow that mystery part is emphasized. And, the construction of a certain kind of sense of relief and the theme might be especially expressed by this album.

The 6th Popol Vuh album and again it is a very solid, be it a little predictable, release. The band doesn't stray much from the pattern of previous albums, and unperturbed by the outside world, they continue to go their own way, with a sound that is at the same time acoustic, ethnic, symphonic, pastoral and almost sacral.

The interplay of piano and clean electric guitar arpeggios remains intriguing and amazing. The sparse vocals, again by Djong Yun, fit Popol Vuh's music like a glove. Her angelic female voice produces the intended feeling of divine delight and blissful religious worship. There are a couple of dramatic highlights such as the opener, Deine Liebe, Du Tränke Mich mit deinen Küssen and a few others, but there are also a lot of shorter tracks that leave an unfinished impression, fading out before they fully develop to the aspired state of heavenly bliss. Considering the total length of the album is below 34 minutes, I feel just a tad disappointed, despite the sublime music.

The good part is that this is the kind of album is where the whole is better than the sum of its parts, and even some pieces are a bit shortish, together they make for a smooth and coherent whole. Strong, but not extraordinary. 3.5+ stars

I have to agree with Finnforest here - what might have been a top-notch Popol Vuh album is horribly botched here thanks to Daniel Fichelscher's cymbal-laden percussion. Not only are the drums (and the cymbals in particular) entirely too loud in the mix, too often overwhelming the rest of the music, but the style of the drumming (and some of the guitar work) is completely wrong for the material at hand - it's like Popol Vuh ended up colliding head-on with a third-rate blues-country bar band and this is the result. A crying shame, because usually Florian Fricke plus Djong Yun is a guaranteed recipe for greatness, but in this case the bizarre AOR influence brought to the table does more harm than good.

Popol vuh returns to biblical themes by drawing inspiration from the Song of Songs. These ancient love poems were at some point combined to the myths of King Solomon, and thus this Hebrew tradition heritage also as a part of the Old Testament. Musically Florian's and Daniel's piano & guitar driven core is supported again by Djong Yun's voice, and is also strengthened by Indian sitar-tabla duo, creating wonderful world music fusion tapestries for this adorable song from Middle-Eastern legacy. Though these texts can be interpreted from different religious and political viewpoints, I believe Florian approached them as ultimate dedications for human loving. The blossoming album covers introduce well the theme of earthly paradise for man and woman, relating with its visual appearance to the Garden of Eden of Genesis, and also containing both allegorical and concrete sceneries of vineyards and nature's fertile richness.

On the first side "O fairest of women" standing forth for being observed, is revealed with powerful mystical sonic displays, leading to a romantic hymn of weaving guitars trough the more vividly twisting amplified opening track. The vocal presence is also now stronger than on the earlier record "Einsjäger & Siebenjäger". Oriental sound textures merge wonderfully to the guitar and percussive driven sounds, allowing glimpses to similarly holy and sensual visions. Both album sides culminate to an impressionistic still life of King Solomon, centralizing as the kind king reining the kingdom for supreme praises of feminine adorations. The first evocation of the Son of Salomon is encircled by some sort of visions of moonlit alleys. I believe these parts describe the dreams of poem's maiden searching her lover from the nocturnal streets. On the first dream she finds him, the wedding progressions leading to first encounter of the son of David, and the second dream denies her lover's discovery, leaving her alone with the city guards. The first vision of Solomon flows with most sacred solemnity, reaching ultimate heights of sanctity trough weeps of guitar and divine singing, the night visions around him being first quite fearful, second run escaping to joys of on drum supported rock melody explorations, thus possibly studying the tale from reverse chronology.

On the second side of the album the winter has passed after the night's dream sequences, the rains being over and gone. Indian tabla and sitar dialogue is introduced here to the music, exploding as really euphoric all-loving tonal art expression. The blossoms of poetic genius bloom on the descriptions of lively vineyards, representing the fair woman appreciated; "How much sweeter is your love than wine", these lyrics hovering on the wings of truth towards the infinity. The second apparition of King Solomon might be seen as governor of these vineyards and lands, the holy grandiose theme studied now both trough the licks of the sitar and full presence of the orchestra repertoire, embodying as a powerful mythic oriental colossus, protecting the gardens of love with firm soul of kindness. Instead of governing vineyards and the lands, the mortal male character of the poem is satisfied the vineyard being the woman of his love; "You drink me with your kiss", closing the record with the ecstatic determination of rolling forward on the path of life, blessed with gift of love's bounds.

I consider this clearly thematic album as musically masterful accomplishment, culminating the spontaneous musical ideas to more concrete end result than on the few earlier recordings. It can certainly be rejoiced as earthly or spiritual sensation, still in my opinion honoring the ancient traditional concept aiming to the kind loving aspects of mankind, refreshingly instead the usual mad violent dreams of megalomania. Also the minor discontinuity of spontaneous musical realizations through fade-ins and outs flow here more smoothly than on the earlier record, maybe due more powerfully dominating presence of loving adoration on the sonic aims, the general calmness of the whole album, and by support of clearer record theme. I would recommend especially this album along with "Hosianna Mantra" from Popol Vuh's wonderful album repertoire for those in need of healing freely flowing progressive rock music.