@Jon, both the Spalax and SPV versions of Letzte Tage Letzte Nacht are equally and atrociously muddy. Maybe the original tapes were that way? I still have the Spalax for Herz Aus Glas and it's good to know that I didn't need to bother with the "upgrade."
― doug watson, Monday, 3 October 2011 23:14 (twelve years ago) link
I re-read that 1981 article last night when I couldn't sleep, and this stuck out in particular because I am on a Herzog kick.
Both Werner Herzog and Florian Fricke have a vision that is almost religious in its intensity but lately a divergence has appeared in their ways of seeing.Florian has no time for blissed-out hippy-trippy muzak and feels that it’s not enough to show a phoney happiness all the time, and yet despite the awesome powers at play in the light and shade of Popol Vuh he does not see himself as being at one with his friend.Herzog revels in conflict: When he was refused permision to unleash thousands of rats on the town of Delft for a scene in ‘Nosferatu’, he met the truck bringing the rats back with a tractor on which he perched himself, forcing the truck to go in the opposite direction.“Too much the darkness”, says Florian.
― the MMMM cult (La Lechera), Monday, 14 November 2011 14:20 (twelve years ago) link
too much the darkness indeed!
was working on my vuh/cortez the killer cover w/ my two year old this morning. think we've got the keyboard sound down! at the rate i'm going this project will be completed sometime in 2015.
― tylerw, Monday, 14 November 2011 23:26 (twelve years ago) link
it has been three monthswhere is our cortez the killer?!
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 17 February 2012 19:42 (twelve years ago) link
at the rate i'm going this project will be completed sometime in 2015 2018.
― tylerw, Friday, 17 February 2012 19:49 (twelve years ago) link
;_;
i hope the song is three years long
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 17 February 2012 19:54 (twelve years ago) link
at least that long. until thenhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYjBtHVOyFE
― tylerw, Friday, 17 February 2012 20:06 (twelve years ago) link
i guess that'll do.
just out of curiosity to anyone who would bother to click on this thread:
assuming you already went through the active devouring phase, how frequently do you listen to popol vuh right now?
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 17 February 2012 20:46 (twelve years ago) link
me? 1-3x per week probably, a lot for any one band by my standards. this has been going on for years. that's why i asked.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Friday, 17 February 2012 20:48 (twelve years ago) link
i end up listening to them whenever this thread is bumped. right now!
― tylerw, Friday, 17 February 2012 21:36 (twelve years ago) link
weekly and often multiple times during the week. ususally makes my evening commute bearable
― sknybrg, Friday, 17 February 2012 21:42 (twelve years ago) link
I only listen to them once every few months. If I had more than two of their lps I would probably listen to them more.
― Trip Maker, Friday, 17 February 2012 21:51 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, once every few months for me too. Always on vinyl. Faves are the first three, Affenstunde, In den Gärten Pharaos and Hosianna Mantra. I will always keep coming back to them.
― HO WBEAUTIFUL IS THE GENTLYFALLINGBLOOD? (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 17 February 2012 22:22 (twelve years ago) link
you are people who know how it's done.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Saturday, 18 February 2012 00:41 (twelve years ago) link
1-3x per week here, usually first album of the morning
― demolition with discretion (m coleman), Saturday, 18 February 2012 10:58 (twelve years ago) link
I just got a giant Amazon credit and bought their Herzog soundtracks box set, on the strength of watching Nosferatu a while back and then hearing one amazing track on a Projekt Records compilation that came from an album I was unable to even find a picture of after searching for like ten years. Next week should be fun!
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 18 February 2012 17:07 (twelve years ago) link
I really need a copy of Einsjager Sebenjager or whatever its called.My favorite stuff is the Fichelscher era.
― Trip Maker, Saturday, 18 February 2012 17:32 (twelve years ago) link
Letzte Tage - Letzte Nachte was my second PV album and I think it's still my favorite. Honestly though I don't think there's even one I have that I don't like.
Also best coverhttp://www.jpc.de/image/w600/front/0/8011614912926.jpg
Can't wait until the weather gets nicer and I can resume my weekly bike trips to the plant conservatory to walk around/look at plants/listen to spaced out PV jams. It really never gets old!
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Saturday, 18 February 2012 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
I have about 10 of the records, and actually I listen to the early electronic stuff as much as I listen to the prime mid-'70s stuff. I really like Heart of Glass soundtrack--Popul Vuh were ultimate acoustic-space-liturgical sprawl, better at it than just about anyone. The Floyd, Mike Oldfield, I dunno. The vibe is never as...wily...as Eno can be even in the ambient stuff. More nature-mystic, perhaps? I've seen some comps of their work around; has there ever been a dedicated U.S.-aimed comp of their work?
― Edd Hurt, Saturday, 18 February 2012 18:36 (twelve years ago) link
I really like Heart of Glass soundtrack--Popul Vuh were ultimate acoustic-space-liturgical sprawl, better at it than just about anyone. totally! heart of glass was my first PV album. i think? pretty sure it was, then letzte tage, then future sound experience, and at that point i was sold for life. i could really blather on and on but there would be no point.
― Laura Lucy Lynn (La Lechera), Saturday, 18 February 2012 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
there's this weird one, but it's not really a "greatest hits" or anythinghttp://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=4921http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/popol-vuh.jpgit's pretty nice though, esp. the long piano thing.
― tylerw, Saturday, 18 February 2012 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
there was a 2cd "revisited and remixed" cd last year
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Revisited-Remixed-1970-99-Popol-Vuh/dp/B004UBB3QU/
1. Aguirre I Lacrima Di Rei2. Affenstunde3. In Den Garten Pharaos4. Ich Mache Einen Spiegel5. Nachts - Schnee6. Eine Andere Welt7. In Your Eyes8. Train Through Time9. Nascita10. Bruder Des Schattens11. Through Pain To Heaven12. Kailash: Last Village
plus a disk of remixes by people like Mika Vainio, Mouse On Mars, Stereolab...
― koogs, Saturday, 18 February 2012 22:56 (twelve years ago) link
(also on amazon.com)
I listen all the time! This is a great thread, it's what pushed me to really dig into the catalog.
Letzte Tage - Letzte Nachte is the one for me, followed by Sei Still, Wisse Ich Bin (the production!!!!) although they're all really great in different ways. They also all kind of blend together in the best way possible for me, like they only actually have one song that is 10 albums long or something!
― liam fennell, Sunday, 19 February 2012 02:49 (twelve years ago) link
there's always 1:19 for thishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL8E3Q5iZsY
― two overweight dachshunds with three eyes (La Lechera), Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:25 (twelve years ago) link
I think about that sequence every time I listen to PV. I love that little tune... it turns up in several places in the discography. (also that's my favorite Herzog film).
I like the mastering of the old Spalax version of Letzte Tage more than the 21st century remastered one available now. I hope I come across a used copy of the Spalax LT, LN someday.
― bit.ly sno cone maker (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:40 (twelve years ago) link
I just checked and I have the Spalax version. There's one that sounds different than this one?
― two overweight dachshunds with three eyes (La Lechera), Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:43 (twelve years ago) link
My LT, LN is a vinyl reissue on "Think Progressive." It is a little muddy sounding? But I love it.
― Trip Maker, Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:43 (twelve years ago) link
i'm always kinda wondering whether my popol vuh stuff sounds muddy n murky because that's just the way it was recorded or whether it's been transferred in a less than optimal way. but it doesn't really matter in the end.
― tylerw, Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
It's def among my favorite Herzog films too btw. The Bruno years were really really really good.
Mine sounds clear, but it's a CD -- I wish someone would reissue all of this stuff and give it the treatment and also outtakes etc.
― two overweight dachshunds with three eyes (La Lechera), Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
(on vinyl i mean -- years of looking have yielded me zilch in terms of pv lps aside from the ONE aguirre soundtrack i found that was 40 euros, ie too much) maybe this is naive, i dunno. but honestly i would take cutting room floor scraps of PV for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and spend my hard-earned dollars to do so.
― two overweight dachshunds with three eyes (La Lechera), Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:51 (twelve years ago) link
The one which is in print in a couple of different incarnations is from the label run by Fricke's son, that's the remaster that has been available for a decade or so. It sounds like it was decently mastered from vinyl. The Spalax sounds like it was mastered from the tapes.
There were one or two others in the remastered line which were mastered from vinyl IIRC. Heart of Glass mebbe? I have the Spalax for that one so I'm not sure.
― bit.ly sno cone maker (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
music from 'woodcarver steiner'
http://www.box.com/shared/f612eh1qsr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDLGcd9Az9w
― am0n, Thursday, 26 April 2012 16:58 (twelve years ago) link
Awesome!
― Trip Maker, Thursday, 26 April 2012 17:03 (twelve years ago) link
cool! the whole movie is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liYnvIBLMBQ
― tylerw, Thursday, 26 April 2012 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
I've been listening to the soundtracks boxset very much over the past couple of weeks, and I think Aguirre is the key.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Thursday, 26 April 2012 17:12 (twelve years ago) link
hey thanks am0n!
― two overweight dachshunds with three eyes (La Lechera), Thursday, 26 April 2012 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
also, I killed like three hours at work today reading about ski jumping after watching that.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 27 April 2012 03:12 (twelve years ago) link
hell yeah! thanks am0n
― Paul, Friday, 27 April 2012 03:28 (twelve years ago) link
amazing how well the music fits to the ski jumping picures in slow motion. thanks, am0n, great stuff.
― alex in mainhattan, Saturday, 28 April 2012 18:05 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.popolvuh.nl/files/baubravo72_1.jpg
... photo from this site which all Vuhheads should visit
― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 May 2012 10:31 (twelve years ago) link
Holger Trülzsch, as well as being a mean bongo player, seems to have been a photographer who did a lot of work with Veruschka, the jaw-dropping 60s model, who of course donned a false beard to appear as Jesus in Florian Fricke's "Sei Still wisse ich bin"... Munich, incestuous little scene or what?
― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 May 2012 10:35 (twelve years ago) link
... also I noticed the other day that Florian's wife (soon to be wife?), Bettina, was a production assistant on Herzog's "Even Dwarfs Started Small"
― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 10 May 2012 10:37 (twelve years ago) link
This is going to be the summer of Popol Vuh.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Thursday, 10 May 2012 13:23 (twelve years ago) link
I approve of this ^^^ message!
― former personal denim advisor to the mayor, (La Lechera), Thursday, 10 May 2012 13:25 (twelve years ago) link
One Vuh-y Summerhttp://www.hollywoodteenmovies.com/Cusack&Demi.jpg
― tylerw, Thursday, 10 May 2012 21:53 (twelve years ago) link
I just heard "In Den Garten Pharoahs" (however its spelled), and, whoa. "Vuh" sounds like the music is coming at you from a mile away, just this organ *WRRREEEEEEEEEEAKKK*. Is this album good?
― frogbs, Thursday, 10 May 2012 21:55 (twelve years ago) link
It is... for some reason I almost never reach for it though? It's like the path PV were not destined to take
― Hierophantiasis (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 10 May 2012 22:07 (twelve years ago) link
YES it is so good. I find it colder than some of the other stuff but still enjoy it frequently.
― former personal denim advisor to the mayor, (La Lechera), Thursday, 10 May 2012 22:09 (twelve years ago) link
I'm just having trouble figuring it out now. You know how some albums are completely forgettable when you hear them quietly, but earth-shattering when you hear them loud?
― frogbs, Thursday, 10 May 2012 22:11 (twelve years ago) link