s/d popol vuh

i've had "letzte tage - letzte nächte" and "das hohelied salomos" on repeat for the last few weeks. they sound amazing in the autumn evening.

Dadaismus' reviews upthread are all-time

A couple of weeks ago I listened to all the albums 1971-1977 and then had to listen to them again, and then again ... I think Einsjäger und Siebenjäger is my favorite right now

― Brad C., Friday, September 30, 2011 12:42 PM (nine years ago)bookmarkflaglink

what dadaismus did up top is inspiring. this band deserves that quality of attention

― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, September 30, 2011 1:25 PM (nine years ago)bookmarkflaglink

Yes, those reviews are GREAT and I refer to them a lot!

BTW Dadaismus = Tom D.

― master musicians of jamiroquai (NickB), Friday, September 30, 2011 1:54 PM (nine years ago)

this was helpful for me, maybe it will be helpful for someone ese

this was also helpful for me!

Herz aus Glas (1977)
Throughout this period in Popol Vuh's evolution, Florian Fricke's piano playing recedes further and further into the mix until, with this album, it disappears altogether! Although he's credited as playing piano on this album, I cannot make out a single note of piano - and as the album is all-instrumental this effectively makes this a Daniel Fichelscher solo album. The compositions are still recognisably Fricke's though (one Fichelscher piece aside), the soloing guitars of the last few albums are placed further back WITHIN each track, which makes this album considerable less easy to date precisely. Also worth noting that hardly any of the music on this album actually appears in the Herzog film it’s nominally the soundtrack to – in fact, most of the music on the film is from “Letzte Tage, letzte Nächte”. 9/10

lol, the one popol vuh LP i own barely features his own playing!

listening to the first track of city raga on a whim after wondering what 90s popol vuh sounds like and... it's good!

returned to this thread to thank Tom D for his famous guide above, which I probably think about even more than I actually listen to Popol Vuh! (trying to remedy that on long drives)
but I see others have -recently too- had the same urge so I'm happy to be a part of that wave - thank you Tom D!

I had a dream last night that I was in a radio station, and in their dumpster were a number of 60s easy listening albums, Percy Faith etc. There was an album on Ranwood Records (Lawrence Welk's label) of the "hits" of Popol Vuh done easy listening style, and now I want one.

https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/324550623374_/The-Exotic-Guitars-Holly-Holy-LP-Vinyl-Record.jpg

can't find much info, but looks like there is now an essential collection volume 2 out there (or at least on its way!)

That showed up today! Mostly these look like vinyl versions of the SPV releases. The only real surprise is "Earth View" from Kailash showing up at the end of Cœur de verre as a bonus track (looks like there's a new CD that does the same thing). Guido Hieronymus is credited as the sound supervisor for Cobra Verde, though that might just mean the bonus track. Haven't listened yet.

anyone grab one of those new vinyl boxsets?

Can't remember if Jon posts here any more? But he just wrote up a great looking guide for Shfl

https://theshfl.com/guide/popol-vuh

thanks for sharing!

whenever I see the cover art for In den Gärten Pharaos it blows my mind that it's from 1971. the design of it feels like 25-30 years ahead of its time

yeah i've thought that too. the cover of hosianna mantra has fundamentally a similar design but that one looks of its time. just goes to show the effect a typeface and color scheme can have.

is this by jon dale from melbourne or a different jon?

that was great ned, thank you! also, why have i never listened to 'spirit of peace' before?

stirmonster: definitely the former

"Florian Fricke" sounds like the sort of name Longmont Potion Castle would come up with

Einsjager & Siebenjager (1974)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auLz3ssCsdg

lol

what's the deal with 10 minutes of "Brüder Des Schattens" just being lopped off on all the Nosferatu releases? it's not like there isn't room for it. weird how nearly all the PV soundtracks are like 25% retreads from other albums, 25% aimless Moog stuff, and 50% the most beautiful music you've ever heard in your life

Apparently Herzog used to rummage around in tape boxes to find bits of music that fitted what he was after. Almost all of the music in Herz aus Glas isn't from the Herz aus Glas soundtrack but from the album before it, for instance.

The moog stuff in Nosferatu was almost certainly recorded in the early 70s and not recorded for the film itself.

one of the tracks is just an excerpt from "Vergegenwärtigung" from Aguirre - which is also (I assume) not in the film. (the original Vergegenwärtigung, not the one that cobbles together stuff from a previous album)

isn't there a site which sorts this all out? back in the old days of the internet there would've been a www.popol-vuh.freak which would break down the lineage of each album in 30,000 words

The bonus tracks on their CDs are all over the place, there's no indication of when anythinng was recorded and the titles are often totally misleading.

I was wondering abt that, I have some weird ones from a CD version of the 1st LP

This is a defining feature of Popol Vuh — there are really only a handful of motifs that keep emerging in different forms in different places.
There are outliers (LT-LN for example) and I feel like its bc they’re heavily Fishelscher.

Here's a PDF I've consulted to make more sense of what's on which record, what is a remix/repeat from earlier albums, what pieces are in which film, etc.:

http://www.venco.com.pl/~acrux/misc/disc7.pdf

oh wow...that is a lot to sift through

and yeah sleeve if you're talking about "Train Through Time" on Affenstunde that is an all-time weird bonus track. not only was it actually recorded for the LAST Popol Vuh album (3 decades later!) but it also sounds nothing like any of the other material on the album

there is also this perfect sound forever article that is quite detailed -there are 4 parts to it

That document I linked to is a little deceptive on the subject of Nosferatu, because it was released with two different running orders, and they get the two mixed up.

sorry, link didn’t post, but it’s on the furious.com website

xxxp to frogs, yes that one and the "Dream Part x" series

I've been meaning to reorganize my Vuh stuff on my music server but have sorta got fond of the chaos

Just gave Cobra Verde a spin for the first time in years. For an instrument that cost a quarter of a million at the time, the Synclavier sure does sound like a piece of shit doesn't it? They just about manage to make a listenable record anyway despite the synth pads.

got the first volume of the box sets for christmas. so psyched

enjoy. it sounds amazing, way better than the MP3s I was listening to. hope vol. 3 is coming soon.

Been on a big Popol Vuh kick lately, but it's weird how like half of their albums are relatively easy to find, while the other half are a lot tougher (specifically prompted by looking for a CD copy of Letzte Tage – Letzte Nächte that doesn't cost north of $50).

https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/2367863446 ?

I guess $35 is less than $50, still a lot...

for sure, I paid $10 in 2013 for that same edition

yea like a lot of overtly spiritual musicians who don't tend much to the business side their catalogue is a total mess. I never gave any thought to actually collecting the physical products until the recent box sets, which are not only very well pressed but also somewhat "definitive", assuming there's a 3rd and 4th one to come

But even those boxsets skip around a little bit, no?

they do but I think that's fine because PV doesn't really have 'eras' to me, each album is sort of its own thing and a lot of them incorporate elements of past albums. so like the first one has the Aguirre & Nosferatu soundtracks on it, which incorporate elements of Einsjager and Affenstunde, so it makes a little sense to put them altogether. Hosianna Mantra is also on there just to bridge the gaps a bit. idk I'm fine with it so long as they eventually get everything together.

Yeah, my complaint is more minor, it's just interesting to see which of their albums are in plentiful supply and which aren't. When I decided to check them out more closely a few years ago, I didn't even have to go out of my way to get the first five I bought (Aguirre, Nosferatu, Affenstunde, Einsjager and Hosianna), but I've really slowed down since and stumbled across a used copy of Sei still, wisse ich bin in Michigan a few months ago.

But since then I only find copies of those same five albums. I don't think I've ever even seen Letzte Tage – Letzte Nächte in the wild at all.

I am still grateful to la lèchera for hooking me up with the Spalax edition of Letzte Tage which to me sounds much better than the remasters

:) that one remains one of my all time fave albums

i am satisfied with my current state of Popol Vuh releases

I have everything up to "Brüder Des Schattens - Söhne Des Lichts", what else should I check out? Cobra Verde? Fitzcarraldo?

and man you wanna talk about a discographical mess, crosscheck the various bonus tracks between editions if you dare

TBH I almost never listen to those two but I do like Agape-Agape a LOT

ty!

Sei still, wisse ich bin is really good too, imo