Agape-Agape / Love-Love [Digipak]

Performer: Popol Vuh
Producer: Florian Fricke; Popol Vuh
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Popol Vuh: Daniel Fischelscher (vocals, guitar, percussion); Florian Fricke, Conny Veit, Renate Knaup. Personnel: Danny Secundus Fichelscher (vocals, guitar, percussion); Florian Fricke (vocals, piano, percussion); Renate Knaup (vocals); Conny Veit (guitar). Liner Note Authors: Michael Fuchs Gamb�ck; Gerard Augustin. Recording information: Bavaria Musik Studio, Munich, Germany (06/1982-10/1982). Photographer: Frank Fielder. Two years after the issue of Sei Still, Wisse ICH BIN, Agape-Agape (Love-Love) offers a deeper view of the same animal. Still utilizing a choir for Gregorian chant-like ethereal intensity -- though they sing in Byzantine scales -- pianist Florian Fricke, guitarist/percussionist Daniel Fichelscher, guitarist Conny Veit (who came back to the fold after a prolonged absence), and vocalist Renate Knaup delve deeply into the drone world of Fricke's sacred music muse. There are eight pieces on this set, the longest of which is the final one, "Why Do I Fall Asleep." But they are all of a single theme, even Fichelscher's "They Danced, They Laughed, As of Old," which is an extended retreatment of "Kleiner Kreiger" from the Einsj�ger & Siebenj�ger album. Fricke only comes to the fore on the title track with his shimmering, insistent mantra-piano, but the twin guitars of Fichelscher and Veit more than compensate elsewhere as they entwine and slip through and around one another. Once again, though the music might seem formulaic, it is in the subtleties and dynamics that Fricke's compositional growth is revealed, and Agape-Agape is a worthy, devastatingly beautiful outing. ~ Thom Jurek Two years after the issue of Sei Still, Wisse ICH BIN, Agape-Agape (Love-Love) offers a deeper view of the same animal. Still utilizing a choir for Gregorian chant-like ethereal intensity -- though they sing in Byzantine scales -- pianist Florian Fricke, guitarist/percussionist Daniel Fischelscher, guitarist Conny Veit (who came back to the fold after a prolonged absence), and vocalist Renate Knaup delve deeply into the drone world of Fricke's sacred music muse. There are eight pieces on this set, the longest of which is the final one, "Why Do I Fall Asleep." But they are all of a single theme, even Fischelscher's "They Danced, They Laughed, As of Old," which is an extended re-treatment of "Kleiner Kreiger" from the Einsj�ger & Siebenj�ger album. Fricke only comes to the fore on the title track with his shimmering, insistent mantra-piano, but the twin guitars of Fischelscher and Veit more than compensate elsewhere as they entwine and slip through and around one another. Once again, though the music might seem formulaic, it is in the subtleties and dynamics that Fricke's compositional growth is revealed, and Agape-Agape is a worthy, devastatingly beautiful outing. [SPV reissued the main thrust of Popol Vuh's catalog in 2004, including refurbished packaging and bonus tracks with each edition.] ~ Thom Jurek

With their early experiments in sky-touching electronic music, German group Popol Vuh are sometimes lumped in with the Krautrock bands of the 1970s, but they had been working their own territory from the beginning. Less interested in classical forms and intellectualism, keyboardist/composer Florian Fricke crafted mind-expanding ambient Moog pieces supported by tribal percussion that mimicked Indian ragas, African drum circles, and other ethnic influences. It was one of the first examples of "world fusion," uniting the best aspects of Western technology with second- and third-world sounds and forms. The band pursued this track into the '90s, and released 22 albums, including soundtracks to several Werner Herzog films.

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