Das Hohelied Salomos [Digipak]

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

Notes: Popol Vuh: Djong Yun (vocals); Daniel Fischelscher (guitar, percussion); Florian Fricke (piano). Additional personnel: Al Gromer Khan (sitar); Shana Kuma (tabla). Das Hohelied Salomos continues along the same path as Hosianna Mantra (1972), Seligpreisung (1973), and Einsj�ger & Siebenj�ger (1974). Collaborating with guitarist/percussionist Daniel Fichelscher and soprano Djong Yun and adapting lyrics from the Old Testament's Song of Solomon, Florian Fricke crafts deeply spiritual music from a synthesis of Eastern and Western popular, classical and devotional traditions. Fichelscher's guitar and percussion are to the fore, often eclipsing Fricke's rippling piano melodies, and Yun graces most tracks with her serene, ethereal voice. As on Einsj�ger & Siebenj�ger, the group works with an economical palette, combining elements to create grand arrangements with subtly shifting rhythms, tempos, and textures. Here, however, the results are all the more expansive and majestic as the minimalist strokes coalesce in sweeping, cosmic swathes, most memorably on the meditative interludes "Du Sohn Davids I" and "In den N�chten auf den Gassen I," with its oceanic, mantric ebb and flow. With contributions from Alois Gromer (sitar) and Shana Kumar (tabla), Das Hohelied Salomos recovers some of the Eastern accent that was more evident on Hosianna Mantra and Seligpreisung: the standout in that regard is the lilting "Der Winter Ist Vorbei," which sets Yun's vocals amid Gromer and Kumar's hypnotic grooves. Elsewhere, there's a more seamless cultural hybrid: for instance, on "Steh auf, Zieh Mich Dir Nach," which gradually gathers momentum with Fricke's piano arpeggios and Fichelscher's rich, bluesy playing. That rock dimension is most emphatic on the closing "Du Tr�nke Mich mit Deinen K�ssen," another track that builds slowly around layered, interweaving guitars. Das Hohelied Salomos encapsulates Fricke's gift for blending aspects of Western rock music's traditionally profane idiom with non-Western and non-rock aesthetics to pursue his unique vision of sacred music. ~ Wilson Neate Simply put, 70s Progressives is a Popol Vuh compilation. Four tracks come from the soundtrack to Coeur de Verre, including the amazing "H�ter der Schwelle," which borrows a bit of the riff from the Velvet Underground's "Venus In Furs" and turns it into an electro-acoustic raga. Two others come from the lovely Agape-Agape, four others from the very rare Letzte Tage -- Letzte N�chte, and one more from Die Nacht Der Seele: Tantric Songs. The pieces, taken as they are from the mid-'70s, offer a solid look at how Florian Fricke had moved away form his initial obsession with new electronic sounds as explored on the Moog III, and embraced the trance and pulse-like qualities that electronic music offered in an acoustic setting. It also reveals how deeply Fricke began exploring instruments, tonalities, and harmonics from other world cultures. This is a seamless listening experience form front to back and is a fine introduction to Popol Vuh. ~ 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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