Popol Vuh – Einsjäger & Siebenjäger

Nice sound reproduction from this pressing on the BMG label (Essential Vol I of Popol Vuh 2018).
Lovely album. Daniel Fichelscher's guitar and compositional input was clearly having impact. It has a more 'conventional' 70s progressive rock style to the albums released up to this point albeit still as modal as before.

I love the fact there's no bass player. And also the drums are clearly miked with just overheads, nothing directly on the snare and kick drum. So it oddly makes Side Two sound under-produced and therefore, LIVE and immediate.

Daniel's solo electric guitar needs tuning up on track 3 of Side One...but it doesn't matter somehow, even though you can tell that it's all meticulously performed and produced. The intangible world that a Popol Vuh evokes seems to allow for whatever they do! Perfection is boring, after all.
Happy to have this in the collection! :)

After years of listening to various CD releases of this and other Vuh LPs one thing has always been clear- they mostly sound flat and one dimensional. I have no way of knowing what has transpired with the mastering. After years of listening to these pressings I finally took a risk on some original vinyl pressings. They are expensive and difficult to source archive quality ones, to be sure. What I can tell you is you will not be disappointed with an original. The first thing you hear is the lack of strangulating noise reduction. The recordings are lively and dynamic. Without sounding like an “audiophile” douche, there is an airy quality that is just not present on the digital masters. Recommend highly!

i hear lots of Allman Brothers in this band, do you think they were inspired by this group or vice-versa? Especially the end of Wurfelspiel.

Looking for a sleeve, if anyone has a spare, please contact me!

Although not 'that' similar, the sidelong piece puts me in mind of Hergest Ridge, beautiful and satisfying with an exultant touch with every crashing cymbal (and there are lots of crashes!) The album is quite raw and sounds like it was done in one take which gives it a 'live' feel. The themes and melodies are there but play second fiddle to the dramatic, progressive nature of the performances. Very involving and not as contemplative as earlier releases.

Sound quality is still, well, no better than a worn-out original record. The masters must be ragged, the sound here is a smidgin better than the Amazon mp3s.

A phenomenal release, so much energy in these recordings its unreal, definitely up there with Hosianna Mantra which was released two years prior.

The music is paired back to the duo of Florian Frieke and Daniel Fichelscher for this recording, with vocalist Djong Yun popping in on occasion to brilliant effect. Florian plays piano and a spinett (similiar to a harpsichord) whilst Daniel brings electric and acoustic guitar plucking and whaling as well as some rather raucous drumming. The drums on here have a lovely loose feel to them, the bass drum on 'Wurfelspiel' especially moves all over the place in ways you wouldn't expect... there are also crashes in abundance which is always nice!

If I was to make one complaint it would be that Daniel's electric guitars are mixed way above everything through out, he's a great guitarist for sure but I feel that some people may not like his particular way of playing and may find it a little overbearing on everything around it... even with this slight niggle I love this record, brilliant stuff.