Aguirre [Import]

Popol Vuh | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 25, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Spv
• ASIN: B0001ZWKBG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,948 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The title track is the ubiquitous soundtrack for Werner Herzog's classic film Aguirre, the Wrath of God, an excellent movie about a doomed party of conquistadors gradually swallowed up by an uncaring jungle. Fricke created here a transcendent masterpiece of ambience; seriously some of the finest melotron work ever recorded. This re-release features a 7:16 mins bonus track!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soundtrack album with extra goodies, September 16, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Aguirre (Audio CD)

My first encounter with Popol Vuh was through soundtracks for Werner Herzog films, and the sountrack albums remain excellent introductions to the art of this groundbreaking German band. This CD contains material from the movie =Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes= and some additional material that is very welcome indeed. At 55:39 it is one of the longer Popol Vuh releases.

The disk contains the wonderful floating-down-the-Amazon-into-a-world-of-otherworldly-beauty music from the movie, with synthesized voices flowing over a riverbed of electronic keyboard music. It includes the panpipes-solo from the movie in the cut Morgrengruss II, which develops into a cheerful and meditative guitar salutation of a morning garden/the garden of Creation. (Reference Morgengruss I on Einsjager & Siebenjager.)

The cut Agnus Dei is beautifully flavored with the East Indian influences of the time and is emphatically suitable for euphoric meditation.

Also included are three cuts that will turn up from time to time on other releases: Spirit of Peace I, II, and III. These may have been originally released on this CD; portions of these have also been subsequently recorded/released.

The track Vergegenwaertitung is a long (14" plus) cut containing, among other things, the chillingly powerful Die umkehr from the Bruder des schattens album. Taken as a whole the track is a musical meditation journey into a landscape characterized by its stunning virginal beauty, into which we go as the Lords of this Creation, as Adam and Eve into the Garden.

Tracks: Aguirre I; Morgengruss II; Aguirre II; Agnus Dei; Vergegenwaertitung; Spirit of Peace part 1; Spirit of Peace part 2; Spirit of Peace part 3.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best albums of all time, April 4, 2000

By 

Gary Bearman (Hollywood, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aguirre (Audio CD)

This is one of my favorite albums of all time and along with Spirit of Peace, Hosianna Mantra & Seligpreisung, one of my favorite Popol Vuh albums. Popol Vuh (for most of their career) were pure magic. I first read about them in the early 80's before the CD re-issues which prompted me to buy some albums. This was the first one I purchased and it is truly stunning. I play this for some people and they are quite WOWed saying what is THAT? The mixture of acoustic and electric guitar that prevade much of the album is so beautiful and intense and the angelic voices on the first track (is it a choir or a synthesizer? I could never tell) has to be heard to be belived - I have heard a good bit of what some people call "sacred music," but none of it touches the first track - I could say a lot, but mostly I would be saying GO BUY THIS CD. The three extra Spirit of Peace tracks are some of the nicest solo piano pieces I've ever heard - as a purist I would have rather had them on a separate CD, but they're really very nice tracks - e-mail me if you want other Popol Vuh recommendations - this is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 Stars or 4?, January 5, 2005

By 

William Scalzo (Niagara Falls, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aguirre (Audio CD)

I've gone back and forth on a rating for this. I love this band and despite the three stars I highly recommend this CD. Florian Fricke and Daniel Fichelscher made some incredible and beautiful recordings in the 70's. This one might not be the first to buy (that would be Einsjager & Siebenjager,) but it's quite good.

So why only 3 stars? Mainly because two of these songs are already on Einsjager & Siebenjager, one of them under a different name. That kind of burns me because I bought them the same day and was dissapointed in the repetition. Also there are 3 versions of "Aguirre" all of which are good, but in the final analysis 3 versions of the same song plus 2 songs from another album doesn't add up to a classic in my book. That leaves the looong "Vergegenwartigung," which goes absolutely nowhere for 17 minutes. It's the polar opposite of E & J's epic title track which is simply brilliant.

And finally, Djong Yun is nowhere to be found on this all-instrumental CD, yet she's in the credits on vocals. I hate blatantly wrong liner notes, and almost always deduct a star for that offense. I know it's not the fault of the bands, but I try to remember I'm reviewing a piece of commercial product, not the band.

But I don't want to be too negative here. Popol Vuh is well worth getting into but Einsjager & Siebenjager is a better buy and has 2 tracks from this one to boot. Mellotron lovers alert: Fricke plays some killer 'tron on this CD. Listen to the opener, "Aguirre 1." He used that vocal-y sound instead of the more common string-section sound. Really nice.