Customer Reviews

Almost Alive: & Looking Fine

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The good news: Crisp, clear sound brings out the subtler nuances of this album, making it more fresh and alive than the slightly dull and murky sounding original LP from 1978. The keyboards and guitars sparkle brighter than I ever heard before, and the band sounds "more alive" than when compared to the vinyl LP. The gatefold with booklet digipack is excellent, with plenty of additional photos of the band from the 1978 era. Also includes three tracks of psychedelic hard-rock jams with prominent Lothar Meid bass heaviness. OK, now for the not so good news. Sigh. 1. There is a low grade snap-crackle-pop most noticable during quieter parts throughout the CD (but not the bonus tracks) that sounds like this CD was either mastered directly from an old LP or that there was some serious digital errors occuring throughout during the mastering process. It is not audible during the louder parts, but when things quiet down (or listening on headphones) it can be very distracting. Ach! 2. There is a prominence of analog tape hiss that was not eliminated. Either that, or, if this was mastered from an old LP, the deficiencies of this kind of archival transfer result in a generational loss of fidelity resulting in more hisssssss. 3. The end of 'Jericho' does an abrupt "tape-stop" end during the solo synthesizer "airplane" swoop which occurs just 1 minute before the true end of the song on the LP. The whole last minute of the song is missing! Also, the double end-stop of 'One Blue Morning' is missing. There is just the single last abrupt chordal chop (on the LP there are two). 3. Admittedly a minor quibble, but the three bonus tracks are not from the same era as the band that recorded 'Almost Alive' and don't have as much relevance to the album as other material (if it survived) from the 'Almost Alive' sessions. ...But to end on an upbeat note... I still think the cover art is the best of any D??l album (or any other Krautrock, for that matter) and is graphically beautiful (despite the smaller media size).

I've been a fan of AD2 since Phalus Dei and like all their albums to varying degrees with Almost Human being my least & Viva most favorite. Like many bands with long a long history they have had many personel changes leading to no two albums sounding quite the same. When this came out I was leery not because of change in line-up but because they had been dropped by their US label, Atco & this album was only available as a higher priced import. Quite a few of their albums take time to grow on you (took 6 months till I "got" Carnival in Babylon) but I liked this one right out of the bag. It along with Pyragony X are ironically (in light of their being dropped by their US label)some of the most accessable songs they ever recorded. Not that these songs are mainstream by any stretch but are great. Maybe not the place to start an introduction to AD2 but a must have to their fans.

Play this one as part of a trifecta w/Parogony X & Hijack...very proggy but balanced w/equal parts jazz & hard rock. Tough to compare to anything c/o it's in that misty, mysterious mid-70s Krautrock era. Maybe if you mixed Caravan, Steely Dan & Hawkwind...LOL Anyways, I enjoy this one LOUD after a brew or two. Makes me wish I hadn't been 6 yrs old @ the time it came out!

This is my second introduction to Karautrock after Can and though I've known of these guys for about 30 years, I've never heard any of their stuff until now. The music is not bad, full of some decent jams, but the most prominent tracks to me are the three added tracks, especially that "Cosmic Insects... Cosmic Insects... Cosmic Insects..." thing and Kitchen Jam. Is that telling or what, when the most outstanding tracks do not even seem to belong to the same sessions? I've seen some of the other reviews and there is quite a swing of opinion from "great" to "garbage." I don't think of it as either extreme, but considering that the bonus tracks are the most memorable, I would have to say the original album was kind of bland. Maybe with a few more listens, I'll feel different, but after hearing the album four times so far, it still sounds kind of bland. I haven't noticed any of the digital defects the one reviewer mentioned because I listen to most of my music while commuting to work.

I guess if you want a good introduction to the band, you might be better off getting one of their earlier releases, though at least the CD package and booklet are pretty bitchin'.

Yes, I know there are a lot of Amon Duul fans out there who love the old messy, endless jams of the earliest albums, but they are missing the point of Almost Alive. This is the best of the later, jazzier, more adult oriented albums the band released in its long career. I have always considered ADII to be the best rock band in history within the field of arrangement. This concept has held true from the first album to the last. No other band quite has the Amon Duul touch in this respect. If you like the old extended jams, try Dance of the Lemmings, but if you want to hear the band in a more song-oriented context, I think this one is easily the best. By the way, I have been a fan since '72 and I have practically all the band's albums, including the rare CD releases of recent years. My favorite ADII albums are: Almost Alive, Wolf City, Dance of the Lemmings, Carnival in Babylon, and Hi-Jack. The five stars do not apply to the trashy bonus tracks! There are so many better cuts that should have been included instead.

I'm a huge fan of Amon Duul II but this album is pure garbage.This is not the classic Amon Duul II line up and this album has nothing worth listening to Don't buy anything from Amon Duul II if it was released after 1975 .If you want to listen to the real Amon Duul II buy Yeti,Live in London,Tanz Der Lemmings , Vive le Trance,Carnival of Babylon or Hijack.I'd like to give this CD a Zero but I can't.