In Den Garten Pharaos

Popol Vuh | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 1, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Spv U.S.
• ASIN: B00042YJII
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,101 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This is the second of the legendary Moog albums of Popol Vuh, following the debut Affenstunde and was first released back in 1972. Originally released with just two tracks, the remastered version tacks on more than 20 additional minutes, featuring two previously unreleased Moog bonus tracks recorded in 1970/1971. In Den Gärten Pharaos has always been considered a classic cult album amongst those in the Krautrock know. And for good reason.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lost among the stars... drift forever..., August 19, 2006

By 

David Parkinson (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In Den Garten Pharaos (Audio CD)

First off, I can't say anything about the two bonus tracks. I'm going to review the original release, which is what I own (on Spalax, probably). Experimental or ambient music gets a bad rap, maybe because any schmuck can burn up studio time twiddling and noodling and producing a halfway decent set of sonic textures. So many of these albums fall into the "meh" category; meaning that the music might be nice enough, but is somehow lacking. Lacking guts, lacking a really serious approach, lacking honesty. Fear not: Florian Fricke back in 1971 had his finger on the pulse of the cosmos, and this album is like the field notes from some very far-out explorations. Not overly psychedelic in a tacky way, the two songs here don't feature broad sonic strokes, but rather an accumulation of muted rhythms, buried washes of lovely old Moog noises, some clattery and strangely menacing drumming, and go on long enough to let you settle in and enjoy the spaces being created. In a way this is a precursor to New Age music; but somewhere along the way this ill-fated genre lost its focus on human experience in all its forms and decided (for the most part) to focus on feel-good pap. This is music made by a thinking passionate man, made to be heard with humility and awe. "Vuh" in particular is simply beyond beautiful. It's the soundtrack of a spacecraft crash-landing in a lush, green jungle, filled with natural but alien sounds, but somewhere beneath the bird cries and animal chatterings is the hum of distant machinery... humming louder... approaching?... the colours of the jungle are changing now, greens to blues to flame red and searing yellow, and your companions seem to have disappeared... but you're strangely unafraid. And then - - -

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous Spacey Trance Synth with Bongos, February 24, 2008

By 

Geoffrey R. Balme (raleigh NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In Den Garten Pharaos (Audio CD)

Back when Moog synthesizers took up the space of an entire wall of any largish room - Florian was creating these beautiful pieces of music, how he got his hands on one of these remarkable monstrosities is probably a whole story in itself.
This is my favorite offering from Popol Vuh, mostly long solo synth music with bongos. This isn't dance music, nor is it the type of music you'd want in your car. This music is relaxing and surprising, and perhaps is best enjoyed the way a 15 year old kid might sit in a bedroom alone with the lights out just "ponderin'".
The bonus tracks are a little tossed off. Especially one of them, which is a bit of an annoyance with a bit more modulation, and static repetition - not that it's bad, it just doesn't fit. I can't be bothered to get the names of the tracks down, sorry. I just enjoy the music.
In den Garten Pharaos is a beautiful piece of inspiring music and it probably is singly responsible for launching a great many similarly wide open space synth experimenting bands, Tangerine Dream not being the least of which.

Grab it, it's a sweetheart.