Customer Reviews

Tanz Der Lemminge

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Despite being released as another double album, this sprawling CD is in actual fact one huge piece of work - a veritable collage of composition with overlays and instrumentation aplenty and despite the track titles there are not really any tracks at all.

There are repetitive themes which occur throughout and notable pieces where the listener will find recognisable rock music. In every sense of the word this is a trip. The listener is treated to an entire experience which lasts for over an hour.

The album represents the pinnacle of improvisational achievement from a traditional rock band. No less improvisational than Can or Ash Ra Tempel, this band lets loose all of their influences from Stockhausen, through to the Velvet Underground and the Grateful Dead. They recognise their roots in the German collective by incorporating some of the softer sides of the musical range.

Unfortunately, the trip has not lasted well unless you are an afficionado of that type and era of music. Personally I love this album and am glad that it is available on one CD which allows for the whole to be experienced in it's entirety. This album was such an awesome experience I would play whole sides of it, without interuption at the Locarno Ballroom in Sunderland often before or after bands such as Genesis took the stage as they were no comparison.

English album entitled Dance of the Lemmings.

Super-nice CD reissue of the band's third effort,originally released,as a double album in 1971.Some might say that 'Tanz...' is indeed THE best Amon Duul II lp ever,and it probably is.That doesn't mean that you should bypass the band's other key albums,like 'Phallus Dei','Yeti' or,say 'Wolf City'.As for these reissues have plenty to offer as well.The Repertoire label did a first rate job at mastering this six track disc,wanted to mention that THIS posting of the CD's track listing is incorrect.The absolute BEST track on 'Tanz...' is the eighteen-minute acid drenched tripping "The Marilyn Monroe Memorial Church".Fellow krautrockers,IT doesn't get much better than this.The disc's other two lengthy cuts,"Syntelman's March" and "Restless Skylight" appears to get musically divided into other segments.The three remaining cuts are regularly played Amon Duul II tunes.Highly recommended.

Riding in a bus from El Paso, Texas to Guadalajara, Mexico, my walkman played a 90 minute tape recording made by an older painter friend. Side One and part of side two was Amon Duul II's 'Tanz Der Lemminge', the rest was Lee 'Scratch' Perry's 'Public Jestering'. One of 3 tapes I brought on the trip, this would often play on auto-repeat for hours before being changed. Riding through deserts, changing into mountains then to tropical jungles, beetles and iguanas bathing in the sun and rain. Eating a space cake and listening to the sound of UFOs flying over the swiss alps while bearded german jazz musicians sacrifice guitars and synths to ancient mountain goats following off with some jamaican ska hex incantations. I should note that I was all of one year old when this album was originally released.

In a time long ago when it was possible to buy albums by look alone and to then embark upon the aural voyage with no fear of money wasted, with only the excitement of something wonderful found, and that by the time the music was close to an end there came Marilyn Monroe Memorial and it was revealed that yes, yes sometimes the cover matches the interior and Prog Rock was not only the ruling music of the British, that Prog came to be known as Kraut, and Kraut Rock did rule Europe and the Mainland of America in that time long ago when the music matched the days and nights of all our basements, basements lined with mini moogs, farfisa pianos, hammond b3 organs, Gretsch guitars, and the odd flute here and there...
What does this mean? Amon Duul II was perfect for their time, and that the music was a magnificent meld of art rock and jazz, and that there was no end sometimes to the music, but by rambling it had a meaning and that meaning lasts even to today in this incarnation of a remastered CD.
Tanz der Lemming is a very highly recommended release that is as much a mark of the times as it is a masterpiece of psychedelic rock and jazz.

I feel compelled to proclaim that this work represents an absolute milestone in progressive psychedelic music. The band is in the grips of an overwhelming psychedelic possession culminating in this, their finest and most challenging recording. The musicianship is akin to an urgent and neuron shattering explosion through inner space. To me, this might be the pinnacle of kraut rock; pillaging the celestial spheres with manic textures and sonic explorations. Whereas a band like Pink Floyd would let their psychedelic explorations evolve as a natural consequence of a particular mood or setting, Amon Dull II at their peak were a more furious band where someone might have the impression that they had succumbed to the mind altering substance and were flailing and writhing in their visionary extremes or psychotic and schizophrenic torture.Remarkable guitarwork and ingenious and truly progressive composition and performances characterize these unusual and elaborate sketches of a rock band turned into a euphoric psychedelic rocketship taking us into alternate dimensions, strange place of our mind that connect us to the cosmos. This is simply an astounding performance of overwhelming creativity.

This band's first three LPs are all masterworks, and this may be the most impressive of them - it's the most ambitious, certainly. Guitar riffs and psychedelic jams mix with melodic song elements into prog-rock "suites" and side-long pieces that have plenty of meat on their bones. Again, Hendrix is a primary influence and this is a cleaner, two-guitar take on his later sound if you ask me. With fine playing by all and great ideas strewn about. Side 3 is so dark and scary that I hesitate to play it; Sides 1, 2, and 4 I'll gladly listen to any day of the week.

Tanz der Lemminge, aka Dance of the Lemmings, released in 1971 is nothing short of a spacy Krautrock masterpiece. Just like Amon Düül II's previous effort, Yeti, this is a double album set (that is, if you own the LP). And that's great, as far as I'm concerned, because it really allowed the band to expand on their ideas, something they couldn't do as so well on a single disc. During the nearly hour and a half of listening, you'll noticed how the album gets progressively strange as it goes on, more and more odd sounds being used, like sitar, violin, electronic effects used by sound generators, funny sounding vocals (since they were German who might need to brush on their English), until you reach "The Marilyn Monroe Memorial Church" where all the melody and what little traditional song structures there were in this album were completely thrown out the window for a pure side length instrumental freakout full of electronic effects, and lots of way cool spacy organ. I am reminded at this point what Tangerine Dream was doing around the same time with their album Alpha Centauri, except this has more drums. Then the album closes with three pieces which are excellent guitar jams kind of to bring you back down to earth. Tanz der Lemminge, is well-deserved as one of their classics, and if you like your Krautrock on the freaky and spacy side, you can't go wrong here!

Amon Duul II's third album is one of the best psychedelic freakouts you'll ever hear--in my opinion, perhaps their best overall recorded work (though both Yeti and Wolf City offer strong competition). Tanz der Lemminge is to Duul's oeuvre as is The Space Ritual to Hawkwind's--the standard by which to judge the entire corpus of the group's recorded output. Everything is here, from molten rock guitar riffing and electronic experimentation to beautiful acoustic guitar interludes and intense teutonic gothicism. A masterpiece of 70s avant-rock.

This is a classic performance by Germany's premire progressive rock outfit and belongs in everybody's collection. That being said, there are no additional tracks on this disc, despite claims to the contrary. The tracks included are identical to the vinyl release and all previous CD releases of this title.

This 1971 album by German experimental band Amon Duul II is considered a classic from the "Krautrock" genre (along with the 1969 debut Phallus Dei and Yeti (1970)) and features a superb blend of excellent melodies and lengthy, psychedelic "excursions". Although subsequent albums would be stripped back somewhat starting in 1972 (Carnival in Babylon) and present a focusing of the Amon Duul II sound, this album shows Amon Duul II at the height of their psychedelic, eclectic, best.

There is a large assortment of musicians on this album including John Weinzerl (guitars/vocals); Chris Karrer (acoustic/electric guitar; violin; and vocals); Lothar Meid (electric bass; acoustic bass; and vocals); Peter Leopold (drums and percussion); K.H. Hausmann (electronics/sound engineer); Falk Rogner (Hammond organ/electronics). Additional musicians include a sitar player and one individual on Hammond organ. These guys are generally pretty good players, and the group focus is on psychedelic jamming and experimental sounds and not so much on integrated ensemble work. With respect to the vocal styles used on the album (in English and German) they are very unusual, yet work well in this context.

The three tracks on the album are arranged into lengthy song cycle suites, the longest of which is well over 25 minutes in length, with total album length at just under 70 minutes in length. Eclecticism is the key word here, and delicate, acoustic passages suddenly lapse into heavier psychedelic (and electric) jams that are vaguely reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane (well to my ears at any rate). In general, dynamic contrasts are used pretty effectively. Thunderous instrumental riffs played in unison on the bass and heavily distorted electric guitar are used effectively on a few pieces, lending the music an almost menacing feel. I love the bass work on this album (which is pretty heavy and way out in front) in addition to the electric guitar playing. Electronic experimentation is used frequently, and synthesizer - like textures are generated by manipulating the organ (most likely). The experimentation can get pretty "out there" at times (discernible structure is thrown out the window) and there is some pretty cool phasing. The guitar is not immune and it too has been electronically altered at times. There is also a bit of what sounded like a mellotron in there too although I can't be too sure - the music is mostly a dense, swirling mass of sound and at times it is difficult to isolate specific instruments. The Hammond organ sound however is very distinct and Falk more or less follows the approach Rick Wright (Pink Floyd) used on albums like A Saucerful of Secrets (1968). Come to think of it, the influences of late 1960's Pink Floyd are all over Tanz der Lemminge.

The remastered CD by Repertoire is pretty good and features excellent sound quality and lots of informative liner notes along with band photos.

Tanz der Lemminge is very highly recommended along with Phallus Dei and Yeti. For those folks that liked this music, the blazing, psychedelic masterwork After Bathing at Baxter's (Jefferson Airplane, 1967) might also prove enjoyable along with the incredible Piper at the Gates of Dawn (Pink Floyd, 1967) and A Saucerful of Secrets.