A Quest for Prog 1: Amon Düül II – Phallus Dei

This is the first in a series of Progressive Rock reviews over the next year.  The bands are picked from the book in the first post on this blog.  And the albums I am picking is based on the highest user ratings for each band on Progarchives.com.  

Amon Düül II – Phallus Dei (1969)

Produced by Olaf Kübler 

Shrat – bongos, vocals, violin

Peter Leopold – drums

Holger Trülzsch – Turkish drums

Dieter Serfas – drums, electric cymbals

John Weinzierl – guitar, 12-string bass

Falk Rogner – organ

Christian Borchard – vibraphone

Chris Karrer – violin, guitar, twelve-string guitar, soprano saxophone, vocals

Renate Knaup – vocals, tambourine

Dave Anderson – bass on "Luzifer's Ghilom"

Track listing:

Side one:

1. Kanaan (4:02)

2. Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren (6:12)

3. Luzifer's Ghilom (8:34)

4. Henriette Krötenschwanz (2:03)

Side two:

1. Phallus Dei (20:48)

Released in 1969 “Phallus Dei”, translating as "God's Penis", was the first album by German band Amon Düül II.  ADII was formed by members of the “Amon Düül” art commune in West Germany and was actually an off shoot of an original “Amon Düül” group formed at the commune.  The original AM group was formed to help make money for the commune through live performances.  When the group was offered the opportunity to record the members with the strongest musical background left and formed AMII.

 “Phallus Dei” consists of 4 shorter pieces on the first side and the 20min title track on the second side.  The first side for the most part seems to be incomplete or unfinished ideas which might have worked better in a live setting where they could have been explored.  Don’t get me wrong there not bad but they're just not quite where they could have been.  That said the more I listen to them the more I enjoy them. 

The first song “Kanaan” is has some nice guitar work and a dark mood which I really enjoy.  I wonder if there is a longer version where it is explored more?  “Luzifer's Ghilom” is a nice driving number with percussive vocals and some great work from the rhythm section. 

“Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren” (Translated as “The Good, Lovely, True”) reminds me a lot of Piper era Pink Floyd.  Especially PowR TocH and Take Up They Stethoscope and Walk.  Nothing special in all honesty.  The last song on side one is “Henriette Krötenschwanz” which is a medieval tune which is nice enough but doesn’t leave an impression.

Side two is where the album really comes alive with the whole side dedicated to the track “Phallus Dei”.  The song begins with a freak out jam for the first 4 minutes, which is really fun.  I gather this is what the band would have for the most part sound like in a live setting.  After this the band moves into a more straight forward passage which features some great guitar work.  At this point the band is really cooking and working off each other in a psychedelic groove.  For me I was a little disappointed when the vocals started 15mins into the track because the instrumental portion of the song had so much energy.  That being said the vocals are a lot of fun and manic in places which is great.  Some of the pronunciation gave me some giggles as well.     

I’m definitely interesting in hearing some more of this band and I think I will definitely revisit “Phallus Dei” in the future. 

7/10