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| This is the very first album by one of the stalwarts of the Krautrock scene. Popol Vuh was also one of the most uniquely sounding bands under that broad taxonomy, and they went through several stages in their career. However, this debut, whose title means "Monkeys' Hour" (or perhaps "Happy Hour"?), is as embryonic as one could get for a debut. Basically, it's Fricke fiddling with a moog synthesizer — one of the gigantic, early models, too — throughout the length of the album, invariably with mild synth processing or fervently played bongos. It stands pretty much alone in the band's canon, its nearest companion being their next release, In Den Gärten Pharaos. It is far from the melodic, 'classic' sound in which they would immerse themselves a mere 2-3 years laters. I find it pretty bland comparatively, being amelodic, atonal, and when the bongos aren't playing (and even sometimes when they are), arhythmic on top of that. This is pretty much only for Krautheads of the extreme sort, who lavish their unconditional positive regard on the early, unpolished stuff by all these bands. review by Joe McGlinchey — 2-14-01 —
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