Digitone ii

{RYM}Here we have everything, from fast pomping passages to more mellow parts, the sound and manner of composing here is more refined then on their debute, the musicianship is tight, great ideas and top notch pieces. The interplay between guitar and organ (keyboards) and drums I must say is absolutly killer and inventive. There are some passages that truly shine no less, like on opening Put it this way, what to say really , impressive playing from each msucian, Gary Moore in duel with master Don Airey, somemthing not to be missed by any prog/jazz rock lover.

Even if Boyz II Men's third album Evolution didn't rival II in terms of commercial clout, the group was still inescapable. Every male urban vocal group that reached the pop and R&B charts were clearly indebted to the quartet's stylish blend of old-school harmony, post-Aretha hyper-vocalizing, and lite hip-hop beats. The group returned to action in the fall of 2000 with Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya, a nearly eponymous title for their first full-fledged adult album.

Out of the future ashes of the Munich-based hippy commune of Amon Düül, came this unit that seemed more serious about making music, other than as a social and political statement, Amon Duul II rose like a phoenix and built around Karrer (guitar), Rogner (bass) and Serfas (drums) and reputation growing, signed a deal with Liberty records and recrding their debut album in early 69, with two more members: drummer Leopold (from the other AD group) and bassist Anderson (pushing Rogner onto the keyboard stool). With two star guests, Burchard (Embryo, crosstown rivals) Trutzsch (Popol Vuh, also from the city), produced by Passport's Kübler, and graced with an astonishing psyched-out tree-and-sky artwork (courtesy of KB man Rogner), Phallus Dei is a landmark in Krautrock, also sung in a sort of medieval Upper German…

Several years after the original art rock supergroup Colosseum disbanded, drummer Jon Hiseman formed Colosseum II, a more jazz fusion-oriented outfit featuring guitarist Gary Moore (Thin Lizzy) and keyboardist Don Airey. Their eclectic debut, Strange New Flesh, shows some impressive chops from all involved, with an emphasis on Moore's soulful guitar leads. Vocalist Mike Starr, while not an immensely engaging singer, does a nice job keeping up with Hiseman and bass player Neil Murray. Highlights include the technically showy but blissfully irreverent ode to Pink Floyd, "Dark Side of the Moog," a nice version of Joni Mitchell's "Down to You," and the funky "Gemini and Leo."

Released to raise money for victims of the Kobe, Japan, earthquake, this Amon Düül II disc from 1996, like the very similar Eternal Flashback, is actually material from 1969 to 1971 reworked through the wonders of plunderphonics by members of the group into one seamless, 65-minute-long space rock epic. It's not quite as radical as the John Oswald remix of the Grateful Dead's "Darkstar" on Grayfolded or the Can remix album Sacrilege, though it's still a quite fascinating bit of trickery, as bits of tracks from the first two albums, Phallus Dei and Yeti, are blended with previously unreleased material. The rhythms are often looped to retain the essence of the original album, but drawn out into long, hypnotic passages with oozes of guitar floating around them, while most of the vocal sections have been completely excised out, leaving this a complete instrumental workout…

Made In Germany was a real musical transformation for Amon Düül II. If you took this album, and ADII's first album "Phallus Dei" and played them both for an unknowing listener, they would never even suspect it was the same band! The songs like "Ludwig" have an almost Beatlesesque quality to them (albeit on much more drugs). Ambitious vocal harmony arrangements, pristine production values, orchestral flourishes… Amon Duul? Anyway, this album is a masterwork of a completely different sort than their earlier releases, so naturally many fans will not still be onboard at this point. Short, vaguely Floydian spacy instrumental breaks replace the full-on sonic assaults of yore, and the main feature is… songs. Beautiful, sometimes achingly melancholic, sometimes witty and humorous, always honed like a gem; this is top-notch songwriting without ever losing ADII's keen eye for ambition.

Released in 1974, Amon Düül II's Hijack is not frequently (if ever) regarded as one of their better albums. In fact, author Ingmar Schrober gives it a few scant sentences in Tanz der Lemmings, his biography of the band published in 1979. For the most part, this critical dismissal is accurate - fans and critics seem to agree for once - most of what's here is unfocused, very polished, meandering psych prog that goes nowhere. But Hijack is significant in the band's history, and perhaps for posterity as well, for three reasons. The first of these is that the recording of this album signalled a short-lived reunion of sorts for most of the members of the original Amon Düül - vocalist Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz, guitarist/vocalist Chris Karrer, guitarist John Weinzierl, drummer Peter Leopold…