Sold Date: January 8, 2014
Start Date: January 1, 2014
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Title: Spirit Of Peace

Artist: Popol Vuh

Catalog: Norway Cicada C001

Jacket: Near Mint with only slight hint of removed sticker on rear panel on upper left corner, no wear, splits, cuts, etc…

LP: Visual near mint with spotless vinyl surfaces and only one spindle mark on side two, a beautiful looking copy!!

Notes: Rare private pressing of this title from Popol Vuh featuring backup vocals from Renate Knaup of Amon Duul II. This is easily their finest piece since 1978's Brüder Des Schattens - Söhne Des Lichts. I like it because it's simpler than their previous three albums. It doesn't try to do too much, it's much slower about getting to its destinations, making the journey the destination, and it truly achieves the meaning of the album title. This is where everything they'd been attempting to do the last few years all came together. Spirit of Peace contains Fricke, Fichelscher and Knaup with Conny Veit and Bernd Wippich on electric guitar.

The first track is "We Know About The Need," which is their best rendition yet of the "Yehung" chant. The second track is a solo Fricke piano piece called "Spirit of Peace" that works remarkably well in its placement here. The song is technically "Spirit of Peace - Part II," but we only know that because of the "Spirit of Peace" bonus tracks on other CD's. We then go into another gorgeous guitar and chanting song called "Song of Earth." Again, we have the "Yehung" chant, and again the song is slow, long and repetitive, but it needs the repetition to build the depth of feeling. Even at 8:07, the song never outstays its welcome.

When asked about repeating musical themes over various albums, Fricke said, "When I feel a piece hadn't been produced the way it was originally meant to be, then I allow myself the liberty of picking it up again three years later and making another version of it. 22"

The album ends with the side-long 17:27 "Take The Tention High." It's the last time Popol Vuh would do a sidelong track, and like the rest of the album, it's a stunner. It starts with some beautiful female chanting before settling into a more mellow, yet complex guitar and chanting groove for the last 15 minutes of the song.

This album just works. I would go as far as to call it an ambient or even new age masterpiece. Of course by now, we are so far away from "rock music" that this will not be everyone's cup of tea, especially some of those who worship their epic '70's works.

It's unfortunate that SPV have not yet released this classic, but they may still. According to SPV and Johannes Fricke, "Some surprises are to come. The complete catalog will be slightly restructured in the aim to make the very best of Popol Vuh's Music available to the fans

Shipping: All LP’s are professionally vacuum cleaned on a VPI 16.5 RCM. Winner pays $4 media or $12 Priority USA shipping by paypal or an MO. International ok with paypal ONLY and $20 1st class international shipping. I combine shipping also