Tanz Der Lemminge [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Known as Dance of the Lemmings outside of Germany, the third album is widely considered to be the keystone of the Amon Düül II catalog. With stylistic abandon, this recording mixes together everything from straight-ahead rock to experimental noodling, all built around a series of science-fiction themes. And this release, like its predecessor, Yeti, was originally released as a double LP set. The first two sides of Tanz Der Lemminge were filled with bizarre music: vocals, jams, and otherworldly sonic explorations. The third side consisted of nothing but spacey experimental effects that sounded a whole lot like Alpha Centauri-era Tangerine Dream. Now it is brought to you in its entirety on CD! Fans familiar with the sprawling psychedelic explorations of ADII's first three albums dare not miss this gem!

Amon Düül II, the second formation of this now legendary band, are one of the earliest and best known of the German experimental (Krautrock) bands. For the complete re-issue series of the Amon Düül II catalogue, the band have included bonus material, issued for the first time anywhere. The CDs will be released as deluxe editions, with enhanced booklets, featuring new liner notes and photos.

Tracks:

Syntelman's March Of The Roaring Seventies
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child
The Marilyn Monroe-Memorial-Church
Chewinggum Telegram
Stumbling Over Melted Moonlight
Toxicological Whispering

Album Description

Known as Dance Of The Lemmings outside of Germany, Amon Düül II's 1971 third album is widely considered to be the keystone of the Amon Düül II catalog. With stylistic abandon, this recording mixes together everything from straight-ahead rock to experimental noodling, all built around a series of science-fiction themes. This release, like its predecessor, Yeti, was originally released as a double LP set. The first two sides of Tanz Der Lemminge were filled with bizarre music: vocals, jams, and otherworldly sonic explorations. The third side consisted of nothing but spacey experimental effects that sounded a whole lot like Alpha Centauri-era Tangerine Dream. Now it is brought to you in its entirety on CD! Fans familiar with the sprawling psychedelic explorations of ADII's first three albums dare not miss this gem!

Amon Düül II, the second formation of this now legendary band, are one of the earliest and best known of the German experimental (Krautrock) bands. For the complete re-issue series of the Amon Düül II catalogue, the CDs will be released as remastered deluxe editions, with enhanced booklets, featuring new liner notes and photos.

Album Description

Remastered edition includes special bonus material and comes packaged in a deluxe digipak with an enhanced booklet. SPV Records. 2005.

Album Details

Digitally Remastered Edition. Fans Predisposed to the Sprawling Psychedelic Explorations of Adii's First Three Albums Will Often Cite this One as their Best. When You Really Need to Blast off Into Space, You Cannot Beat "Tanz Der Lemminge". This Album is Literally an Explosion of Music, all Over the Map, all Completely Mind Warping: You have Guitar Jams that Seem to Emanate from the Eternal ("Toxicological Whispering"); Extended, Otherworldy Sonic Explorations ("Chamsin Soundtrack"); Structured Suites Full of Strong Dynamic Shifts and Haunting Timbres ("Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies"); Completely off the Wall Riff-based Numbers with Wacky Vocals and Brain-bending Sound Effects (All Throughout "Restless Skylight-transistor-child").

Average customer rating:

Classic LSD Music
The Greatest!
Kaleidoscopic and thunderous
Wild, Ambitious, Scary
An earth shattering performance!

Tanz Der Lemminge
Amon Düül II
Manufacturer: Repertoire
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Phallus Dei
Carnival in Babylon
Wolf City
Space Ritual
Yeti

ASIN: B00005TPKE
Release Date: 2002-02-12

Tracks:

Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies: Syntelman's March of ...
Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies: Pull Down Your Mask
Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies: Prayer to the Silence
Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies: Telephonecomplex
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: Landing in a Ditch
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: Dehypnotized Toothpaste
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: A Short Stop at the Transsylvanian
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: Race from Here to Your Ears: ...
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: Race from Here to Your Ears: ...
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: Race from Here to Your Ears: ...
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: Riding on a Cloud
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: Paralized Paradise
Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child: H.G. Well's Take Off
Chamsin Soundtrack: The Marilyn Monroe-Memorial-Church [Impr.]
Chamsin Soundtrack: Chewinggum Telegram
Chamsin Soundtrack: Stumbling Over Melted Moonlight
Chamsin Soundtrack: Cal Whispering

Album Description

German digitally remastered digipak reissue of the prog-rock act's 1971 album. 17 tracks. 2001.

Album Details

Digitally Remastered Digipak with Bonus Tracks.

Customer Reviews:

Classic LSD Music.......2007-03-18

Amon Duul is kind if a mix of Pink Floyd & Jefferson Starship. Long, spacy instrumentals, male/female vocals. This was a favorite in my high school daze!

The Greatest!.......2007-02-18

Tanz Der Lemminge (Dance of the Lemmings) is still one of the greatest psychedelic albums of all time. I bought this album, and every other Amon Duul 2 album, as they were released in the 70's. They changed my life. Along with albums like Wolf City and The Stones Satanic Majesties Request. Who knows if it weren't for these albums the direction of my artwork might have never been the same. Now I am the producer/artist of Thru Black Holes Comix. We still recite some of the cosmic phrases that are part of the lyrics on this album. -Michael R. Roden

Kaleidoscopic and thunderous.......2007-02-08

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.

Wild, Ambitious, Scary.......2006-03-22

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.

An earth shattering performance!.......2006-01-27

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.

Average customer rating:

Last great Album of their era
The beginning of the end
Incredible!

Tanz der Lemminge
Amon Düül II
Manufacturer: Repertoire
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000I7GJ
Release Date: 1999-03-10

Tracks:

Syntelman's March Of The Roaring Seventies: In The Glasgarden/Pull Down Your Mask/Prayer To The...
Restless Sky-Transistor-Child: Landing In A Ditch/Dehypnotized Toothpaste/A Short Stop At The...
Chamsin Soundtrack
Chewinggum Telegram
Stumbling Over Melted Moonlight
Toxicological Whispering

Customer Reviews:

Last great Album of their era.......2001-09-24

Amon Düül II: Das war in Deutschland der Beginn der eigenen Popmusik inmitten einer jungen, gerade sich verändernden Welt um 1969/70. Nach "Yeti" einen Nachfolger zu finden, war nicht einfach. Die Todessymbolik springt einem gleich mit dem Titel entgegen: Die Lemminge sind bekannt für ihre selbstmörderischen Massenwanderungen. Auch die Rückseite des Covers ist wieder unheimlich psychedelisch. Eine unheimliches Foto aus dem Wald mit einer seltsamen Figur und einem Schädel. Könnte direkt aus "Blair Witch Project" entsprungen sein.
Hier ist die Studiotechnik etwas ausgefeilter, es spielen auch bekanntere Studiomusiker mit. Die Düüls improvisieren, experimentieren, einfach und raffiniert. Nichts wiederholt sich, die Songs bilden eine feingliedrige Kette laufend neuer Harmonien. Auf Seite 1 der Doppel LP kommt Chris Karrers damalige Vorliebe zur akustischen Gitarre zum Zug. Er singt dazu, neben elektronischen Instrumenten wieder im verkündenden Stil. Seite zwei ist eher John Weinzierl. DIe musik wird etwas pathetischer und räumlicher. Seite drei entfaltet Falk Rogners Elektronik. Seite 4 finde ich am besten. "Chamsin Soundtrack: M. Monroe Memorial Church" klingt leise wie unter einer Kirchenkuppel aufgenommen. Leise ferne Geigenklänge verweben in einen hypnotischen Orgel-Sound. Der Track wurde auch schon für Film-Musiken verwendendet. Wann gab und gibt es von einer Band, die als beliebteste Gruppe 1970 von der deutschen Presse gewählt wurde Lyriken wie diese?:

"Am Bahnhof sah ich Hexen, die lächelnd Fahrkarten lösten, sie boten mir eine Narrenkappe an, konnten aber das Zauberwort nicht sagen,..." "Nimm Deine Flügel - und fall auf die Erde - Störrische Kinder - Stürmen die Stadt - Schau zu mir her - versunkene Städte - erheben sich aus dem Meer.

Vor dieser Platte würde ich allerdings erst "Yeti" und "Phallus Dei" kaufen.

The beginning of the end.......2000-01-08