Amon Duul II: Anthology
Don't believe what you read. Including what you read here. Last April I said confidently that I only had one album with Amon Düül. Evidently that was false, as I bought this double CD in July 2005.
Really, my homework back then was pretty shoddy. I must have been deliberately abstaining from Wikipedia that day, as three minutes there explains the distinction between Amon Düül and Amon Düül II — and further reveals that last April's album wasn't by either of them, but by a third entity sometimes known as Amon Düül UK, recorded in 1989!
I suspect the reason I forgot I had this album was that I never listened to it. And the reason I felt confused about the band may, or may not, have been that they are genuinely confusing and inconsistent. I haven't had time to absorb everything that's going across these CDs, but I heard a real jumble of elements. Some sounded very 2004-08ish, in the sense that they would now be termed 'psych-folk' — along with a growing mish-mash of bands with almost nothing in common. Other parts are quite cringe-making.
It's funny how, when Germans try to emulate American popular culture, they get it so comically wrong that they sound intensely German. When the English try to do it, it's just boring and anonymous (notable exception: the Rolling Stones). And when the French try it, you end up with Alphaville and the films of Jean-Pierre Melville.
A little like the blues compilation three days ago, this one seems to have been released (in 2005) and then deleted very soon afterwards: there's no sign of it on Amazon. It's part of a series called the Dejavu Retro Gold Collections, which seems to extend from Chet Baker to Christmas songs.
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