Phallus Dei

by Amon Duul II (1969)

There are a number of excellent, excellent albums on my list, but (as you can probably remember from my rhapsodizing) Phallus Dei is by far the one that stands out as the most eye opening and exciting for me this past year. After all, what could be better than scary, spooky, totally off the wall hippie music that is still catchy and fun? Here's what I said then (May 22nd):

Never believe the old adage "you can never judge a book by its cover". While trolling around allmusic.com I came across this album art and immediately became curious. I didn't know what to expect from goth German prog rock, after all prog rock is not the most tempting of genres for me. But put all images of Yes out of your mind -- not that I hate Yes, just that it really does not compare accurately to this. Amon Duul II is awesome!

I'm in love with and probably have listened to Phallus Dei from beginning to end ten times this weekend alone. Part rock, part Goblin (one of my faves) and part hippie jam fest - but moreover they sound like the music of the undead - not smiling skeleton undead, but evil undead - banshees that eat flesh and skeletal warriors in armor made of children's bones. It also sounds how I imagine native music from the other world in Phantasm to be.