Phallus Dei

• Artist: Amon Düül II
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1969
• Total Time: 41:38
• Genre: Rock

Review

"Kanaan" starts the album wonderfully, a melange of rumbling rock power, strings and sitars, Lothar Meid's almost Bowie-ish vocals with Renate Knaup's wordless chanting in the background, that's just as intoxicating many years after its first appearance as it was upon release. The slightly jazzy concluding minute avoids sounding forced, blending in beautifully with the song's general flow. "Dem Guten, Schoenen, Wahren" takes a truly wacked-out turn, with Meid's bizarre falsetto coming to the fore, swooping around the main melodies without regard for them in yelps and chants, while the music chugs along in what almost sounds like a beer-hall singalong at points, taking a more haunting, beautiful turn at others (the heavily produced violins are an especially spooky touch). "Luzifers Ghilom" brings out the psych-folk origins of the band a bit more with Shrat's bongos, while the rest of the band pulls off a nicely heroic rock piece that never sounds too inflated or stupid, with appropriately nutty vocal breaks and interjections along the way -- the sublime and the ridiculous never sounded so good together. "Henriette Krotenschwanz" ends the first side with a brief choral military march (if you will). The title track takes up the remainder of the album, a complex piece which never loses a sense of fun while always staying musically compelling. After a quiet start, the opening minutes consist of a variety of drones and noises constantly brought up and down in the mix, leading to a full band performance that builds and skips along with restrained fuzz power. Everything builds to a sudden climax halfway through, where all the members play a series of melodies in unison, while drums pound in the background. After a quick violin solo, everything settles into a fine percussion jam, with the full band kicking in shortly thereafter. With Karrer's crazed vocals showing where Mark E. Smith got some good ideas from, Phallus gets the Düül II career off to a flying start. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Kanaan	Amon Düül	Amon Düül	(4:02)
Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren	Amon Düül	Amon Düül	(6:12)
Luzifers Ghilom	Amon Düül	Amon Düül	(8:34)
Henriette Krötenschwanz	Amon Düül	Amon Düül	(2:03)
Phallus Dei	Amon Düül	Amon Düül	(20:47)

Credits

Shrat (Violin), Christian Strat Thiele (Vocals), Olaf Kubler (Producer), John Weinzierl (Guitar), Shrat (Percussion), Dave Anderson (Bass), Dieter Serfas (Drums), Chris Karrer (Vocals), Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz (Percussion), John Weinzierl (Sax (Soprano)), John Weinzierl (Bass), Chris Karrer (Guitar), John Weinzierl (Vocals), Peter Leopold (Drums), Chris Karrer (Saxophone), Karl Heinz Hausmann (?), Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz (Drums), Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz (Tambourine), Lothar Meid (Keyboards), Shrat (Vocals), Falk U. Rogner (Keyboards), H.J. Simon (Liner Notes), Falk U. Rogner (Bass), Dieter Serfas (Percussion), Danny Secundus Fichelscher (Drums), Christian Strat Thiele (Violin), Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz (Vocals), Peter Leopold (Percussion)

• Genres: Rock
• Representative Albums: "Adorations

Biography

Phallus Dei are a German industrial band tinged with dark Gothic romanticism on the one hand and a trashy fascination with sex and violence on the other. The band released its first homemade cassette in Germany in 1988; over the years, they built up a following in Europe with five albums and a CD-ROM single. In 1997, the group saw their first U.S. domestic release with the best-of compilation Adorations. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Adorations Buy this CD

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