The Song of Songs

“Florian was more interested in how, over the history of mankind, people gathered over religious lifestyles and then created music. And so he studied Buddhism, Hinduism, he also studied the Bible.”

Out of all the groups active in Germany in the so-called ‘krautrock’ scene of the late 60s into the 70s, Popol Vuh were the most mysterious and enigmatic. With their exploration of the transcendental in electronic and acoustic music they had little overlap with rock, and stylistically found themselves set apart from their peers. The group’s founder and sole constant member, keyboard player Florian Fricke, was musically active until his death in 2001, but he had rarely been interviewed for the UK music press and many releases flew under the radar.

But now BMG are beginning a reissue campaign with The Essential Album Collection Vol. 1 on CD and vinyl box sets, remastered by Frank Fiedler from the original line-up and latterday Popol Vuh member Guido Hieronymus.

An image had formed around Fricke of a shadowy, almost hieratic figure, inhabiting a rarefied creative space in which he