Amon Duul Reviews Part Twelve: Amon Duul II’s “Almost Alive…And Feeling Fine”

What the hell?!

1) One Blue Morning; 2) Good Bye My Love; 3) Ain’t Today Tomorrow’s Yesterday; 4) Hallelujah; 5) Feeling Un­easy; 6) Live In Jericho.

4 out of 10

“Amon Duul II” continue their slide into complete irrelevancy with this album. The line-up had stabilized around the same line-up that produced “Pyragony X” the year before. Naturally, the sound of the album has changed considerably. For that reason, “Amon Dull II” can be slightly praised. But the point they gained for the unpredictable change of their sound is lost by…the change of their sound.

The album brings in a few more outside sources into the band’s sound, none of which are good. Gone are the attempts at boogying and bluesing. Instead, the band seems to want to compete with…Parliament. Yes, the band suddenly decided their new direction was going to include funk. Seriously.

This helps explain the lower number of songs: increased running time. However, this isn’t generally because the band is exploring multiple moods, melodies and complex structures. No, the band is “grooving” as much as it pains me to say it. The band almost becomes disco at various points throughout the album.

A fan of the band (and of art rock in general) may argue “wouldn’t you rather hear Amon Duul II do funk and disco, as opposed to Parliament or the Bee Gees?” No way: the style of funk here is way too stiff, way too “white” (yes, compared even to the Bee Gees) to actually syncopate well enough to be catchy and exciting.

Songs like “Hallelujah,” “One Blue Morning” and “Good Bye My Love” simply don’t work. They last way, way too long and explore too few ideas. To compensate for their lack of funk chops, the band seems to bring in an atmosphere of arena rock (of all things!) instead the sound. Imagine that: combining, say, Foreigner, with the hot new sounds of Donna Summer. Just imagine it. Let it sink in your mind for a few moments before attempting to track down this album.

When the band isn’t trying to make you dance, they’re trying to make you “feel” which may actually be a much scarier proposition for the band with this new sound. “Ain’t Today Tomorrow’s Yesterday,” hideous title aside, is the band trying to create a great progressive rock ballad. In 1977. How embarrassing. And it’s completely a triumph of style of substance: wild pianos, strings, choirs, synthesizers, epic vocals and ecstatic guitar solos are all simply a case of a pig in lipstick of the song’s melodic potential.

“Feeling Uneasy” isn’t nearly as pompous but should hardly be mentioned. In the past, the band could have enlivened the song with a dark atmosphere, odd instrumental textures and a dramatic, operatic performance from Renate. Here, it chumps along until its over, no emotions having been touched and no melodies having been implanted into the brain.

Old school fans may get their rocks off to “Live in Jericho” as it is 12 minutes long and finds the band trying to improvise. However, this version of the band simply lacks the chemistry to make this truly compelling. Would the original band have featured a drum solo in any song (correct me if I’m wrong) let alone START A TRACK WITH ONE? The keyboard and guitar solos are barely worth mentioning; the former masters of atmospheric jamming sound more like a bad jazz fusion group, trying to out Jeff Jeff Beck. Beck was never this self indulgent.

This album is a major drop off from “Pyragony X” in every single way. Sure, the songs are longer and the structures and melodies are more complex and less generic. But the melodies, structures and arrangements aren’t even catchy, let alone memorable. The atmosphere of the album couldn’t sound less artificial if it tried. “Almost Alive” is a perfect title for an album that seems to want to soar but which can’t even get its feet off the ground.

Who in this band thought combining generic arena rock with stiff white funk would help sell more records? I mean at this point that’s really the only goal they could have had right? The band didn’t actually think this junk was artistically valid did they?

I find it hard to believe that the band had released an album as great as “Made in Germany” only two years before this one astonishing. Yes, there were band member changes but the majority of the band stayed. This can only mean the band had suffered a complete loss of taste and decency that was basically permanent.

And you know what? It even gets worse with the next album: say what you will about the last two albums but they were hardly completely generic. The next album goes that route with bad songwriting and embarrassing arrangement atrocities.