''Affenstunde'' ("Hour of the Monkey") is the first album by German band

Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Q ...

. Originally released in 1970 in Germany by

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

Records, it has been reissued several times by various international labels. The 2004 German SPV edition features one previously unreleased bonus track. It is a notable early example of the

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

being used for the production and composition of original music.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called it "an auspicious debut, which holds up wonderfully in the 21st century." '' Perfect Sound Forever'' described ''Affenstunde'' as "a landmark electronic album" that "also doesn't have the timeless quality of many of their later works".

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...

described it as "a debut album of incredible sounds and sensations that were unlike anything prior to its existence".

David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early Eighties was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of Simon Reynolds. The two were part of the Oxfor ...

described the album as sounding "otherworldly, beguiling, perhaps precisely because of its 'datedness', its raw technological naïveté".

Track listing

All tracks by Popol Vuh except track number 4 by

Florian Fricke Florian Fricke (23 February 1944 – 29 December 2001) was a German musician who started his professional career with electronic music using the Moog synthesizer within the krautrock group Popol Vuh. His music and that of the band however soon e ...

. # "Ich mache einen Spiegel – Dream Part 4" – 8:44 # "Ich mache einen Spiegel – Dream Part 5" – 4:41 # "Ich mache einen Spiegel – Dream Part 49" – 7:43 # "Affenstunde" – 18:30 ;2004 Bonus track

"Train Through Time" – 10:30

Personnel

–

*Holger Trülzsch –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Frank Fiedler – Synthesizer mixdown *Bettina Fricke –

cover design Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

s (un-credited)

References

External links

''Affenstunde'' at Venco.com.pl
{{Authority control Popol Vuh (band) albums 1970 albums Liberty Records albums SPV GmbH albums Albums produced by Gerhard Augustin