Future Sound Experience

They Say...

Review by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Issued just three weeks after Florian Fricke's (who was Popol Vuh) death after a stroke, this one, by the look of the package, might seem to be a dubious paste-up job. It's not, however, and had been planned for issue by Fricke with England's Mystic label (who has been re-releasing older Popol Vuh material as well as new). The original version of Future Sound Experience was recorded in 1993, well into Popol Vuh's new age period. And while it enjoyed a very limited release at the time, the reissue is in many ways a brand new recording. Fricke recorded new segues between each track, making the entire disk one long river of sound. In addition, his mix is far more eerie and otherworldly than his consciously new age recordings. There is not only drift here, but movement, and a seeming randomness where acoustic guitars are layered over washes of oceanic sound, stripped back single-note electric guitars drawing their sustain into the wash over this, and gorgeous tow-handed piano chords flitting about the background linking it all together. The most important thing, however, is that it features (very) extended -- and perhaps definitive -- re-recordings of classic '70s-era Popol Vuh tracks like "Gutes Land," "Kleiner Krieger," and "Morgengruss" (from the Einsjäger & Siebenjäger A Soldier and Seven Soldiers album). There are choruses, phones ringing almost inaudibly in the background, dreamy six-string interludes, and fragmentary sounds blending in a mix that has been remastered to perfection. This was a fine send-off for Fricke and proved that when he was looking to, he could conjure more power from simple musical elements than virtually any of his peers. Highly recommended.