To get an idea of how each album was structured, I´m going to seperate the tracklists into their original sides on vinyl, and use this sophisticated coding:
(S) = short, less than 5 mins : (A) = average, which for ADII is 5 to 15 mins : (L)= long, 15+ mins, or one side of the original vinyl release
(And if your tastes coincide at all with mine, this might be useful:
italics = tracks I put into a personal “Best of ADII” file )
Phallus Dei (1969)
1. Kanaan (S) – rumbling Western-movie sound with sparkling sitar and inscrutable vocals mixed in
2. Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren (A) – whatever else there may be in this track, the tongue-in-cheek scary vocals are just too annoying.
3. Luzifers Ghilom (A) – starts well, but again the vocals (which at one point imitate a style from India) spoiled this track for me.
4. Henriette Krötenschwanz (S) – military rhythm with soaring vocals from Renate on top. Nice, but too short to be more than a curiosity
5. Phallus Dei (L) – rhythm kicks in after an extended freeform intro and it just builds from there. The pace changes for various sections; “tribal” chants and some great elec violin playing
Yeti (1970)
1. Soap Shop Rock (A) – a lot of effort from bass and percussion; they rev the engine but never quite take flight.
2. She Came Through the Chimney (S) – intricate guitar and violin with just bongos for percussion, this benefits from being so different from the previous, but it’s frustratingly short.
3. Archangels Thunderbird (S) – best elements of AD squeezed into 1 track; pulsing guitars and Renate’s clear confident voice riding over it all. Apparently a fan favorite and rightly so.
4. Cerberus (S) – instrumental with acoustic guitar and bongos transitioning into full band towards the end.
5. The Return of Ruebezahl (S) – a strong elec guitar riff carries this instrumental
6. Eye-Shaking King (A) – grungy rock, distorted vocals, excellent guitar solo
7. Pale Gallery (S) – lumbering bass takes us through some echoey high-register noises. Could’ve been longer imo, but perhaps it’s supposed to act as a warm up for:-
8. Yeti (improvisation) (L) – wailing guitar, extended jam; understandably compared to Floyd’s live Ummagumma disc
9. Yeti Talks to Yogi (improvisation) (A) – more “Yeti”, but this section seems less inspired – or perhaps it’s just too much of the same at this point
10. Sandoz in the Rain (improvisation) (A) – acoustic/flute jam with guy contributing some hard-to-follow lyrics.This is AD in their prog-folk guise, but it’s all a little directionless to me