Amon Düül II
Journey Into A Dream (Viaggio in un sogno)

THE REVIEW

Journey into a Dream - Viaggio in un sogno holds a special place in my heart as it was the first album by Amon Düül II that I purchased. It was the Italian edition of Tanz Der Lemminge (or Dance Of The Lemmings as it is perhaps better known), and I was immediately struck by the spaceship depicted once the vinyl cover was opened. It was truly the prelude to a mental journey into deep space through music. Listening to the album will fulfill these promises. Viaggio in un sogno is monumental and follows Yeti, the most important European rock album of the '70s. Despite its cumbersome predecessor, it manages to be on the same level, even though it is a different album. However, we don't find the great Renate Knaup (she will return in Carnival In Babylon) nor Dave Anderson (who leaves with the Hawkwind).

The sounds are electro-acoustic and decidedly veer towards the improvisations of Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead, combined with "stockhausenian" experiments and a typical dark, fairytale-like German touch. The 2 suites on the first side "Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies" and "Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child" are acidic and psychedelic: it's like listening to the crazy and dark version of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother. But the most evocative and grim moment of the album is the grand "Marylin Monroe-Memorial-Church" in which the buried ghosts that populate our subconscious manifest, and the spirits of Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft are evoked. The music is abstract, cosmic, avant-garde and, in my opinion, surpasses the very Pink Floyd of A Saucerful Of Secrets for its clear madness and creativity. It is the sound of the Cosmic Void that is evoked by Amon Düül II! Still under the hypnotic effect of this track, we are awakened by the energetic and Germanic rock of “Chewingum Telegram.” The finale with "Stumblig Over Melted Moonlight" and "Toxicological Whispering" is instead in the vein of calmer yet always lysergic sounds.

This closing chapter of the incredible first triptych is for me the best of Amon Düül II. The group will still manage to release some last resounding blows such as Carnival In Babylon (a little weak but still good) and especially Wolf City, and partly, “Vive la Trance.” Then there will be darkness, although some ideas occasionally emerge from mediocrity as in Made In Germany.