Popol Vuh
For You and Me

THE REVIEW

Not everyone knows that Florian Fricke was also a film producer of a series of spiritual-themed films, giving him the opportunity to undertake numerous journeys to the Far East and beyond: destinations like Israel, Nepal, Tibet, Mount Sinai, and Lebanon, to name a few.
Let's focus on Tibet because it is from the mystical region of Shangri-La that the inspiration for this new album probably originates, or at least for the most part.

Timeline set in the year 1991, Popol Vuh are no longer quite what they used to be. Certainly, for the long-time followers, these years have been and still are a real shock, but, as I have already mentioned on another occasion, this shift in sound has nonetheless borne its very good fruits.
Productions are becoming less and less frequent, in fact, the last album dates back to 1987 with the soundtrack for Werner Herzog's "Cobra Verde," but for an actual release, one has to go back to the New Age masterpiece "Spirit Of Peace," 1985.

And it is precisely from the early pure New Age experiments of the latter that the journey resumes with "For You And Me."
Excellent production and recording, the listening of the amalgam of voices and instruments is very pleasant, but what stands out most upon listening is the extreme modernization of the Popol Vuh sound, in a truly sudden way, thanks to the "discovery," or rather, the novelty of some technologies in the music field of those last years.
To put it bluntly, if their name were not written on the cover, they would be completely unrecognizable; although upon first listening, you might still ask yourself: "But didn't they swap the CD?"

Apart from recognizability and contrary to what one might think, this is truly a very good product labeled PV.
It is very appreciable that each track (it seems) is bound by a single silk thread, making the listening a healing journey through the unfolding of different vibrations and emotions evoked by the meditative trance released by the various sounds offered to us.

From the title-track "For You And Me" you start to breathe that scent of freedom and simple joy that goes hand in hand with the acoustic guitars, female voices, and percussion; emotions that then continue with a slight nostalgic vein in "Little Bazaari", still founded on acoustic guitars and choirs, but with a much more oriental tone and among the likely highest points of the entire musical journey.
But the spiritual calm ignites in the numbers of "Wind Of The Stars In Their Eyes", guided by the sound of a Celtic harp, and "Compassion", the track closest to the "old style."
There is also room for a remastered version of "Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte" (from the homonymous album of 1976), here re-entitled "When Love Is Calling You".

And so I come back to the Tibet discourse, on which the entire second part of the album is based, with an arrangement by Fricke and company of one of the most known and recited mantras in the world, "Om Mani Padme Hum", particularly important in Tibetan Buddhism and other currents.
It is divided into a total of 4 parts but can also be listened to freely in single parts, as all four have a different atmosphere.

Now it's up to you to decide what to do, I recommend it, but you are all completely free to keep the Popol Vuh of the '70s without resentment.