Amon Düül ll's extraordinary 1973 album finds the influential German art rock band working surprisingly well in a short song format while still stamping the music with their unique sound. "Fly United," "Trap," and "Ladies Mimikry" show diverse styles of pop and rock running happily into each other with memorably quirky results. The instrumentation here is as quirky as ever,too -- perhaps even more so than usual, with
Chris Karrer's violin and sax playing now in the fore. The melodies are often shimmering. Unfortunately, the band never again sustained the excellence displayed on
Viva la Trance again. ~ Nick Burton