Yeti was always a going to a beast. The cover is fearsome, so understandable that it also forms the cover of the book. After reading the book, it was clear that this was one of those records to track down, and that it would form a pivotal point in understanding Krautrock and the power it contained. Being of limited resources though meant that it was very difficult to locate however. In the end, in one of those rare moments of weirdness I think I eventually found it in the Virgin in the Galleries in Bristol. In my younger days, and pre-internet, I thought nothing of spending each weekend trawling every record shop in Bristol for something I was after - including the major high street chains. This was a generally a fruitless process but occasionally it paid off: Pointless Walks to Dismal Places in Our Price of all places, a copy of Hex Enduction Hour in Virgin, and then the wondrous and mysterious Yeti, also in the same Virgin.
I think my copy is a french CD, that used to have an image of the band in the middle page, which I swiftly removed and stuck on my wall and has since been lost to the ages. I think that this is one of the records which I just got straight away, and it's effect was immediate - much more significant than Phallus Dei or anything else up to that point. It is accessible and whilst it doesn't contain much subtlety in the way that other records on the list do it is pretty awesome.
To some extent it retains the pissing about present on Phallus Dei, but it's a little more restrained and more effectively used. It also opens up a side of the band that would never really be seen again and like a lot of the great Krautrock records is a game of two halves (though given that's a double album, it's actually a game of four quarters).
A suite starts everything off: Soap Shop Rock, formed from four tracks: Burning Sister, Halluzination Guillotine, Gulp A Sonata and Flesh Coloured Anti Aircraft Alarm. From the off it's a wack of fuzz, drums and wailing - there's probably a Melody Nelson type story present in the suite but it goes well over my head. Then a stop gap in the form of She Came in Through the Chimney, which is a pleasant bit of whimsy that, on it's own, would not be of any consequence. Here, though, it's a bridge between the complexity of the suite and the track that follows. Archangel's Thunderbird is the character of the record: Huge walls of bass fuzz and drums and fairly bonkers lyrics about said Thunderbird. Functionally available as a 45 (with Burning Sister on the flip side) it is a huge psych tune and whilst not really characteristic of Krautrock in general, nor not really of Amon Duul 2 it's what you imagine that this music should sound like.
The record continues in a reflective manner, following from the fuzz. There's less lyrics which is a good thing, as it restrains the tendency for stupidity to ensue. A few really good tracks follow Thunderbird, which are shadows but are functional nonetheless. After that it's into the traditional side long track which is actively described as an Improvisation on the sleeve. It's a bit more structured and consistent than Phallus Dei but has a little less drive. Following that, another long song in a similar vein before the whole thing ends on a collaboration with a couple of people from Amon Duul 1. This is another mellow reflective thing that's more Paradieswaarts than Psychedelic Underground.
So all in all, this is a huge record that I still feel that I'm getting to grips with. It's length, and the size of the first half of the record in comparison to the second means that I would often focus on the fuzz tracks rather than the longer ones, probably to my detriment. In a similar vein it took me about a month to listen to Moyshe McStiff beyond the first three tracks as I just kept rewinding to the beginning. It's characteristic of how you imagine Amon Duul 2 should sound rather than how they generally sound. It is a good record but perhaps a little of sore thumb amongst the other stuff - Amon Duul 2 always felt a bit more like a proper band to me, rather than the other Krautrock groups who always sounded like they existed outside of standard music. I love the story about Cope calling his mates "Yeti" in honour of the album and always wanted to do that myself but never found anyone else who shared the same desire for off the wall nicknames.
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