Werner Herzog’s 1972 film Aguirre, The Wrath Of God was the first collaboration between the famed director and Popol Vuh. Florian Fricke was approached by old friend Herzog to do the soundtrack for his third movie. Three years later, in 1975, after the international success of Herzog’s film, Popol Vuh issued the LP Aguirre. It featured material recorded for the movie plus some other songs. Some of them recorded prior to 1975 – the Aguirre soundtrack ones, of course, plus there is the presence of the big Moog from Popol Vuh’s early albums, and also contains Morgengruss II, an update of the Morgengruss song that had prevously appeared on Ensjäger Und Siebenjäger. “Popol Vuh’s “hypnotic music” for Aguirre met with considerable acclaim. Roger Ebert wrote, “The music sets the tone. It is haunting, ecclesiastical, human and yet something else… The music is crucial to Aguirre, the Wrath of God…”
