Carnival in Babylon disappoints me somewhat. When I heard it was more song-oriented and structurally “normal” than the other more “jammy” albums surrounding it, I got excited. I expected an album full of focused freakouts like “Archangels Thunderbird” off Yeti. Babylon even features female vocalist Renate Knaup-Kroetenschwanz more, even. Hell of a last name, by the way.

Unfortunately, this album is not only more traditional song-wise, but in attitude as well. This is the more relaxed side of Amon Düül II. The vocals are sung more normally instead of sounding insane, and the music is more folk-based this time around, featuring more acoustic instruments—though there’s still too much electric guitar rocking for it to be considered a folk record.

Not as manic as I would have wanted, but I still consider it a good listen and I think it’s better than its rating on RateYourMusic reflects. Carnival in Babylon does set up a really great atmosphere, providing the same eastern desert imagery that Yeti does. “Sandoz in the Rain” off that album does it much better than any song here does in my opinion. Still, if you want more of that, then this is very much for you. Carnival in Babylon remains a strange-sounding album for the most part—just not strange enough. But like many of Amon Düül II’s albums, I definitely want to listen to it more in the future.