Put simply, "Hijack"(1974) is a masterpiece of 70's German progressive rock. Yet within both the realm of Krautrock and Amon Duul 2's discography it is often overlooked or has been forgotten. This occurred for several reasons. First, throughout the 90s and 00's it has not consistently been in print on CD. For awhile, the Garden of Delights reissue was quite a pricey item. Second, when it comes to "critical acclaim" and historiography AMON DUUL 2's early LPs are most often examined and spoke of(for good reason). AMON DUUL 2 just exploded onto the German(and quickly the international) underground rock scene in the late-60s. "Phallus Dei"(1969), "Yeti"(1970), "Tanz Der Lemminge"(1971) were wildly anarchic LPs, unlike anything heard before and gave the group instant status as one of the founding bands of the Krautrock movement and also prog-rock/space-rock pioneers. Their next two LPs(both released in 1972) "Carnival In Babylon" and "Wolf City" showed the band slightly refining their sound and focusing a bit more on individual songs rather than long improvisational pieces. This continued on 1973'a "Viva La Trance" LP an album which combined almost radio friendly pieces with highly spaced-out prog explorations. It is the '69-'73 period which is widely considered to be AMON DUUL 2's most important period. While this period certainly IS both important and wonderful, many critics and some fans almost act as if the band broke up in '73! By 1974, the year "Hijack" was released, the Krautrock movement was not new news and elsewhere in Europe some already felt that prog rock had run its course. Reviews of albums by many prog rock bands began to suffer as new movements such as glam rock(in the UK), and the nascent heavy metal scene began to draw attention. This is unfortunate, because in the world of AMON DUUL 2, they were beginning a new excursion which would last until near the end of the 70's. In many ways one could call 74's "Hijack" LP the first album of a new era for AMON DUUL 2. In some ways it was, in many it wasn't. The band had not changed their sound fundamentally, nor undergone radical personnel change. They had however, even further refined their songwriting ski