CAN

I haven't heard this record until a couple of months ago, I saw a video of Can playing "Vernal equinox" alive and I got really amazed by that song, so I decided to give "Landed" a try, not their best record but actually a very interesting one, I have to say. Almost every Progressive Rock band had to change its style to a more commercial one in order to survive to the demands of the music industry; "Landed" was the incursion of Can in this commercial field: except for "Vernal equinox" and "Unfinished", the songs on this album are totally oriented to average Rock fans, obviously keeping a bit of their most classic style but in general terms: the songs are shorter than in any other Can album, lots of lyrics, silly and not very deep mantric riffs. The percussions in "Red hot Indians" are very folky, but that goes to the drain with the hideous sax filling the entire piece. I said this album is a very interesting one, but interesting doesn't necessarily mean good, it is interesting because of the change of musical direction the band took, but musically, this is merely acceptable.

SONG RATING: Full Moon on the highway, 3 Half-past one, 3 Hunters and collectors, 3 Vernal equinox, 4 Red hot Indians, 3 Unfinished, 4

AVERAGE: 3.33

PERCENTAGE: 66.67

ALBUM RATING: 3 stars

This was actually the first album of Can that I've ever heard and, back in those days, I totally fell in love with it; I used to listen to it every single day and when I finally bought my CD copy I felt as if I had found the Holy Grail but that was twelve years ago when I was just taking baby steps into the fields of Prog and I was much easier to impress. Comparing this album with the absolute masterpieces of Can ("Tago Mago", "Future days" and "Monster movie"), "Soon over babaluma" gives the feeling that something's missing, maybe it is Damo Suzuki's vocals or maybe it is a very intense jamming section.

Some of the most futuristic moments in Can's discography came from "Soon over babaluma"; the album actually feels like the soundtrack of a science fiction movie, the ambient music that the band developed in "Future days" took a darker path and the instrumental sections took even more presence. The selection of rhythms is very varied: "Come sta la luna?" for example, brings an almost tango music with Michael Karoli's violin, a very avant-garde tango anyway, since its dark atmosphere creates an interesting contrast of textures. "Splash" is a very acid instrumental piece, while "Chain reaction" explodes into a very energic sung tune that has almost a proto-punk vibe. "Dizzy Dizzy" sounds like a very underground jazz fusion band exploring the paths of darky melodies and "Quantum physics" flirts with the Electronic school of Can's paisanos Tangerine Dream.

I do not consider this an indispensable masterpiece as I used to when I first discover it and as I still do with "Tago Mago" and "Future days", but man! This is still a terrific album.

SONG RATING: Dizzy, Dizzy, 4 Come sta la luna? 4 Splash, 5 Chain reaction, 5 Quantum physics, 4

AVERAGE: 4.4

PERCENTAGE: 88

ALBUM RATING: 4 stars

When the musicians know what they're doing, very organic and minimalistic music is enough to make a masterpiece, extremely complexity is not always needed. After a very average album such as "Ege bamyasi", Can came back to the long-lengthed pieces but this time they were not full of chaotic madness as "Peking O" and "Halleluhwah", actually the music on this album is much more organic and less energic; "Future days" was the last Can album featuring Damo Suzuki but actually, his contribution to this record wasn't as crucial as he did in previous albums, actually, this record could have been entirely instrumental (and it almost is) and it would have still been great.

The opening track is the almost ambient music track "Future days", its rhythm is extremely relaxed, it could pass as music for an elevator with no problem; very calm percussions and a repetitive bass note is what it has to offer, it is a perfect example of how good a song can be with such few elements. "Spray" flirts with the most psychedelic and spacey sounds of the album, its introduction is filled with very intense percussions and keyboards, reaching the end the speed of the percussions increases and the guitar replaces keyboards with a very subtle collection of patterns; probably this is the most similar to "Tago Mago" they made on this record.

"Moonshake" is great, it is the shortest track on the album but it is also the most direct, being not a very extended piece, and with easy-to-follow lyrics, it is probably the most accessible track. The almost 20-minute closing track "Bel Air" is absolutely tremendous, the rhythm doesn't change a lot through its entireness but it really doesn't need it, the song goes and goes with a very natural flow that enerves when it needs it, and then it switches back to the calm mood, the simplicity of the piece its what gives its greatness.

SONG RATING: Future days, 5 Spray, 5 Moonshake, 4 Bel Air, 5

AVERAGE: 4.75

PERCENTAGE: 95

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #54 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

I was nicely surprised when I found out this album was included in the most recent edition of Rolling Stone Magazine's list of 500 best albums of all time, so it was Yes' "Close to the edge" but so it was Daddy Yankee's "Barrio fino" so, as always, Rolling Stone Magazine can't be taken seriously; however, it was a nice surprise to see "Ege bamyasi" on the list, even when it is probably the last of their albums that I would include in such list.

This is not a bad record, it is important to clarify that, the songs included in "Ege bamyasi" have very nice jammings but this is not on the highest level of their creativity as "Tago Mago" was, the same amount of songs in half of the LP's tells us how brief and, I'd dare to describe as, incomplete the songs are.

Further than "Vitamin C" and "Spoon", the songs on this record are totally average, not bad but definitely not unforgettable masterpieces; the classic Krautrock patterns are present on the whole release but with a tremendous lack of experimentation. Anyway, this is not as poor as "Soundtracks" since in here the songs are full tracks. Very entertaining album but not indispensable at all.

I am deeply sad of seeing how underrated this true masterpiece is in ProgArchives; if you go right now to this website's TOP 100 you're not going to find "Tago Mago", not even if you use the filter of only albums from the seventies, but, to be fair, not only "Tago Mago" but the entire Can and Krautrock discography, in general, is absolutely underrated, what a shame.

I do believe this is a remarkable album: after Malcolm Mooney left the group and Damo Suzuki took the role of the definitive singer of the band, he definitely put a very unique touch to the style of the group. While the musicians (Jaki Liebezeit, Irmin Schmidt, Holger Czukay, and Michael Karoli) worked on creating the most acid and experimental musical passages, Suzuki provided the group with a very relaxed but still firm way of singing.

The album starts with "Paperhouse": a seven-minute very relaxed track (at first) that works as a great opening, at around minute three, the rhythm starts to go faster and stronger, only to make a drastic change when the second piece starts. "Mushroom" is probably the slower piece on the album, the music relaxes itself a bit after the end of "Paperhouse", Michael Karoli's guitar is hypnotic on this track. "Oh yeah" is a very fast piece based on rhythmic drumming, Damo Suzuki brings originality to the piece with his native Japanese lyrics.

The B-side is the first of three long acid pieces: "Halleluhwah", which is a very funky piece with unstoppable drums, similar to their first long epic "Yoo Doo Right" but with a much more moved rhythm. The C-side of the record includes only "Aumgn", the longest track on the album, this piece includes very folky acoustic arrangements with percussions at the beginning, similar to some Amon Düül II pieces, then it changes to an absolute mantric piece full of the incessant Aumgn mantra repeating itself until reaching a very obscure ambient closed with very aggressive drums at the end.

On the last side of the LP, there are two pieces: "Peking O" and "Bring me coffee or tea". "Peking O" is pure psychedelic madness, not at all similar to anything else I've heard. The album reaches its climax with this extremely chaotic piece. "Bring me coffee or tea" is a very relaxing way to close such an energic album: it is a track mostly based on acoustic guitar and quiet percussions.

This album has it all that is needed to be considered a full masterpiece of Progressive Rock music: excellent drumming, guitar solos, strong bass lines, and lots and lots of unprecedented experimentation.

SONG RATING: Paperhouse, 5 Mushroom, 5 Oh yeah, 5 Halleluhwah, 5 Aumgn, 5 Peking O, 5 Bring me coffee or tea, 5

AVERAGE: 5

PERCENTAGE: 100

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #21 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

This is actually a very interesting record in Can's discography: the only album in which we have both singers Malcolm Mooney and Damo Suzuki (alternate, not together). Being this a compilation of soundtrack music, some of the songs are incomplete (A-side), the only song that was complete was "She brings the rain", which I like very much but is probably the least similar to the classic Krautrock music Can usually offers in their albums. "Mother sky" would be an excellent track if its middle section wasn't so long (I know, this is Prog so the songs tend to be long but I prefer the ones that offer more rehearsed music than improvisation) and if it had a concise ending. This is in the very same level of Pink Floyd's "More", just a very average album nice enough to be part of a film (or several in this case). Not an indispensable material.

SONG RATING: Deadlock, 3 Tango whiskyman, 3 Deadlock (instrumental), 3 Don't turn the light on, leave me alone, 4 Soul desert, 4 Mother sky, 4 She brings the rain, 4

AVERAGE: 3.57

PERCENTAGE: 71.4

ALBUM RATING: 3 stars

Directly from the realm of German Krautrock. Can was absolutely one of the most iconic bands of this particular musical movement: the material offered by this German quintet was absolutely fantastic, their notorious influences in American British Psychedelic Rock were just the base over which they built a very unique and original selection of songs.

The opening "Father cannot yell" is a very aggressive piece, it's a weird mix between the Proto-Punk music of Iggy Pop's Stooges and the Psychedelic jamming of Pink Floyd early records; Holger Czukay's dominant fuzzy bass and Michael Karoli's unstoppable guitar riff give the energy to the song while Jaki Liebezeit's drums and Irmin Schmidt's keyboards give it the first rays of spacey jamming. Malcolm Mooney introduces himself singing in a very strong way but he doesn't need to explode in deep screaming as a Hard Rock singer like Ian Gillan or Robert Plant, he just foalts over the music very naturally.

"Mary, Mary so contrary" changes the mood of the record: the atmosphere turns to a more relaxed and sometimes even depressing with some of the most concise guitar riffs of the album. "Outside my door" sounds almost as a Van Morrison's Them song but, as you can guess, Can's jamming is absolutely unique.

The album closes with the 20-minute epic "Yoo Doo Right", a mantric piece that becomes hypnotic through its unchangeable rhythm, something very common in Krautrock releases launched after this pioneer album. This is such a great record, and definitely, one of those pillar albums that were crucial in the development of a whole new musical style. Masterpiece!!

SONG RATING: Father cannot yell, 5 Mary Mary so contrary, 5 Outside my door, 4 Yoo Doo Right, 5

AVERAGE: 4.75

PERCENTAGE: 95

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album # 59 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

This particular recording comes from 1975. Can had slimmed down to the core quartet of Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit and Schmidt in 1973, and had released Soon Over Babaluma in 1974 and Landed at around the time of this performance. Can's concerts were completely improvised, although familiar themes from their albums would occasionally emerge; on this occasion a couple of fragments from Soon Over Babaluma can be heard, and the overall feel is generally closer to that album than, say, Tago Mago. The five tracks are numbered rather than named, ranging in length from about 10 to 36 minutes.

And what of the music? At this stage in their career Can had a near telepathic interplay that enabled them to conjure spontaneous compositions out of thin air. Jaki Liebezeit plays some powerhouse grooves that drive the music forward, but his drum patterns constantly evolve rather than settling down to give a backbeat while the others take solos. Michael KarolI weaves intricate patterns all over the fretboard and is often the melodic lead. On closer listening Holger Czukay, whose metronomic 2 note basslines are in perfect sync with the drums, occasionally cuts loose and pushes the band to a harmonic shift. Irmin Schmidt provides washes of sound and some very nimble arpeggios on his keyboards (which I don't think included any synths at this point) but also takes the melodic lead at times. It's very much a collective work by four musical equals who listened to each other, the room and to any music floating in the ether.

The sound quality is very good for a mid 70s bootleg, and credit is due to longtime Can sound engineer Renee Tinner for polishing this up. This is a very promising start to Can's bootleg series, and is strongly recommended.

The one thing that we know about this album, was that CAN was at their prime, after having 2 of their folks study with Karlheinz Stockhausen, one other member had played jazz, and the other ... well ... I think we know him as a guitar nut and all the terms that fit.

Holger has specially stated that TAGO MAGO was put together from about 20 hours of tapes and the putting together was not specifically designed at all, but that some things stood out. There is something here, that is valuable and important for study ... and it is that the early "krautrock" days mode of continuous improvisation with no end in sight, or rhyme or reason, was not enough and the 20 hours must have felt like that, and the thought is that some of the moments in these improvisations, of which the two long cuts show Damo and the band in a very well tuned thing, but at that point ... it may have been that the folks decided that they could take some moments from the improvisations and improve, or extend on it, and the rest of the album is probably the result.

What you get is something that is very different and unusual, and you get to see Damo go nuts and crazy and simply help make this album the amazing trip that it is.

I'm not sure that many folks really understand the ability and use of "improvisation" in music, and any other arts, and if there was somewhere where they really went after it, it would have been the Germans, and it can be seen in various areas, not just rock music. Theater had its own, with someone like Peter Handke, and then you could see the same thing in acting with Klaus Kinski ... and many rock fans can not make the connections between the similarities of the work, and I'm positive that in the end, even Klaus Kinski realized that his own improvisations (madness to an incredible extent) had to somehow help define the characterizations of what he was doing, but they were not going to be what Werner Herzog wanted ... they were going to be what came out and took place ... the main reason for it that Werner simply could not turn the camera off when he stepped into that arena ... and it was all the time! Now you can imagine how a rock band can do this ... although many of them have a tendency to think that an improvisation is for the sole benefit of finding a rhythm, or a bit or piece that they can extend. The one thing that theater helps with here, is that these can also be taken to improve the ability of the members to work together and better. And this is visible here, even if the thought is that Holger simply cut things up as he felt like it, when I think it was obvious that he had a mind for the organization of music and composing, but what he was hearing was changing the tone and style of "the westernization of music" ... and he proceeded as he felt, to put together what probably is considered the ultimate "krautrock" album, although my thoughts are that this is not the only one, but a show of things that can be done, and they show, CLEARLY, how much improvisation had helped them and the band. Remember that they picked up Damo Suzuki from the streets where he was busking for a couple of coins anywhere he could. The improvisations, in there, are often a repetition of some things the person has done, but Holger must have seen something different, and it was important for CAN for the next several years, when sadly, Damo had not quite changed, or improved with his work, which I think, to him, meant end up singing things in a more conventional mode, which I imagine that he was not interested in, and the improvisations and free form were more to his liking.

In this album, AUMGN, and HELLELUHWAH come off as the really large improvisations that kinda stand up on their own. They are vastly different, which allows you an idea of what the band found and what they had to work with, but something clicked in these. The first LP (original was 2 LP's) also had PAPERHOUSE, OH YEAH. Compared to the two improvisations these were more conventional. The 2nd LP had BRING ME COFFEE OR TEA, MUSHROOM, PEKING O, and the other improvisation.

The one thing to remember here is what learning could have come from two of these members having come from music school ... one from the street, one guitar kid and one from a jazz medium. And how these folks ended up together and made something so special and valuable, that in many ways is a nice explanation of the intent and desire for something new at the time, when it came to music, within the German circles, at least in the areas of West Germany (at least 4 or 5 of them make up what is known as "krautrock"), since at the time East Germany was still the other side funnily represented by the band Guru Guru as "schlager" in one of their songs telling our generation who is our God of music, and it ain't "schlager".

Very enjoyable album, but can only be appreciated by folks with a good idea of the musical history of rock, jazz and classical ... and not knowing or realizing what a Stockhausen did in Classical music, will end up taking this album completely out of context and make it very difficult to appreciate. Very little in this album is conventional or radio friendly, and this is something that top of the pops folks will not appreciate a whole lot.

The best of the "progressive" folks, never worried about the top this or that, even though a couple of bands had monster hits, and mostly because they were so incredible and different, that they could not be ignored. CAN is a band that deserves to now be ignored and they influenced more folks than we can imagine, and one should look at one very American band doing MOTHER SKY right after the guitar kid (Michael Karoli) passed away ... a piece that came earlier and was a part of a film, where you didn't see the band, but they were playing this in the club and it was loud and clear. It was a shame that all the American rock bands could only imagine this piece as just another monster solo ... when it wasn't. Very few American bands went beyond the "solo" and took something like this to heart, just to give you an idea of the vast difference.