CAN

Like the title suggests this album is a collection of tracks that were written for various films, the first three tracks being for the film "Deadlock" alone. Despite being composed for different sources, this album still feels like it could have been a real CAN album with the exception of the final track. The two singers on the album don't feel in conflict with another and actually adds a more diverse feel. My favorite track has to be the 14 minute plus "Mother Sky" which has the honor of being both hypnotically spacey and a serious rocker as well with a seriously beefy bass and a smokin' guitar which is some of the hardest rock CAN has ever indulged in. Not as good as the albums that precede and follow but still a good listen.

CAN isn't without their influences. This is Krautrock but for example "Dont Turn The Light On" reminds me a bit of "Sympathy For The Devil" by the Rolling Stones and I keep expecting a little "ooo, ooo" back-up vocals to take place. Basically don't expect a uniform album with this one but don't be surprised if it actually holds up as one. This is what it says, namely SOUNDTRACKS. This is a hodge-podge of tracks that are totally unrelated and are simply put together in a composite form to be released for consumption by fans, although I really wonder how many fans CAN had at this point being far removed from this place and time. Many decades after this release I find this to be a very worthy listen.

Somewhere end of the nineties - through an Italian music afficionado I shortly e-mailed with - I came into contact with bands as Can, Amon Düül II and Faust. They were a revelation to me, after slightly earlier having become impressible to the more complex and out of the box kinds of music through listening (and accepting!) Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band.

I did enjoy Can a lot, but somehow got really and completely addicted to Amon Düül II that I played until I could dream it, resulting in more or less forsaking other music, including then of course Can.

It took me a couple of years to get rid of my addiction to the Düül and to spend time on listening to other interesting music. I - to my happy surprise - discovered RPI beyond PFM, a true rich world of fantastic music, but I also took some time to return in my own footsteps to "rediscover" the neglected music I liked some time ago.

So, I just now listened to Can's Tago Mago. I remembered Oh Yeah and Halleluwah of course, tracks I liked back then and still do. While listening to the tracks I was reading the reviews. Someone already noticed this is either a 1 to 2 or 4 to 5 star album, it either hits you, or it hits you (Good or bad that is :)). Apparently Aumgn and Peking O were responsible mostly for the 1 to 2 star ratings; a lot of people dislike these tracks, while other people that rated higher did like them but thought these tracks were "difficult". So, while listening to the first part of the album and getting on my way to Aumgn and Peking O I started getting a little afraid of having to wade through two quite long extending pieces of difficult or bad sounding music. I couldn't remember what these songs were musically about anymore, but I did remember that back then they hadn't been my most favourite songs.

But much to my surprise I had worried for nothing; I did LIKE Aumgn. And then Peking O - having been painted off as even more difficult - well, I even liked it better!

More or less this means that my musical taste is (has become in fact) different than that of most reviewers here, while a couple of years ago I probably would have thought the same about the two "difficult" songs. Beefheart taught me to open up my mind to different sounding music (and the enormous rich musical world that lied behind), this what now happened with Tago Mago more or less tells me that "training" makes you recognize the "value" of these "difficult" songs a lot faster than initially, if at all. So, I do understand those reviewers having diffuculties with this album, but I also think it takes a musically more matured mind to fully comprehend it. And that's much more an observation than a recommendation.

It seems that mainman and bassist Holger Czukay picked up a bunch of influences when he visited New York City in 1966 and returned to Germany transfixed by the possibilities of a new sounding rock form. By blending the minimalism of Steve Reich with the psychedelics of The Velvet Underground with some healthy doses of blues, free jazz and world music he succeeded in creating a new music form that would become a major influence in not only the nascent Krautrock scene but on such disparate genres as post-punk, indie rock and even some electronic artists.

This album has a unique sound all right even within CAN's own discography. It is mostly high energy hypnotic funk and rock with the focus on repetitive drumming. I find this a very interesting experience with the weak link possibly being Malcolm Mooney's less than outstanding vocal abilities. The final track 'Yoo Doo Right' which clocks in at 20:27 on the album is actually the edited version. The original was a 6-hour improvisation. I can only imagine what kind of mass quantities of drugs that must have been consumed to sustain such a thing for that long!

The music on the album is the unmistakable sound of Can. Repetitive rythm figures and melodies and a jamming and generally adventurous approach to playing music. It´s mostly instrumental but several of the tracks feature minimalistic type vocal lines delivered in a sedated sounding vocal style. While the basis in the music is the same as when the band started out, the band´s music has become more accessible over the years and that trend continues on "Flow Motion". Tracks like "I Want More" and "Babylonian Pearl" both have "hit" potential to my ears and are among the band´s most simple and accessible material. That doesn´t mean that "Flow Motion" isn´t an experimental rock album though. The band have opted to include quite a few musical influences in the music in their never ending quest for trying out new things. This time around off beat reggae rythms are a dominant part of the album´s sound. When they mix that influence with a country music sounding violin in "Laugh Until You Cry", that´s when things really take off into space.

The album features a pleasant sounding organic sound production that suits the music well, and paired with the excellent musicianship and the at times interesting songwriting, "Flow Motion" is a relatively good quality release. It´s not an album that blows my socks off, but it´s an enjoyable listening experience and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is deserved.

Damo had just walked... but was on the LP... at The Olympia they had stapled dozens if not hundreds of records sleeves in the foyer... Impressive display... The theatre was replete with Katmandu returners who knew how to stoke a fire if you catch my smokey drift... Hair, Afghan sheepkins and patchuli on the air Still young i was smitten and to this day Can is King; Long live Can...

The title says it all : Future Days; looking ahead, birdsong, heartsong, uplifting... everything gonna be A-Ok... ask the Katmandu guys in the theatre... all will be fine ... just had the 60s... seventies in progress; twin spectre of Ron and Maggie a yet unformed nightmare for a distant nebula called Earth...

Right now smoke joy Kat-mandu... On the first track Karoli's Kalifornia glass-needle guitar lancinates around in your brain like a pleasure machine... and Damo muffled voice promises you something about future days; Jaki keeps count on the drums... the beat accountant no calculator could ever defeat... Optimism properly defined in 9:32 minutes...

The second cut "Spray" is all water and bubbles; a track for a frogman or maybe one to listen to in the bath with a snorkel... Irmin on the farfisa blowing raspberries underwater... avant-garde man !... and Jaki as the doorman... making sure.

Then we have "Moonshake"... like Autobahn but on the moon... driving down with Damo singing in a coupe with the roof peeled back This here is optimism to the power of 72... Again it had that California by the Rhine vibe... we are going ahead and the sun is shining...

Bel Air is actually in California so nothing hidden here; we know where we are and we are here for almost 20 minutes and it is beautiful soft and sunny... Farfisa galore and an oneiric sense of drift..

Is Future better than Tago Mago than Soundtracks than Ege? No. Is it as good? Emphatically yes... One of the most intricate and musically evolved members of the multifaceted hydra called Krautrock Can was here at their best...

Future days i have no qualms giving a 5 to i would a six or a 7 if i could; it is their best album as much as the 2 or 3 before and the 2 after... heyday music by a band at their peak..

I wish i could sit in that theatre for ever....