SAW DELIGHT

"Saw Delight" is the 9th full-length studio album by German krautrock act Can. The album was released through Harvest/Virgin Records in March 1977. It's the successor to "Flow Motion" from October 1976, so there's only 5 months between the two album releases. There have been two lineup changes since the predecessor as the quartet who recorded "Flow Motion (1976)" have now been joined by the two former members of Traffic, Jamaican bassist Rosko Gee and Ghanasian percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baa. Regular bassist Holger Czukay doesn't play bass on "Saw Delight", but has switched to performing experimental electronic effects and noises.

While Can definitely experimented with new musical elements on "Flow Motion (1976)", particularly reggae rhythms, but also the odd nod towards country music, the inclusion of the two new members results in an even more broadly embracing a world music atmosphere on "Saw Delight". "Saw Delight" is a highly rhythmic album with the drums and the percussion driving the music forward. The repetitive, psychadelic, and laid back nature of Can's music is intact, so vocals are still sparse (the lyrics are typically very few and repeated) and the focus is predominantly on the instrumental part of the music.

Other than the sporadic vocal parts the tracks mostly sounds like they are structured jams, or at least created while jamming over the organic driving beats. There are hooks here and there, but otherwise most of the music sounds like six guys toying around with various timbres, sounds, and effects. The music is certainly experimental, but not necessarily inaccessible and difficult to listen to. The main issue here is more that the tracks really aren't that memorable and that many of the sound experiments aren't that interesting, which makes most of the album go by without much to hold on to. So to my ears the main attraction here are the hypnotic rhythmic playing, and that part of the music is indeed both adventurous and powerful.

"Saw Delight" features a well sounding and nicely organic production job, and upon conclusion it's a decent quality release by Can. Compared to some of their preceding releases it pales some though, and it's hard not to think that the quality and the mind-bending psychadelic musical ideas of the past are now behind the band, and that they sound a bit like a pale version of themselves. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.