THE SINGLES

On the face of it, this is not an obvious choice for a Can compilation. In their heyday they were famous for thirty minutes plus freakouts on stage and wildly experimental studio albums, neither of which are obvious contenders for chart toppers. They did, however, release a steady stream of singles throughout their career and even enjoyed some success; Spoon was a sizeable hit in Germany, and I Want More got into the UK top 30 and earned them a Top of the Pops appearance.

This collection covers all their studio albums from Soundtracks to Rite Time, with the exception of Out of Reach, and there are several non album tracks and a similar number of edited down versions of their more extended pieces. The editing was mainly done by Holger Czukay, who generally managed to distill the essence of a longer track onto one side of a 7" single. The collection kicks off with Malcolm Mooney's two lead vocals on Soundtracks and then heads into the Damo Suzuki era. There are two non album tracks here, Turtles Have Short Legs and Shikako Maru Ten, both enjoyable slices of eccentricity that would have slotted nicely into Unlimited Edition. Two Tago Mago tracks were used as b sides, including a drastically edited Halleluwah, and Future Days is similarly slimmed down. Then we're into the quartet era, with edited highlights from Soon Over Babaluma, Landed and Flow Motion; the pairing of I Want More / ...and More may not be to everybody's taste, but it works surprisingly well. Silent Night is the first bump in the road - Can's version of the classic German Christmas carol has not aged well, and it is followed by the full version of Cascade Waltz. We then briefly dip into the Rosco and Rebop line up with an edited version of Don't Say No and the non album b side Return, which is like a slightly funkier reboot of I Want More / ...and More. Can Can, the famous Offenbach tune, was performed by the three remaining founders Karoli, Schmidt and Liebezeit, and while it might have seemed like a good idea at the time it is the one total dud in this collection. In the 1980s Malcolm Mooney joined the core quartet for a one off reunion album, Rite Time, and Hoolah Hoolah was picked as the single. Both the single and the album were better than expected, even if they're not exactly vintage quality.

Four stars for this collection. It's the only single disc collection that covers every Can line up, and which traces their development almost from the beginning. It's also the only place to get all the non album tracks in one compilation; none can be considered essential, but aside from Silent Night they are all worth having for completists. The edited versions of longer tracks are sufficiently different from the originals to be of interest, although some are more successful than others. The sleeve notes warn that not all the original tapes were available. so the sound quality is a little inconsistent, but I didn't notice anything particularly jarring. If you're a Can newbie this is a good place to start; if you're an established fan it's pretty good to listen to while driving or exercising.

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