SAW DELIGHT

Many 'fans' will tell you that Can's last great album was 'Landed' - not true. 'Saw Delight', with it's delightful upbeat style, ethnic flourishes, space-jazz percussion and synth-washed electronic edges, finds the German free-form rock pioneers throwing off the heavy shackles of serious art-rock and, seemingly, for once, enjoying themselves. Released in 1977, 'Saw Delight' would see the Can line-up take ex-Traffic members Roscoe Ge(bass) and Reebop Kwaku Baah(percussion) into the fold, a decision that accentuated the group's focus on ethnic experimentation; indeed, the first two tracks on 'Saw Delight', the jazzy, sun-dappled 'Don't Say No' and the calypso-folk-bass-pop of 'Sunshine Say & Night', feature the obvious influence of the new members. The longer, fifteen-minute-plus synth-filled jazz-haze odyssey 'Call Me' heralds a return-of-sorts to the Suzuki-era Can sound, but even this highly ambient, gloriously off-beat composition is heavily-flecked by the playful feel that envelopes the album. The final two pieces, 'Animal Waves' and 'Fly By Night', again both exhibit slices of the old intermingled with textures of the new, only without the lethargic artyness that occasionally coloured Can's otherwise magnificent body of work. With a fuller, brighter feel, a heavy accent on electronics, some acutely-performned ethnic percussion and a nice helping of acid-licked neuvo-jazz, 'Saw Delight' finds Can breathing a delightful new sonic dimension into their already highly-original style of doing things, only this time without the serious expression. Don't believe the hype on this one folks, because 'Saw delight' is, just like 'Tago Mago', 'Ege Bamyasi' or 'Future Days', a proper Can classic. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2011