Tag: Can

Well, here we enter a controversial part of the Can history. Controversial, because popular opinion generally states that these albums weren’t very good. So, what does hindsight and remastering do for the embarrassing end of the Can catalogue? Well, firstly, they’ve rubbed “Out Of Reach” off the discography. It’s not listed on their site nor is it getting a remaster. So they’ve owned up to “Out Of Reach” being crap, but they’ve also represented 3 other albums of that era in this last blast of remasters.

It all starts with 1976’s “Flow Motion” which saw them getting on Top Of The Pop’s with the opening track “I Want More”. Obviously, this is their most commercial sounding album, and is actually a whole lot of fun. There’s still some very fine freak out moments, like on “Smoke (E.F.S. No.59) and the title track, as well as little delves into disco and reggae. Not their peak, but still a damn fine album and perfect for Summer days.

1977’s “Saw Delight” saw a major line-up alteration. Holger Czukay moved over from the bass to using a wave receiver to bring radio broadcasts into the music. Replacing him was former Traffic member Roscko Gee on bass, alongside another Traffic escapee, Reebop Kwaku Baah on percussion. Curiously, despite the dramatic change, this album still manages to work. Opening up with the classic Can groove as used on “Moonshake” from the early album “Future Days”, it delves heavily into world music and yet still has that Can feel. When I first came across this album I considered it a dreary, middle of the road disappointment. Listening to it again, I find myself enjoying. It could be the wonderful job done in remastering it or it could just be blind hero worship. I’m not sure.

The band have declined to remaster, reissue or acknowledge the next album “Out Of Reach”, so it’s straight onto 1978’s “Can”. Here, even I loose patience. “Can” is crap. Boring, dreary, flat and annoying. It features a ridiculous version of the “Can Can” and becomes so irksome, as to make it a test of patience and endurance to get all the way through it. Holger Czukay had left at this point and was brought in to edit the record together. I can’t imagine what he thought when he heard it but to me this album is definitely not a patch on any of his classic solo albums.

However, things pick up now as the next Can album took a step back in time to their 1968 recordings, which Holger edited together into an album. Rawer and wilder than the songs from their debut album “Monster Movie”, this introduced the world to classic, lost tracks with original vocalist Malcolm Mooney such as “Butterfly” and the song Radiohead covered during their classic 1997 Glastonbury set, “Thief”. What’s even more impressive is the way the remastering has done such a good job of replicating the sound of the original vinyl version.

It all ends with the surprise 1986 reunion of the original line-up, complete with Holger and Malcolm. Strangely enough, they never got round to mixing it until 1988. The reception given at the time was rather luke-warm, but with the benefit of hindsight, “Rite Time” is actually a really good album. Nothing like any of their other albums, as it should be. Bursting with warmth, humour and personality, it’s influence could be heard on some of the most spectacular new bands to emerge after it’s release, particularly Happy Mondays and The Sugarcubes.

I know not everyone will agree with me. Many of you will think I am being too lenient on “Flow Motion” and “Saw Delight”, others will think I was too harsh on “Can” but I can honestly say that the above opinions are my own honest reactions. You, dear reader, will have to decide what you think and what you want to buy.

I’m delighted to say that today the latest Can remasters arrived. To say I was happy was an understatement. Landing on my desk at work were “Future Days”, “Soon Over Babaluma, “Landed” amd “Unlimited Edition”. All 4 are packaged in exactly the same manner as the previous 4, with plenty of previously unseen photos, new sleeve notes and exceedingly good sound remastering.

I had only heard these albums on the previous CD issues, never on vinyl, so to hear these versions is like having an extra dimension added. A giant step closer to how those elusive records must sound.

Ambling through these 4 recordings, you can feel the evolution of Can. For a start, “Future Days” was their last album with their second vocalist, Damo Suzuki. For me, the marked difference with “Future Days” is that they seem to be slipping into a groove. The songs feel more affable, more laid-back but never lazy. There’s an overwhelmingly peaceful feel to this album. Could this really be the same band who recorded “Aumgn”? It’s more the band who made “Bring Me Coffe Or Tea”. Confident, laid-back but as innovative as ever.

On “Soon Over Babaluma”, they find themselves stripped down to the essential musical 4-piece that many view as the heart of Can. However, as soon as guitar wizard Michael Karoli takes the microphone for the aptly named “Dizzy Dizzy”, it becomes clear that Can have been completely unfazed by any departure. “Soon Over Babaluma” sees Can flirt teasingly with more conventional song structures, only to leave their typical forward-looking vision all over them. “Come sta, La Luna” sounds like a cross between Latin jazz, an Eastern european funeral lament and reggae. “Splash” again has a slight Latin feel to the keyboards, while Karoli teases impossible sounds out of his instrument (it’s hard to tell if he’s playing a guitar or a violin, such is his unique style). Meanwhile, Jaki & Holger bash out a frantic, nevous amphetamine rhythm.

“Landed” meanwhile sees Can take a veracious bite into rock. The album leaps into life with the big sing along of “Full Moon On The Highway”. I have to admit to being previously a bit suspect about “Landed” but hearing it here in top notch sound, it’s qualities become a lot more aparent. “Vernal Equinox” sees Karoli doing the same kind of guitar shamanism that marked him so highly on “Mother Sky” while Hogler & Jaki get frantic and Irmin gets off into the voids of space. “Red Hot Indians” is a bizare, tribal, funk stomp and “Half Past One” is the kind of psychedelia that only Can could conjure up. Of course, there’s still outrageous journies into inner space such as “Unfinished” which is over 13 minutes of Can at their furthest from earth.

One of the joys of Can is that they never made albums that sounded even remotely similar. Hell, even over the course of one album you were served such a banquet of sounds that it was hard to credit that you were listening to 1 bands’ studio album and not a well-crafted mix tape. So, when you tuck into “Unlimited Edition” which is a compilation of 19 unreleased tracks from 1968 to 1975, you know you’re in a pretty wild place. It’s got tracks with their two very distinctive vocalists, Malcolm Mooney (on 4 songs) & Damo Sazuki (on 5 songs) and introduces their E.F.S. (Ethnological Forgery Series). With the CD filled up to the brim (1 hour, 17 minutes and 31 seconds worth of Can), this is a CD that can’t let you down. It’s always a major sign of a major talent when the stuff they throw away is better than the stuff most people release.

These remastered editions really are a joy to own. They work in normal CD players, but give it that little extra when popped in a SACD player. Whatever your thoughts about CDs as a format, these remasters are essential if we want Can to be embraced by a generation that doesn’t embrace vinyl. It’s proof that we are not wrong about this music to see such care and attention lavished on it. If you’ve already got these albums on vinyl and don’t own a SACD player, then you probably needn’t worry too much about buying these, but if you have just downloaded them or bought the earlier CDs or if [SHOCK] you don’t own them at all then get your arse down to your local record shop and buy these. They may be a little dearer than this weeks chart releases, but you know for a fact that you are going to be playing them for a very long time!