Can: The Lost Tapes

Can: The Lost Tapes

2012

Mute/Spoon Records

Format I Own  it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing:  Disc 1: Millionenspiel  2. Waiting for the Streetcar  3. Evening All Day  4. Deadly Doris  5. Graublau  6. When Darkness Comes  7. Blind Mirror Surf  8. Oscura Primavera  9. Bubble Rap

Disc 2:  1. Your Friendly Neighbourhood Whore  2. True Story  3. The Agreement  4. Midnight Sky  5. Desert  6. Spoon (Live)  7. Dead Pigeon Suite  8. Abra Cada Braxas  9. A Swan Is Born  10. The Loop

Disc 3: 1. Godzilla Fragment  2. On the Way to Mother Sky  3. Midnight Men  4. Networks of Foam  5.Messer, Scissors, Fork and Light  6. Barnacles  7. E.F.S. 108  8. Private Nocturnal  9. Alice  10. Mushroom (Live)  11.One More Saturday Night (Live)



Holy sheesh...Remember last week when I said you could dedicate an entire night listening to "Tago Mago?"



Well, you could easily blow an entire weekend on "The Lost Tapes." This is a 3 disc, 3 and a half hour selection of material that had been left in a studio cupboard somewhere and has just been recently unearthed and put together by  Irmin Schmidt (Can's keyboardist)...

Whittled down from over 30 hours of music, we get a treasure-trove of unreleased songs, soundtrack material, and live recordings...Some totally new songs, but a good chunk of the material shows the evolution of Can classics...

For example, "Dead Pigeon Suite" is an extended soundtrack piece, but you'll probably recognize it as the basis for "Vitamin C."  It's fun to hear too, because you finally understand that the bundle of flutey mellotron sounds at the end of "Vitamin C," that once seemed like an inspired afterthought,  were once a vital part of the song...More of a parallel reality version, than your standard "demo."

 I've never had the chance to check out too much live Can music, outside of the odd youtube video, so all the live material here is was pretty welcome......

In a live performance setting their songs sometimes only bore a passing similarity to their studio counterparts...For a good example of this check out the version of "Mushroom" included here...More of a slow, droning meltdown than the tight and punchy version on "Tago Mago."  I also found it amusing, reading the liner notes, that the band referred to their noise jams as "Godzillas." For some reason early Can always reminded me of Godzilla...Towering, unpredictable, messy, exciting...Too bad they never did a soundtrack to a Godzilla movie...I could totally picture Godzilla battling Hedorah with some Can playing in the background...

I love the manner in which they edited all the various soundtrack work into suites...It's much more in line with the Can aesthetic than "Unlimited Edition's" various snippets...I can't see any Can fan not flipping over this...The band has stated that any further outtakes would be scraping the bottom of the barrel, but I don't know, man...I say "scrape away!"  Let's hope there's another dusty box of tapes lying in some forgotten closet somewhere...

 Let's check out "Millionenspiel"  by Can...Enjoy...

Can: Unlimited Edition

Can: Unlimited Edition

1975

Mute /Spoon Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Dizzle

Track Listing: 1. Gomorrha  2. Doko E  3. LH 702 (Nairobi/München)  4. I'm Too Leise  5. Musette  6. Blue Bag (Inside Paper)  7. E.F.S. No. 27  8. TV Spot  9. E.F.S. No. 7  10. The Empress and the Ukraine King  11. E.F.S. No. 10  12. Mother Upduff  13. E.F.S. No. 36  14. Cutaway  15. Connection  16. Fall of Another Year  17. E.F.S. No. 8  18. Transcendental Express  19. Ibis


 This is an expanded re-release of an earlier outtakes collection titled "Limited Edition"...

"Unlimited Edition" covers the time period between 1968-1975, which is fortunate because it so happens to capture Can's peak years...That said, don't go into this expecting to hear anything on par with "Halleluhwah" or "Vitamin C," these are very much outtakes, mostly comprised of songs that can only be described as "snippets" (Considering that most of what's here falls into the 2-3 minute range, which is highly unusual for Can, who are renowned for their lengthy jams)...So loose and experimental that when something resembling a "real" song comes along ("Connection" for example) it almost catches you off guard...But man, this album's a lot of fun for Can enthusiasts...

The record is most successful on the 17 minute "Cutaway,"  fully embraces its tossed-off glory...an edited suite of wild noises, off-the-cuff jams and some of the most highly amusing studio chatter I've ever heard...Listen to Malcolm Mooney chiding Holger Czukay about an out-of-sync modulation effect and try not to laugh at Holger's civil, robotic responses...I think what makes it stand out is that it's as tightly edited as their usual stuff...It's all about a rough cut and paste job that captures the feel of the album...

Other highlights are "TV Spot" which never fails to make me LOL...Damo starts out the song yowling like he's hit his thumb with a hammer...

 ...eventually things settle down into a neat little groove as  Damo coos "Somebody loved you..." and counters himself with  an equally dreamy "Nobody loved you..." Man, this is some TV spot...The bizarre "Blue Bag (Inside Paper)" is remarkable in that it totally invents Ween...Listen to "Candy" from "Chocolate and Cheese" and then listen to this...



In addition to Damo, you also get a bunch of Malcolm songs too!

"The Empress and the Ukraine King" and "Connection" being the best of the bunch..."The Empress..." is so bright and funky I can't believe they didn't use it on one of their albums...Same with the straight-forward rocker "Connection." How many times did Can do straight-forward rockers? This is a real, rare treat...Also note how much Radiohead is indebted to "Fall of Another Year."

A quick glance at the track listing also reveals 5 tracks titled "E.F.S." These are all part of the band's "Ethnological Forgery Series" where they attempt to emulate the indigenous music of various cultures...Most surprising is "E.F.S No. 36" where they take a shot at New Orleans-style jazz...To be honest, I didn't think they had it in 'em...

I'd probably hold off purchasing "Unlimited Edition" until you've fully digested the preceding albums, but yea...The day is going to come when you're going to look at "Tago Mago" or "Ege Bamyasi" and say, "But I've already heard these ones a million times..." At that point go to the record store and pick this up...You're going to have a blast...But if you haven't heard those albums first, you're really jumping into the deep end here...

Let's check out "Connections" by Can...Enjoy...

Can: Soon Over Babaluma

Can: Soon Over Babaluma

1974

United Artists Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Dizzy, Dizzy  2. Come Sta, La Luna  3. Splash  4. Chain Reaction  5. Quantum Physics


Damo Suzuki leaves the band and surprisingly the group doesn't replace him...Michael Karoli and Irmin Schmidt just take turns on the mic (in addition to their existing instrumental duties)...Sure, neither one is as interesting a vocalist as Damo Suzuki or Malcolm Mooney, but they don't hurt the album one bit...

I had always heard that after Damo left, the band's recorded output went down the toilet, but I picked up a copy of the "Can Antholgy"  (which, in view of the band's love of "can" puns, I'm surprised wasn't called "Canthology") ...



...and went crazy for the song "Dizzy Dizzy."  I loved the violin and the stammering vocals..."Got-t-t- -t to-to-to-to  get-t it up...Got-t-t-t to-to-to-to get-t it over..." It's surprising how that vocal line gets hammered in your brain...Anyway,  I went to the record store and picked up a copy of "Soon Over Babaluma," despite not having any idea what "Babaluma" meant...

As I played it, I was surprised to discover how smoothly this picks up right where "Future Days" left off...It differentiates itself  by stepping a little deeper into the "World Music" waters, but really, "Chain Reaction" and "Splash" would have sounded just fine on that album...

"Chain Reaction" is the best thing here, by the way...It's unbelievable how intricate all the little lines in the song are...Each instrument functions as a microscopic, precision gear that contributes to the larger, forward momentum of the track...After 11 head-nodding minutes, the machine disintegrates into closing track "Quantum Physics" and we're all left pondering our place in the universe...Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the shit!

I'm also a huge fan of Irmin Schmidt's vocals on the cosmic bossanova "Come Sta, La Luna." The song makes me want to drink liquid LSD out of a space pineapple....

I often see "Splash" singled out as the album's weakest moment, but I think that speaks more about the overall quality of the album rather than any particular shortcomings "Splash" may have...It's a 7 minute Latin/Martian/ Jazz workout full of squonkin' saxes and electric piano, and while it may be the least appealing thing here, I still say you'd better savor it...If you're anything like me, you'll find the albums following this one not up to the same high standard, despite their always stellar playing...

I'll cherish the psychedelic mystery that made these early Can albums so unique...So let's listen to "Dizzy Dizzy" by Can...

Can: Future Days

Can: Future Days

1973

United Artists Records

Format I Own  it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Future Days  2. Spray  3. Moonshake  4. Bel Air

 
I don't know...Listening to this, I can't help but think this might be Can's finest moment...There's not a weak spot on it, but it's easy to overlook because the album is so mellow...All the aggression is gone and it's replaced by a sort of ambient world music...But the world in question isn't necessarily Earth, if that makes sense...

 
Listening to this kind of feels like a quiet summer day, spent sipping a tropical drink and staring at your lawn...

...But as you look closer at the ground, you suddenly notice a vast, bustling insect civilization...

...and then your eyes readjust and suddenly you're staring at your beautiful lawn again...

 I normally hate music that is branded ambient...The term is usually reserved for music done by musicians too lazy to write a melody and is often characterized by bland synth washes or acoustic guitars...

 But this is different...It's extremely busy...Each song is packed with independently moving parts that all click together to provide a pleasant alien vista...And this is all done with electric guitars and rock drums...There's really nothing like it...

I think one of the hardest things to get around initially was the lack of vocals...I mean, Damo Suzuki is still here, but he doesn't seem as present at first...On half the songs he doesn't come in until 5 minutes or so into the track...And he mostly sings in an unassuming swoon...None of the sudden outbursts that made their earlier albums so exciting on first listen...The only song that really jumped out at me the first go-around was the short and sweet pop tune "Moonshake" and maybe the sing-song-y vocals on the title track,  but after a few listens you'll realize it's all about the 20-minute album (and era) closer "Bel Air," which is the audio equivalent of visiting a floating city...

Oddly enough this was the first Can album I ever bought, after initially downloading "Vitamin C" and "Mushroom."  went to the local record store but all they had was "Future Days," so I went for it...It was different than I was expecting, but I grew to love it, too...

I wouldn't recommend starting here, unless chilled-out, ethereal grooves are your thing, but once you get the hang of Can, don't make the mistake of overlooking this one...After many years of owning and listening to it. it's only recently asserted itself as the go-to Can album for me...

So set aside 20 minutes and check out "Bel Air" ...(Which I just realized has almost the same vocal melody as "Sitting Around at Home" by the Buzzcocks...I guess I've never listened to them in such close proximity before...)...Enjoy...

Can: Ege Bamyasi

Can: Ege Bamyasi

1972

United Artists Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Pinch  2. Sing Swan Song  3. One More Night  4. Vitamin C  5. Soup  6. I'm So Green  7. Spoon


This is my personal favorite Can album...It kind of feels like the fog has lifted from their sound, but it doesn't make them any less weird or unique...

 Kind of like the swamp monster that spends the movie shrouded in mist, but when you finally see him in the broad daylight he somehow seems even more bizarre...

 That's kind of what this feels like...A lot of the noise and marathon song-lengths are gone...Instead this is relatively tight and very very funky...

First off this has a couple of the band's best songs... Most notably  "Vitamin C"...This is the track that first got me into Can in the first place, and whenever anyone wants to know what Can is all about, this is what I show them...It has the coolest, funkiest drum beat ever set to tape...I'm not kidding you...Yea, yea, yea...I heard Kanye West sample the woozy (and also awesome)  "Sing Swan Song" on that "Hot and Drunk Girls" song or whatever...

But man, why didn't he use "Vitamin C"?  It's so much catchier...Damo Suzuki's vocals on this are also great...He starts out sounding like a mischievous sprite until he suddenly shouts, "Hey you! You're losing your vitamin C!" Seriously up there as one of my all-time favorite songs...



The other highlight is "Spoon," which was used as the theme song to some German television show called "Das Messer"...

I have zero idea what "Das Messer" is, but I can say without any hesitation it has probably the coolest theme song in history...

(Except for maybe Sanford & Son...)

The song has this air of mystery about it...A drum machine ticks off time as Damo whispers something about a spoon in the afternoon...The fact that these guys were doing the whole fake-drum/real-drum hybrid back in 1972 (about a full decade before drum machines became commonplace) says a lot about how ahead of the curve they were...

"Soup" is this album's big epic...This song features one of Damo's most memorable freakouts...He babbles, shouts incoherently (and commandingly) and  rolls a bunch of R's...It also has a keyboard or something that sounds exactly like Chewbacca...

If you're looking to get into the Damo Suzuki era, this is probably the best place to start...Save "Tago Mago" for your second purchase..."Ege Bamyasi" is sometimes less stunning, but it's a lot more manageable...There's a good dead 30 minutes smack-dab in the middle of "Tago Mago" but this is pretty trim...Honestly, the hardest song to make it through is the first one...After that you're all golden...

So let's check out "Vitamin C" by Can...

Can: Tago Mago

Can: Tago Mago

1971

United Artists

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Paperhouse  2. Mushroom  3. Oh Yeah  4. Halleluhwah  5. Aumgn  6. Peking O  7. Bring Me Coffee or Tea

Often singled out as being the band's finest moment, "Tago Mago" is a double album  featuring a mere 7 songs....A very immersive experience...When it's time to listen to "Tago Mago" it's best to make a whole night of it...

 Malcolm Mooney is out (after suffering a mental breakdown on stage) and replacing him is Japanese vocalist  Damo Suzuki, who brings with him a radically different approach...Not as consistently assertive as Malcolm, Damo is usually more ethereal, but he's more prone to violent vocal explosions...He's a perfect fit... I can't imagine "Tago Mago" without him. That said, I also can't imagine Damo singing the "Monster Movie" tracks, either...

This is because the band changes their sound...This album isn't as rock as "Monster Movie"...It's more shadowy...A hazy sort of rackety German funk-rock, which must have sounded like the weirdest, most alien shit back in '71...Hell, it sounds like the weirdest, most alien shit now!

Each side of the record has its own unique character, so let's break it down that way...

Side one consists of three tracks...Album opener "Paperhouse" sets the scene...The song slowly flickers to life as Damo sort of mumbles in the murk until the drums suddenly snap into place and the guitars build into a chopping crescendo...Still, Damo doesn't explode like you'd expect him to...Instead he sort of whispers and hisses as the music coils around him...I kind of overlooked this song for a long time, but now I fully acknowlege its awesomeness...

"Paperhouse" bleeds into the second track "Mushroom," which is in the running for best song on the album...Jaki Liebezeit unassumingly shuffles into the room on an intricate, clockwork drum pattern, as Damo numbly mutters:

 "Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead..."

You fall under its cool, repetitive spell very quickly, but the rug is suddenly pulled out from under you when he abruptly shrieks, "I'M GONNA GIVE MY DESPAIR!" At least that's what I think he's saying...Hard to tell what he's talking about...

Magic Mushrooms?

Mushroom clouds?

 That living mushroom from the "Troll" movie?

Who knows...Either way, the skies are red...

Side one ends with "Oh Yeah," where we learn Damo singing backwards sounds about the same as Damo singing normally...

 Okay, Side Two is where it's at....This entire side is devoted to the 18+ minute "Halleluhwah," which is just the most badass piece of Godzilla Funk ever set to vinyl...It's official...Jaki Liebezeit is the greatest drummer of all time and this is one of his best moments...How he plays this for 20 minutes straight without screwing up is beyond me...Perhaps the quintessential Can song...

 
Side Three similarly only has one song on it...The 17+ minute "Aumgn" which is where things start to get weird(er.) I personally find this to be the hardest track to get through, and probably the only time I find myself staring at my watch...

Now that I think about it, "Aumgn" kind of reminds me of those scary cassette tapes you can buy around Halloween...

Yea, those...Either way, it  would sound great playing in a haunted house...I will say that bowel-chilling violin scrape always manages to give me the creeps...

Alright! We get two whole songs on Side 4..."Peking O" is just the most insane thing ever...It's all smooth sailing until the drum machine comes in and Damo Suzuki starts losing his damn mind! The part where the drum machine speeds up and Damo responds with his manic jabbering-in-tongues is the single most amusing piece of music I own...It never fails to crack me up...A lot of people seem to hate "Peking O" but I love it so much...Play this song at your next Friday Night Record Party and it's sure to liven things up...

"Bring Me Coffee or Bring Me Tea" works as a nice little wind-down...It feels really welcome after the 29 protracted minutes of weirdness that came before it and helps hammer it into your head one last time: This is a classic album and stuff like this doesn't come along every day....So yea...When you put on Tago Mago make a night of it...

Let's check out "Mushroom" by Can... Enjoy...

Can: Monster Movie

Can

2013

Delmont Foods

Format I Own it on: Tin

Ingredients:  Salt, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Monosodium Glutamate, Xanthan Gum, Red #43, Yellow #62, Baige #18, Mambo #5, Blue #684,


This is a pretty good can...It's made of tin or something...I can remember buying it at Safeway...It originally had some Spaghetti-O's in it, but I ate those...Highlights include kicking it around the block, keeping change4 in it, and tying a string to it and pretending it's a phone...

I highly recommend buying food in cans...Not just food...You can buy lots of things in cans...

 Like Soda...

 ...and Tobacco...

...and Tennis balls.

In conclusion, cans are great! Now let's check out a video of someone opening a can...Enjoy...

Nahhh, I'm just kidding you...Here's the real Can post....




Can: Monster Movie

1969

United Artists

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Father Cannot Yell  2. Mary, Mary So Contrary  3. Outside My Door  4. Yoo Doo Right



I love that album cover...Sure, they may have removed his face, but there's no fooling anyone...That's everybody's favorite eater-of-worlds, Galactus, on the album cover...

I guess that would make this album cover a close aesthetic relative of Joe Satriani's "Surfing With the Alien,"



Except Can's "Monster Movie" rules...

This is the 1969 debut album by experimental German rock band, Can...Their unique approach was that they would do marathon jam sessions (sometimes going on for up to 20 hours) and then their bassist, Holger Czukay , would edit it all down into more manageable chunks...But as opposed to the guitar-centric jamming that was common in 60's bands, these were more rhythm based...Sure, Michael Karoli's a great guitarist,  but you'll be probably more focused on Jaki Liebezeit's intricate, yet towering, drum beats...On this record their vocalist was an American named Micheal Mooney who usually function as just another rhythm instrument...More chants than melodies...Still, Malcolm was probably the most "traditional" of the band's vocalists and "Monster Movie" rocks a little more recognizably than their other albums....Those qualities make this a handy entryway into Can's discography...

God, I love this record so much...As soon as I heard it Can became one of my favorite records in the universe...even edging out  "Fleep My Flork" by the Epsilon Eridani Three...

The album only has 4 songs, mainly because the entirety of side two is dedicated to the album centerpiece (and the first of Can's epics),  "Yoo Doo Right." Can have done multiple side-long epics but this one will always be special...It essentially lays out the formula they would stick with for the remainder of their classic early to mid 70's albums...A 100-foot tall drum pattern, a hypnotic bassline, a droning organ, a fluid (and shifting guitar line),  and a tantric vocal...You would think the 20 minute running time might become tiresome, but that's not the case at all...These guys have the magic skill of putting the listener into a trance...You end up getting lost in their fog.. Time stands still and all you can do is nod your head...It simultaneously feels like 5 seconds and 5 hours...

You know when a Can song works...They won't stop playing it and you don't want to stop listening to it..."Yoo Doo Right" can go on all day for all I care...

Side one has some good stuff too..."Father Cannot Yell" gets things off to a bracing, garage-rock start, and I don't think Can has ever rocked any harder than on "Outside My Door."  Fans of Velvet Underground should check this out immediately if they haven't had the chance...The only track I don't get too excited about is "Mary, Mary So Contrary," mainly just because I have this pet peeve about songs that use old nursery rhymes as lyrics...

Oh yea...When I was talking about things that come in cans earlier, I forgot the best one...

Beer! And Beck's is German, right? So this should be a good beer to drink while you're listening to Can at your Friday Night Record Party...So let's do that...Crack open your can of Beck's and let's check out "Outside My Door" by Can...Enjoy...