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Thread: CAN: later albums worth checking out?

  1. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Looking for some opinions/advice from some of the CANheads. I have the albums from Monster Movie through to Landed, and love them, but have never heard anything post-'75. How are the later ones? Any particular albums worth checking out? (...)
    Nope. Landed is their last great album, forward it was a big fall of Can, with no doubt.
    It's always a better idea that to discover many new, young bands who recently released EXCELLENT albums in the style of the best 70s krautrock as they are melded all the styles of all those big names of Kosmische Musik genre in its heydays, and yet they are original on their own way and pleasant for listening to. Indeed the interesting and fresh albums, like for example Kosmiche Laufer the hoax-album concept project.
    Last edited by Svetonio; 10-24-2016 at 07:24 AM.

  2. #27
    Landed is the last fully satisfactory CAN album.

    Past this, I've only kept "Can" (1979), which had some good jams and a smoothier more electronic sound.
    Macht das ohr auf!

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  3. #28
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    I admit I have kind of an affinity for the later stuff - it's definitely very different (in fact by Saw Delight they were essentially a totally different band!) but I think a lot of it is fun. Flow Motion is a pretty good record if you're not expecting something like peak Can - gotta say "I Want More" totally rules, and the rest of it is a pretty good time if nothing else. Saw Delight suffers from some pretty bad production, but musically it's pretty good - they have a more ethnic sound to them, in the Talking Heads sense at least. Out Of Reach - this one pretty much bites it, I'm afraid. But their final 70's disc Inner Space is good; IMO their best since Soon Over Babaluma. Rite Time is maybe one to avoid - it's certainly not bad, in fact it's downright pleasant, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the band's 70's sound, and furthermore it sounds like they're all on Xanax. But it's still a decent listen!
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  4. #29
    Insect Overlord Progatron's Avatar
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    Great responses from everyone, thanks! How about the Holger Czukay solo albums?
    Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.

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  5. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Great responses from everyone, thanks! How about the Holger Czukay solo albums?
    Essential ones

    Canaxis 5 / 1969
    Movies /1979
    On the Way to the Peak of Normal /1981

    good
    Der Osten ist Rot (1984)
    Rome Remains Rome (1987)

  6. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by olivetti View Post
    Essential ones

    Canaxis 5 / 1969
    Movies /1979
    On the Way to the Peak of Normal /1981

    good
    Der Osten ist Rot (1984)
    Rome Remains Rome (1987)
    I would agree with this but point out two things:

    1) Canaxis is an experimental/avant-garde album that sounds little like Can
    2) His other albums do sound like Can from the mid/late '70s and IMO are superior to anything Can post-Babaluma
    The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off

  7. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Triscuits View Post
    That isn't Karoli at all. Karoli was a much bigger guy. Apparently he was unavailable for the TV appearance as he had gone to Africa. Whoever the stand-in is, he also isn't Tim Hardin, as suggested in some YouTube comments.
    See, now, that's what I thought the first time I saw it, and made a query on...probably RMP or some other service, might have even been here on PE, and it was said by whomever, that it was Karoli.

  8. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by Levgan View Post
    Schmidt playing acoustic piano instead of his usual array of synths. GREAT.
    .
    Did Herr Schmidt play synthesizer? I thought he played just electric organ and electric piano, albeit with lots of effects. Apparently, the Alpha 77 that he's credited with playing on some of the albums was apparently a primitive custom built multi effects, I gather something like the EMS Synthi Hi-Fli effects unit.

  9. #34
    Levgan nailed it , The "Peel Sessions" is superb.

    Jeez, I had to clean that post up.

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    Last edited by Chuck AzEee!; 10-28-2016 at 09:36 AM. Reason: redundancy
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  10. #35
    Member DrGoon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Did Herr Schmidt play synthesizer? I thought he played just electric organ and electric piano, albeit with lots of effects. Apparently, the Alpha 77 that he's credited with playing on some of the albums was apparently a primitive custom built multi effects, I gather something like the EMS Synthi Hi-Fli effects unit.
    You're correct, Irmin chose not to play synthesizers because he felt that the first generation did not have the immediacy that he wanted - instead he played a Farfisa Pro Duo organ, a Farfisa electric piano and various acoustic pianos through customized effects units. The Alpha 77 is a one-off set of custom effects and synth modules that Irmin had built for him by a Swiss engineer. It contained two oscillators, a ring modulator, a reverb, filters and a very long tape loop delay with twelve play heads.

  11. #36
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    The Peels Sessions is superb - I also have a disc called Radio Waves that has 'Up The Bakerloo' at 35+ mins

  12. #37
    I haven't heard Rite Time, but their track from around that time "Last Night Sleep" from the Until The End Of The World soundtrack was pretty nice.

  13. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek
    Did Herr Schmidt play synthesizer? I thought he played just electric organ and electric piano, albeit with lots of effects. Apparently, the Alpha 77 that he's credited with playing on some of the albums was apparently a primitive custom built multi effects, I gather something like the EMS Synthi Hi-Fli effects unit.
    You're probably right, I was never a GuitarGeek not even a SynthGeek so everytime I heard the otherworldly distorted sounds that Schmidt was so keen on, I just assumed they were synth-based. Still, it was unusual to hear him play a classical piano part on "Mighty Girl", not many instances like that in Can discography.

  14. #39
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    My 2 cents: nothing after "Saw Delight".

  15. #40
    For my money, the opening 2 ten minute pieces on `Can' (the `spanner' album), `All Gates Open' and `Safe' are excellent, as is `Animal Waves' (virtually all of Side Two of Saw Delight). `Flow Motion' is pretty poor generally. `Rite Time' is worth a listen if you're into the Malcolm Mooney era...as he's back on board for this one. I personally wouldn't dismiss any of them out of hand....even `Out Of Reach' has its moments.

  16. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Rite Time was their late 80's reunion album. They even retrieved Malcolm Mooney from cold storage.
    According to a book I used to have about the band, they invited both Mooney and Damo (who said no).

  17. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by soundsweird View Post
    My 2 cents: nothing after "Saw Delight".
    I'll keep that in mind when digging into more of their catalog. However, I am already familiar with "rite time"(their last studio album)which I find to be a not too bad mellow album. Anyway, there's still quite a few of the earlier albums I need to explore.

  18. #43
    Since people are bringing up the archival stuff, I’ll give a cautious recommendation to Unlimited Edition. It sounds like what it is: scrapings and outtakes from the cutting room floor, but it’s entertaining for occasional listening if you don’t expect it to be up there alongside Ege Bamyasi or Future Days in quality. Delay 1968 I didn’t care for; it’s almost like it’s made for the sort of insufferable hipsters who wished everyone sounded more like the Velvet Underground. It’s not bad, I guess, it’s just not what I’m looking for in a Can album.

    And for the record, all of Czukay’s solo albums are better than those later Can albums.
    Last edited by Progbear; 10-25-2016 at 07:35 PM.
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  19. #44
    Quote Originally Posted by pb2015 View Post
    According to a book I used to have about the band, they invited both Mooney and Damo (who said no).
    Is that The Can Book? I know there was a point in the late 90's when they put out a boxset that had a double CD of unreleased live tracks, a VHS (the contents of which I think was eventually reissued as part of the Can DVD), and The Can Book. Unfortunately, I only ever saw it once, at a really nice record store over on the West Side of Cleveland, and never saw it again. Then the double CD was issued on it's own, and as I said, I believe I have the VHS on the DVD release, so the book is the one thing I've never actually seen. Would love to see it.

    BTW, speaking of Damo-san, I saw him perform live here in Cleveland, oh geez, that must have been nearly 15 years ago, at the old Grog Shop. He performed with a really good band called Cul De Sac. As I recall, Cul De Sac did one set of their own music, then they did a set backing Damo-san. As I recall, Damo performed like someone half his age, and did so shirtless. When the set ended, he jumped off the stage, and started hugging people, me, I think, being the first. So I actually got some Damo's sweat on me!

    And that reminds me that a couple years after that, Herr Holger came and played for us. I remember that show because that was, I think, the first time I went to the "new" Grog Shop (which was just down the street from the old location, but anyway). As I recall, Holger mostly did what might be termed a DJ set. He used a laptop, I think a couple CD players (or maybe turntables, I don't remember), it looked he had a couple radios up there. He did a little vocal on the first piece. As I recall, the music in general was sort of a slightly techno-y vibe. At one point, he stopped the music, and asked for a volunteer from the audience, which somehow ended up being me. I think he was asking for someone to play their cellphone voice mail recording, which I didn't quite understand at first, so when I said I don't have a cellphone, he said to just repeat the message from the answering machine at home. So technically, I've shared the stage with a member of Can.

    I also recall one of my friends apologizing to Holger for the small size of the audience (not more than a hundred, and probably a lot closer to 50), and Holger saying, "Oh, this is the best audience of the American tour). Somewhere on my hard drive there's a great picture of the two of us (in fact, I posted it to my Facebook page awhile back).

    One other thing I remember about the Holger show was that he started performing, and there was some guy in the audience, not just videotaping the show, but the guy was right in the front of the crowd, and the Grog Shop stage being what it is, elevated just a few inches off the floor, needless to say, Holger spotted this turkey immediately. So after the first minute or so, Holger stops, asks the guy to put away the video camera because "this is not allowed", and then started over from the beginning.

  20. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by Progatron View Post
    Great responses from everyone, thanks! How about the Holger Czukay solo albums?
    Can't recommend any of these as essential, except for the Technical Space Composers Crew Canaxis 5 release, which is not a pure Czukay solo album but a collaboration with studio engineer Rolf Dammers. Movies is the most interesting of them all i.m.o.

    Mega recommended though, are his ambient/electronic collaborations with David Sylvian Plight & Premonition & Flux + Mutability and the Snake Charmer mini LP with Jah Wobble, The Edge, Jaki Liebezeit & Animal (Dave Maltby).
    Macht das ohr auf!

    COSMIC EYE RECORDS

  21. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Is that The Can Book?
    Yes. I found it at Tower Records in San Francisco in the early 90's. Profiles/interviews with the four mainstays, Malcolm, Damo, Irmin Schmidt's wife who managed the band, and a chronology. Sold it a few years ago.

  22. #47
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    Just listened to Czukay's "Movies" and Can's "Flow Motion" last night after seeing this thread. I've had both albums since they were released, but last night's listen (the first in several years) made me change my feelings a bit about both releases. I always loved side two of "Movies" (tracks 3 & 4 on the CD), but didn't think much of side one. Now, I feel the whole album is very good, and I'd put the album up there with any Can album. "Flow Motion" is perhaps not quite as good as I remember. I still like the first two tracks a lot, but track three is no longer a favorite because it is just too long and repetitious. Track five is pretty good, too. I'll have to listen to this album again soon to see if I was just in the wrong mood for it or something...

  23. #48
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    Always been crazy about this


  24. #49
    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    the Snake Charmer mini LP with Jah Wobble, The Edge, Jaki Liebezeit & Animal (Dave Maltby).
    I have this, but I haven't listened to it in so long, I don't remember much about it. Has it ever been issued on CD? I know I got it in the mid 90's, because one of the names mentioned on the cover, I thik the producer, was named Kevorkian, and I remember joking with someone at the record store about it being a relative of Jack Kevorkian (the "right to death" advocate who built a "suicide machine" for those with terminal illnesses). In the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, one of the poster's in his bedroom is of the Snake Charmer cover.

  25. #50
    Guitar Geek: "BTW, speaking of Damo-san, I saw him perform live here in Cleveland, oh geez, that must have been nearly 15 years ago, at the old Grog Shop. He performed with a really good band called Cul De Sac. As I recall, Cul De Sac did one set of their own music, then they did a set backing Damo-san. As I recall, Damo performed like someone half his age, and did so shirtless. When the set ended, he jumped off the stage, and started hugging people, me, I think, being the first. So I actually got some Damo's sweat on me! "

    There is a very good official live double CD from that tour with Cul De Sac, I don't know if you knew ?

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