CAN: later albums worth checking out?

[Progatron]

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? I hear the DVD is a good one to get as well.

[zravkapt]

Short answer: no. If you don't mind funk/disco/reggae/world music the post-Landed albums are not bad but still not up to their '71-'74 peak. Flow Motion and Saw Delight are better than the next two but not as good as the previous two. IMO they peak with Future Days and then slowly get worse with every album. Never heard the reunion album.

[Poisoned Youth]

Short answer: no.

Agreed, but if the OP never got The Lost Tapes that came out a few years ago, I'd recommend it.

[Progatron]

Thanks chaps. I may cautiously check out Flow Motion, and I've added The Lost Tapes to my wish list.

[JJ88]

Can't really help (not familiar with any albums in this period) but they had a UK hit single in 1976 with 'I Want More', from Flow Motion! They even appeared on the BBC pop show Top Of The Pops to promote it!

[lovecraft]

Yeah, frankly, you have all the best stuff. Maybe Flow Motion if you're curious but its not essential.

[ashratom]

IMO, the single best Can album (yes, even better than their studio opuses) is The Peel Sessions. It came out in 1995 on Strange Fruit (John Peel's label). It's archival material from 1973 to 1975 that absolutely kills it.

And I also recommend The Lost Tapes.

[DrGoon]

They're all CAN albums, so they're each worth a listen, but you'll not get a lot of repeat value out of much of the post-1975 studio work. As others have mentioned the retrospective releases are worth having, and the reunion album with Mooney - 1989's Rite Time has enough going on with Jaki's now more sparse drumming complementing soulful vocals and a chill vibe that may have you spinning it a few times but it's in no way on par with their peak.

[arturs]

I kinda like late '70s Can. Totally different from the early years but if you like funky world music, they were about 10-15 years ahead of their time with that "sound".

[Poisoned Youth]

IMO, the single best Can album (yes, even better than their studio opuses) is The Peel Sessions. It came out in 1995 on Strange Fruit (John Peel's label). It's archival material from 1973 to 1975 that absolutely kills it.

Good point. Can you still even find that release anymore?

Another one I was thinking of (also hard to find) is the Can Box Live 1971-1977.

[mx20]

I enjoy some stuff on Cannibalism 2 and The Lost Tapes, but I have never picked up any studio album past Babaluma. When did Holger surrender the role of bass guitarist?

[Digital_Man]

I have Saw Delight which is ok. I also have rite time which is also ok. Neither one are essential though of course unless you are a Can completist.

[Mister Triscuits]

I enjoy some stuff on Cannibalism 2 and The Lost Tapes, but I have never picked up any studio album past Babaluma. When did Holger surrender the role of bass guitarist?

Saw Delight is the first one with Holger on electronics only and Rosko Gee taking over the bass.

[Bake 1]

I remember feeling let down by Saw Delight, Out Of Reach and parts of Flow Motion, but felt there were still some real narcotic parts to be found. Rite Time is another story. If you have good playback equipment it's obvious that this one is recorded better than most Can albums. Schmidt, Karoli and Liebezeit are all unique players, (Czukay too, but he's not playing a lot of bass here) and this disc hits some new Can neurons. I really like having most of the tunes from this record stuck in the head. YMMV, but it could pay off big to give Rite Time a fair trial.

[Progbear]

I have a slight fondness for Flow Motion; it’s not great, but it has its moments. Saw Delight still sounds like Can, but with the “boring” knob turned way, way up. Inspiration was seriously lacking at that point in their career. They turned the “suck” knob to 11 for Out of Reach, don’t even bother! The only song I’ve heard off the self-titled album was the cheesy Offenbach “Can Can” adaptation (listed as part of the Ethnological Forgery Series; nice try, fellas).

[GuitarGeek]

Flow Motion is a terrible record. I Want More is aobut the best track on it. There's another track called ...And More, which is basically a loop of the chorus of I Want More ("More and more and more and more and more..." repeated ad nauseum) with the band grooving over it. And the rest of the album goes downhill from there.

I thought Saw Delight was a much better record, despite opening with a song that was clearly a re-write of Moonshake off Future Days. Most of the tracks on the record kinda have a Afro-pop vibe, like they were doing an EFS version of that sound. And I liked the addition of Rebop Kwaku Baah on percussion.

I've never heard the last two, apart from the gawdawful rendition of Offenbach's Can-Can (which they had the unmitigated audacity to count as an EFS track). It's kinda cute, but not what I hear from that particular group of musicians.

[GuitarGeek]

Can't really help (not familiar with any albums in this period) but they had a UK hit single in 1976 with 'I Want More', from Flow Motion! They even appeared on the BBC pop show Top Of The Pops to promote it!

I've seen the clip. Herr Karoli had a gotten a perm (or maybe his hair was naturally curly and he had a perm all throughout the first half of the 70's). Combined with a pair of shades an atypical choice of guitar (a Gibson SG, whereas he's typically seen playing Strats in those days), the new hairdo rendered him unrecognizable at first glance.

But what's even stranger is the clips I have on a bootleg VHS of them miming both I Want More and Can-Can on some German TV show. The weird thing is, there's these comedy skits inserted into the songs, complete with dialog. Really strange. Must have been some kind of variety show, but I've never seen such a program where they interrupt the musical guest's performance for bad comedy (well, I assume it's bad comedy, I can't German variety show comedy skits weren't any better than their American counterparts). I also have a video of La Dusseldorf (Klaus Dinger's post Neu! group) performing on that show.

[GuitarGeek]

Rite Time is another story. If you have good playback equipment it's obvious that this one is recorded better than most Can albums.

Rite Time was their late 80's reunion album. They even retrieved Malcolm Mooney from cold storage. I guess by that time, they were regarded as "highly influential", and therefore they probably had all kinds of record companies (well, indie labels anyway) offering them reasonably big offers to do something.

From what I understand, there's next to no overdubs on the early records because they only had a two track machine to record with. They'd just jam and jam and jam ("und lauft und lauft und lauft!") and record everything, then edit down the best bits for the records.

[DrGoon]

From what I understand, there's next to no overdubs on the early records because they only had a two track machine to record with. They'd just jam and jam and jam ("und lauft und lauft und lauft!") and record everything, then edit down the best bits for the records.

Correct - not only were the early albums two track recordings, but they were also done by arranging the band around a single stereo microphone that was set up in the middle of the performance space. It's utterly primitive, but it's also honest - the band mediate the mix with their own playing. The 'trick' as you mention was that they would just perform for hours at a time and then leave it (primarily to Holger) to edit the jams into something worth releasing.

[Mister Triscuits]

I've seen the clip. Herr Karoli had a gotten a perm (or maybe his hair was naturally curly and he had a perm all throughout the first half of the 70's). Combined with a pair of shades an atypical choice of guitar (a Gibson SG, whereas he's typically seen playing Strats in those days), the new hairdo rendered him unrecognizable at first glance.

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.

[zombywoof]

IMO, the single best Can album (yes, even better than their studio opuses) is The Peel Sessions. It came out in 1995 on Strange Fruit (John Peel's label). It's archival material from 1973 to 1975 that absolutely kills it.

Oh I MUST have this.

[Facelift]

I like Saw Delight better than Landed. In fact, I like it almost as much as the pre-1975 stuff.

[olivetti]

From what I understand, there's next to no overdubs on the early records because they only had a two track machine to record with. They'd just jam and jam and jam ("und lauft und lauft und lauft!") and record everything, then edit down the best bits for the records.

Well, not really. From the CAN book
"In the early days they sometimes double-tracked with only two stereo tape-recorders. Rarely did they try higher levels of multi-tracking with this modest equipment. Karoli was often double-tracked, for example he could add another guitar track when flute was to be added by Jaki or Malcolm"

[Levgan]

FWIW, here's my take on this...

Flow Motion – subpar, mostly dull, the original line up was obviously running out of steam, the reggae track is an abomination, but the title song is OK if only a feeble reminder of the mammoth grooves of the past;

Unlimited Edition - diverse compilation of outtakes from Mooney, Suzuki and post-Suzuki era, some nice E.F.S. material here, plus "Fall of Another Year" which sounds like a lost classic from Soundtracks, "Mother Upduff" reminds me of the earliest Mooney records such as Delay 1968, and there are a few ambient-tinged instrumental that sound like (and actually are) Future Days/Babaluma throwbacks, good stuff overall;

Saw Delight - hated it initially, but grown to appreciate it as time went; the addition of new players reinvigorated the band in some way, they were veering into the worldbeat / Afro direction now and while jams like "Animal Waves" are way too soft and may seem pointless compared to earlier stuff, they are still fairly solid;

Out of Reach - their nadir for me, Rosko/Reebop stuff is godawful, the rest of the band is playing on autopilot, the only good moment is a song called "November", but even that is an inferior version of "Mighty Girl" from Peel Sessions (see below);

Can - NOT as bad as you would guess, some excellent jams and grooves here, much better than on the previous record, so at least 25 minutes of very solid material, the closing "Can-Can" is polarizing but I find it quite hilarious and a fitting eulogy to their ever surprising 1960-70s career;

Peel Sessions - as mentioned above, a MUST, easily on par with their best material, three superb long jams (one with Suzuki, two without), Schmidt's nocturnal instrumental, a song from Landed (not bad, but the only part that seems a little unnecessary) and finally the awesome "Mighty Girl" with Schmidt playing acoustic piano instead of his usual array of synths. GREAT.

Still have not heard Rite Time.

[Trane]

Past Landed, I only remember s/t from 79 (and thinking it wasn't bad) and of course the very good Delay 68 (released early 80's)

However, TBH, I found little interest in the boxset Lost Tapes (only a couple of track appealed to me)