Can
Formed in Cologne in July 1968, Can surfed the first wave of
German innovators, with their debut album Monster Movie
referencing Pink Floyd and Hendrix
in the context of a radically simplified rhythmic structure
largely dictated by drummer Jaki Liebezeit's astonishing
precision.
Their wildly disparate backgrounds held the key: jazz,
classical, pop and experimental music percolated in their daily
12-hour long jams, and the resulting sounds were guaranteed to
stir the deep unconscious.
Liebezeit's drumming was astonishing. At a time when most
percussionists needed a NASA control console to find their way
around their kit, Liebezeit sat coiled behind the kind of minimal
set-up that wouldn't have disgraced a Fisher-Price monkey in a toy
shop window. Playing without ego or embellishment, he was the
spinal cord that ran through the music.
The February 1972 release of Tago Mago showed a
generation of listeners just how far "far-out" could go,
and anointed Can as the ultimate "head" band.
Named for a supposedly magical island off the coast of Ibiza,
this double album is the most ritualistic of Can's recordings.
Punctuated by bursts of thunder and disturbing silences and
characterised by Irmin Schmidt's sparing electronics and
Liebezeit's rhythmic hyper-power, it encapsulates the band's
ability to demonstrate musical freedom within strict bounds.
The album is also every inch a trip! Paperhouse
commences Tago Mago's vaporisation of reality, Aumgn
drowns you in its terrifying psychedelic soup (for 17 minutes!)
and gentle closer Bring Me Coffee Or Tea is the haunting
postscript.
By Ege Bamyasi they were coupling avant-garde urges to a
more melodic, groove-based formula that still accommodated
vocalist Damo Suzuki's bizarre phrasing and lyrics (eg:
"You're losing, you're losing, you're losing your vitamin
C"). But as the aggressive 10-minute-plus workout of Soup
shows, Can's visceral instincts were never far from the surface.
Damo Suzuki walked out on the band in 1973 and spent the next
11 years working in Customer Service in a Japanese company. In
1983 he was diagnosed with cancer and started to make music again
with The Damo Suzuki Network.
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