Can (band)
Can was an
experimental rock group founded in
Germany in
1968. Describing themselves as an "anarchist community," and constructing their music largely through improvisation and edit, they had only occasional commercial success, but exerted a huge influence on subsequent
rock and
electronic music. They are generally held to be the finest of the original
Krautrock bands, and are among the most important experimental artists in recent music history.
Band years (1968-1979)
Can formed in
Cologne in
1968 as "Inner Space," comprising bass guitarist
Holger Czukay, keyboard player
Irmin Schmidt (both music teachers who had studied under
Karlheinz Stockhausen), guitarist
Michael Karoli (a pupil of Czukay), and
jazz drummer
Jaki Liebezeit, along with original member
David Johnson.
In the autumn of 1968, they enlisted the creative, highly rhythmic, but often confrontational American vocalist
Malcolm Mooney, with whom they released the album
Monster Movie in 1969. His bizarre and (often apparently psychotic) ranting stood in contrast to the stark minimalism of the music, which was influenced particularly by the
Velvet Underground,
James Brown, and the
Psychedelic movement. As with those influences, repetition was stressed on bass and drums, particularly on the 20-minute "Yoo Doo Right," which had been edited down from a six-hour improvisation. This song, which features Mooney yelling what appear to be the highlights from a love letter, has been
covered in abbreviated form by
The Geraldine Fibbers,
Thin White Rope,
Masaki Batoh and others.
Mooney returned to America soon afterwards (on the advice of a psychiatrist, according to legend) and was replaced by the less overtly challenging
Damo Suzuki, a Japanese traveller found
busking outside a cafe. The band's first record with Suzuki was
Soundtracks (1970). Suzuki was a very different sort of singer from Mooney: his multi-lingual (he claimed to sing in "the language of the Stone Age"), often inscrutable vocal style added the missing ingredient to a set of playful pop songs. Also included were two songs recorded with Mooney, including an unexpected foray into melodic jazz, "She Brings the Rain."
The next few years saw Can release their most acclaimed works, which arguably did as much to define the
Krautrock genre as those of any other group. While their earlier recordings tended to be loosely based on traditional song structures, on their mid-career albums the band reverted to an extremely fluid improvisational style.
Tago Mago (1971) is a groundbreaking, influential and deeply unconventional record, based on intensely rhythmic jazz-inspired drumming, improvised guitar and keyboard soloing (frequently intertwining each other), extensive tape edits, and Suzuki's idiosyncratic vocalisms. The
rhythm section's work on
Tago Mago has been especially praised: One critic writes that much of the album is based on "long
improvisations built around
hypnotic rhythm patterns" [
1]; another writes that "'Halleluwah' finds them "pounding out a monster
trance/
funk beat" [
2].
Tago Mago was followed by
Ege Bamyasi (1972), a more accessible but still avant-garde record which featured the catchy "
Vitamin C" and the Top 40 German hit "
Spoon." Next was
Future Days (1973), an unassuming but quietly complex record which represents an early example of
ambient music and is perhaps the band's most critically successful record. Also included on this album was the refreshingly unexpected pop song "Moonshake". The names of these albums represent the band members' interest in
world music, referring to other cultures' languages and traditions.
Suzuki left in 1973 to become a
Jehovah's Witness, and the vocals were taken over by Karoli and Schmidt. Both were competent but (arguably) not especially memorable singers, especially when compared to Mooney's demented energy or Suzuki's freewheeling charm. In live performance, though, the music grew in intensity without a vocal center, and the band maintained their ability to collectively improvise with or without central themes for hours at a time, resulting in a rather great body of performances.
Soon Over Babaluma from 1974 continued in the ambient style of
Future Days, though regaining some of the abrasive edge of
Tago Mago and
Ege Bamyasi. In 1975 Can signed to
Virgin Records in the UK and EMI/Harvest in Germany. The albums
Landed (1975),
Flow Motion (1976),
Saw Delight (1977) and
Out of Reach (1978), saw Can moving towards a somewhat more conventional style. Accordingly, the disco single "I Want More" from
Flow Motion became their only hit record outside of Germany.
In 1977 Can added former
Traffic bassist
Rosko Gee and percussionist
Reebop Kwaku Baah to the existing personnel, pushing Holger Czukay, who is now perhaps the best-known ex-member, to the fringes of the group's activity; in fact he played only the
wave table, a table consisting of
shortwave radios,
morse code keys, tape recorders and other sundry objects. Czukay left in late 1977 and did not appear on the albums
Out Of Reach (1978) or
Can (1979) - he did, however, do some production work on the latter album.
Out Of Reach has subsequently been disowned by the band and is not listed on their website's discography. Can quietly disbanded at the end of the 1970s, but has reformed on a few occasions since.
Since the split, all the former members have been involved in musical projects; Czukay seems to have had the most success. In
1986 they briefly reformed, with Mooney but without Suzuki, to record
Rite Time (released in 1989). There was a further reunion to record a track for the
Wim Wenders film
Until the End of the World, and Can have since been the subject of numerous compilations, live albums and samples.
In 1999 the four founding members of Can -
Holger Czukay,
Michael Karoli,
Jaki Liebezeit,
Irmin Schmidt - performed live in the same show, but separately as "Can-Solo-Projects," playing with their current solo projects. These solo projects were:
* Michael Karoli - Sofortkontakt
* Jaki Liebezeit & Club Off Chaos
* Irmin Schmidt & Kumo
* Holger Czukay & U-She
Michael Karoli died on
17 November 2001 after a long battle with
cancer, whilst Irmin Schmidt has begun working with the acclaimed drummer
Martin Atkins, producing a remix for the
industrial band
The Damage Manual, and a cover of
Banging the Door for a
Public Image Ltd tribute album, both released on Atkins' label,
Invisible Records.
In 2004, the band began an ongoing series of
Super Audio CD remasters of its back catalog. Currently, all albums except
Out of Reach are available, as are the compilations
Unlimited Edition and
Delay 1968.
Out of Reach is not expected to be re-released, as it has since been disowned by the band.
* The group's debut album
Monster Movie was credited to "The Can."
* When preparing a soundtrack, only Irmin Schmidt would view the film and then give the rest of the band a general description of the scenes they would be scoring. This assisted in the soundtrack being successful both inside and outside the film's context.
* Although Can's sound has always been ahead of its time, they did not use multi-track recorders until 1975.
* Irmin Schmidt's wife Hildegard has managed the band and handled all the band's financial affairs since 1974.
* Damo Suzuki's debut performance with Can in 1970 nearly frightened an audience to the point of rioting due to his odd style of vocalizing.
David Niven, of
Pink Panther fame, was amongst the crowd who remained to hear what Can and Damo would do next.
* There is a legend that during live shows, the band could focus their energy on playing to the extent that it could make certain members of the audience
vomit.
* Can made attempts to find a new vocalist after the departure of Damo Suzuki, although no one quite fit the position. One such vocalist, Michael Cousins, toured with Can in April, 1976. Audience members disapproved of his presence and literally spat at him while on stage. The only available recording with Cousins is the
Live Hannover 1976 bootleg.
* In 1976, folksinger
Tim Hardin took the lead vocal spot with Can for one song, performing his classic
The Lady Came From Baltimore.
*
John Lydon (aka
Johnny Rotten), formerly of the
Sex Pistols formed
Public Image Limited patterned after Can's early 70's line-up. Lydon wanted to join Can in 1979 as the group decided to disband.
* During their
Kid A tour, the English band
Radiohead performed a cover of the song Thief. They reportedly covered it at least 9 times between
2000 and
2001.
*
The Mooney Suzuki was named in tribute to Mooney and Suzuki.
*The song
Spoon was a hit that was featured as the theme of a German TV show and is the namesake of a popular
indie rock band.
*
Rock: The Rough Guide (second edition), Penguin, 1999.
* Martin C. Strong's
Great Rock Discography (fifth edition), MOJO Books, 2000.
*
Spoon Records.com - The official Can website
*
Can discog (short) - With credits, sleeve details.
*
Can discog (extensive) - Albums, collections, compilations, collaborations, lives, solos.
*
Yoo Doo Right music performance in memory of Michael Karoli (1948-2001)
*
Then I Saw Mushroom Head: The Story of Can - Book excerpt about Can
*
Video: Can playing "Paperhouse" (at the Beat Club)*
Krautrock website - general site about Krautrock
