CAN....S and D?

Search: The first six albums (Monster Movie, Soundtracks, Tago Mago (!), Ege Bamyasi, Future Days, Soon Over Babaluma).

Destroy: Pretty much everything else, although Landed has its moments.

'Monster Movie' is still my fave, tho' - and personally I LOVE the lyrics to 'Yoo Doo Right' (so does Bobby Gillespie - he pretty much lifted them wholesale for 'Movin' On Up'....)

Destroy: the mostly v. poor remix alb.

Can is awesome. I wouldn't put them in the same "must hear" category as somebody like Kraftwerk, though. All the albums I have (thru Future Days) have both dull moments and great tracks. I kind of wish they'd been an instrumental band.

It starts getting good from Soundtracks on. Future Days is simply awesome.

The whole disco period is ok, if you're a big Can fan, but I wouldn't start there (although I love Holger Czukay's "Movies" album).

What I've heard of Ege Bamyasi and Tago Mago sounded appealing, especially the former.

anyway, my favorite is still probably future days although everything they did has moments.

Destroy: _Out of Reach_, which the band hated so much it's never been reissued, and with good reason.

Tons of Can threads so might as well revive this one for this link -- Irwin Schmidt on food, music and democracy:

http://thequietus.com/articles/00813-irmin-schmidt-of-can-on-food-and-cooking-plus-a-recipe-tip

I know it's not meant to be any good, but the completist in me needs to buy a copy of 'Out Of Reach' - are any of the CD versions better or worse than others in terms of sound quality? I've read that, since it's been disowned and not officially reissued, the CD versions often come from poorly done vinyl transfers.
Any tips for which of the grey-area CD versions to try and locate?

Thanks

If there's a Can forum or similar where such a question might also have been answered by knowledgeable geeks then please point me that way too.

I dont know about sound quality, but there are several different versions floating around - at least in Europe. The one released by Audelic contains Out Of Reach and the self titled album and is pretty cheap, there should be also a more recent version from Cleopatra (!) that according our supplier's database should be easily available.

Thanks Marco. I didn't think to check for standardly available copies, assuming that the grey-area aspect would write them off, but I think I see the copy you mention, thought the UK distributor for Cleopatra isn't entirely clear and we definitely don't deal with whoever Synergie are ourselves. I'll try to see if maybe Cargo, F-Minor or PHD have it on their books.

I think that all these versions are basically non-legit.
I saw the Cleopatra version is available through Bertus, a big Dutch supplier: I'm pretty sure all good UK distributors work with them.

Cheers, that will probably help to know. If I can get it through the shop that's a bonus as I have a lot of left over holiday pay to write off.

add to search: the peel sessions - "Up the Bakerloo Line w/Annie" sounds like an acid trip. in a good way

I found it on a mp3 blog a few nights ago, Haven't listend to it yet.... not actually sure I want to. nothing worse than a bad album by a favourite band.

Oh, I know it's not meant to be good. I want it purely for completeness reasons.

Is it 'bad'?

Or just 'bad by their standards'?

It is truly and definitely BAD: the eponymous album has more than a couple of good moments, but Out Of Reach is pretty indefensible.
That said, I'm the proud owner of a copy exactly for the same reasons of Krakow. :)
The BBC album, instead, is marvellous and a fascinating glimpse into the band's compositional methods.

The best things on it are the Rosko Gee songs

Anyone else think "Inner Space" is under-rated? I'm not sure it's up there with the canonical records, but it's close IMO.

first time I've heard the recorded version of this track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxFYCE6VIt4&feature=related

delay is ok... "the thief" is a banger

Is Cannibalism worth bothering with? The remix of Yoo Doo Right sounds like warmed-over trip hop to me...

you mean Sacriliege? the Cannabalism albums are just compilations

Cannibalism 2 has a few of my fave Can moments (the crazy/fun Mother Upduff is supposedly a true story; Turtles Have Short Legs one of damo's best vocals; Shikiku Maru Ten also excellent wierdness)
the first Cannibalism is less essential if you already have the early Can records but there's a few different mixes iirc.
and yeah, Sacrilege had a couple pieces i liked but i only recall the Sonic youth one right now....

cannibalism ii's just such a great listen - it's edited together so well, the first clutch of songs p much sync up & match jaki's drums up iirc.

I never tried Cannibalism 1 since I have all the albums, plus I hate how "Yoo Doo Right" is the only full length piece there. Cannibalism 2 seems good but if you have Radio Waves and Unlimited Edition then it's kinda superfluous. Cannibalism 3 is a collection of solo material and it's actually pretty entertaining (though disappointing if you're expecting a lot of great instrumental stuff). As for the remix collection, I really thought it was a big wasted opportunity, you'll probably wind up liking 1-2 of the remixes and find the others a waste of time

Ah yes, sorry, I do mean Sacrilege. It's the 3p mix of Yoo Doo Right that didn't sound too great to me, some of the other remixers might do a better job though.

i don't think i'd listened to Can/Inner Space in probably 20 years that i'd completely forgotten how hilarious those last 3 tracks were. it's an absolutely great album and then the band just purposefully farts in your face at the end.

Count me among those who think Saw Delight is top tier Can

Same.
Saw Delight is Remain in Light 3 years early!

always thought "Sunshine Day and Night" in particular felt like something they'd do if Byrne lost his voice or something

I dont consider it a top tier record for two records - first, "Don't Say No" is lame, and second the record sounds kinda stuffy to me, it's got very little punch to it, which is odd considering how crisp their previous records are

but its def very good

Don't Say No would be fine if they hadn't already written Moonshake.

i probably play "animal waves" more than any long Can jam these days

I like Rosko Gee's bass playing, easily one of the best things about Traffic's "When the Eagle Flies". Actually Reebop was always good in Traffic too.

Jaki's playing on Animal Waves is worth the 15 minutes alone. I also love the sampling throughout the record. Surely Holger was one of the first to ever do something like that? This was several years before My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. I guess Silver Apples did something similar in their first record.

people had been experimenting with tape collages for a while, Holger himself made the Canaxis LP in 1968 with Rolf Dammers.
for me the first really successful one is Vladimir Ussachevsky's "Wireless Fantasy", blending electicity sounds with samples from shortwave radio broadcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOD_O5SfZHw

in the "pop" context, I've always though Silver Apples use on "Program" was incredibly ahead of it's time.

(xp) Holger did study with Stockhausen after all.

John Cage made pieces incorporating live radio in 1956: https://simpleharmonicmotion.org/john-cages-radio-music/

I wonder how heavy that wire recorder was that Halim El-Dabh was lugging around Cairo in the 1940s, I've never seen a picture of it

New live album...

https://canofficial.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-arles-1975

That guy on their facebook page was correct then.

been on such a can kick lately. been really kickin' that can. obv i participated in the ILM poll which introduced me to the post-babaluma records, but going back to those has been really fun even though they obviously are a completely different beast from the first six. i agree with everyone who loves saw delight, they really had something there, it's almost like an extroverted version of future days down to making a more commercial (and worse, but it's hard to ruin something so good in its bones) version of "moonshake"

i can't tell if i'm wrong about this or not, but my least favorite can record is flow motion. i adore "i want more" "... and more," but the other genre exercises really don't work for me, and it's completely down to my mood whether i find the title track mesmerizing or boring

Don't Say No is the low point of Saw Delight I think, I don't think the vocals work with the instrumentation and it sounds kinda hollow. and yes cannibalizing one of your old riffs is never a good sign. but the rest of the album rules. that's the era of the band I would love to hear more live recordings of, if they even exist.

I agree Flow Motion is pretty overrated. I like all of Side 1 but the second side is pretty lame, "Smoke" aside I guess. I always feel like the title track is supposed to build into something but it never does. Still a better album overall than Out of Reach or Rite Time, but yeah it's near the bottom for me.

surprising no one by saying i LOVE rite time

looking for the right moment to drop "like a new child" in a dj set

I agree Flow Motion is pretty overrated.

In order to be overrated first you have to be "rated" and this album has never been rated particularly highly.

I guess what I'll say in favor of that one is it's got such a weird vibe to it, totally unlike any Can of the past, it sounds weirdly Xanax'd out in a way that's kind of surreal, especially adding Malcolm's Wesley Willis-style vocals to the mix. as a standalone thing I kinda dig it but in the context of Can's catalogue it's really odd.

In order to be overrated first you have to be "rated" and this album has never been rated particularly highly.

ya I'm probably just thinking about when I first read about Can on like, webrings and such back in the day, consensus seemed to be that Flow Motion was pretty good but the subsequent albums fell off. maybe why I adore Saw Delight so much, I was expecting to really dislike that one and instead thought it was loads of fun

The general consensus used to be they fell off after "Babaluma" - that might be the Julian Cope angle, except I don't think he like them after "Ege Bamyasi".

I guess what I'll say in favor of that one is it's got such a weird vibe to it, totally unlike any Can of the past, it sounds weirdly Xanax'd out in a way that's kind of surreal, especially adding Malcolm's Wesley Willis-style vocals to the mix. as a standalone thing I kinda dig it but in the context of Can's catalogue it's really odd.

― frogbs, Wednesday, June 24, 2026 11:19 AM (forty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

rite time sounds like no other record ever made. some people think this is a bad thing and i understand. it is almost an alien object to me, in the sound, in the particular chemistry of the band at this point, in the way that it's basically proving nothing to the fans that had already dropped off. for me it's like drilling a tunnel through the earth into this immaculate crystal cave that could not have been built by humans because nothing appears modified by human touch, also some guy is in there wailing in slow motion

Below This Level is hilarious, top 10 Can for me

I do love the single edit of Hoolah Hoolah which samples Spoon

that's an interesting take ivy, I guess the key is not to think of it like a Can record at all. you do hear bits of Karoli's tone on there but it has none of Can's usual energy nor much of their penchant for improvisation. because the drums are so on rails and the bass lines are static they never really 'go' anywhere, but theres a lot of strange keyboard/sample stuff going on, idk maybe I need to re-evaluate this record

The fact that Karoli plays a lot (most?) of the bass on it is one reason why it doesn't sound so much like Can.

As far as energy goes, I think Rite Time is quite in line with all of their mid-to-late '70s records.

It's one of my favorite Can records. Lush and charming.

I bought a factory cassette of the album in 1990 while on a "backpacking trip" to Europe as a young person and would listen to it on my Walkman while on train trips and stuff, so that album is totally the sound of like *Europe Endless* for me.

looking for the right moment to drop "like a new child" in a dj set

This was the first Can song I heard. I literally picked up a copy of Musician magazine off the ground one day in 1990, which featured a review of the new Can reissues. I called up a local university radio station to ask if they had any Can (the DJ had never heard of them) and they evidently had a copy of Rite Time in their library, which he then segued into a Lush 12" played at the wrong speed.

the other genre exercises really don't work for me

"Cascade Waltz" is far enough from its predecessors to become interesting on its own, beyond genre-hopping.

in the "pop" context, I've always though Silver Apples use on "Program" was incredibly ahead of it's time.

Old comment, but "I Am the Walrus" the obvious precedent here for incorporating radio broadcasts on a rock record.

yeah Beatles might've done it first but on "Program" it actually sounds like they're playing along with the broadcast so it sounds more in line with what a lot of 90s electronica acts would do. could be because it's just two guys, so how much noise could they really make

I called up a local university radio station to ask if they had any Can (the DJ had never heard of them) and they evidently had a copy of Rite Time in their library, which he then segued into a Lush 12" played at the wrong speed.

this is such a beautiful snapshot of 1990 college radio, thank you

I adore Rite Time. It has a similar vibe to me as Jon Hassell’s Power Spot. Machine music, but machine music from a fever dream world where humans have died out and the machines roam the earth unbounded.

I don't have "Rite Time" but I did find the "Can" album recently.

It's an odd one. The "Can Can" side, the single that never happened...

Can was the only Can CD I would see in stores in the late 90s (USA), it was a bit of a strange intro.

I called up a local university radio station to ask if they had any Can (the DJ had never heard of them) and they evidently had a copy of Rite Time in their library, which he then segued into a Lush 12" played at the wrong speed.

this is such a beautiful snapshot of 1990 college radio, thank you

― Serfin' USA (sleeve), Wednesday, June 24, 2026 5:46 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i'm too lazy to search the various Can threads but i had an unexpected call-in to my radio show back when i was in college from a bass guitar teacher regarding Can's "She Brings the Rain".

I feel like I'm the only one who thought ending that album with "Can Can" and then a reprise of "Can Can" was hilarious, reminds me of how Side 1 of YMO's Xoo Multiplies kept bringing back the "Tighten Up" cover

giving Rite Time a spin for the first time ever bc of this thread and i think i really like it

Rite Time is the only Can album I don't have, maybe it's time to change that.

"Can Can" and "All Gates Open" are my favorite things on that album.

I like Can Can, reminds me of Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade

“All Gates” would be close to top ten Can tracks for me. “Can Can” would … not.

"Safe" is also good. "Can Can" not so much.

“Can Can” by band Can is funny on its own

Part of the fun is that it doesn't sound like anything else they did.

It was EFS number 99!

Can Can't? No, Can Can.

"A Spectacle" is also pretty wicked

Sunday Jam and Sodom are good too!