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.

Yep, and into the Rosko Gee era! The sample track sounds really good, I'm glad this series is still marching forward.

https://canofficial.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-aston-1977

very nice, I was wondering if we'd get some later period shows

The artwork for this series is so awful, I do not understand it!

The artwork for this series is so awful, I do not understand it!

I don't know, I actually like it.

I'd heard from someone that Aston was coming in May and one from Keele University was coming in August. I guess he must've had an inside source. Keele I believe is the Fizz show which is really excellent and well-recorded. it was also recorded two days from this show so the Aston album (which looks like a single LP?) might be superfluous soon. whatever, I'll probably buy it anyway

i like the artwork too

Can is one of the greats and I’m never going to complain about getting more live material at all but for some reason none of them have hit like Brighton for me and I don’t know if that’s because that was the first one so it was new and exciting and I put a lot of time into listening to it or if I just actually like that one more than all the rest on a purely musical level.

In other words it feels like a case of the latter but I could be blinded by it actually being a case of the former.

Stuttgart is the first one, and I kinda agree the next two were kinda superfluous after that. Paris is different though and I suspect the next two will be as well

Goddammit Stuttgart is the one I meant and the only one I have a physical copy of.

Paris is great, it’s probably my favorite right now (probably because I was listening to it just the other day. Catch me on another day and I might pick a different one ).

just picked up Paris a week ago and that definitely hit the sweet spot.

I realized I haven't listened to it so far, so I have it on now

Is this a double album? The bootleg of this gig lasts 78 minutes.

... or do we have another Cuxhaven on our hands?

I suspect that will be the case yes, only the 1st four tracks. 4th track of the boot = Dizzy Dizzy = 4th track here as well.

So probably going to miss the last 3 tracks (sunshine, I want more, kami kazi attempt)

Wish I knew what drove the decision to cut some of these down, I'm not sure I understand the arbitrary choices to shave some down.

total madness

could be something with the boots themselves - I don't think this is sourced from the same recording. the drums sound quite different to me, as though this bootlegger got a lot closer. could also be something with the vinyl release, like maybe they didn't have the capacity to do a double, though maybe not because the Brighton release probably didn't need to be a triple...its 90 minutes but they could've easily cut out some of the second half where it's just dead space between sets. curious how the next one will be handled, if indeed that is the Fizz recording they should just use the version that was played on the radio, since it was recorded really well.

it is pretty maddening though, I don't really need another version of "Dizzy Dizzy" but would love "Sunshine Day and Night", one of my favorite tracks of the Rosko/Reebop era

Listening to Aston rn and it’s like absolute pure ambrosia to my ears. Like seeing inside the mind of Jaki in a less confrontational atmosphere than previous live releases I’ve heard. Loving it, want to be Can 77 for Halloween this year.

I went straight from Aston back to the copy of Miles Davis' Agharta I'm ripping, and damn I know it's been compared before but they were really on the same wavelength for a while in the 70s

Good call, sleeve! I can totally hear that connection.

This might be my favorite of these Can reissues (and that’s not something I’ve said about every one of them)

I am, I think, totally unfamiliar with the Rosko era, it's definitely a different vibe

One of the best things about this series is the song numbering, disassociating the riffs from the original song settings. It’s made me listen in a different way, hearing them as self-sufficient material, rather than live variations on familiar songs. (Even if many of those studio songs were also somewhat arbitrary captures of ever-evolving ideas )

Hmm, looks like I'm gonna have to catch this one as well...

xpost also, yes: previous live releases have either had 'orig' song titles or 'completely new' titles (or compilations of 'best bits') whereas here it's just separations of a live gig.

Spent a week camping off the grid and digested four MONSTER 500p+ tomes, including All Gates Open which was really well written and informative. The actual book is actually maybe the first 60%, followed by a staggering amount of supplemental interviews and outlines and ephemera.

Coming into the book I was firmly a Jaki & Michael guy, but the more I read about Holger the more he impressed me. Perhaps he (Holger) was the heart of the band? Malcolm's complex story and redemption (not sure that's the right word) was also enlightening.

All I want to do is listen to CAN now, I want more... and more...

what were the other tomes, out of curiosity?

You could certainly argue that Holger was the most important member of the band, he was the one who recorded and edited all their music and gave it its shape and final form.

I got that impression after watching several interviews with him, he's not the most skilled member of the group but he's definitely got vision and knew how to keep things groovy and fun, which is where I think they really differ from their contemporaries

every member of Can (the OG quartet) is essential — take one of 'em out and the house of cards tumbles imo. Karoli is amazing on these live releases, too — sometimes he sounds utterly lost. But it works! He's not *simulating* wild abandon, but actually in the throes of wild abandon.

love the white gloves, practical and stylish

what I like about these live recordings is they actually sound the way a concert does. I've heard some soundboards of shows I'd been do and I'm always kind of amazed by them, because I don't recall the actual show sounding like they do. these boots sound very much like it must've actually being there I think. the guy who captured them must've known what he was doing.

Keele 77 kicking my ass rn
I’m particularly fond of this era

thank you, was curious

Sounds fantastic as well. The drums are more crisp and less boomy (just like the recorded versions). There’s only a single up on Spotify but I liked what I heard enough to calendar the release lol

Super excited to get this one too, but bummed this is, allegedly, the end of the series.

was briefly talked about on another can thread, it's been a wonderful series

ok yeah this sounds pretty great, I assume Spotify has the same 10-minute lead track as Bandcamp

So uniformly crispy, can’t wait to hear the rest
dare I say I want more.

sounds like a major improvement over the bootleg (but the same source)

Does this have I Want More on it?

the bootleg? I don't *think* I recognize it in the two "improvisation" tracks.

https://we.tl/t-8aSlXsv6WR <- here it is, for a week (it's not official so I don't think i'm breaking any rules?)

Keele 77 releases tomorrow

Yeah, got a notice yesterday that mine shipped.

77 you say

march 2nd 1977 yes

soundborad 77