Can - "Soundtracks" 1970

Moving right along. Here is a peculiarly pleasing head voyage from krautrock legends Can... marking their first (and long overdue) appearance on my blog.

First, a bit about Can. From Wikipedia:
"Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.

Can constructed their music largely through collective spontaneous composition –– which the band differentiated from improvisation in the jazz sense –– sampling themselves in the studio and editing down the results^[1]; bassist/chief engineer Holger Czukay referred to Can's live and studio performances as "instant compositions".^[2] They had occasional commercial success, with singles such as "Spoon" and "I Want More" reaching national singles charts. Through albums such as Monster Movie (1969), Tago Mago (1971), Ege Bamyasi (1972) and Future Days (1973), the band exerted a considerable influence on avant-garde, experimental, underground, ambient, punk, post-punk, new wave and electronic music. ^{[3] "}

Can was the first krautrock band I listened to, back at the beginning of college when I was exploring progressive rock, and they are one of the few bands I listened to from that time that I kept coming back to. Over time they´ve become one of my favorite bands... wildly original, hodgepodge of influences, propulsive and abrasive while capable of being gentle, delicate, almost ambient at times. A combination with beautiful results.

Can - Soundtracks
1970, Liberty / United Artists

















More from Wikipedia:
"Soundtracks is a soundtrack album by the Krautrock group Can. It was first released in 1970 and consists of tracks written for various films. The album marks the departure of the band's original vocalist Malcolm Mooney, who sings on two tracks, to be replaced by new member Damo Suzuki. Stylistically, the record also documents the transition from the psychedelia-inspired jams of their first recordings (i.e., Monster Movie and Delay 1968) to the more meditative, electronic, and experimental mode of the studio albums that followed (such as Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi).

"She Brings the Rain" was later featured in Wim Wenders' 1994 film Lisbon Story, the 2000 Oskar Roehler film Die Unberührbare and Tran Anh Hung's film Norwegian Wood, released in 2010.

"Don't Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone" features Damo Suzuki's first recorded performance with Can.^[1]

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Mother Sky" at number 48 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks."

from the liner notes of 2004 CD reissue (by David Stubbs):
"By 1970, Can´s record company were demanding a second album from them. However, although Can had vivid notions of the shape and colour their second album would take, they were a long way from realising it. Siggi Loch from United Artists came up with an idea that would bridge the gap between such artistic idealism and the more pressing demands of the industry for product. Via keyboardist Irmin Schmidt, Can had already cut a good deal of film music, which had enabled them to stay financially afloat. Why not put some of it out?
Hence Soundtracks, often unjustly overlooked, perhaps because of the expediency of its release. Yet there are many reasons why it´s more than merely of interest but indispensable to any Can fan. For a start, it contains both the last recording with Can of Malcolm Mooney (the harrowingly cathartic "Soul Desert", one of the dramatic high-points of Can´s oeuvre) and the first recording with Damo Suzuki, "Don´t Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone". With this change of personnel, enforced by Mooney´s breakdown which saw him packed off back to America, a subtle shift took place in Can. As well as ploughing a rhythmical furrow of repetition, they began to float, follow the lead taken by Suzuki and his airy grasping after the firefly of melody...."

1. Deadlock (from the movie Deadlock)
2. Tango Whiskeyman (from the movie Deadlock)
3. Deadlock (instrumental title melody)
4. Don´t Turn the Light on, Leave Me Alone (from the movie Cream)
5. Soul Desert (from the movie Mädchen Mit Gewalt)
6. Mother Sky (from the movie Deep End)
7. She brings the rain (from the movie Bottom - Ein Grosser Graublauer Vogel)

Holger Czukay: bass
Michael Karoli: guitar
Jaki Liebezeit: drums
Irmin Schmidt: keyboards
Damo Suzuki: vocals on 1, 2, 4, & 6
Malcolm Mooney: vocals on 5 & 7

"...Can´s repetitive rhythmical approach was not a case of going nowhere but taking you anywhere."


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