RIP Jaki Liebezeit

TIM'S ULTRA ROUGH GUIDE TO ROCK - PART X

CAN - EGE BAMYASI

Krautrock's sonic Goliaths 3rd studio album proper is their most pop affair. That's not to say there aren't any outré experimental moments though. This is Germanic telepathic polyrhythmic psychedelic rock 1972 stylee. Can had a top ten single in Germany with Spoon taken from this record. Kanye West even appropriated Sing Swan Song wholesale for his tune Drunk & Hot Girls in 2007! - Tim 'Space Debris' Rutherford *

*(Old blurb review I did for a website)

The first Can song I came across was this in cover version form by The Jesus & Mary Chain!

Everyone's doing a bit on Jaki so I'll keep it short and personal. In my book he was the best drummer ever closely followed by Tony Allen. If Can didn't have him they simply wouldn't have been Can. You could say that about all the instrument players in the Group, I guess. They had the synergy, They were synergy! I also enjoyed Liebezeit's drumming on other projects though. He often played on fellow Can members solo records as well as with other great artists like Michael Rother, Eno, David Sylvian, Jah Wobble, Pluramon and Burnt  Friedman.

I think the last time I heard him was in 2013 in collaboration with Burnt Friedman on their 5th instalment of Secret Rhythms. He still had it on Secret Rhythms 5 and I thought he would just go on infinitely like his style often conjured.

How can you choose just one tune from Future days? They all belong together in this sequence. Is this the most cohesive LP ever? Well perhaps you could say that about Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi and Soon Over Babaluma as well. The tunes on Future Days feel like 4 movements of the one piece.

This blows me mind every time! I could keep on posting Can songs, particularly everything off those aforementioned LPs. Monster Movie, Soundtracks, Landed, Unlimited Edition, The Lost Tapes and most of Flow Motion are great too ......

RIP Jaki Liebezeit.

Stephen Malkmus does Can's Ege Bamyasi?

What the fuck? What's the point? Can you improve on perfection? Is this further proof that the ideas well in music has dried up? Does this prove Stephen was never that original in the first place? This is like some kind of joke to add to Simon Reynolds Retromania book, particularly the retroscape section. Will we file this alongside Jo Mitchell's re-enactment of the infamous Concerto For Voice and Machinery at the ICA in London, where they re-enacted the gig/riot that included Einsturzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle and Fad Gadget members originally? IE. how fucking pointless considering how spontaneous that riot was. Can were the same on Ege Bamyasi. Can's records were improv/jam sessions where usually the editing would retain the telepathic magic and dump whatever was not so happening. That's a big part of the feel and attraction of Ege Bamyasi as well as the incredible chemistry between the 5 members. I doubt they ever played a song the same way twice. This was music summoned out of the air. How the fuck are you gonna replicate that vibe when your vibe is the total opposite. You get the feeling Malkmus has missed a very important point here. Maybe he's not as cluey as he/we thought.

Anyhow any excuse to get into a bit of Can and dig out the old 1989 reissue cd of Ege Bamyasi which perhaps wasn't the best remaster ever to see light of day. It's like someone leaned on the volume levels during the process leaving a very quiet cd that really has to be pumped twice as high on the volume switch as anything else I own. There have been several reissues since so maybe it's time to reinvest in one of the greatest LPs of all time.

3 of Can's tunes that really could have made them international pop stars.

Spoon

Can's best attempt at pop fo shizzle!
This was actually a top 10 hit in Germany and a theme tune to a German TV crime show.

Vitamin C

Could be my fave pop Can Song.
This was used in another TV crime series.

I'm So Green
Can at their most pop again albeit idiosyncratic can pop!

Is anyone actually gonna buy that Malkmus LP?