early CAN

[46346]

i played an amazing gig this week with Malcolm Mooney, who was the original singer for the German band CAN. i had been quite aware of their later material with Damo Suzuki, but i studied a lot of the Malcolm material (Monster Movie, Unlimited Edition, Delay 1968) and wow... proto-punk and garage elements, with a strong hint of the Krautrock to come. very energetic. now i can really hear the influence on various stages of Radiohead, etc.

thee amazing thing is we sold out the Echo in Los Angeles - and they said they had to turn 200 people away! i was expecting a bunch of old record collector guys... but it was mostly 20's and 30's (plenty of older cats and kitties too).

now i'm hooked - luckily there are a couple more records i can check out. and hopefully do more stuff with Malcolm. a very sweet and creative man.

[HorseyBoy]

I remember Julian Cope in his "Krautrocksampler" was of the opinion that Can only went downhill after Malcolm Mooney left. "Monster Movie" is awesome, and there are some great Malcolm tracks on "The Lost Tapes".

[shadowplay]

I remember Julian Cope in his "Krautrocksampler" was of the opinion that Can only went downhill after Malcolm Mooney left. "Monster Movie" is awesome, and there are some great Malcolm tracks on "The Lost Tapes".

I've pretty sure you're confused and mean they went down a level after Damo Suzuki left.

There's even some recordings of pre Malcom Can when they still had the flutist. I remember being pretty excited a few years after I first got into Can when ROIR brought out Prehistoric Future in the mid 80's (on Cassete ), which I'd heard was a live ecording made during the 'May 68' riots in Paris. I misunderstood this as a keen student of Situationism and something of a romantic. I took this literally imsgining it was recorded in the street while the riots blazed around them but it was recorded in Germsny during June, when the riots were petering out in France.

D

[Telliot]

I actually got into Can after Holger Czukay's collaboration with David Sylvian. They were an amazing band. It's mind blowing how wide their influence was and how ahead of their time they were. That's so awesome you got to play with Malcom Mooney!

[Lo-Fi]

I remember Julian Cope in his "Krautrocksampler" was of the opinion that Can only went downhill after Malcolm Mooney left. "Monster Movie" is awesome, and there are some great Malcolm tracks on "The Lost Tapes".

'The Lost Tapes' is my go-to Can record(s) of late.
I still can't believe Tago Mago is 45 years old...

[PorkyPrimeCut]

I've been through plenty if Can phases over the years. They're one of those bands I seem to revisit again & again.

Not so long ago I'd consider Delay 1968 my favourite of their records but I can guarantee that'll change the next time I dig in to their amazingly broad back catalogue.

I'm not sure if it was David but someone pointed out a mega-release, some amazing compilation, that I never got round to buying. It may well have been The Lost Tapes. Thanks for the reminder, Horseboy.

[FrankRay]

Personally I always felt Mooney is a bit creepy, and the songs he sings on seem much more dated, more like the Floyd or Gong or even the Deviants, than the stuff with Damo which is simply extraordinary. Like the difference between a no 78 bus and a rocket ship.
I can't imagine ever tiring of Ege Bamyasi or Tago Mago. They still sound great.

[Larry Mal]

Malcolm Mooney definitely had his own thing going on, but it's never been my favorite stuff of theirs. Cool that you got to play with him though, even better that he's still out there performing and writing music.

[dinosaurkale->]

monster movie is prob my fav, tago mago prob my 2nd fav

[Larry Mal]

Those are good. I'm a huge fan of "Future Days".

[46346]

indeed

Personally I always felt Mooney is a bit creepy, and the songs he sings on seem much more dated, more like the Floyd or Gong or even the Deviants, than the stuff with Damo which is simply extraordinary. Like the difference between a no 78 bus and a rocket ship.
I can't imagine ever tiring of Ege Bamyasi or Tago Mago. They still sound great.

indeed, the 70's stuff is fantastically futuristic - especially looking back from here. i agree much of the '68-'70 stuff sounds *relatively* dated. although Father Cannot Yell really set the tone for what Can would do henceforth. i'm sure it sailed way over most heads in 1969.

also, the song Thief from Delay 1968 is achingly beautiful. timeless enough for Radiohead to perform it recently in their sets - apparently most people thought it was an unreleased track of theirs. when i heard that we would do that song, i committed to doing as many rehearsals as possible.

i really enjoy being just young enough to discover modern-sounding music that actually happened decades ago. after enduring so much classic rock from the 60's and 70's, it's been great to discover what else was going on. learning these tunes has got me into checking out cool old records again!

[HorseyBoy]

I remember Julian Cope in his "Krautrocksampler" was of the opinion that Can only went downhill after Malcolm Mooney left. "Monster Movie" is awesome, and there are some great Malcolm tracks on "The Lost Tapes".

I've pretty sure you're confused and mean they went down a level after Damo Suzuki left.
D

Nope, Cope was always a contrary kind of guy. He loved Mooney.

[FrankRay]

indeed

Personally I always felt Mooney is a bit creepy, and the songs he sings on seem much more dated, more like the Floyd or Gong or even the Deviants, than the stuff with Damo which is simply extraordinary. Like the difference between a no 78 bus and a rocket ship.
I can't imagine ever tiring of Ege Bamyasi or Tago Mago. They still sound great.

indeed, the 70's stuff is fantastically futuristic - especially looking back from here. i agree much of the '68-'70 stuff sounds *relatively* dated. although Father Cannot Yell really set the tone for what Can would do henceforth. i'm sure it sailed way over most heads in 1969.

also, the song Thief from Delay 1968 is achingly beautiful. timeless enough for Radiohead to perform it recently in their sets - apparently most people thought it was an unreleased track of theirs. when i heard that we would do that song, i committed to doing as many rehearsals as possible.

i really enjoy being just young enough to discover modern-sounding music that actually happened decades ago. after enduring so much classic rock from the 60's and 70's, it's been great to discover what else was going on. learning these tunes has got me into checking out cool old records again!

Don't get me wrong, I still love all the Mooney albums too. It just has a more obvious peace-free love-and psychiatric counselling vibe than the later stuff. The post-Damo stuff has its moments as well. And to work with him is super cool, obv.

[mijmog]

Great thread.

Had the pleasure and honour to meet Malcolm Mooney and play with Damo. I don't know if you felt the same, and this might have something to do with the fact that I was obsessed with and in awe of Can from my early teens, but they seemed to just emit this incredible energy. They were both really magnetic characters. I can't really put it into words but there was something really amazing about them both.

I often think about Michael Karoli, I wish in an alternative parallel universe I could meet him and pick his brains. He is my true guitar hero.

[46346]

kewl - our drummer Chris has also played in Damo Suzuki Network. i would be a bit starstruck if i met him. Malcolm actually wanted to play one of Damo's solo works for the show, but we (the band) didn't really get it together in time.

i think i know what you mean - we had worked with Mal for four nights, but it was work... i was thinking critically, aiming to be reasonably professional and prepared, and open to improvs. the improvs were where i started to feel his potential. but i really didn't know if we were gonna pull off the old song structures in a powerful way. he had been quite humble and yielding so far.

then suddenly, at sound check Malcolm really turned it on. his voice and persona just rose up something powerful. and we realized we could just play and play and it was gonna be great. from then on it was like you said - people were awestruck all night, and everyone wanted to engage with him.