Krautrock rewrote the rule book for rock music and in the music of Can and other acts from that scene you can hear whole new genres of music being formed. The most creative and fertile period of rock history in my view.
As far as I remember Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay told the story that they were walking in Munich and discovered a Japanese street singer who was Damo. They were impressed and invited him to jam with their band in the evening and that was the beginning of a cooperation for several years. Some years ago I met an old schoolmate who told me that Damo was still on the way performing instant composing with other musicians. No rehearsal or something like that. Just performing what comes in the moment. So his lyrics must not make sense as long as they sound together with the rest. Jaki Liebezeit (Leebe tsite, the "z" is sharp in German as the "d" is silent in "Django") is one of my favorite drummers. I think he is one of those who created a style that is easily to recognize because of the unique sound and the groove. He was a Free Jazz drummer before joining Can. Some day someone told him that he had to keep the things simple. He followed that advice and played patterns over and over again until they become a groove. I find he is one of those drummers who can create hypnotic atmospheres. There are also a lot of things to tell about the other members but it is too much for the comment section. The band was great In germany around 1970 ánd they recorded some tracks for TV movies. "Spoon" is the best known among these. I experienced them live only one time. And let me say it was an experience. There was a band called "Faust" who played a song called "Krautrock" that must be heard live. I don't even know if there is a studio version. They play the same simple things again and again. Until you love it. Or are cured for the rest of your life. So Techno probably has its roots in music like that or in Kraftwerk. Another group that had some success on international level is Tangerine Dream. Personally i find them a little bit too clean but Peter Gabriel seemed to like them. All in all Krautrock is not a fixed genre. The bands were too different. It was more like a disrespectful label for music out of Germany by other people but it was adapted by German musicians and audiences. (If you can't beat them join them.)
Yes exactly. As you said Krautrock is not a genre per se. Birth Control and Tangerine Dream are as far appart as could Brian Eno and ZZ-Top be but are both labelled Krautrock. This comes from the double meaning of Kraut, which in english means German but in German also means Weed.
Please please do a reaction to Tago Mago. I'm sure you will enjoy this band. And don't forget the Associates, too many people see them as a one hit wonder and don't go past the surface
Can's drummer Jaki Liebezeit may be considered the greatest drummer of all time, certainly top 3 or top 10 material. He was an absolute genius. Your take on the drum patterns of this track sounding almost like breakbeat, I think is really spot on, as a matter of fact both Jaki as well as Can had quite an influence on later more modern/contemporary electronic music. One of Can's members once said that they didn't need a drum machine because they had Jaki Liebezeit😅Your take on Damo Suzuki's vocal parts on this track not needing to sing any precise word is also very spot on. As a matter of fact he used to totally improvise his vocals to the music that they were making, to such an extenct that often is quite difficult do distinguish what he was exactly singing about cuz most of the time whatever was coming from his mouth was pure nonsense or simply gibberish🙂 but that was totally intentional. I remember that on a documentary he was asked to tell more about his contribution to their music (he left the band around 1973/74 and the documentary was quite new in comparison) and the process behind it but he simply answered that he couldn't remember because at the time he was high on drugs most of the time😂🤣What was most important for him were not the lyrics per se but to get and express the feeling and mood of the music. This is a prerogative of his that he continues to this day. All of his live performances are totally improvised without any precise beforehand planning, which sounds ridiculous and unpractical but having seen some of his performances on you tube, I can say that it is very close to the truth. By the way, I think that listening to the album from where "Vitamin C" comes from, "Ege Bamyasu" might be an overall good introduction to their music. As far as the music genre that "Can" can be attached to, check out Kraut Rock although most of the bands that are considered to be Kraut Rock have some similarities but at the same time they are quite different from each other
Yes! Can! I remember tripping out to "Tago Mago" in my university dorm room and a set of bongos. The percussion is so great on some of those tracks, very metronomic and relentless at times.
"I can't believe,I ate the whole thing!" A classic commercial for classic prog. Open another Can of kraut, I'm half German I like my 'cabbage' tangy and spicey! For dessert maybe a little Tangerine Dream with Cream? Pecan pie and Peace. ( I'm hungry now and I just had breakfast-hmmm.) You enabler you!
I'm impressed. Yesterday's XTC eventually convinced me to subscribe, today... Can! I checked, and your channel is the very first worldwide to deal with them. What a welcome twist.
Thanks for the review 👍🏻 CAN is one of my favourite band, and this song was the first song I heard from Can. You should do the whole album, you won’t regret it. 😉 My favourite album of theirs is Future Days.
The sound of the drums is very interesting. Sounds to like they are single headed (no bottom heads) , tuned pretty high & tight, and with a very dry sound (no reverb or delay or anything). Pretty cool & works really well for this tune.
I would recommend the song I Am Damo Suzuki by the excellent UK post-punk band The Fall. The song is an homage to Can but especially to their occasional singer, Damo Suzuki. It can be found on The Fall's excellent album This Nation's Saving Grace (1985). The whole album, and, indeed, The Fall, are highly recommended.
This Nation's Saving Grace is one of two maybe three really accessible albums in their whole cannon. I'd recommend Cruisers Creek or Spoilt Victorian Child.
@@hotblackdesiato3022 Yes, I agree with Marc Ribe who's just commented. This Nation's Saving Grace is a good LP to start with. Apart from those two songs that Marc mentions - Cruiser Creek and Spoilt Victorian Child - I also like What You Need, I Am Damo Suzuki, L.A., and My New House. There's half a dozen to start off with. But, really, anyone new to The Fall needs to listen to the whole album all the way through. Cheers.
The rhythms of Can music are hypnotic. It's not formally composed music. Collective improvisation. Likewise, Damo is more of a beat poet with his words. I love "Ege Bamyasi". Try "Paperhouse" from the album "Tago Mago".
I'm recently discovering Can myself. Tago Mago was the first album I listened to and my first though was "wow, this does not sound like it is from the early 70's!". Mushroom and Oh Yeah remind me a lot of Radiohead. They were definitely a huge influence on a lot of bands that followed them.
Krautrock was a typical German version of Psychedelic / Space / Progressive Rock, in some respect teutonically heavy and also experimental. Very interesting. Kraftwerk came out of this corner, also Tangerine Dream, but also Guru Guru (with their song "Elektrolurch"), Kraan, etc. Greetings from Germany
Wow, Can...they were so ahead of the curve, and their production is often phenomenal for the era. I would dare anyone listening to Mushroom for the first time to guess it was recorded in the early 70s.
Just such a joy watching you listening to one of my all-time favourite songs for the first time! '90s Breakbeat sampled this, that's why it sounds familiar. There is a whole cult of interpreting Can 'mondegreens', he did make words up, you got it. RIP Damo. 💓
One of my favorites by Can is the track "Future Days" from their 1973 album of the same name. Very atmospheric and pleasantly hypnotic. Great percussion of course. More mysterious and ominous from the same album is "Bel Air". They run nine and ten minutes respectively.
Now that's great! Perfect Can-opener! By the way: Holger Czukay also recorded Plight & Premonition with DS. David fell asleep during a listen-back-session in the Can studio. HC took this as a compliment really. I absolutely love the drumming on Vit C. Jaki Liebezeit was a tremendous percussionist. Like a human drum machine.
Totally recomending "Oh yeah" from the Tago mago album. One hell of a great vibe song. Damo singing Japanese and Jaki just keeping the song together greatly with his "motorik" beat.
Of course Can should be in every prog lovers collection. At least their 6 first album. Great stuff. Some other great german prog/kraut bands are Kraan, Hoelderlin and of course GROBSCHNITT. Especially their epic Rockpommel's Land from 1977. Cool reaction Justin !!
Can was a band which appealed to many audiences, not only the prog-rockers. Kraut-rock in general had many fine moments and there still are some great German prog bands like Traumhaus and Dark Suns. JP, as you are now back in mainland Europe with your reviews, it would be a perfect timing to listen to Losing Hold by Wigwam. Great song.
Finally, some more Krautrock! The fact you’re starting with my favorite band is awesome.. You should definitely check the band Neu! next. Their song ‘Hero’ could be a suitable starting point.
I think most of the Krautrock genre is covered in the comments below and there's much to be enjoyed but if you want the definitive track it's undoubtedly Hallogallo by Neu (pronounced noy, I believe, but my German is as deficient as yours!). Once again, it's nice to see a music lover on a genuine voyage of discovery.
A nice funky cool jam. Love Holger. Heard him the same time as XTC’s It’s Nearly Africa. Persian Love being the track. Both and so much more, being on Music and Rhythm, a Peter Gabriel WOMAD compilation album. It gave me my first major peek at world music and it rocked my boat. Don’t tip the boat over... well it did. Pretty cool song, that reminds me, got to take my one a day. Vitamins, that’s how one stays young. Love my Vitamin C, vitamin chocolate. :) Take care everyone, you are worth the trouble of masks, hand washing, social distancing, to me. Peace, Music and Rhythm
A couple other introductory krautrock tracks to try: "Hallogallo" by Neu!, "Trans-Europe Express" by Kraftwerk - and if you want to go deeper with Can, I'd recommend anything (or everything) from the fantastic first disc of their 1971 double-LP Tago Mago. (The second disc is more of a "for advanced listeners only" deal.)
Wow so good to see someone react to Can, it seems no one else has the courage to react to them, Mother Sky is awesome and I think you will love it, Can were so ahead of their time.
A good starting point with krautrock is the album Wolf City by Amon Duul 2, which contains very accessible songs yet still has the unmistakable krautrock sound to it. Can is generally kinda too much for a beginner.
While this was called Krautrock in the UK, there was no such term in Germany. What these bands all had in common though was that they did want to sound uniquely German or at least not British or American. That meant for rock to strip out the Blues, which is why you have these unique driving rhythms in many of the songs. Mother Sky from 1970 is a good one, in that one you can clearly hear influences of early Floyd while rhythmically it uses the classic Krautrock motorik beat.
Great band. This song, while not their best (in my opinion), is a good example of their sound, with Liebezeit’s insistent beat and Suzuki’s vocals, ranging from a gentle murmur to more aggressive. Czukay (from what I recall) is pronounced more like “choo-KIE [sounds like “pie”]. He made another ambient album with David Sylvian (I think it was “Plight and Premonition”?)
Going to throw my voice into the chorus calling for you to listen to some tracks off Tago Mago. That's an album that completely changed the way I listened to music. Lyrics for Damo-era Can songs can be essentially ignored. Damo is basically scat-singing over the beat, and picks words and syllables purely for the sound of them.
Finally you opened the Can. Holger Czukay is worth exploring. Two of his best songs are Persian love and the formidable Ode to Perfume. I’m sure you and all my fellow followers of your channel will like them. BTW this is about request nr.10 for these songs. 😀😀
Try Holgar Czukay’s ‘Persian Love’ - just blissful! Awesome drumming on this track by the much missed Jackie Liebzeit (I think that’s how it’s spelt) - sounds so now! Other favourite Can album is ‘Future Days’, especially the title track, and ‘Soon Over Babaluma’.
Sylvian did two CDs with Czukay. Plight and Premonition and the one you've heard Flux and Mutability. Both the same, two lengthy songs. Of the two Plight is my favorite. You might be surprised how many artists cite CAN as an influence. From Bowie to Radiohead.
Your musical choices always keep me on my toes. I may not like everything but your channel always keeps me engaged, Justin. (Of course I have to stick around for Spirit of Eden, too! 😉). I’m glad you opened up Can for me because that was fun!
That was a first listen for me as well. They remind me of an English-French band from the '90s and '00s I like called Stereolab. They made 13 albums and 15 EPs. The organ sound is more prominent and the vocalist is female which I prefer to Can's singer. Maybe give a listen to 'Jenny Ondioline' which was a single.
Hey Justin My Man!! Long TIME no text!! Lol! Wow never heard this before!! Really cool and catchy!! Drumming here was AMAZING and like you said- cool vocals too!! Would love to hear more!!! Okay back to some other suggestions of some of my favorite bands you've already done!! Song #1- my Favorite Renaiassance song- MIDAS MAN, Song #2 & 3 from STRAWBS- ROUND AND ROUND , HERO AND HEROINE, SONG #5- My Favorite JONI Mitchell song- The Circle Game, Song #6- My Favorite Carpenters song- BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN, Song #7- PFM- PHOTO OF GHOSTS!! Okay my friend there you go!!! I will return with my new requests for 2021 soon!!! Have a great weekend!! Your #1 AZ fan MICHAEL😽😸😊😊
I think I've recommeded it before, but Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany is essential viewing. It's up here on the YT. BBC4 doc from about 15 years ago.
Can made 3 legendary albums during their "classical line-up" - that is, when Damo Suzuki was the vocalist. They made some good music before and after but none as good as these albums (in chronological order): "Tago Mago", "Ege Bamyasi", "Future Days". Tago Mago is the most versatile, having both shorter songs and long experimental jams. It also has a nice flow from one song to the next. If you want to check out just one song, listen to the first off Tago Mago, called "Paperhouse". But my nr 1 favourite song is the long (almost prog-like) "Bel Air" from Future Days.
A friend of mine introduced me to Can, back in the seventies. I started with the album Saw Delight; great album. The ‘a’ in German names is pronounced like the ‘a’ in Darth and not as in Vader. Krautrock had several interesting bands like Eloy, Grobschnitt. Try the album Colours by Eloy. Try the album Rockpommel’s land by Grobschnitt or the album Solar Music Live.
Oh, this is super cool. I love this band and I have only just recently discovered them myself (say, like the last 8 years or so). They have some really interesting music to be sure. I sort of pair them with Gong for some reason. Another band to check out? Hmmmm?
If you are interested in exploring more of the "Krautrock" genre, probably the most recognizable names to come out of that scene would be Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream amongst others.
There's so much wonderful "Krautrock" to discover. Harmonia, Cluster, Neu!, La Dusseldorf, Roedelius, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Shulze, Faust - and they're just the better known ones.
Thanks I've been meaning to listen to this band for decades. I likey! Kraftwerk is probably my Krautrock band. Computer World would be my favorite of theirs. I like Stereolab who is influenced by KR.
Krautrock--up to about 1977--was a great thing. From Can, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schultz, Amon Duul II, (Agitation Free and a few other revivalists, but) Somewhere along the way, they became Kraftwerk. Then something else.There was a heyday for this kind of thing, and it was before the Autoban.
I liked it. Some development in a few places or a couple measures cut from each phrase could have sent this to a top-tier playlist (instead of the lower one that I added it to).
CAN had various vocalists the first two more celebrated perhaps due to the impact of their first albums recorded. The first is the American Malcolm Mooney and the second Damo Suzuki who is Japanese. Damo's time with the band also seems to represent their period when reaching a farther albeit limited popularity (considering they're experimentalism) outside of Germany, having their albums pressed in Europe, North and South America as well as Japan. I would very much like to see you react to CAN with Mooney, the song Mary, Mary So Contrary from the album Monster Movie. I enjoy your reactions. Stay safe. Stay well.
The wife and I are big fans of Krautrock. I recall your encounter with Amon Duul II wasn't so great. We're huge fans, but that wasn't the song I would have chosen as your introduction. Probably would have gone with "Surrounded By The Stars". Another great band is Faust. Their track "J'ai Mal Aux Dents" is, I think, one of the coolest recordings of all time.
Krautrock was a pejorative term coined by the British music press. But it's a very diverse genre encompassing everything from Can to Kraftwerk. With no two bands having much in common except an interest in electronics, free jazz and experimentalism. Here are my recommendations to get you into Krautrock. Cluster & Eno Faust: Faust IV Agitation Free: Malesch & 2nd Amon Düül II: Viva La Trance Ash Ra Tempel: Ash Ra Tempel Neu!: Neu! 2 Harmonia: Musik von Harmonia Popol Vuh: Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte
Wow, when this first started I didn’t think I was going to like it in the first few moments. However, it really is a good song. I agree with you on the vocals. To me lyrics mean very little. I see vocals many times as another instrument in the band. They come together to make a song sound good. I’m listening to music more for the sound and the energy from it. Usually, a little bit less of a message I am I interested in. I don’t get a whole lot of time to listen to music as I used to., Listening to you JP beats anything on the radio for sure. You get a great mix of music well interpreted by how you feel.
Had a pen pal from Brooklyn. Yeah, nerdy. He sent me cassettes of Can, The Clash, Ramones, Grandmaster Flash, and other music that people not on the coasts listened to. This was punk rap by someone who barely spoke English. It expanded my views of music more than maybe any band since Nina Simone.
Good call on Damo Suzuki. There are a lot of songs where he just says word in Japanese completely in the music without any sense. I saw once an interview of Damo where he stated that he doesn't remeber anything between 1970 to 1978 because he was high the whole time ;-)
Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk are both well known, at least to me. The rest of Krautrock, not so much. This is very obscure. This has a real punk vibe to me and feels very groundbreaking to me. There is also a hint of cabaret if that makes any sense. Those who know this music scene better than myself probably can answer. I enjoyed it and would be willing to listen to more. Time to listen to something else obscure from Europe. Bebe Godzilla by Patrick Gauthier will give me a nice dose of 1980s fusion jazz to start the day.
Krautrock is pioneer of lots of genres due to his eclecticism. Some groups can sound punky like can, very ambient like Cluster or more related with psicodelia like Ash Ra Tempel for example. I don't think kraut is obscure, could be it but on the other side is very bright too.
@@blakestech Perhaps I should be clearer. It was obscure to me personally but I have to admit there are entire branches of music I am still ignorant of. Some bands that seem very well known to me are often obscure to people who are either not local or are not into a specific branch of music. A local act, The Weakerthans, is very well known to me (a friend used to do business with John K Samson) but I have come to recognize they are not well known outside certain circles. The same with Patrick Watson, who is well known in Canada, but maybe not so well known outside of it.
@@blakestech TY. Actually, I was trying to admit that you were correct in that the band wasn't really obscure. It was just my ignorance that made it seem that way. After 4 attempts to learn a second language I reluctantly came to the conclusion that I am destined to remain a monoglot so your proficiency in English is far greater than my proficiency in all other languages combined. As for myself, I am still working on English. Hopefully I will get it right eventually.
If ya love this, check out Gino Vannelli “ Brother to Brother” . Rick Beato picked out this song as top 20 best guitar solo, drum fills and bass solos of all time. Vocals crazy to, he can sing in 3 octaves. Keep on keeping on JP
@JustJP dat one's a BANGER 👻 one of the tunes you will never recover from in the best possible way 😎 unbelievable piece of music I mean to me the feel of the song pre-dated NY hip hop sound by 20 years... Nas DasEfx Onyx Wu somebody had a time machine trust me ⏲🚀
I'ts pronounced like Liebe (you did well) and Zeit like "Tsite" , site with a T in front... The musicians were students of the composer Stockhausen, one of the pioneers of electronic music by the way. Miles Davis simply put it as "this guy Stockhausen..." :)
An interesting krautrock band is Missus Beastly. Try their album “Space Guerilla.” I’d really like to hear your reaction to the song “Guitar For Sale.” There was a really weird episode where another band entirely went on tour billing themselves as Missus Beastly, playing their music across Europe.
The cover picture is probably one of those okra cans imported from Turkey to Germany at the time. ‘Ege Bamyası’ in Turkish means “Aegean Okra”. Fun facts: The word ‘Can’ in Turkish is strictly untranslatable, but it stands roughly for the vital element in one’s being, more akin to “soul” (Eng.), “Seele” (D.), “âme” (Fr.), “anima” (Lat.), “Ψυχή” (Ἑλλ) etc. Plus, ‘bamya’ (“okra”) most often bears the slang connotation of “small penis”, so if you happen to wear a t-shirt which has a print of this cover in Turkey, you’ll certainly amuse the public.
wow, first camel, now can. you don't see many people reacting to this stuff. if you like psychedelic rock (incl. krautrock) here are a few more suggestions: eloy - light from deep darkness (this is what happens, when a trip becomes a song ...) grobschnitt - solar music (only the version of the album 'ballermann'; skip the first 3 minutes of part 1, they're just boring)* earth and fire (no wind!!! f**k the wind!!!) - lost forever (a dutch psychedelic band; so kind of a rare jewel) beggar's operah - silver peacock can - yoo doo right (it's _the_ song of can)* camel - nimrodel/the procesion/the white rider (gotta love the bass line in the end) indian summer - another tree will grow birth control - gamma ray achim reichel & the machines - come on, people (actually the whole album "grüne reise" is 'interesting', but that song is probably best to react to) amun düül II - deutsch nepal (just dark) iron butterfly - in-a-gadda-da-vida (i guess you already know that, since it's quite popular, but just in case)* aphrodite's child - four horsemen (also somewhat famous, but you never know) the savage rose - long before i was born (more progressive than psychedelic, but still a rare danish jewel) the monks - oh, how to do now (it's not psychedelic rock, but garage rock; a rare case of a US-band, that got famous in germany first) *probably too long for a reaction video
Cool music. I really enjoyed listening to it though I felt like they could've added another element to it in the middle, much like YES often did with their songs, but this was still really cool regardless.
Wow, Krautrock, yeah :-) Starting with CAN, good luck. Can requires quite the "getting used to" and the right atmosphere to appreciate. I quite like a lot of CAN stuff but not all, some of it is really too far out, maybe my lack of THC the blood is a reason for that. This said, Vitamin C is one of the songs I like a lot from them. The drumming of Jaki Liebezeit is what makes me love Can.
Welcome to one the greatest avant rock bands in the 70s. You don’t realise how influential these guys were for decades to come!
Specially for that little new and unknown band you have as your avatar
Krautrock rewrote the rule book for rock music and in the music of Can and other acts from that scene you can hear whole new genres of music being formed. The most creative and fertile period of rock history in my view.
As far as I remember Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay told the story that they were walking in Munich and discovered a Japanese street singer who was Damo. They were impressed and invited him to jam with their band in the evening and that was the beginning of a cooperation for several years. Some years ago I met an old schoolmate who told me that Damo was still on the way performing instant composing with other musicians. No rehearsal or something like that. Just performing what comes in the moment. So his lyrics must not make sense as long as they sound together with the rest.
Jaki Liebezeit (Leebe tsite, the "z" is sharp in German as the "d" is silent in "Django") is one of my favorite drummers. I think he is one of those who created a style that is easily to recognize because of the unique sound and the groove. He was a Free Jazz drummer before joining Can. Some day someone told him that he had to keep the things simple. He followed that advice and played patterns over and over again until they become a groove. I find he is one of those drummers who can create hypnotic atmospheres.
There are also a lot of things to tell about the other members but it is too much for the comment section.
The band was great In germany around 1970 ánd they recorded some tracks for TV movies. "Spoon" is the best known among these. I experienced them live only one time. And let me say it was an experience.
There was a band called "Faust" who played a song called "Krautrock" that must be heard live. I don't even know if there is a studio version. They play the same simple things again and again. Until you love it. Or are cured for the rest of your life. So Techno probably has its roots in music like that or in Kraftwerk. Another group that had some success on international level is Tangerine Dream. Personally i find them a little bit too clean but Peter Gabriel seemed to like them. All in all Krautrock is not a fixed genre. The bands were too different. It was more like a disrespectful label for music out of Germany by other people but it was adapted by German musicians and audiences. (If you can't beat them join them.)
Yes exactly. As you said Krautrock is not a genre per se. Birth Control and Tangerine Dream are as far appart as could Brian Eno and ZZ-Top be but are both labelled Krautrock. This comes from the double meaning of Kraut, which in english means German but in German also means Weed.
"Mother Sky" will melt your brain.
"He could be yelling out words that aren't even words." Ironically he often did exactly that with Can.
Please please do a reaction to Tago Mago. I'm sure you will enjoy this band. And don't forget the Associates, too many people see them as a one hit wonder and don't go past the surface
Halleluwah!
This one of Can's most accessible songs. The rest of the album is much more experimental and definitely an acquired taste (kinda like okras he he)
This is why I prefer your channel. Love your musical diversity. Always some new sounds for me to explore.
Ty LJ!
Can's drummer Jaki Liebezeit may be considered the greatest drummer of all time, certainly top 3 or top 10 material. He was an absolute genius. Your take on the drum patterns of this track sounding almost like breakbeat, I think is really spot on, as a matter of fact both Jaki as well as Can had quite an influence on later more modern/contemporary electronic music. One of Can's members once said that they didn't need a drum machine because they had Jaki Liebezeit😅Your take on Damo Suzuki's vocal parts on this track not needing to sing any precise word is also very spot on. As a matter of fact he used to totally improvise his vocals to the music that they were making, to such an extenct that often is quite difficult do distinguish what he was exactly singing about cuz most of the time whatever was coming from his mouth was pure nonsense or simply gibberish🙂 but that was totally intentional. I remember that on a documentary he was asked to tell more about his contribution to their music (he left the band around 1973/74 and the documentary was quite new in comparison) and the process behind it but he simply answered that he couldn't remember because at the time he was high on drugs most of the time😂🤣What was most important for him were not the lyrics per se but to get and express the feeling and mood of the music. This is a prerogative of his that he continues to this day. All of his live performances are totally improvised without any precise beforehand planning, which sounds ridiculous and unpractical but having seen some of his performances on you tube, I can say that it is very close to the truth. By the way, I think that listening to the album from where "Vitamin C" comes from, "Ege Bamyasu" might be an overall good introduction to their music. As far as the music genre that "Can" can be attached to, check out Kraut Rock although most of the bands that are considered to be Kraut Rock have some similarities but at the same time they are quite different from each other
You got it! Just saw a movie about french rappers in the 80s, called the world of tomorrow, doin their moves on this track.
people said metronomes are calibrated after Jaki Liebezeit.
“Liebe” in German means “love.” And “Zeit” means “time.” 🙂
Didn't he say the best piece of advice he got as a drummer was to "drum monotonous"
Yes! Can!
I remember tripping out to "Tago Mago" in my university dorm room and a set of bongos. The percussion is so great on some of those tracks, very metronomic and relentless at times.
"I can't believe,I ate the whole thing!" A classic commercial for classic prog. Open another Can of kraut, I'm half German I like my 'cabbage' tangy and spicey! For dessert maybe a little Tangerine Dream with Cream? Pecan pie and Peace. ( I'm hungry now and I just had breakfast-hmmm.) You enabler you!
Im so green and moonshake kick ass too!
Nearly 50 years a fan!!
I'm impressed. Yesterday's XTC eventually convinced me to subscribe, today... Can! I checked, and your channel is the very first worldwide to deal with them. What a welcome twist.
Ty so much Mario!
Thanks for the review 👍🏻 CAN is one of my favourite band, and this song was the first song I heard from Can. You should do the whole album, you won’t regret it. 😉 My favourite album of theirs is Future Days.
The sound of the drums is very interesting. Sounds to like they are single headed (no bottom heads) , tuned pretty high & tight, and with a very dry sound (no reverb or delay or anything). Pretty cool & works really well for this tune.
I would recommend the song I Am Damo Suzuki by the excellent UK post-punk band The Fall. The song is an homage to Can but especially to their occasional singer, Damo Suzuki. It can be found on The Fall's excellent album This Nation's Saving Grace (1985). The whole album, and, indeed, The Fall, are highly recommended.
Agreed re The Fall - what song would you recommend as an entry point?
This Nation's Saving Grace is one of two maybe three really accessible albums in their whole cannon. I'd recommend Cruisers Creek or Spoilt Victorian Child.
@@hotblackdesiato3022 Yes, I agree with Marc Ribe who's just commented. This Nation's Saving Grace is a good LP to start with. Apart from those two songs that Marc mentions - Cruiser Creek and Spoilt Victorian Child - I also like What You Need, I Am Damo Suzuki, L.A., and My New House. There's
half a dozen to start off with. But, really, anyone new to The Fall needs to listen to the whole album all the way through. Cheers.
@@marcribe6483 Yes I agree with those, Marc. Cheers.
@@hotblackdesiato3022 Bingo Masters Breakout, Totally Wired, How I wrote elastic man, We're lost in music, Slates and so many more
The rhythms of Can music are hypnotic. It's not formally composed music. Collective improvisation. Likewise, Damo is more of a beat poet with his words.
I love "Ege Bamyasi". Try "Paperhouse" from the album "Tago Mago".
I'm recently discovering Can myself. Tago Mago was the first album I listened to and my first though was "wow, this does not sound like it is from the early 70's!". Mushroom and Oh Yeah remind me a lot of Radiohead. They were definitely a huge influence on a lot of bands that followed them.
Krautrock was a typical German version of Psychedelic / Space / Progressive Rock, in some respect teutonically heavy and also experimental. Very interesting.
Kraftwerk came out of this corner, also Tangerine Dream, but also Guru Guru (with their song "Elektrolurch"), Kraan, etc.
Greetings from Germany
Wow, Can...they were so ahead of the curve, and their production is often phenomenal for the era. I would dare anyone listening to Mushroom for the first time to guess it was recorded in the early 70s.
That's a great track, one of my favourites of theirs. More please sir!
Can was ahead of it's time. Great observation about Suzuki's delivery. Paperhouse is a song of theirs that's worth checking.
Just such a joy watching you listening to one of my all-time favourite songs for the first time! '90s Breakbeat sampled this, that's why it sounds familiar. There is a whole cult of interpreting Can 'mondegreens', he did make words up, you got it. RIP Damo. 💓
Drumming on this track is SICK.
One of my favorites by Can is the track "Future Days" from their 1973 album of the same name. Very atmospheric and pleasantly hypnotic. Great percussion of course. More mysterious and ominous from the same album is "Bel Air". They run nine and ten minutes respectively.
Now that's great! Perfect Can-opener! By the way: Holger Czukay also recorded Plight & Premonition with DS. David fell asleep during a listen-back-session in the Can studio. HC took this as a compliment really.
I absolutely love the drumming on Vit C. Jaki Liebezeit was a tremendous percussionist. Like a human drum machine.
Can opener....I enjoyed that xd
Totally recomending "Oh yeah" from the Tago mago album. One hell of a great vibe song. Damo singing Japanese and Jaki just keeping the song together greatly with his "motorik" beat.
Second that. That's the song that made me appreciate CAN when I discovered it 15 years ago.
Haunting.
Nice! Future days is my favourite album from them. This was great too! There are lots of very very good live takes from them in YT.
Of course Can should be in every prog lovers collection.
At least their 6 first album. Great stuff.
Some other great german prog/kraut bands are Kraan, Hoelderlin and of course GROBSCHNITT.
Especially their epic Rockpommel's Land from 1977.
Cool reaction Justin !!
Mushroom and Future Days would be good Can songs to try next. I also like I’m So Green from this album.
Mother Sky is another good one
Can was a band which appealed to many audiences, not only the prog-rockers. Kraut-rock in general had many fine moments and there still are some great German prog bands like Traumhaus and Dark Suns. JP, as you are now back in mainland Europe with your reviews, it would be a perfect timing to listen to Losing Hold by Wigwam. Great song.
Oh yes. And Fairyport too. I absolutely love Fairyport!
Excellent band. Love the Being album, too.
Great to have more Wigwam-lovers here! I do hope we get to hear their brilliant music in this channel soon.
I think it's their most poppy / well known song ..( length / structure wise ) My favourite ...
Here we go... you can hypnotize people with this groove, it worked on me more than once. I'm loosing, I'm loosing... my Vitamin C.
Please react to Halleluwah, Mother Sky, or You Doo Right. They will blow your mind away.
Love Love Love CAN!!!
few other great tracks to check out from them:
-flow motion
-little star of bethlehem
-paperhouse
Yes! Next stop...HENRY COW!!!
Finally, some more Krautrock! The fact you’re starting with my favorite band is awesome.. You should definitely check the band Neu! next. Their song ‘Hero’ could be a suitable starting point.
Great choice, JP. Can was an amazing band. I think you will enjoy exploring their catalogue. Cheers!
I think most of the Krautrock genre is covered in the comments below and there's much to be enjoyed but if you want the definitive track it's undoubtedly Hallogallo by Neu (pronounced noy, I believe, but my German is as deficient as yours!). Once again, it's nice to see a music lover on a genuine voyage of discovery.
A nice funky cool jam. Love Holger. Heard him the same time as XTC’s It’s Nearly Africa. Persian Love being the track. Both and so much more, being on Music and Rhythm, a Peter Gabriel WOMAD compilation album. It gave me my first major peek at world music and it rocked my boat. Don’t tip the boat over... well it did.
Pretty cool song, that reminds me, got to take my one a day.
Vitamins, that’s how one stays young. Love my Vitamin C, vitamin chocolate. :)
Take care everyone, you are worth the trouble of masks, hand washing, social distancing, to me.
Peace, Music and Rhythm
I’ve always wanted to hear what this band sounded like and, like you, it wasn’t what I expected. I would love to hear more!
A couple other introductory krautrock tracks to try: "Hallogallo" by Neu!, "Trans-Europe Express" by Kraftwerk - and if you want to go deeper with Can, I'd recommend anything (or everything) from the fantastic first disc of their 1971 double-LP Tago Mago. (The second disc is more of a "for advanced listeners only" deal.)
Wow so good to see someone react to Can, it seems no one else has the courage to react to them, Mother Sky is awesome and I think you will love it, Can were so ahead of their time.
A good starting point with krautrock is the album Wolf City by Amon Duul 2, which contains very accessible songs yet still has the unmistakable krautrock sound to it. Can is generally kinda too much for a beginner.
While this was called Krautrock in the UK, there was no such term in Germany. What these bands all had in common though was that they did want to sound uniquely German or at least not British or American. That meant for rock to strip out the Blues, which is why you have these unique driving rhythms in many of the songs.
Mother Sky from 1970 is a good one, in that one you can clearly hear influences of early Floyd while rhythmically it uses the classic Krautrock motorik beat.
Great band. This song, while not their best (in my opinion), is a good example of their sound, with Liebezeit’s insistent beat and Suzuki’s vocals, ranging from a gentle murmur to more aggressive.
Czukay (from what I recall) is pronounced more like “choo-KIE [sounds like “pie”]. He made another ambient album with David Sylvian (I think it was “Plight and Premonition”?)
JP, try Sunrise in the Third System by Tangerine Dream. Trippy stuff from Germany circa 1971
Going to throw my voice into the chorus calling for you to listen to some tracks off Tago Mago. That's an album that completely changed the way I listened to music.
Lyrics for Damo-era Can songs can be essentially ignored. Damo is basically scat-singing over the beat, and picks words and syllables purely for the sound of them.
Finally you opened the Can. Holger Czukay is worth exploring. Two of his best songs are Persian love and the formidable Ode to Perfume. I’m sure you and all my fellow followers of your channel will like them. BTW this is about request nr.10 for these songs. 😀😀
Try Holgar Czukay’s ‘Persian Love’ - just blissful! Awesome drumming on this track by the much missed Jackie Liebzeit (I think that’s how it’s spelt) - sounds so now! Other favourite Can album is ‘Future Days’, especially the title track, and ‘Soon Over Babaluma’.
jaki and holger saw damo perform as a streetmusician,, hired him as singer and the same day he had his first gig with can
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I'm so glad you liked them.
If you get the chance, Edge Bamyasi and Tago Mago are two albums that are definitely worth a listen.
Sylvian did two CDs with Czukay. Plight and Premonition and the one you've heard Flux and Mutability. Both the same, two lengthy songs. Of the two Plight is my favorite. You might be surprised how many artists cite CAN as an influence. From Bowie to Radiohead.
I love this song. There's a guy who did a drum play along video & it sounds hot
Your musical choices always keep me on my toes. I may not like everything but your channel always keeps me engaged, Justin. (Of course I have to stick around for Spirit of Eden, too! 😉). I’m glad you opened up Can for me because that was fun!
Haha ty Falcon! I try to stay somewhat unpredictable
That was a first listen for me as well. They remind me of an English-French band from the '90s and '00s I like called Stereolab. They made 13 albums and 15 EPs. The organ sound is more prominent and the vocalist is female which I prefer to Can's singer. Maybe give a listen to 'Jenny Ondioline' which was a single.
Stereolab! Their album Emperor Tomato Ketchup is a longtime favorite of mine, but I've never really done a deep dive on the rest of their discography.
Hey Justin My Man!! Long TIME no text!! Lol! Wow never heard this before!! Really cool and catchy!! Drumming here was AMAZING and like you said- cool vocals too!! Would love to hear more!!! Okay back to some other suggestions of some of my favorite bands you've already done!! Song #1- my Favorite Renaiassance song- MIDAS MAN, Song #2 & 3 from STRAWBS- ROUND AND ROUND , HERO AND HEROINE, SONG #5- My Favorite JONI Mitchell song- The Circle Game, Song #6- My Favorite Carpenters song- BLESS THE BEASTS AND CHILDREN, Song #7- PFM- PHOTO OF GHOSTS!! Okay my friend there you go!!! I will return with my new requests for 2021 soon!!! Have a great weekend!! Your #1 AZ fan MICHAEL😽😸😊😊
I think I've recommeded it before, but Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany is essential viewing. It's up here on the YT. BBC4 doc from about 15 years ago.
Can made 3 legendary albums during their "classical line-up" - that is, when Damo Suzuki was the vocalist. They made some good music before and after but none as good as these albums (in chronological order): "Tago Mago", "Ege Bamyasi", "Future Days".
Tago Mago is the most versatile, having both shorter songs and long experimental jams. It also has a nice flow from one song to the next. If you want to check out just one song, listen to the first off Tago Mago, called "Paperhouse".
But my nr 1 favourite song is the long (almost prog-like) "Bel Air" from Future Days.
A friend of mine introduced me to Can, back in the seventies. I started with the album Saw Delight; great album.
The ‘a’ in German names is pronounced like the ‘a’ in Darth and not as in Vader.
Krautrock had several interesting bands like Eloy, Grobschnitt.
Try the album Colours by Eloy.
Try the album Rockpommel’s land by Grobschnitt or the album Solar Music Live.
You know, it’s been a couple years since I heard David Sylvian or Japan. You motivated me to dive back into his solo work!
Awesome! Enjoy it, there's a lot of good stuff!
Oh, this is super cool. I love this band and I have only just recently discovered them myself (say, like the last 8 years or so). They have some really interesting music to be sure. I sort of pair them with Gong for some reason. Another band to check out? Hmmmm?
Great review of a sadly underrated classic. This song is an all time banger.
Krautrock you say? Frumpy first 2 albums. Also, Guru Guru. Weird trippy band. Love it.
If you are interested in exploring more of the "Krautrock" genre, probably the most recognizable names to come out of that scene would be Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream amongst others.
There's so much wonderful "Krautrock" to discover. Harmonia, Cluster, Neu!, La Dusseldorf, Roedelius, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Shulze, Faust - and they're just the better known ones.
wonderful
Thanks I've been meaning to listen to this band for decades. I likey! Kraftwerk is probably my Krautrock band. Computer World would be my favorite of theirs. I like Stereolab who is influenced by KR.
Krautrock--up to about 1977--was a great thing. From Can, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schultz, Amon Duul II, (Agitation Free and a few other revivalists, but) Somewhere along the way, they became Kraftwerk. Then something else.There was a heyday for this kind of thing, and it was before the Autoban.
I liked it. Some development in a few places or a couple measures cut from each phrase could have sent this to a top-tier playlist (instead of the lower one that I added it to).
CAN had various vocalists the first two more celebrated perhaps due to the impact of their first albums recorded. The first is the American Malcolm Mooney and the second Damo Suzuki who is Japanese. Damo's time with the band also seems to represent their period when reaching a farther albeit limited popularity (considering they're experimentalism) outside of Germany, having their albums pressed in Europe, North and South America as well as Japan. I would very much like to see you react to CAN with Mooney, the song Mary, Mary So Contrary from the album Monster Movie. I enjoy your reactions. Stay safe. Stay well.
First Listen. Excellent! MuteMath Darren King-ey.
The wife and I are big fans of Krautrock. I recall your encounter with Amon Duul II wasn't so great. We're huge fans, but that wasn't the song I would have chosen as your introduction. Probably would have gone with "Surrounded By The Stars". Another great band is Faust. Their track "J'ai Mal Aux Dents" is, I think, one of the coolest recordings of all time.
Krautrock was a pejorative term coined by the British music press. But it's a very diverse genre encompassing everything from Can to Kraftwerk. With no two bands having much in common except an interest in electronics, free jazz and experimentalism. Here are my recommendations to get you into Krautrock.
Cluster & Eno
Faust: Faust IV
Agitation Free: Malesch & 2nd
Amon Düül II: Viva La Trance
Ash Ra Tempel: Ash Ra Tempel
Neu!: Neu! 2
Harmonia: Musik von Harmonia
Popol Vuh: Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte
Wow, when this first started I didn’t think I was going to like it in the first few moments. However, it really is a good song. I agree with you on the vocals. To me lyrics mean very little. I see vocals many times as another instrument in the band. They come together to make a song sound good. I’m listening to music more for the sound and the energy from it. Usually, a little bit less of a message I am I interested in. I don’t get a whole lot of time to listen to music as I used to., Listening to you JP beats anything on the radio for sure. You get a great mix of music well interpreted by how you feel.
Ty Bruce!
This whole album is amazing
First time hearing Can music. Different, but good stuff. Need to hear more to decide
Had a pen pal from Brooklyn. Yeah, nerdy. He sent me cassettes of Can, The Clash, Ramones, Grandmaster Flash, and other music that people not on the coasts listened to. This was punk rap by someone who barely spoke English. It expanded my views of music more than maybe any band since Nina Simone.
Thats awesome Steven! Sounds like a wonderful Pen Pal!
Good call on Damo Suzuki. There are a lot of songs where he just says word in Japanese completely in the music without any sense. I saw once an interview of Damo where he stated that he doesn't remeber anything between 1970 to 1978 because he was high the whole time ;-)
I would like to see something from Flower Travellin' Band - Satori.
Check out Can's Future Days. Way more representive of their sound.
It's representative of the song Future Days, they have lots of different sounds
Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk are both well known, at least to me. The rest of Krautrock, not so much. This is very obscure.
This has a real punk vibe to me and feels very groundbreaking to me. There is also a hint of cabaret if that makes any sense. Those who know this music scene better than myself probably can answer. I enjoyed it and would be willing to listen to more.
Time to listen to something else obscure from Europe. Bebe Godzilla by Patrick Gauthier will give me a nice dose of 1980s fusion jazz to start the day.
Krautrock is pioneer of lots of genres due to his eclecticism. Some groups can sound punky like can, very ambient like Cluster or more related with psicodelia like Ash Ra Tempel for example. I don't think kraut is obscure, could be it but on the other side is very bright too.
Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" was my first intro to the music of Ralf and Florian.
@@blakestech Perhaps I should be clearer. It was obscure to me personally but I have to admit there are entire branches of music I am still ignorant of. Some bands that seem very well known to me are often obscure to people who are either not local or are not into a specific branch of music. A local act, The Weakerthans, is very well known to me (a friend used to do business with John K Samson) but I have come to recognize they are not well known outside certain circles. The same with Patrick Watson, who is well known in Canada, but maybe not so well known outside of it.
@@maruad7577 im not a native english speaker so i misunderstood the word "obscure", you explained it very well
@@blakestech TY. Actually, I was trying to admit that you were correct in that the band wasn't really obscure. It was just my ignorance that made it seem that way. After 4 attempts to learn a second language I reluctantly came to the conclusion that I am destined to remain a monoglot so your proficiency in English is far greater than my proficiency in all other languages combined. As for myself, I am still working on English. Hopefully I will get it right eventually.
Liebezeit means lovetime in german.
Listen to "Paperhouse"! I'm sure you need to explore more of Can's discography!
If ya love this, check out Gino Vannelli “ Brother to Brother” . Rick Beato picked out this song as top 20 best guitar solo, drum fills and bass solos of all time. Vocals crazy to, he can sing in 3 octaves. Keep on keeping on JP
@JustJP dat one's a BANGER 👻 one of the tunes you will never recover from in the best possible way 😎 unbelievable piece of music I mean to me the feel of the song pre-dated NY hip hop sound by 20 years... Nas DasEfx Onyx Wu
somebody had a time machine trust me ⏲🚀
Totally agreed! The rhythm is ahead of its time
I'ts pronounced like Liebe (you did well) and Zeit like "Tsite" , site with a T in front... The musicians were students of the composer Stockhausen, one of the pioneers of electronic music by the way. Miles Davis simply put it as "this guy Stockhausen..." :)
An interesting krautrock band is Missus Beastly. Try their album “Space Guerilla.” I’d really like to hear your reaction to the song “Guitar For Sale.” There was a really weird episode where another band entirely went on tour billing themselves as Missus Beastly, playing their music across Europe.
Pray for jaki liebezeit!
The cover picture is probably one of those okra cans imported from Turkey to Germany at the time. ‘Ege Bamyası’ in Turkish means “Aegean Okra”. Fun facts: The word ‘Can’ in Turkish is strictly untranslatable, but it stands roughly for the vital element in one’s being, more akin to “soul” (Eng.), “Seele” (D.), “âme” (Fr.), “anima” (Lat.), “Ψυχή” (Ἑλλ) etc. Plus, ‘bamya’ (“okra”) most often bears the slang connotation of “small penis”, so if you happen to wear a t-shirt which has a print of this cover in Turkey, you’ll certainly amuse the public.
Please give 'Halleluwah' from the Tago Mago Album a try! Can escalating 😄
Wow... I've found so many great bands I've never heard off on here.. Thanks JP, how loud am I playing this. Sorry neighbours. Sounds to good
Nice! Glad youre enjoying it
Please do something from NEU! My favourite songs by them are: Hallogallo, Weissensee and almost every track from the masterpiece NEU! 75
Yes; NEU are cool.
wow, first camel, now can. you don't see many people reacting to this stuff. if you like psychedelic rock (incl. krautrock) here are a few more suggestions:
eloy - light from deep darkness (this is what happens, when a trip becomes a song ...)
grobschnitt - solar music (only the version of the album 'ballermann'; skip the first 3 minutes of part 1, they're just boring)*
earth and fire (no wind!!! f**k the wind!!!) - lost forever (a dutch psychedelic band; so kind of a rare jewel)
beggar's operah - silver peacock
can - yoo doo right (it's _the_ song of can)*
camel - nimrodel/the procesion/the white rider (gotta love the bass line in the end)
indian summer - another tree will grow
birth control - gamma ray
achim reichel & the machines - come on, people (actually the whole album "grüne reise" is 'interesting', but that song is probably best to react to)
amun düül II - deutsch nepal (just dark)
iron butterfly - in-a-gadda-da-vida (i guess you already know that, since it's quite popular, but just in case)*
aphrodite's child - four horsemen (also somewhat famous, but you never know)
the savage rose - long before i was born (more progressive than psychedelic, but still a rare danish jewel)
the monks - oh, how to do now (it's not psychedelic rock, but garage rock; a rare case of a US-band, that got famous in germany first)
*probably too long for a reaction video
Cool music. I really enjoyed listening to it though I felt like they could've added another element to it in the middle, much like YES often did with their songs, but this was still really cool regardless.
Wow, Krautrock, yeah :-)
Starting with CAN, good luck. Can requires quite the "getting used to" and the right atmosphere to appreciate. I quite like a lot of CAN stuff but not all, some of it is really too far out, maybe my lack of THC the blood is a reason for that. This said, Vitamin C is one of the songs I like a lot from them. The drumming of Jaki Liebezeit is what makes me love Can.
Yeah, it was really rock music