Ege Bamyasi

Guitars and keyboards swirl and chop and scratch and slide, from eerie to intimate to what the hell was that sound? This is a cliché-free zone, where there's always plenty of time to improvise (10 minutes worth on "Soup") or simply chug along regardless.

Most of these tracks are acutally songs, and they're sung / whispered / mumbled / shouted in English by (of course) a Japanese busker called Damo Suzuki. You will never get "Vitamin C" out of your head.

Listen to Ege Bamyasi and everything else sounds pompous - be warned, this is completely bewitching.

and then they came, CAN. Well, actually they had started in the late 60's, but in my opinion, it wasn't until 1971 when they released TAGO MAGO with Damo Suzuki as singer that they redefined music.

Can are not in everyone's mouths as The Beatles or Pink Floyd are; and Can's discography is probably more limited. But what they achieved in 3, only 3 albums, is incomparable and unique.

With Tago Mago they had established in the most brutal and extreme way which was their proposals: long improvisations in which everything could be turned into music: objects crashing against the floor, guitars playes as by aliens, frenetic drums, synths, and a singer who sang partly in English, partly in Japanese, the rest in a surrealistic nonsense language.
And now you think... is this music? can it be listened to and enjoyed? My answer is, definetely yes.
(Listen to Tago Mago: experience it for yourself, no words can make it justice, I rate it as probably one of the 10 best albums I've ever heard)

Now, with Ege Bamyasi some things changed, but their spirit remained intact. This album is more "listenable" and "digestable". It's as if Can said: "well, we have pushed the limits of music against the most extreme limits with Tago Mago. Now let's come back to pop and rock music and make them believe we are normal, just to hit them in their faces when they less expect it" Something like that.

Ege Bamyasi is the way Can saw pop and rock music. Suzuki even sings, though in his peculiar samurai style, as someone defined it. Liebezeit shows us he's a real virtuso with the drums, but especially because he manages to break the typical playing: his drumming is unexpected, danceable, magical.
Ege Bamyasi is less extreme than Tago Mago, but catchier. Some songs are actually catchy, such as 'Sing Swan Song'; others addictive such as 'Vitamin C' or 'Im so green'; others are very very experimental in a Tago Mago way, such as 'Soup'. All are amazingly good.

Can is a band you need to know. Their line up changed a lot, and though we all have our preferences, I only consider 3 Can albums as indispensable: 'Tago Mago', 'Ege Bamyasi' and 'Future Days', all with Suzuki as lunatic/singer.
I think I'm not exagerating when I say they are probably the most influential band in modern music. Industrial music had its roots in Can; even drum'n bass is inspired by Can's wonderful drummer's original style. OK it's less catchy than Beatles or Pink Floyd... and their marketing was inexistent. But listen to CAN you won't regret it.
The only band comparable, in my humble opinion (what is in the end artistic perception but personal opinion?), to the great he Legendary Pink Dots, who admittedly had Can as one of their influences.