actually does anyone have an opinion on the can DVD, i've not seen it, am intrigued... the only can footage i've seen/i have is the (incredible) "paperhouse" from beat club and some hilariously camp versions of "can can" and "i want more" off some german variety show. (also popol vuh doing "bettina" on beat club, ooooh!!!, i notice those early popol vuh albums are also getting the reissue treatment with extra tracks...)
can reissues
- Thread starter Woebot
- Start date
Yea! You should check out the 5-minute long Brian Eno film on the DVD, friggin hilarious. Just these skits of him describing Can's sound and dressing up in...outfits...to fit the adjective. Can't remember many of them, but i do remember him cross-dressing on more than one occasion, and holding a miniture palm tree on his head. He finishes off by saying '...and they were very, very, German' and holds up one of those WW1 helmets with the spike. What a strange lad.
I never watched anything else on the DVD but i managed to pick up a VHS copy of the documentary by sheer luck at Camberwell Markets in melbourne (just walking by a record crate, see the cover of Bamyasi sitting next to Syd Barret's First Trip, which, oddly enough, i had a quasi-religious experience with stoned and listened to Oval's Systemisch. Glitch and colour Super-8 - what a revelation). Those parts in the doco when they're all sitting on the stairs of the Inner Space studio and talking about the faceless, opinionless expectation of musicians in contemporary society. Jeez, Schmidt was really something. And those leather suits he wore while jumping all over his Farfizer keyboards, hilarious!
I never watched anything else on the DVD but i managed to pick up a VHS copy of the documentary by sheer luck at Camberwell Markets in melbourne (just walking by a record crate, see the cover of Bamyasi sitting next to Syd Barret's First Trip, which, oddly enough, i had a quasi-religious experience with stoned and listened to Oval's Systemisch. Glitch and colour Super-8 - what a revelation). Those parts in the doco when they're all sitting on the stairs of the Inner Space studio and talking about the faceless, opinionless expectation of musicians in contemporary society. Jeez, Schmidt was really something. And those leather suits he wore while jumping all over his Farfizer keyboards, hilarious!
cortempond
Active member
Jaki Liebzeit one of the best drummers ever
Glad to see the forum on Can. I have been listening to a lot of their live recordings lately, Radio Waves and the live set included in the Can box set. There is also a Can DVD featuring a history of the band plus new performances of them in separate efforts.
Have really come to appreciate Jaki Leibzeit's drum sound. It's quite incredible and one of a kind. There is no one who attacks his kit in that rolling style like him. It's more diffuse and propulsive than Dinger's Motorik style, though I know there are different musical agendas between Neu and Can.
I remember picking up Soon Over Babaluma (on vinyl) in 1984 in a cut out record bin for $3.50. I put it on and Dizzy Dizzy immediately made me a convert to the Can experience. At that time (in Chicago, at least) no one really knew about Can or the Krautrock sound, so it was hard to track down their recordings. I was able to find Future Days and Monster Movie on vinyl and the sound is amazing in comparison to the Mute reissues.
I am partial to Soundtracks because of Mother Sky. The version by Loop made me seek out the original. I think it is one of the most overlooked Can albums, that and Landed.
Since then I have tried to track down everything Can has done as well as the individual members. Was a bit disappointed with the Phantom Band record. The stuff with Burnt Freidmann, however, is worth hearing.
Glad to see the forum on Can. I have been listening to a lot of their live recordings lately, Radio Waves and the live set included in the Can box set. There is also a Can DVD featuring a history of the band plus new performances of them in separate efforts.
Have really come to appreciate Jaki Leibzeit's drum sound. It's quite incredible and one of a kind. There is no one who attacks his kit in that rolling style like him. It's more diffuse and propulsive than Dinger's Motorik style, though I know there are different musical agendas between Neu and Can.
I remember picking up Soon Over Babaluma (on vinyl) in 1984 in a cut out record bin for $3.50. I put it on and Dizzy Dizzy immediately made me a convert to the Can experience. At that time (in Chicago, at least) no one really knew about Can or the Krautrock sound, so it was hard to track down their recordings. I was able to find Future Days and Monster Movie on vinyl and the sound is amazing in comparison to the Mute reissues.
I am partial to Soundtracks because of Mother Sky. The version by Loop made me seek out the original. I think it is one of the most overlooked Can albums, that and Landed.
Since then I have tried to track down everything Can has done as well as the individual members. Was a bit disappointed with the Phantom Band record. The stuff with Burnt Freidmann, however, is worth hearing.
jwd said:
The Kosmische club (which Jim Backhouse puts on, I think)had a special evening playing nothing but CAN when the DVD came out. They showed it early on and I was a bit underwhelmed. There was some late live footage from a TV show (which might be the same stuff you're talking about) which reminded me of the Julian Cope quote about 'extremely crap white gloves'.
The night was cool, though. They put together this edit/mix of Mother Sky that went on for 30 minutres and was THE MOST AMAZING THING ever.
I also went to that screening of some rare Krautrock films on the south bank in (around) 97, which was better. There was a fairly long concert film with Damo singing, filmed I think by Wim Wenders, which had excellent bits in it and they all look fabulous. (Bobby G and Damon Albarn sat near us, taking notes) (Is this film on the DVD? Damo's in a red jumpsuit)
The first thing I bought (age 18, in '92) was Unlimited Edition, which wasn't a great place to start. Stuff like Cutaway and the EFS things seemed a bit hippy-ish to my naive ears. It set me back a few years until I heard Haleluwah when my ears (and heart) melted.
Actually, I've been put off the stuff later than Future Days by Copey. I'll have to get the re-issues of some of them as they seem to be getting props here.
cortempond said:
Word - I also like Mani Neumeier's drumming on albums he did with Dieter Moebius in the 80s like 'Zero Set' I know he was in Guru Guru and have heard the odd bit of their stuff but does anyone know any other good stuff he has played on?
The Can live footage that I think was on that DVD was screened during the interval of Michael Clark's dance show 'Oh my Goddess.' It was on around this time last year and also included a piece based around Can's 'Oh Yeah' which was pretty stunning, not least for just hearing it on a big fuck-off PA system
minusone said:
he plays drums on the second Harmonia LP (Deluxe) which is pretty fantastic- though the drumming is mostly very subdued
Mani's best work in my opinion is on the first three Guru Guru albums- the first two (UFO, Hinten) have lots of electronics and noise effects while the third (Kanguru) has a cleaner sound but the drumming has a more groove-heavy feel which i really dig.
Guru Guru's bass player Uli Trepte had a band called Spacebox in the late 70s/early 80s- i have one of their LPs on CD- very freaky jamming tunes- seems close to This Heat post-punk territory with the mix of bass/drums and weird electronics and tapes. but with a lot of hippy strangeness...
cortempond said:
No, Jaki Liebezeit IS the best drummer ever. I honestly can't think of anyone cooler. In the psych categpry all i can think of now is Mitch Mitchell, Robert Wyatt and maybe Danny Taylor from Silber Apples, but no where near as good as Jaki. His style is totally unique, metronomic and machine like, and just completely cosmic. Thats why i love Future Days the best i reckon, because his drumming is just heavenly - absolutely brilliant.
Perhaps we can turn this thread into a drummer worshipping one. Favourite drummers, anyone? I've well and truly accentuated mine.
hamarplazt
100% No Soul Guaranteed
childOftheBlogosphere said:
Chris Cutler. Certainly not as cool as Liebzeit, but nevertheless. Cutlers drumming excites me the same way as great jungle programming does. Underwater fireworks.
Diggedy Derek
Stray Dog
Julian Cope handing out sartorial tips? Ridiculous!
J
jimbackhouse
Guest
Jamie S said:
Unfortunately I can't take the credit for putting it on: it's Leon who run tings really.
Glad you liked my Mother Sky re-edit: I can send you a copy if you like, but it'll probably sound a bit ropier in the cold light of day!
The Can DVD isn't exactly great, the best bit being the free concert footage (which was already available on video anyway) the extra stuff is pretty superfluous, although it's fun to see Holger et al returning to Schloss Norvenich (?) to have a poke about. The talking heads from James Lavelle et al is pretty pointless: 'Man, they were such a big influence on us...' bla bla.
As for Henry Cow, my personal favourite is the 'Concerts' CD, which has some amazing guest appearances from Robert Wyatt, Dagmar Krause, etc. and seems a lot more open than the sometimes deadeningly earnest 'serious musicians slumming it' fustiness of their studio LPs (although there are moments on 'In Praise of Learning' which I LOVE).
Christian Vander surely deserves a place in the pantheon of great psych/prog drummers, no?
jimbackhouse said:
Yea, what does everyone think of that Sacrilege tribute? Some were utter shite! For instance Westbam??? Pity how they ended the doco with film of him playing his 'I want more' cover at a club. eerrggh. And Carl Craig's Future Days cover is crap. The Yoo Doo Right cover i kind of like though. What i thought was funny about the James Lavelle was that you can just imagine him searching the Can catalogue looking for the track with the fattest beats (Vitamin C) and then putting more kick drum sounds on to make it sound fatter. Not bad redux, not much change though, which was probably why it was so good. Same with Sonic Youth's Spoon cover (slowing it down! Genius!)
jimbackhouse said:
True.
Diggedy Derek
Stray Dog
A Guy Called Gerald's Tango Whiskeyman was ace.
cortempond
Active member
Couldn't sell Sacrilege fast enough
Totally agree that Sacrilege was quite awful - pointless excercise to move a few more units and make some xtra coin. Good example of that today is the Morricone Remix discs. Title for those two should be sacrilege, indeed. Morricone is (even with the Zorn Big Gundown set) one of those people whose stuff you don't mess with.
Thanks for bringing Vander up. I don't know (and might be wrong, I'm sure someone will tell me) why Magma doesn't have the same level of adoration as do Faust and Can. Too prog?
Speaking of prog, shout out to Bill Bruford for his drumwork in King Crim (see Red and the USA live album) and other projects (dunno about UK, though).
Totally agree that Sacrilege was quite awful - pointless excercise to move a few more units and make some xtra coin. Good example of that today is the Morricone Remix discs. Title for those two should be sacrilege, indeed. Morricone is (even with the Zorn Big Gundown set) one of those people whose stuff you don't mess with.
Thanks for bringing Vander up. I don't know (and might be wrong, I'm sure someone will tell me) why Magma doesn't have the same level of adoration as do Faust and Can. Too prog?
Speaking of prog, shout out to Bill Bruford for his drumwork in King Crim (see Red and the USA live album) and other projects (dunno about UK, though).
hamarplazt
100% No Soul Guaranteed
childOftheBlogosphere said:
I like all the Henry Cow records, but still, they haven't really made the truly great one that everybody should own. Unrest and Western Culture could be good ones to start with. Cutler is on some great Pere Ubu/David Thomas records too. Thomas' More Places Forever particulary good I think. Got Lindsay Cooper on it too!!!