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CAN - ESSENTIAL CAN

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After I saw Kraftwerk last week at the Museum of Modern Art I found myself wishing that I could see a similar sort of survey show for Can. This is pretty much impossible at this point - guitarist Michael Karoli died in 2001, and it’s hard to imagine that Jaki Liebezeit can still play like that at the age of 72. Unlike Kraftwerk, who restricted the human element of their music to Ralf Hütter’s vocals, Can were very much a rock band defined by the distinct character and virtuousity of its players. (In this way, their most direct contemporaries are Led Zeppelin.)

This single-disc survey of Can’s career – or most of it, there is nothing here after 1976’s Flow Motion – is pretty much my dream of what I’d want to see performed at a hypothetical retrospective performance. Several tracks, such as “Yoo Doo Right” and “Halleluwah,” were edited down for time. I don’t think I butchered anything, but I want to emphasize that if you like what you hear, you really need to get the full records and hear things play out in their proper context. If you’ve never heard Can before, this should be pretty eye-opening – they’re one of the truly great art rock bands, and are hugely influential. Like, for instance, if you’re a big fan of Animal Collective or post-Kid A Radiohead, I think you’ll find a lot to love here.

Little Star of Bethlehem / Yoo Doo Right / Mother Sky / Mushroom / Oh Yeah / Halleluwah / One More Night / Spoon / Vitamin C / Turtles Have Short Legs / Moonshake / Future Days / Dizzy Dizzy / I Want More