Long held in high regard as the vocalist of the legendary Can line-up of the early seventies, Damo Suzuki has been the ex-member with not only the most releases to his name, but also releases that are not only of astonishingly consistent quality and musical originality, but which also conistently break new ground. Famed for performing with a wide variety of bands with which he's previously had no or little rehearsal, the results are mostly of a jaw-dropping standard and every release brings something new.
CAN: Tago Mago/Ege Bamyasi/Future Days/Unlimited Edition/Cannibalism/ Cannibalism 2/ Anthology/Peel Sessions CD
If you want to know about the history of Can you just have to read the incredible book written by Pascal Bussy but we're assuming you've not heard much of Can's music so how is it described? Well, I think I was fairly accurate originally so here goes:
What makes Can so unique is the combination of the 4 instrumental techniques and styles that combine to provide a stunning group sound. There is Liebezeit's drumming that, long before the arrival of so-called disco or industrial music, was insistent, almost treated as a foreground sound yet central to the heart and core of the group's compositions, always varied yet somehow hypnotic, powerful and dynamic and the backbone of Can. After that there is Ckukay's electric bass work that,like Magma although not as thunderous, treated the instrument as a fundamental part of the foreground and bass is never far from the surface of the music yet always in the background supporting and driving the undercurrents of the musical soundscapes. Schmidt's synths work provided a vast backdrop to the sounds while at the same time acting as a lead instrument but with no flashy solos in the vein of the UK prog keyboard musicians but more a richly textured way of working in and around and on top of the overall sound. Finally, Karoli's scorching and flowing and soaring lead guitar work which was the predominant lead sound on a vast range of moods and paces from spiralling solos full of intensity to chunky chordal sections helping to drive the piece along to sonic explorations in amelodic framework.
The vocals were, to say the least, different. On 'Delay' 'Monster' and 'Rite Time' we hear the anguished, emotional and almost monotone, sometimes psychotic vocals of the American Malcolm Mooney while on 'Tago', 'Ege' and 'Days' it is the unintelligible foreign vocals of Japanese vocalist Damo Suzuki that tower over proceedings and the one thing they have in common is that they add to the Can sound both enhancing it and contributing to its totally unique nature. On later works Schmidt handled any necessary vocals in a more subdued manner but again adding to the eerie quality of the music. Musically we're talking about a drum style that was the foundation on wich most trance post-punk and techno/ contemporary releases of the '80's and '90's were built. This nucleus was strenthened by the solid and clean electrtic bass work that propelled and enhanced the ever varied drum patterns while on top of this a set of scorching guitar licks flew out and soared or screamed through the ether with keyboards and synth filling the sound, taking it all off into new paths and acting both as rhythm partner, coloration and lead vehicle. Apart from the first 2 'Cannibalism' samplers and the double 'Anthology' which are always good starting points for the novice, there are a number of ways of approaching the music. For the complex and challenging, try 'Ege' and for the absolute ultimate in mind-boggloing musicianship and vocal performance try the awesome' Tago Mago' with its 2 long tracks and several shorter tracks which represent the ultimate 'Phase 2' Can line-up album with some of the most incredible drum work you will ever hear on a CD. But if you want to sum up everything that is Can in just one album, then it has go to be the 'Peel Sessions CD for you which features both the Phase 2 and Phase 3 line-ups and some totally unique and incredible music.
CAN:Sacrilege-The Remixes Double CD
It's been out a while and I had dismissed it a bit too easily I think, so I've been listening to it and, if you stop comparing it to Can's actual originals, this is a pretty stunning set of tracks. CD one tends to give a good deal of the musical focus to the rhythms, in particular Liebezeit's drumming and Czukay's bass work, often isolating the 2 from a particular song and using this section as the pivot around which the remix is based. As a result, you end up with a predominantly instrumental CD from originally vocal-dominated compositions, and once you're over the first track, which (in typical 'first track' style) is the weakest one on the whole CD, you get a set of blinding mixes where the core rhythms are enhance with further drums and/or synths/electronics or the rhythms themselves are beefed up in the mix, while all around the addition of textural synth layers and lead lines spiral and flow to create tracks that are absolutely spellbinding IN THEIR OWN RIGHT!!! As a slice of rhythm-dominated, essentially uptempo ambient tracks, and forgetting the origins, this is a first rate CD that is well worth you time and money, CAN fan or ambient fans alike. CD2 is more varied and, indeed, variable, since the mix of 'Future Days', again as a track in its own right, has a rhythmic backdrop that gets quite annoying although the synth layers and distant repeated vocal phrase really makes up for it. But overall, the jungle influence tends to override proceedings too much and the thing becomes a tad one-dimensional,and even the one that deserves a jungle treatment ('You Doo Right') ends up being decelerated, exactly the wrong thing to do. So, overall, a largely brilliant disc one and a slightly disappointing disc 2, but at this price for 2 full CD's of music, I'd give it the nod.
CAN: Future Days CD
If you've never considered buying a Can CD before...........then this is the best place to begin. In case you've been away, Can are legends from the '70s' reknowned for being a quartet of musicians charting a whole new territory in the guitar-bass-drums-keyboards area of serious music with a rock/psych influence, that became the definitive Krautrock, allied to vocalists who could only be described a scompletely unique in their approach to and style of delivery of the often long and improvised music the group would play. This album is the best way into the group for the uninitiated because it is mostly instrumental and the vocals are kept a melodic and subdued level, while the group weave some amgical spells and the guitar and synths play a flowing river of beautiful music above some of the most addictive rhythms around.
CAN: Box DBLCD+VIDEO+BOOK
The main points here are that the double cD consists of previously unreleased live tracks recorded between 1972 and 1977 while the two hour video conists of live and documentary footage for the first hour and the Can Free Concert from 1972 in the second hour. Even though all the music on the CD has come from privately recorded (ie, bootleg) tapes as opposed to the group's own archives (thus blowing to pieces the theory that the group are sitting on countless hours of mixing desk material or showing that they don't want any of that stuff heard by the fans - take your pick), the music featured is particulalrly fine with some greta live jams oand interpretations from mostky the quartet, occasionally augnmented, in a couple of tracks (57 minutes) by Damo Suzuki. The video material is mostly excellent and it's really neat after all these years to have some video footage of the band in concert and in the studio. The book's merely OK, nothing special - but as a whole it's well worth the wait, although yuo do get that nagging feeling that it could have been better. Part two, please.
CAN: Anthology - 25 Years DBLCD
If you are the person who's never heard any Can music before and want an intro to the band that illustrates their best work, or simply want one CD that sums up the Can career in one album, then this is the album to get. The definitive compilation of their work, it includes the whole of the legendary 'You Doo Right' along with well edited summaries of the long tracks 'Aumgn' and 'Halleluwah'. The album covers the entire classic period of the band with not one track out of place as a totally unique and spellbinding musical experience awaits.
CUL DE SAC/DAMO SUZUKI: Abhayamudra DBLCD
Can by any other name?? Oh yessssss!!!!! Over the course of 2 CD's of excellently recorded live music, you hear a whole - a complete organic entity - a melting of minds between musicians who have an almost telepathic understanding of each other's improvising, while the master ex-Can/Dunkelziffer vocalist Suzuki, weaves his unique and inimitable way around and over the music that is emanating as if magically, from the airwaves. 'Beograd 8' that opens CD2 is pure vintage Can in both sound and structure, eight minutes of the absolute essence that was the early seventies band. On the other hand, the following track, 'Cambridge 1', is almost blues-meets-Krautrock as this slowly moving juggernaut of rhythm and strung-out guitar chords, wheezy harmonica and sludge-like electric bass, slithers along while Suzuki and his vocal improves just shines over the top, another eight minutes of music stripped to the bones of what constitutes its very heart and soul. The four minute 'Berlin 6' is so crushingly intense as to be almost industrial, while the nine minute 'Kopenhagen 3' flows along on a bed of wicked bass, crunching drums, strummed guitars and emerging feedback, the sound of early Can returning with a vengeance as the whole thing threatens to self-destruct under the ever present vocalising but then gathers steam, fires up, powers ahead and suddenly you're into supercharged territories as band and vocalist go supernova on a sea of searing guitars, bowel-rumbling bass and pummelling drums, quite meaty, mighty and immense. The ten minute 'Berlin 3' is also the true sound and feel of early seventies Can, so much so that you'd swear you were listening to that band in action - and the effect is shattering as you sit there listening, unaware you're so wrapped up in the process, you're hardly daring to breathe. Unbelievable and then some - just listen to that drum work, that massive bass and those guitars - not to mention what must be Suzuki on stellar form and travelling the universe with ease. By contrast, the eighteen minute 'Zagreb 3' is much more languid, twisting and turning, at times almost exploratory, intricate, studied, restrained, band and vocalist trying hard NOT to erupt and keep it all on a much more flowing level, which they manage to just short of fourteen minutes whereupon the tension that's been built, simply snaps amid a cataclysm of guitar chords that pour over everything in sight as Suzuki rises even higher, the bass growls and thunders while the drums and effects rumble and glue it all together, all heading towards a truly explosive finale, ending abruptly in the middle of the raging storm.
That's only CD2 - there's a CD1 to go at, with tracks from six to over twenty minutes in length and every bit as incredible. You have to get this album - simple as that.
DUNKELZIFFER: Colours And Soul CD
The first album done before Damo joined but still featuring Can-influenced music and musicians such as Von Senger and Keuhl, and it has surprisingly stood the test of time a whole lot better than I'd ahve imagined, sounding like a very fresh album with a varied set of tracks within the familiar Krautrock settings and an assortment of vocalists giving their take on the whole Can way of doing things. Instrumentally, we are talking some stirring rhythm section work and it's melodic with excellent guitars and kybds. Overall, a remastered gem of an album and definitely one to go with the toher classics.
DUNKELZIFFER:In The Night/ 3/ Live Each CD
How many of you know that when Damo Suzuki left Can, he formed a group called Dunkelziffer which basically embodied the feel, sounds and spirit of 'Tago Mago' era Can (only not quite as manic) on its 2 classic studio albums, both of which are issued on fantastic Japanese pressings right here. The other album is a previously unreleased live album and is amazing quality and even more amazing music, with none of the tracks on the live album crossing over with the exclusive tracks on each of the studio albums. In fact, they even dig up some Can numbers for the live album. Overall, all 3 CD's are esential listening for Can fans complete with those insistent and varied rhythm bases and undercurrents from the bass and drums and percussion players, with the trademark Suzuki vocals soaring over the top while the instrumental work is provided by electric guitar, synths and kybds, all fusing to magnificent effect. Like can, they could be poerful one track, reflective the next, but never any less atmospheric and all the music sounds timeless in the same way as much of the Can releases. For the novice, my advice is to get the live CD first and go from there, but all 3 are excellent mixes of songs and inst passages with ever-present flowing rhythms and one of the best Krautrock reissues to date.
GURU GURU: '98 Live 3CD Set
Japanese import, in stock NOW and worth every penny. Disc one is live in '98 with two lead guitarists including Luigi Archetti from the Tiere der Nacht project with drummer Mani Neumeier, and the first thing you notice is the clarity of sound and production which is absolutely superb. Then, you can always tell how good a live album it's going to be by heading stright for the Guru perennial favourite 'Der Elektrolurch' and I am pleased to report that this is one of the best versions of the track that I have heard by any Guru line-up since the '70's.with some blistering guitar work in there. Even better is that th rest of the 9 track CD is a stunning live performance including tracks old and new, and should be the delight of all Guru Guru fans, showing that the band are sounding better and more confident now than they have done for many along year.
CD 2 consists of what they call a supersession, recorded by the band on CD1 together with musicians Damo Suzuki and Michael Karoli of Can, ex-Guru Guru guitarist Ax Genrich, ex-Kraan member Ingo Bischof plus two percussionists on a set of seven sizzling mostly instrumental tracks (with track 5 uniting Karoli, Suzuki and Neumeier as part of the group), all of which feature some blazing electric guitar work in classic Krautrock traditions from the massive amount of guitar talent on display, and a totally brilliant CD it is, from start to finish.
CD3 was recorded live in Frankfurt in 1971 by the original trio, is taken from a somewhat rustic archive tape (which actually isn't as good quality as the ones from my collection that I offered for releas but whcih were rejected by Mani, but that's another story), but despite the rustic nature, the group have come out of it a lot better than you'd expect and there is some genuinely great music across the three tracks that hey have used from the first album, with some scorching guitar work throughout.
Overall, a fantastic triple, easily the best album from the Guru team in many, many years and one which will find a welxcome place in the collections of all Krautrock fans who are into this era and style and this, once fine group, now back and on form.
DAMO SUZUKI BAND:V-E-R-N-I-S-S-A-C-E CD
The debut solo album from the ex-Can vocalist, with an absolute pristine quality live performance recorded in Linz, Austria on 11th January 1997. The backing band consists of ex-Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit, plus Mathias Keuhl and Dominik Von Senger. Compositionally, we're talking one consistently brilliant and amazing album with all musicians on top form on a set of tracks that are pure vintage Can, the rhythms and guitar work sounding incredibly fresh and vibrant, vital and organic, with Liebezeit's drum work not sounding this good in years. Suzuki is also on top form with some inspired delivery on the album's 4 long tracks, including a medley incorporating the Can classics 'Halleluwah' and 'Mushroom'.
DAMO SUZUKI BAND: Seattle Dbl CD
Brand new live double from ex-Can vocalist complete with Can member Michael Karoli on electric guitar documenting the complete concert he played in Seattle, USA in October 1998 and featuring a twin electric guitar, electric bass, drums and vocals line-up. The first CD consists of five tracks that spend much of the time being fairly relaxed and mid-paced while the heat is turned up for disc two where you'll find a corking 16+ minutes of Can's 'Mother Sky' followed by a thirty minute track that really takes you all the way up, and ending with a piece just short of eight minutes. With its incredibly deluxe packaging, this is definitely a welcome addition to the live roster of albums that have flooded the market from Damo, of late, starts off a bit slow but is worth sticking with for the delights of disc two.
DAMO SUZUKI'S NETWORK: Odyssey DBLCD
Yet another excellently packaged, great sound quality, excellent value live double CD, this time taken from concerts at the tail end of '99, with a ten-track, 141 minute set of tracks featuring a sextet that includes guitarist Dominik Von Senger, the USA space-rock musician Tommy Grenas, plus three people of drums, percussion and guitar/bass (no sax player this time out) and a set of brilliantly played, sung and delivered tracks that carry the Can/Suzuki torch, ever onwards.
DAMO SUZUKI'S NETWORK: JPN ULTD Vol 1 CD
Just four long tracks recorded in Tokyo's 'On Air West' venue on 30th April 1997, with the stellar line-up of Can's Michael Karoli on electric guitar, Guru Guru drummer Mani Neumeier, plus Matthias Keul on keyboards and Mandjao Fati on bass, with Suzuki on vocals, and here you get a set of tracks that actually manages to eclipse any of the live offerings that were recorded later on yet released before this album, with all the musicians and vocalist on absolute top form, and this really is an album that Can fans in particular and Krautrock fans in general, cannot afford to ignore. Another smoking album of live tracks that doesn't duplicate anything else, the highlight being the twenty-four minute 'Living Planet' where the drumming really takes off and the mid-section duel between drums and electric guitar will tear the roof off, while the Schmidt-like organ work just recalls classic early Can. Quite superb.
DAMO SUZUKI: JPN ULTD Vol II CD 4tracks/63 mins
The second volume of highlights from the original Japanese only and hideously rare set of live CD's, and here we have the band, including Can's guitaristMichael Karoli and Guru Guru's drummer Mani Neumeier, starting off with an 18 minute opener that has a seriously bluesy, almost Can-goes-swamp rock type feel to it, with Suzuki sounding for all the world like an upper register Tom Waits (if you can imagine that) as the band take it real slow, beginning to gather a head of steam around the twelve minute point but then maintaining that level to the end with some great work from guitar, drums and bass, while keyboards play a more textural role in the background - all just like vintage Can in many respects.'13 Steps To Freedom' is altogether faster and more urgent, this time more instrumental to give the band a chance to shine and really go for it, this time the keyboards and guitar sharing and trading lead lines. The twenty minute 'Buridan's Donkey' sees the whole quintet giving it their all, this time the drumming being a particularly conistent focal point. Finally we are treated to a version of Can's 'Halleluwah' that rolls around so loosely you'll swear they're all going to fall of the stage any minute as the career headlong into some Krautrock olivion.Overall, a simply stunning CD and an essential companion to the first one.
DAMO SUZUKI'S NETWORK: Metaphysical Transfer DBLCD
Crossover in the sense that it is possibly his best, and certainly one of his most unusual albums to date. The ex-Can vocalist this time is backed by a band that features most of the members of the American space-rock/Krautrock band Farflung, plus Suzuki stalwart Dominik Von Senger on electric guitar. So, you have a line-up playing percussion, drums, bass, synths, guitar, theremin, second guitar, second synth, third guitar and second bass, you have a double album's worth of previously unreleased live tracks, presumably improvisations although all of them sound far too structured and cohesive for that (so if they are, the musicians deserve maximum credit just for that) and you have a result that is quite unexpected. Largely absent are the 'son-of-Can' comparisons so obvious in the past. Instead we hear a corking set of Krautrock-influenced tracks where the band are clearly taking the lead and charting the direction with Suzuki providing a forefront yet clearly challenged, as a result of which, he delivers some of his most impassioned vocals to date, in an attempt to keep up with the ideas that are being produced by a solid and cohesive unit with some incredible musicianship on display form everyone. Of all the recent live albums, this is by far the best and also has an appeal to the Space-rock as well as the Kraut-rock fraternity, as well as anyone into Can, of course - well, it's not gone THAT far away from its origins, has it!!
V/A:Stadtgarten Series Vol 4 CD
For all you fanatical Can collectors out there, this sampler features an exclusive studio track from the excellent Damo Suzuki Band that is unavailable elsewhere.
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