Can - Anthology (Remastered Edition)

Career-spanning retrospective offers up a mixed bag

Despite their canonisation among the avant-garde cognoscenti, the awkward truth is that Can’s albums have always been rather inconsistent affairs. Even early classics Monster Movie and Ege Bamyasi had their sub-par moments. This problem of quality control became even more pronounced during the group’s later years, the music from which constitutes the bulk of this anthology’s second disc. Save for a couple of cuts from Future Days (Moonshake and Future Days itself), much of the material featured from this period amounts to little more than uninspired pub rock jams, bargain basement funk, tepid Tropicália and cheap joke japes. Oh, how the Krautrock mighty fell. Fortunately, the first disc documents some of the band’s finest moments, all culled from prior to 1973, before the rot really began to set in. Here is a group brimming with imagination and invention but also, and just as importantly, youthful passion and energy. The Velvet Underground-ish thrash of Father Cannot Yell, the propulsive motorik of Mother Sky, the otherworldly Mushroom and the epic Yoo Doo Right all serve to remind that, on their day, Can were truly special. Just ignore that other stuff.

Spoon Records | LSPOONCD 30/31

Reviewed by Spencer Grady
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