TAGO MAGO

Tago Mago is the third studio album from German krautrock act Can. Can´s debut album Monster Movies was an excellent, raw and unpolished krautrock album with repetitive beats, psychadelic sounds and some punk like vocals. Great album that one. Their second album called Soundtracks was recorded for various filmprojects and wasn´t recorded for a full album release, but Can´s record company demanded a new album and then Soundtracks was released as Can´s second album. It´s a good album but not as good as Monster Movies IMO. Soundtracks features two different lead singers as the lead singer from Monster Movies Malcolm Mooney sang on a couple of the songs on that album while new vocalist Damo Suzuki sings on the rest. Damo Suzuki is the only vocalist on Tago Mago though.

The music on Tago Mago is really excellent for the most part. The best music so far from Can ( even better than Monster Movies). A bit more melodic and memorable compared to their earlier releases. The repetitive beats are still a dominant part of the sound while Damo Suzuki´s vocals and the psychadelic sounds created by Michael Karoli on guitar and Irmin Schmidt on keyboards create the melodic foundation in Can´s music on Tago Mago.

I have to give a special mention to drummer Jaki Liebezeit as his performance on Tago Mago is simply astonishing. To keep repetitive krautrock beats exciting and challenging throughout a 73:15 minute long album is an amazing achivement that he seems to do with ease. What a great musician. People who call his playing boring haven´t listened enough to the details in his playing IMO. Bassist Holger Czukay´s playing is excellent as well.

Tago Mago was originally a double LP but the album is now featured on a single CD. There are seven songs on Tago Mago and five of them are masterpiece psychadelic krautrock songs while two of them are more in avant garde mode and I must admit not really to my liking. The first four songs: Paperhouse, Mushroom, ( the wonderful) Oh Yeah and the 18:32 minute long Halleluhwah are essential krautrock songs and I would put the last song on the album Bring Me Coffee Or Tea in the same catagory. The 17:22 minute long Aumgn and the 11:35 minute long Peking O are simply too avant garde and noisy for my taste. The first more than the marginally more enjoyable latter. I know other people who enjoy these songs, so it´s definitely an aquired taste. The experiments are innovative and well done but I don´t enjoy the overall sound in those two songs.

The production is fantastic. I´m really impressed and delighted with this sound.

Tago Mago is a really excellent album and had all songs been of the same high quality I would have given the album 5 stars. But as almost half an hour of the music is something I skip almost every time I listen to the album I´ll have to take away the last star and only give Tago Mago 4 stars. This album is highly recommended though and for people who like psychadelic music this is a must buy.