EGE BAMYASI

Ege Bamyasi is often called Can's best, and for a reason. It's more tight and focused than Tago Mago, the longest song being "only" 10 minutes, and it perfectly exemplifies Can's signature sound, which wasn't fully developed on Monster Movie and Soundtracks. Pinch is a long, jazzy instrumental, built around Liebezeit's metronomic, crashing drumming, and Suzuki's unintelligible mumbling in the background. Sing Swan Song is a delicate one, that feels like a summer evening. One More Night and Vitamin C highlight the funk feel that Can uses so often, with that crazy, schizophrenic mood perfected previously with Mushroom. Soup is like a somewhat less messed-up version of Peking O, though it focuses much more on the jazz side of the equation than Peking O, which was absolutely and completely unlike anything we've ever heard before or since. I'm So Green is an extremely well-made schizo-funk song not unlike the previous Vitamin C, though it's even better. And, finally, comes Spoon, their top 20 hit in Germany. It has the weird, insane feeling, egged on by cryptic, probably meaningless lyrics, backed up by interesting synth noises and excellent percussion. For the most part, Ege Bamyasi is a more orderly, manageable continuation of what we saw on Tago Mago, but there's more funk and the songs are shorter. Ege Bamyasi deserves the hype that it gets from numerous music publications, but it isn't necessarily Can's absolute best work- that distinction goes to their next and equally ambitious project, the incredible Future Days- however, anyone interested in Can should start right here.