FUTURE DAYS

In their 5th album (by release date), Can took a totally different direction: more ambient, yet, still connected to the roots. Their tradition to include a side long improvisational track (which was briefly interrupted in the previous album) continues, this time accompanied by two more lengthy tracks, and a more conventional 3 minute track.

The album certainly introduced some groundbreaking themes and ideas to the prog scene, but it is not much progressive in itself, so it is somewhat uninteliggible why it is preferred over absolute masterpieces like Ege Bamyasi, or Tago Mago. Track by track, and even minute by minute definitions are provided below, so I'll simply review the album as a whole: Ambient, partly minimalist, faithful to the psychedelic roots, partly experimental. The two weak sides as I can see are the less powerful, somewhat recessive vocal style of Suzuki (could it be one of the reasons why he left?) and the overall low sound level of the album. It can be better when remastered.

I still enjoy listening to the album (though I usually have to maximize the volume!) and recommend especially for the fans of the krautrock genre. Not to mention Can fans, who have already exhalted it into masterpiece status!

Excellent addition to any prog collection.