DELAY 1968

This may be the first krautrock recording sessions. While delayed till 1981 the recordings contains only 1968/69 material and so giving us some impression of the early krautrock development of one of the best bands the krautrock movement had delivered. Malcolm Mooney takes care of the vocals which would almost drive him crazy in the following years. While listening to this record we can understand that he was somewhat tripping too far: in "Man Named Joe" he is shouting as a drunk and the other songs all are really acidic: as well as in vocals as instrumental.

The opening track "Butterfly" is a great psychobeat acid trip. The track seems to be improvised and is slowly changing direction. While the end is not the great outburst which we should expect after the tension building, this is still a great opening. "Pnoom" is a very short experiment with funny sounds and succeeds in doing so. "Nineteen Century Man" is a hip-hop garage track. It's a bit in the like of the later tracks on the second side and contains improvised rap with an acidic rock accompany.

"Thief" is the only song which deserves the masterpiece rating. This is an emotional psychedelic rock balad with some great guitarmelodies. The sad vocals are quiet impressive. It's like Malcolm has great troubles about being a thief. This is the most harmonious song on the record and delivers some variety to this record. The last track is the most succeeding garage hip-hop track. The lyrics are quiet funny and it has some relaxing moods.

The record as a whole is quiet hypnotic and acidic. Can was already broadening the boarders of rock in 1968 and were really going crazy. The material is quiet good and the production may not be perfect for all of the songs, but is still better then I expected it to be. I recommend this record to everyone interested in acidic krautrock and those who are interested in the psychedelic scene in general. 3,75 stars.