THE PEEL SESSIONS

It's such a shame that CAN didn't release some official live albums during their peak in the seventies. This was really the first one but it wasn't released until 1995. The Peel Sessions that these tracks were taken from happened from four different visits by the band between February of 1973 to May of 1975. Only one track features Damo on vocals and all but one of these tracks is a improv, so all new material for the CAN fan. It just seems so adventerous to me for these guys to go to the UK and go on John Peel's show and not play songs that they and their fans were familiar with. These guys rank right up there with KING CRIMSON for having balls of steel in doing such things. I must admit that at times this doesn't even sound like CAN.

"Up The Bakerloo Line With Anne" is the almost 19 minute opener with Damo on vocals.This is from February of 1973. A beat with vocals kicks in just before a minute as bass and guitar help out as well. It settles back just before 5 minutes. Guitar and drums to the fore around 7 minutes. Check out Damo a minute later ! They continue to jam the rest of the way. "Return To BB City" and the next track are from October of 1974. Atmosphere to start as different sounds come and go. I'm surprised at how spacey and atmospheric this is as Schmidt works his magic. "Tape Kebab" has this relaxed beat with laid back guitar. The sound becomes fuller. I really like this. An electronic sounding beat after 6 minutes joins in. Karoli starts to rip it up after 7 minutes. Great track !

"Tony Wanna Go" is from January of 1974 and is the second longest track at 14 1/2 minutes. A relaxed beat with guitar leads as spacey sounds sweep through. The guitar and beat become more prominant as they continue to jam. "Geheim (Half Past One)" is a re-worked version of "Half Past One" from "Landed". This and the final track are from May of 1975. We get reserved vocals from Karoli as intricate sounds including xylophone-like sounds come and go. "Mighty Girl" has this piano led intro. This is CAN ?! Guitar joins in as well.

Without question a must for CAN fans although right now this is a tough one to track down.