FUTURE DAYS

I saw Can live twice. Both times at The Olympia theatre in Paris. First time 73; second time 76. 73 was the one that is relevant here; as they played Future Days in its entirety...

Damo had just walked... but was on the LP... at The Olympia they had stapled dozens if not hundreds of records sleeves in the foyer... Impressive display... The theatre was replete with Katmandu returners who knew how to stoke a fire if you catch my smokey drift... Hair, Afghan sheepskins and patchouli on the air Still young i was smitten and to this day Can is King; Long live Can...

The title says it all : Future Days; looking ahead, birdsong, heartsong, uplifting... everything gonna be A-Ok... We ALL live in Kali-fornia in 2025 or somewhere which looks like it and the world turned out alright in the end SUNSHINELOVEHOPE the only setting Ask the Katmandu guys in the theatre... all will be fine ... just had the 60s... seventies in progress; twin spectre of Ron and Maggie a yet unformed nightmare for a distant nebula called Earth...

Right now smoke joy Kat-mandu... On the first track Karoli's Kalifornia glass-needle guitar lancinates around in your brain like a pleasure machine... and Damo muffled voice promises you something about future days; Jaki keeps count on the drums... the beat accountant no calculator could ever defeat... Optimism properly defined in 9:32 minutes...

The second cut "Spray" is all water and bubbles; a track for a frogman or maybe one to listen to in the bath with a snorkel... Irmin on the farfisa blowing raspberries underwater... avant-garde man !... and Jaki as the doorman... making sure.

Then we have "Moonshake"... like Autobahn but on the moon... driving down with Damo singing in a coupe with the roof peeled back This here is optimism to the power of 72... Again it had that California by the Rhine vibe... we are going ahead and the sun is shining...

Bel Air is actually in California so nothing hidden here; we know where we are and we are here for almost 20 minutes and it is beautiful soft and sunny... Farfisa galore and an oneiric sense of drift..

Is Future better than Tago Mago than Soundtracks than Ege? No. Is it as good? Emphatically yes... One of the most intricate and musically evolved members of the multifaceted hydra called Krautrock Can was here at their best...

Future days i have no qualms giving a 5 to i would a six or a 7 if i could; it is their best album as much as the 2 or 3 before and the 2 after... heyday music by a band at their peak..

I wish i could sit in that theatre for ever....