GOOD MORNING STORY

Holger Czukay's solo albums have swung between more or less rock based efforts (such as Movies, or On the Way to the Peak of Normal) and more abstract electronic music (Canaxis, La Luna). Good Morning Story combines these two approaches, with the first half in the style of Movies and the second half an extended piece of ambient electronica in the style of La Luna.

The album has added significance in that it marks the first time Czukay used a sampler, as opposed to taped and found sounds. The use of a sampler also makes for a virtual Can reunion, with samples of Irmin Schmidt, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit forming the basis of several pieces. The first couple of tracks are songs which recall some of his 80s output like Rome Remains Rome and Radio Wave Surfer. The Invisible Man has vocals by long time Czukay collaborator Sheldon Ancel while the title track's lyrics are delivered by Czukay himself. Both are typically eccentric fare, and if you liked the 80s albums you'll love these. The next three tracks are instrumentals with samples from Cukay's beloved short wave radio (a technique he pioneered in Can on pieces like Animal Waves and whichhas informed a lot of his solo work) and sounds from all over the world are laid over a collage of samples from Can. The album closes with the 22 minute long Mirage, a sustained drone which at times recalls Canaxis but which unfolds with a logic of its own. It's highly atmospheric, but like La Luna there's a feeling that there's more atmosphere than content here.

Good Morning Story could function as a kind of one stop introduction to Holger Czukay's solo work, but as an album it feels a tad disjointed, as though the a and b sides of two different albums had been mixed up at a pressing plant back in the good old days of vinyl. It's not a bad place for newcomers to start, and established fans will definitely enjoy at least half of it, but Czukay has issued far stronger albums which focus on one side of his muse or the other, while Moving Pictures reconciles the two strands more convincingly. Good, but definitely non essential.