MONSTER MOVIE

The krautrock group CAN from Germany is one of my favorite experimental groups. On their debut album 'Monster Movie' (though an earlier album 'Delay 68' would later appear) the band offers a combination of psychedelic rock (think of Quicksilver and 13th Floor Elevators), early punk rock (like The Stooges and Q65), avant-garde and jam band music. Like on Miles Davis' 'In A Silent Way' the band would jam for hours and cut the tape into a twenty minute piece on side two's 'You Doo Right'. The album has an unbelievable 'mojo' and raw power to it. The opening track 'Father Cannot Yell' is a doomy psycho-beat track with great psychedelic electronics by Schmidt and a maddening vocal performance by Malcolm Mooney (the only band-member from the US). The fast minimalist bass-lines by Holger Czukay are in perfect sync with 'human drummachine' Jaki Liebezeit. The acid guitar of Michael Karoli is introduced as well, though his long vibrato notes would impress even more on the melancholy punk ballad 'Mary, Mary So Contrary'. Again, with an intense emotional, almost desperate performance by Mooney. 'Outside My Door' is perhaps a little more like classic psychelic rock; with a guitar riff that wouldn't have sounded misplaced on Pink Floyd's 'Interstellar Overdrive' and a Spaghettie Western harmonica loop. On side two the improvisational nature of the music allows CAN to have a more organic sound. The pace goed down considerably, in stead creating a more tribal and spiritual vibe - albeit a very gutsy one. The psychedelic guitars of Karoli have a great echoey Gilmourian edge to them. Mooney isn't the best of singers, but he has a presence that keeps the whole piece grounded and emotionally relevant. With this debut CAN offers an album that sounds rooted in all kinds of authentic traditions in ways that no other krautrock band ever had. The music on 'Monstermovie' is far removed from your typical symphonic prog, but unmistakably essential progressive music in my opinion.