MONSTER MOVIE

CAN's debut album sounds like a band still trying to work the kinks out in terms of figuring out the roles of each individual and writing songs. This is not a bad first shot at an album of a band in its embryonic stage (to the point where they were referred to as ''The CAN''; reminds me of Pink Floyd's early history), but I came into the album knowing what comes next. CAN ironed everything out by TAGO MAGO (with a new singer, even).

MONSTER MOVIE can get rather uneven on its first side. The opening track is a garage/psych thriller that features the most interesting vocal breakdowns on any album in the middle of the track. ''Outside My Door'' does its job as a rocking track, but ''Mary, Mary So Contrary'' doesn't really work. It's tempo is too lulling and the vocals can get rather irritating (repeating Mary over and over and over...). I want to point out that I agree with the many Velvet Underground comparisons, mainly in Karoli's guitar sound.

The typical progster might wonder what ''Yoo Doo Right'' might be seeing that it's over twenty minutes long. It really is nothing more than a sidelong jam with little changes in structure other than a bizarre drum solo over the jam (very uncharacteristic of Liebezeit) and a spot where everything drops out except Mooney and a poorly recorded rim shot(?). ''Yoo Doo Right'' isn't horrible, but by the end of the jam, I'm looking for the exit signs. And it seems like Karoli and Schmidt disappear from the track about 2/3 of the way in. Interesting to note is that the liner notes of the CD version say that this jam is acutally an edited version of the original jam which ran for twelve hours.

MONSTER MOVIE laid the groundwork for what the band was to become in just a short time. I actually like most of what is going on here, but I feel like the songwriting/jamming is not up to par with what came later and the Velvet Underground nods are too unrefined. I'd recommend those new to CAN to seek out TAGO MAGO first and then come back here if satisfied. Nothing really mindblowing, but it's an experience worth sitting down with.