CANNIBALISM

Like the majority of experimental, progressive rock bands, CAN are not the best clients for a compilation or "best of" collections, not only because their music is too avant-garde or non-commercial, but also their tracks are typically quite long for standard releases. The authors of this collection, had this in mind but unfortunately decided to severely edit several key CAN songs in order to have them fit onto the record. "Soup", "Mother Sky", "Spray", "Halleluwah", "Aumgn" and "Dizzy Dizzy" are more or less drastically cut short so the CAN purists (like myself) will surely have problems to appreciate this album. Again, the only untouched long track is a famous "Yoo Doo Right", which seems to be favoured by many in spite of its monotonous 20 minutes mantra. On the other hand, "Cannibalism" was for many years the best official CAN compilation available on the market and it did provide Kraut fans, especially those less lucky to own individual LPs, with good insight to CAN abilities. Add to this judgement a nice gate-fold cover with many photos of the band members with the August 1978 liner notes written by BUZZCOCKS (yes! - the famous Brit punks) leader Pete Shelley saying "I've only one criticism to make of this compilation - the amount of material left off; the only way to treat this album is as a mouthwatering hors d'oeuvre, although it does make a tasty meal by itself" and you will get a thumbs up recommendation.