“There's no real objection to escapism, in the right places... We all want to escape occasionally. But science fiction is often very far from escapism, in fact you might say that science fiction is escape into reality... It's a fiction which does concern itself with real issues: the origin of man; our future. In fact I can't think of any form of literature which is more concerned with real issues, reality.”
― Arthur C. Clarke
June 2011 marked the 43rd anniversary of the founding of Can when
Holger Czukay (bass), David Johnson (flute), jazz drummer Jaki Liebezeit
and beat guitar player Michael Karoli met in classical conductor and
piano player Irmin Schmidt's Cologne apartment in 1968. Their first gig,
a collage of rock music and tape samples, took place at Schloss
Nörvenich (Castle Nörvenich, near Cologne). The show is documented on
the audio cassette Prehistoric Future.
The nameless collective had established its first studio, Inner
Space, at the castle when American sculptor Malcolm Mooney, visiting
Irmin and Hildegard Schmidt, joined the band. His intuitive drive led
the musicians toward a unique take on rock music and the track Father
Cannot Yell originated from one of these early sessions. David Johnson,
who by then had become the band's sound engineer, left at the end of
1968. Around this period, the lack of a name was solved by Mooney and
Liebezeit who came up with The Can.
The first Can album, Monster Movie (1969), defined Can music.
Played and recorded spontaneously and driven by repetitive rhythms, the
album was recorded directly on to a 2-track machine and then extensively
edited. Soundtracks featuring film scores from 1969 and 1970, was the
next album. Just after the record was released, Malcolm Mooney left the
band and returned to the U.S. The Mooney era is extensively documented
on Can - Delay, released in 1982.
In May 1970, Japanese singer Kenji "Damo" Suzuki joined Can after
being spotted by Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit busking in Munich. The
very same evening he performed with the band at the Blow Up club.
In December 1971, Can founded the Can Studio - known as Inner Space
until 1978 when Can soundman René Tinner took over running the
operation - in a former cinema in Weilerswist, close to Cologne. All
subsequent Can albums were produced there except Rite Time. The studio
has now been painstakingly disassembled and is being reconstructed to
scale as a working exhibit at the German Rock'n'Pop Museum in Gronau,
near the Dutch border.
The period 1970-2 was a breakthrough time for the band with Tago
Mago (1971) impressing critics in England and France as well as Germany.
Ege Bamyasi, released in 1972, featured the track Spoon, the theme tune
for the crime thriller Das Messer and also the band's first chart
success in Germany. The track, which was the first time that Can used an
early version of a drum machine, led to a Goldene Europa TV award in
recognition of Can's soundtrack work. Ege Bamyasi also included the
music from another TV crime series in the form of Vitamin C.
The success of Spoon inspired the band to try to reach a wider
audience which led to the Can Free Concert. The event was filmed by
Martin Schäfer, Robbie Müller and Egon Mann for director Peter Przygodda
at the Cologne Sporthalle on February 3rd, 1972. British music weekly
Melody Maker wrote: "Can are without doubt the most talented and most
consistent experimental rock band in Europe, England included." French
magazine Rock & Folk portrayed Can's music as "one of the most
impressive musical experiments offered by contemporary bands."
Future Days (1973) was the last Can album with Damo Suzuki. First
Michael Karoli took over the vocal duties, followed by short interludes
with a succession of singers, among them Tim Hardin. The recording of
Soon Over Babaluma that same year marked the end of the era of recording
straight onto 2-track. Landed (1975), was the first Can LP to be
produced using multi-track technology. The album led Melody Maker to
call them "the most advanced rock unit on the planet."
Double album Unlimited Edition (1976) was an extended version of a
release that had quickly sold out as Limited Edition two years earlier.
Among the tracks were the multi-facetted experiments known as the
Ethnological Forgery Series (EFS). Flow Motion, also released in 1976,
featured the disco hit I Want More and saw the band performing on UK
primetime hitshow Top Of The Pops. The following year Can was augmented
by ex-Traffic rhythm duo Rosko Gee (bass) and Reebop Kwaku Baah on
percussion.
Holger Czukay had retired as a bass player and on Saw Delight was
in charge of "special sounds". His new instrument was a shortwave radio
receiver; while his idea to create new impulses for the musical process
via radio signals didn't fit within the new Can structure, it became the
basis for his first solo album, Movies (1979). The next Can album, Out
of Reach (1978), was recorded without Czukay, who had left the band in
May 1977, during the final Can tour. On the last show of the tour, in
Lisbon at the end of May, Can performed in front of 10,000 fans. The
double album Cannibalism (1978) was not just a "Best of ...."
compilation, it was in fact, an early indication that Can's reputation
would continue to grow.
The British avant-garde and several punk acts were deeply inspired
by Can. Speaking for many, Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) is quoted on the
Cannibalism cover: "I never would have played guitar if not for Marc
Bolan and Michael Karoli of Can". At the end of 1978 the band released
Can. Meanwhile Michael Karoli built the Outer Space Studio studio in
France, close to Nice. It was there in November 1986 that the original
Monster Movie line-up got together again, with vocalist Malcolm Mooney
to record Rite Time. The album was released in 1988. The band assembled
again at the Can Studio with the same line-up minus Holger to record the
track Last Night Sleep for Wim Wenders' film Until the End of the
World.
In May 1997, the remix CD Sacrilege provided further evidence of
the durability of Can's music. For this tribute, prominent
representatives of the techno, dance and ambient scene reworked 15
classic Can tracks. Ironically, the importance of Can's contribution to
the wider musical pantheon was summed up by Andrew Weatherall who
refused an offer to remix a Can track for Sacrilege: "I love to remix
other people's work. But Can? No way. You don't touch music that
perfect. There is nothing to add or take away."
The band's chosen means of celebrating its 30th anniversary in 1999
was characteristically original. Eschewing a reunion tour as too
obvious, and, more importantly, as being against the spirit of the
group, the Can Box and the Can-Solo-Projects tour were the ways in which
the group marked the occasion.Can Box includes recordings from the
period 1971-77, a tri-lingual book featuring a comprehensive group
history, interviews, reviews and photos by Hildegard Schmidt and Wolf
Kampmann plus a video with both the Can Free Concert film by Peter
Przygodda, and the Can Documentary by DoRo-film.
The Can-Solo-Projects tour, which featured Holger Czukay &
U-She, Jaki Liebezeit's Club Off Chaos, Irmin Schmidt & Kumo plus
Michael Karoli's Sofortkontakt!, started on March 19th 1999 in Berlin at
the Columbia Halle. The tour was so well received that a second leg was
organised for September 1999. This went ahead without Holger Czukay who
was obliged to pull out at the last minute due to unforeseen
circumstances.
Can worked together for the last time in August 1999 at Irmin's
studio in Provence with Jono Podmore, to record a cover-version of The
Third Man theme (from the film of the same name) for the Pop 2000
compilation released on Herbert Grönemeyer's label Grönland/EMI.
On November 17th, 2001, Michael Karoli died after a long fight against cancer.
In March 2003 Can received the most prestigious prize that the
German music industry can offer: the Echo award for lifetime achievement
was presented at an awards ceremony in Berlin. Herbert Grönemeyer, one
of Germany's most famous artists, made the official speech while Brian
Eno sent in a short, witty film about the group. The prize was handed
over by the Red Hot Chili Peppers whose guitarist John Frusciante also
spoke of his appreciation and respect for Can's music.
The remaining members of Can are all active as both solo artists and collaborators.
By Gary Smith
The Homesman is a 2014 historical period drama set in the 1850s Midwest, directed by Tommy Lee Jones. The screenplay by Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley Oliver was based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. The film stars Jones and Hilary Swank and also features Meryl Streep, Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Hailee Steinfeld, John Lithgow and James Spader.
