Can ("The Can" until 1970) was an experimental rock music / Psychedelic music / Art rock / krautrock group founded in Germany in 1968. It encountered little profits inside conventional terms, however it were one of a major Krautrock bands, an "anarchist community" world health organizatiin will have a great influence on modern rock and electronic music.

(1968-1979) Band years

Might formed within Cologne in 1968 as "Inner Space", comprising bass guitarist Holger Czukay, keyboard player Irmin Schmidt (both music teachers world health organization got exposed under Karlheinz Stockhausen), guitarist Michael Karoli (a pupil of Czukay), & jazz drummer Jaki Liebezeit, along with original member David Johnson.

inside the fall of 1968, it got enlisted an imaginitive & extremely rythmic (in case abrasive material in tone) U.s. vocaliser, Malcolm Mooney. He added intensity to the band's music, which sounded something such as the combination of Velvet Underground, James Brown, and Pink Floyd among other items. When by owning victims influences, repetitiin was stressed on bass & drums, particularly on the Xx-microscopic "Yoo Doo Right," which got been edited down from either the sextuplet hour improvisation. This song got been covered in abbreviated form by The Geraldine Fibbers, Thin White Rope and others).

Mooney returned to Usa before long after & was replaced by easier stylist Damo Suzuki, a Japanese traveler observed busking outside a coffeehouse. A band's 1st record by using Suzuki was Soundtracks (1970), in which his multi-lingual vocal style (somewhat influenced by Yoko Ono) added character to a placed of comparatively straightforward popular songs. As well involved were 2 songs by Mooney including an unexpected raid melodic jazz, "She Brings the Rain".

A next couple years saw a two release their virtually all acclaimed works, which arguably did as much to define the Krautrock genre as people of any more class action. When their earliest records mostly stuck to traditional song structures, in their mid-career albums a band reverted to an extremely fluid improvisational style. Tago Mago (1971) is a innovative, influential & deeply unlawful record, according to intensely rhythmical jazz-inspired drumming, makeshift guitar & keyboard soloing (oft intertwining every more), tape edits, & Suzuki's idiosyncratic vocalisms. A rhythm section's work in Tago Mago has been especially praised: A single critic writes disobliging of the album is according to "long improvisations built around hypnotic rhythm patterns" [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=can]; another writes that "'Halleluwah' finds them "pounding retired the monster trance/funk beat" [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:4x65mpb39f6o~T1].

Tago Mago was followed by Ege Bamyasi (1972), a more accessible but still avant-garde record which featured the catchy "Vitamin C" and the Top 40 German hit "Spoon". Next was Future Days (1973), an early example of ambient music, though there was also the quasi-pop song "Moonshake". The names of these albums represent the band members' interest in world music referring to other cultures' languages and traditions. Suzuki left in 1973 to become a Jehovah's Witness, and the vocals were taken over by Karoli and Schmidt. Arguably the music suffered when Suzuki departed; both were competent singers, but neither Karoli nor Schmidt was a particularly memorable vocalist, especially when compared to Mooney's demented energy or Suzuki's freewheeling charm. In live performance, though, the music grew in intensity without a vocal center, and the band maintained their ability to collectively improvise with or without central themes for hours at a time, resulting in a rather great body of performances.

Can released Soon Over Babaluma in 1974 before signing to Virgin Records the following year. Throughout the albums Landed (1975), Flow Motion (1976), Saw Delight (1977) and Out of Reach (1978), Can moved towards a somewhat more conventional style; the disco single "I personally Need Supplementary" from Flow Motion became, in the UK, their only hit record.

In 1977 Can added former Traffic bassist Roscoe Gee and percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah to the existing personnel, pushing Holger Czukay, who is now perhaps the best-known ex-member, to the fringes of the group's activity, playing only the shortwave radio. Czukay left in late 1977 and did not appear at all on the albums Out Of Reach (1978) or Can (1979). The band quietly disbanded at the end of the 1970s, but has reformed on a few occasions since.

(1980- . . . .) Later years
Since the split, all the former members have been involved in musical projects; Czukay seems to have had the most success. In 1986 they briefly reformed, with Mooney but without Suzuki, to record Rite Time (released in 1989), and have since been the subject of numerous compilations, live albums and samples.

In 1999 the four founding members of Can - Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli, Jaki Liebezeit, Irmin Schmidt - performed live in the same show, but separately as "Can-Solo-Projects", playing with their current solo projects. These solo projects were: Michael Karoli - Sofortkontakt Jaki Liebezeit & Club Off Chaos Irmin Schmidt & Kumo Holger Czukay

Like The Velvet Underground, their real impact was not commercial success, but their subsequent influence, not only on rock music but on dance and electronic music as well.

Michael Karoli died on 17 November 2001 after a long battle with cancer. Irmin Schmidt has begun working with the acclaimed drummer Martin Atkins, producing a remix for the industrial band The Damage Manual, and a cover of Banging The Door for a Public Image Ltd tribute album, both released on Atkins' label, Invisible Records. In 2004, the band began an ongoing series of Super Audio CD remasters of its back catalog. Currently, the first seven studio albums are available, as is the compilation Unlimited Edition.

Personnel

Primary members
Holger Czukay (b.March 24, 1938): Bass guitar, sound engineer and electronics (1968-1977).

Michael Karoli (b.March 29, 1948; d.November 17, 2001): Guitar, vocals and violin.

Jaki Liebezeit (b.1939): Drums and percussion.

Irmin Schmidt (b.May 29, 1937): Keyboards and vocals.

Malcolm Mooney: Vocals (1968-1970, 1986-1991).

Damo Suzuki (b.January 16, 1950) Vocals (1970-1973).

Secondary members
David Johnson: Reeds, winds, electronics and tape manipulation (1968).

Manni Löhe: Vocals, percussion and flute (1968).

Rosco Gee: Bass guitar and vocals (1977-1979).

Rebop Kwaku Baah: Percussion (1977-1979).

Michael Cousins: Vocals (April 1976).

Discography

Studio albums
Monster Movie (Liberty, 1969) Soundtracks (Liberty, 1970) Tago Mago (United Artists, 1971) Ege Bamyasi (United Artists, 1972) Future Days (United Artists, 1973) Soon Over Babaluma (United Artists, 1974) Landed (Virgin, UK/Harvest, Ger., 1975) Flow Motion (Virgin, UK/Harvest, Ger., 1976) Saw Delight (Virgin, UK/Harvest, Ger., 1977) Out of Reach (Harvest, 1978) Can (Harvest, 1979) Inner Space (Peters International, 1979) Rite Time (Mercury, 1989)

The first seven albums are currently available as remastered SACDs.

Singles
"Kama Sutra"/"Void" (Music Factory, 1968) "She Will bring A Rain"/"Standstill" (Liberty, 1970) "Turtles Use Short Legs"/"Halleluwah" (Liberty, 1971) "Spoon"/"Shikaro Maru Ten" (United Artists, 1972) "Moonshake"/"Splash" (United Artists, 1973) "Dizzy Dizzy"/"Came Sta La Luna" (United Artists, 1974) "We Desire Additional"/"..& Other" (Virgin, 1976) "Silent Nighttime"/"Cascade Waltz" (Virgin, 1976) "Don't Say There are no"/"Go to" (Virgin, 1977) "May-May"/"Aspectacle" (Harvest, 1979)

Collection albums

Limited Edition (United Artists, 1974) - collection of 1968-1974 rarities Unlimited Edition (Virgin, UK/Harvest, Ger., 1976) - collection of 1968-1975 rarities Delay 1968 (Spoon, 1981) - 1968-1969 rarities and outtakes collection Peel Sessions (Strange Fruit, 1995) - collection of 1973-1976 recordings from BBC radio's John Peel Show Radio Waves (Sonic Platten, 1997) - collection of 1969-1972 live and rare recordings Live (Spoon, 1999) - collection of live recordings 1972-1977 (originally packaged with the Can Box cd/video/book set)

Unlimited Edition is currently available as a remastered SACD.

Compilations

Opener (Sunset, 1976) - compilation from 1972-1974 album material Cannibalisms (United Artists, 1978) - compilation from 1969-1974 album material Incandenscence (Virgin, 1983) - compilation from 1969-1977 album material Cannibalism 2 (Spoon, 1992) - compilation from 1974-1981 album material Anthology (Spoon, 1993) - compilation from 1968-1991 album and soundtrack material Cannibalism 3 (Spoon, 1993) - compilation from 1979-1991 solo album material

Bootlegs

Prehistoric Future, Paris 1968 Mother Sky Berlin, Waldbühne 1971 University Of Essex, Colchester, UK 8-5-72 Horror Trip in the Paper House Köln 03.02.72 Live at Paris Olympia, France 1973 Live at Sussex University, Brighton, November 1975 Live at Stuttgart 31.10.1975 Live at Hannover 4.11.1976 London und Grenoble Live 1976

Film and video

(1972) Free Concert (1998) The Can Documentary (1999) The Can Box (Box set including Can Documentary, Free Concert, Two Live CDs and a book) (2004) The Can DVD (2 DVDs with CAN material and 1 Audio CD with the solo material)

Can remasters

All are re-issues of previously released Can albums (all re-released by Spoon Records).

Monster Movie Soundtracks Tago Mago Ege Bamyasi Future Days Soon Over Babaluma Unlimited Edition Landed

Soundtracks

(1968) Kama Sutra (1969) Ein Großer graublauer Vogel (1970) Creem (1970) Deadlock (1970) Deep End (1972) Tatort - Tote Taube in der Beethovenstraße (1973) Alice in den Städten (1991) Until the End of the World (2002) Morvern Callar

Miscellaneous facts
When preparing a soundtrack, only Irmin Schmidt would view the film and then give the rest of the band a general description of the scenes they would be scoring. This assisted in the soundtrack being successful both inside and outside the film's context.

Although Can's sound has always been ahead of its time, they did not use multi-track recorders until 1975.

Irmin Schmidt's wife Hildegard has managed the band and handled all the bands financial affairs since 1974.

Damo Suzuki's debut performance with Can in 1970 nearly frightened an audience to the point of rioting due to his odd style of vocalizing. David Niven, of Pink Panther fame, was amongst the crowd who remained to hear what Can and Damo would do next.

Can made attemps to find a new vocalist after the departure of Damo Suzuki, although no one quite fit the position. One such vocalist, Michael Cousins, toured with Can in April, 1976. Audience members dissapproved of his presence and literally spat at him while on stage. The only available recording with Cousins is the Live Hannover 1976 bootleg.

In 1976, folksinger Tim Hardin took the lead vocal spot with Can for one song, performing his classic The Lady Came From Baltimore.

John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), formerly of the Sex Pistols formed Public Image Limited patterned after Can's early 70's line-up. Lydon wanted to join Can in 1979 as the group decided to disband.