I said Tago Mago but everything through at least Future Days is a contender. My second choice might be the underrated Soundtracks....
You meant "Halleluwah", right? As a diehard Can fan, I feel like I should be able to embrace "Aumgn" and "O Peking". Maybe I need to give them another shot--sometimes experimental tracks like this just click for me after a period of ambivalence--but I rarely find myself in the right head space to appreciate them.
But also someone who's able to face and express his inner feelings? I love Aumgn, too. Peking O makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I find the whole album sequence highly affecting and holds a kind of emotional narrative. Aumgn is a kind of free-fall embracing of emptiness before the bottled-up inner turmoil of Peking O can finally be released. Bring Me Coffee or Tea is a return...
Not Delay 1968 nor Monster Movie or Rite Time but any one of the others could be a favourite at time of listening. Future Days is my choice just now as "Moonshake" is such a wonderful thing to hear and not sit still to. (...and I just love this version and it's video...)
I always think he's singing "lend me pinot noir" at the end of that one...for some reason the line's not in that remix, I don't think, but it sounds groovy.
You betcha," All Gates Open" is a personal favourite from a very different album and era for that matter. (There are no duds in the Can/solo catalogue, just some I don't revisit so often.)
I've never heard or read that. From what I've read the doctor's advice was not "quit the band", but instead his advice was "go home to America" which, granted would have been quite difficult to do without quitting the band.
Tago Mago for me - and if we're ranking sides its: Side 2 - the best side of music by anyone ever? The argument could be made Side 1 - merely brilliant Side 3 - a mind trip Side 4 - a bit underwhelming after everything that came before it on sides 1-3, and the screaming battle between Damo and the beatbox on Peking-O pushes things almost too far! Ege Bamyasi is a close second - Jaki in particular shines on this album RIP Everything from the beginning to Ege Bamyasi is amazing. Future Days is where they started to lose me a bit, but having said that, Moonshake is one of the greatest tracks they ever did. After that - though they definitely had their moments, they never again reached their previous heights. Part of that I'm sure is they really needed to get another proper singer after Damo left. Sometimes when listening to some of the vocal tracks on the post-Damo albums I find myself wondering if perhaps it may have been better if they'd just carried on as an instrumental band. And then there's the later "Traffic" Can
Soon Over Babaluma for me. Ege Bamyasi was my favorite for a while, but SOB just has an ethereal quality to the synths throughout much of it that is just really special to me. Ege Bamyasi stops exciting me during "Soup", but there isn't a week moment on Soon Over Babaluma as far as I'm concerned.
Don't get me wrong, that may be correct (it sounds as much like that as anything), but I wouldn't trust those lyric sites, they're all just guessing just like we are and sometimes Damo isn't even singing in English, and sometimes Damo isn't even singing in any known language. Exhibit A: look at every version of "Halleluwah" on the internet and compare what they have for the "Looking for my black door" (or whatever) line...
Hard to decide but Tago Mago gets the nod from me. I've been listening a lot to the Lost Tapes 5LP box set, that is essential stuff.
Joking apart, the line in Moonshake is 'let me be the one'. The line in Halleluhwah is 'searching for my black dope'.
I think it sounds more like "black door"...I'll give you the Moonshake line if you let me have that one, even steven.
Really! You asked him specifically about those lines? Did you get any other lyrics from him? EDIT: I'll listen with this in mind next time, but I'm still not 100% convinced Damo actually sings "black dope"...maybe he does, though, and I believe you that it's the written line...
I asked him if he'd heard of Swell Maps, and he said he didn't think so. I told him they had a song called Don't Throw Ashtrays At Me, and he thought that was hilarious.
Full Moon In My Pocket>Blam!>Full Moon was a Can ripoff before they were hip to do (as well as brilliant, don't get me twisted). OK, I'm going to be a pain in the neck now, sorry in advance: How did lyrics come up? Did you ask him about specific ones? Did he explain anything about the writing process? Please post all the information that he gave you that you remember.
