ILM Artist Poll No. 77 · CAN · Voting Thread [Ends 07/24/16]

http://i.imgur.com/arPiarA.jpg

Songs: Top 20. Ranked. Remixes, demos and collaborations allowed. Non-optional.
Normal Scoring: 1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12
Albums: Top 5. Ranked. Remixes and collaborations allowed. Optional.
Ballots: ilmcanpoll (at) gmail dot com
Ends: 07/24/16

Damn second poll where I copy-paste wrong. It should read as:

Albums: Top 5. Ranked. EPs and compilations allowed. Optional.

... and more ... and more ...

There are remix and collaboration album too.

Ok, EPs, Compilation, Remixes and Collaboration albums allowed.

Post-Can Solo work allowed? Yay or Nay?

i'm excited for this :)

Fuck yeah. Feels like the perfect time to revisit everything they ever did.

I uploaded all Can that I have digitally available last week in preparation for this poll. Shuffling through it while commuting, taking mental notes to come up with a thoroughly thougt & listened through ballot. Deleted the early albums yesterday to give later songs an opportunity to reveal themselves for potential inclusion.

I say No to solo material btw. While interesting and awesome I feel we should restrict ourselves to THE CAN.

Aw man, rollout will be during my summer vacation :-/

http://eil.com/images/main/Can+Monster+Movie+-+1st+-+VG+593203b.jpg

This is the one I've been waiting for.

Aw man, rollout will be during my summer vacation :-/

― willem, Tuesday, July 12, 2016 11:26 AM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can-cel it! :-/

https://soundcloud.com/finderskeepersrecords/finders-keepers-radio-show-krautrock-special

There's a mighty interview with Malcolm Mooney on this podcast.

Nice. Malc on good form.

Aw man, rollout will be during my summer vacation :-/

― willem, Tuesday, July 12, 2016 11:26 AM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Can-cel it! :-/

I CAN't!

Thanks for the link to that podcast, Mark G! (love the Finders Keepers label, wasn't aware of their radio show)

ok so now I guess it's time to figure out where the Lost Tapes stuff really ranks amongst all this - "Dead Pigeon Suite" definitely gonna be top 5. well, probably. maybe. I don't know

yeah, this is gonna take some heavy listening ((((((((((d(-_-)b))))))))))

I was just looking at a Can Top 20 i did years ago, I don't think my eventual Top 20 will be much different tbh.

\o/

Can poll has a short span, not for lagging
Can poll has a short span, not for lagging
BUT WE GO ON AND ON

i plan to participate in this poll but man do i have a lot of listening to get through

^^ same, and have just started! Checked their discography and while I own all studio albums, there's such a vast amount of rarities, outtakes etc I don't know, I hope this poll will school me on that.

Real Can-heads, don't hesitate to drop YT's or links of lesser known Can beauties,

Real Can-heads, don't hesitate to drop YT's or links of lesser known Can beauties,

I like this track called "Halleluwah" a lot!

I'll manage some sort of ballot if only to give 40 points to my alltime fave (it's on Unlimited Edition).

hi

This will be tough, so many choices. I have a lot of affection for their post-Damon Suzuki albums, which I suspect won't get the love they deserve

i was listening to the lost tapes today and this immediately jumped out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_q5ZS2IeN0

beerfart england at least preferable to cockroach

can doesn't have a lot of super great deep cuts (though they have a lot of great bootlegs). their last album is super underrated. they got a couple good 7" only tracks (turtles have short legs and shikaku maru ten). here's an outtake from the _soon over babaluma_ era that came out on their deeply uneven 2lp studio outtakes collection _unlimited edition_.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUEJvkZWYq0

i guess by "last album" i should say i mean "can" from 1979 and not "rite time" which i still haven't ever felt the need to hear.

agreed on both counts. And let me say that Soon Over is a great record -- really unlike anything else in their catalog. Much will be represented on my ballot.

I'm sure all of you already know Turtles Have Short Legs but it never fails to make me happy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxGaC4wzt50

And here's Julian Cope's review of the single:

This was Can’s third single, issued at the time of release of their colossal double LP, “Tago Mago.” Its A-side, “Turtles Have Short Legs” was unavailable on album until it appeared years later on the “Cannibalism 2” compilation. It’s unlike any Damo-era Can piece ever, appropriating an absurd Teutonic toy town piano phrase that winds up subverting it in waves into a slow, untrammeled monster. There are no lyrics although Damo IS singing -- but even then the most discernable lines are easily misheard. But for all its joviality, this confounding track manages to gradually turn over in its sleep into a dense thicket of instruments galloping at a loping pace. All other instruments fall away at two separate clearings with only Damo and the drums to continue alone unfettered only to wind up as a succession of drum rolls and barking vocal pronouncements. The guitar-dominated coda, sees Michael Karoli playing around the edges of all the unpeeled paint upon the walls of Schloss Norvenich with extra sensory mojo and feeling at top volume as circling drums just continue pressing onward and upwards; drummer Jaki Liebezeit soon hitting his cymbals not with sticks but carefully aimed and stamina-directed tree trunks, beating the piece to rest.

From the “Tago Mago” album comes the B-side, “Halleluwah.” A heavily truncated excerpt of an already exquisitely edited and performed prehistoric, grooved sex-out, it featuring Liebezeit’s non-changing pace of drumming effortlessness is completely locked into Czukay’s Jaguar bass which provide a broad and free canvas for Karoli to break in with partially erased pencil strokes rendered with trebly and filigree explorations as Irmin Schmidt is content to submit small clusters of Farfisa chopping at will. Can muster a steady, rocking groove on “Halleluwah” that gathers a strength and momentum from its propulsive drive with endurance for any length of time. But it was necessary to whittle the original “Halleluwah” down from its original 18:32 minute length to fit the mastering constraints of a 45rpm single, so from the hands of Can bassist and sound editor Holger Czukay came a re-creation of the cleansing experience of the original, full-length track’s sexually epic qualities by drawing together separate excerpts and then reassembling it seamlessly out of order. And as a final touch, it was fashioned to run at exactly the same length of time as “Turtles” on side A: 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

- Julian Cope, The Book of Seth: Turtles Have Short Legs

I am stoked.

Just so I am clear: do tracks from solo records count?

of course there's the playstation rhythm game parappa the rapper which has this little tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TsqCNy6UU0

I was listening to "The Lost Tapes" today and "Graublau" is indeed awesome. I have a problem with some of the other tracks on this release though, particularly some of the 'suites', I wish Holger Czukay had edited the tracks and not Jono Podmore because, with all due respect to Jono Podmore, who is Jono Podmore? There's something too cute and neat about the way a lot of the material has been edited together - though it is undeniably highly entertaining - I don't know, is it just me?

No tracks from solo projects! Focus on Can!

who is Jono Podmore?

Currently on my sixth spin of Soon Over Babaluma of the day (it flies by!), helps to get stuff done. It's all great but side 2's amaaazing.

Assumed that was a rhetorical question.

Connection is straight out of the Delay '68 book and a banger.

In a way I feel like the top 20 (or top 10 at least) is going to be quite obvious and justified. If I do a ballot there will probably be some tactical votes for slightly deeper cuts. Most of the best stuff really is right there on the LPs.

Maybe I'm underestimating the heterogeneity of Can appreciation.

Rhetorical question, yes.

Currently on my sixth spin of /Soon Over Babaluma/ of the day (it flies by!), helps to get stuff done. It's all great but side 2's amaaazing.

Future Days and Babaluma feel very much of a piece to me notwithstanding Damo's departure before the latter. There's a ton of texture to both—even more on the contemporaneous tracks on the awesome Unlimited Edition (sometimes my favorite Can album)—and Karoli does an admirable job handling the vocals on the latter.

Also worth noting: the awesome closer on Unlimited Edition, "Ibis," has always felt to me like a bit like a warmup for "Dizzy Dizzy," the opener on Babaluma.

there's no way i can keep up with this thread but i will definitely vote
can is probably the band i have played on repeat more than any other in my adult life
lost tapes is treasure trove, do not miss

<3 <3<3 jaki <3 <3<3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2k00LBzZf4

this is a great little piece from Holger on Jaki
http://www.czukay.de/can/comments/images/jaki_ho.jpg
Apparently he plays piano like he plays the drums: "during the recordings of "the east is red" he played piano for hours, always the same type of sequence."
And I love Holger's POV on his bass playing (when he started doing it in Can): "my feeling for rhythm was a bit like someone running around in an earthquake not knowing where to escape."

Exc lesser-known Malcom Mooney joint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIKOpfuFcd0

Malcolm ugh still waking up

Wow I have never heard "Turtles Have Short Legs"! It is good!

I love the way the song-suites are edited fwiw. Never seemed "cute" or saccharine but lighthearted maybe. Nothin wrong w that.

I didn't know turtles was on a 7" with the halleluwah edit. I had it as the b side of a 12" of Moonshake. First can record I was ever able to find in the mid 80s.

I was floored when I realized the melody to "Turtles" was later borrowed wholesale for the car level in Parappa the Rapper

Just quit messing around and sent a ballot. I think I voted for every track on Soundtracks

Now that the ballot is done, I've started listening to the first Secret Rhythms album by Jaki and Burnt Friedman -- really enjoying it.

1st 2 Pluramon albums also have excellent Jaki drumming, fwiw

Also recommend Cyclopean w Jaki, Friedman, Irmin & Podmore from 2013 as well as the Oblique Sessions w/Jaki & a bunch of others I don't remember

So I am a bit confused about the rules: collaborations by members are allowed but solo records aren't?

Anyone? About ready to send along ...

Ballot sent!

Fuck it, voted!

Threw together a ballot and sent in!

this is that Oblique Sessions thing I mentioned above -- this is a weird reimagined version of Shikaku Maru Ten and I love it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJYqwHssduo

Also I have a question: who plays guitar like Michael Karoli these days?

34 ballots! Is anyone else sending one at the last minute or do I start counting?

Just stabbing out an email if you can bear with me a few minutes!

Done. Genuinely ranking these is almost impossible but very much looking forward to the results!

Is there an unranked/even distribution of points ballot option? There's no way I can throw a ranked one together but unranked I could do

If unranked I'd give 22 points per track. It should be 22.6 but I hate decimals in polls.

aw c'mon, round up to 23!!

Bump it down to 18 for not doing the work!

wait, yours was ranked wasn't it sleeve?

Ok everything is counted, I need to readjust MattK's ballot only and I got a final one by zach. Stop sending ballots! Poll is officially closed!

yes, mine was ranked :)

I'm truly sorry Moka. It's not my fault they made a late period gem I couldn't overlook.

just realised I can listen to spotify at work now..

I would have been all over this poll if I had known that..

tried to listen at home but bared managed an album every couple of days.

Mute is putting out a Can singles comp in June, including "Turtles Have Short Legs" https://youtu.be/my8T7hB992k

going ahead and posting the info from the youtube description:

Can - The Singles
Released 16th June 2017

Pre-order now:
Buy: http://smarturl.it/CanTheSinglesBuy
Stream: http://smarturl.it/CanTheSinglesStream

This unique document is the first time the singles have been presented together and shows the breadth of their influential career, from well loved tracks like Halleluwah, Vitamin C and I Want More to more obscure singles such as Silent Night and Turtles Have Short Legs.
The tracks are all presented in their original single version, many of which have been unavailable for many years and not presented outside of the original 7" release.

The triple vinyl comes packaged in a trifold sleeve, decorated with a beautiful spot gloss lamination, and is designed by the award winning Julian House from Intro, a long time design collaborator of Can's.

CAN - THE SINGLES - TRACKLISTING:
Soul Desert
She Brings The Rain
Spoon
Shikako Maru Ten
Turtles Have Short Legs
Halleluwah (Edit)
Vitamin C
I’m So Green
Mushroom
Moonshake
Future Days (Edit)
Dizzy Dizzy (Edit)
Splash (Edit)
Hunters And Collectors (Edit)
Vernal Equinox (Edit)
I Want More
...And More
Silent Night
Cascade Waltz
Don’t Say No (Edit)
Return
Can Can
Hoolah Hoolah (Edit)

https://mute.com
https://spoonrecords.com
https://irminschmidt.com
https://gormenghastopera.com

i never really think of can as a singles band, but ok!

is this on CD?

I love Silent Night.

I've got "Spoon" and "I'm so green", and "I want more" obv.

Been after that Halleluwah for ages, but the prices are silly.

So.. Yeah!

years ago (like at least 9 years ago?) i downloaded someone's homemade can singles comp and it was 2 discs -- it has rattled around in my car ever since and i have always wondered where it came from

same tracklisting iirc, at least through halleluwah
on the one i downloaded there was a tiny bit of vinyl noise so i always figured it was a european release that never saw the light of day in the US but ?

Well,they're all in the right order, so.

Also this is where I learned about Can "Can Can" which is horrible to google even if you add "band" to Can

Future Days (Edit)

im guessing this just chops off the long intro and outro which are the best things about it?

Dunno, I remember "Soup" (edit) on the Antholog, which lopped out all but the 'noise' bits..

I love that this exists:

Which CAN album are you?

I‘m 'Soon Over Babaluma' - primal, impressionistic, a dance floor shaman, what are you?

I did three different tests changing answers and I got Babaluma the three times... is it broken?

I just tried again for testing purposes with deliberately different answers and got Future Days, and I know a friend got Tago Mago

Nice: I‘m Can - a real joker who is always the life and soul of the party

ah I love this rubbish, I‘m 'Flow Motion' - a shimmering, lively joy with a slight tropical vibe - only slight tho!

I‘m 'Ege Bamyasi' - focused, you do justice to your ideas and endure past creation

I‘m 'Rite Time' - a welcome surprise (and not a minute too late); funky, funny, and abstract

... me too.

ha, I‘m 'Can' - a real joker who is always the life and soul of the party
not true but i wonder what you have to answer to be tago mago?!

Yesssss

I‘m 'Soundtracks' - straight forward, but veering towards left of centre

My only accomplishment today may be to test out as the can record which contains my favorite can song

I also got Rite Time, which is funny because it is probably the Can album I'm least familiar with.

jon you are the only person i know who has scored Soundtracks!!

Tago Mago.

I'm an unusual fellow

huh, i got soundtracks too

i don't know what my favorite can song is though. "bel air" maybe.

I got Soundtracks too

jon you are the only person i know who has scored Soundtracks!!

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, July 21, 2017 6:45 PM (yesterday) Bookmark

this turned out to be false -- i remembered another person. i really wanted to be tago mago or soundtracks but i guess i am so much fun that i had to be 'can'
i do find it amusing how difficult it is to search Can's "Can Can" from Can without the word "band" or another word distinguishing it from an endless stream of can can can can

Rosko Gee is Jamaican for Ricky Fatar

I keep forgetting that one of my friends is a Facebook friend of Rosko Gee - I noticed he replied to a post on Trump (don't worry, he's agin him).