"TAGO MAGO" POLL

"Halleluhwah," in a landslide.

Then I'll be an outsider and vote for Paperhouse.

Mushroom

Oh Yeah

paperhouse - first can song i ever heard, and still my favorite. it just sounds like really really otherworldly

"Halleluhwah" is fucking undeniable. Exhilarating.

Paperhouse wins. Mushroom, Oh Yeah, Halleluhwah joint runners up. Second side sucks donkey balls.

Paperhouse.

Oh Yeah, the first Can song I ever heard from the Mute Grey Area Tyranny of the Beat compilation VHS and later CD. Man that video and song through me for a loop.

"Halleluwah" is gonna walk!

"Oh Yeah" is the only song off this album I can hear over and over and over again, and the next time, I'll still be giddy with excitement to hear it again. Obviously many great songs here, but I get burnt out on this album too easily, aforementioned exception aside.

In brief: jaki roxx u r all gaye

Oh Yeah, the first Can song I ever heard from the Mute Grey Area Tyranny of the Beat compilation VHS and later CD. Man that video and song through me for a loop.

WHAT THAT MAN SAID RIGHT THERE

Oh Yeah was the first Can song I ever heard - and I still love it - but Halleluhwah gets my vote.

Have you seen the snowman standin' with the lord? (???)

I love everything on this album but Halleluwah is the one.

This was the first album I bought after discovering Pitchforkmedia (remember how easy it used to be to browse their older reviews?). I put it in my discman at the bus stop outside of the record store. Paperhouse and Mushroom taught me that there were people out there doing Pink Floyd way better than Pink Floyd did.

When Halleluwah rolled along, I was almost home but got so into it that I decided to go sit in the park rather than have to take the headphones off when I faced the roommates. Listening to Halleluwah, I really started to notice Jaki Liebezeit. I had this startling moment of realization that most of the drummers I had previously expressed admiration for were nowhere near as good as I thought they were.

Tried to replicate the experience the next weekend with the first NEU! album to much disappointment.

Also, although it is a much looser, more raggedy affair, Anthem of the Sun makes a great companion to this album, if you're up for an afternoon of Stockhauseny psychedelic bliss.

<i>Halleluhwah</i> for the funky hypnotic groove (thanks Jaki) and the great improvisations which go on around it. Damo's shouting fits perfectly. A wonderful piece of music.

Aumng

Which is the one that the Fall are referencing in "Damo Suzuki?" I can never remember which song title goes w/which song on this one (aside from Mushroom). Anyway, that one gets my vote.

i think that's "oh yeah"

Paperhouse wins. Mushroom, Oh Yeah, Halleluhwah joint runners up. Second side sucks donkey balls.

second side _is_ Halleuhwah!

(i voted 'paperhouse')

Is there anything that cannot be bootmashed with Can's "Augm" ?

Oh yeah. The only thing I don't like is that their name is practically un-google-able.

"halleluwah" is too epic not to win this poll.

Oh Yeah

kingkongvsgodzilla owes me an hour and a half for listening to the Grateful Dead when I could have been, I dunno, cutting myself and rubbing salt in the wounds or something.

OH YEAH

if for no other reason than the last minute, halleluwah.

You guys are seriously going to make me pull this out now.

this was the cd that was in my old laptop that got stolen :(

h-wah

Been listening to this lately! Excellent driving music. Was the first Can album I heard.

Voted Halleluhwah.

Ridiculous years-ago incident I'll never forget (try as I might): my old roommate catching me sitting cross-legged on my bed, naked but for a headset playing "Halleluwah", eyes closed, head weaving back and forth like a charmed snake, oblivious. Embarrassing to be sure, but not enough to change my vote.

I just voted for "Peking O" because it would appear no one else is going to.

don't be an outsider. let halleluwah win by a landslide.

OH YEAH x 1000

Bring Me Coffee or Tea is the surprise at the end! It deserves a vote.
I voted Hallallalalallalalalaluwah, tho.

Although the rhythm section on "Oh Yeah" is about as god as it gets, it's all about "Paperhouse."

Hm, that typo is oddly appropriate.

>I just voted for "Peking O" because it would appear no one else is going to.

millions of years listening later "Peking O" is my fave.
references Peking Opera by the way - 'an acquired taste'.
"driving my way back to yesterday..."

2nd fave - bring me coffee or tea. I'll bring you (& me) tea.

Listened to this last night b/c of this thread, and i think i gotta go with "paperhouse", "mushroom" a close second. The first half of this album is pretty much perfect. Still working on tracks 5-6 though.

Difficult choice, but I went for "Mushroom".

I wonder is anyone is outré enough to vote for "Aumgn."

Always my least favorite of their early period albums, if only because of "Augmn" and "Peking O", which take up well over 1/3 of the running time. It's really hard to choose between the others, but I suppose I'll go with "Oh Yeah".

I think "Oh Yeah"... errrrrrrrrrrrm, maybe... maybe "Halleluwah", but I think it's slightly too long... maybe "Mushroom", which maybe isn't long enough... never been a big fan of "Paperhouse", I don't like the end bit that much... the basslines on "Oh Yeah" and "Halleluwah" are genius, the drumming on EVERY track beyond genius! So "Oh Yeah", the explosions/thunderclaps edge it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

kingkongvsgodzilla owes me an hour and a half...

Everybody always says this when I recommend pairing these albums and I have no idea what they're not getting out of it that I am. : (

without a doubt "oh yeah"

the drumming at the end of "Aumgn" is awesome (I voted for "Paperhouse, though)

Paperhouse for me. The drumming is beyond human.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

wow, 106 votes? no real surprises, though

Yeah, the winner isn't surprising, but "Oh Yeah" beating "Mushroom" is kinda surprising. I thought it would be third to "Mushroom".

(I voted for "Oh Yeah" and all, but still)

"Halleluhwah," in a landslide.

OTM.

Sometimes I get confused about which little bit goes with which song: I was thinking that Oh Yeah had the part that goes "A nima nima nima nima nima nima nima nima nima nima nima na wah" and I was wrong. So one more vote for Halleluhwah, one less for Oh Yeah.

Wow, you people eff'n RULE. (I didn't realize so many people would vote, and every song placed!!)

And the results are sort of in the order of the sides of the album.. except it's side 2, then side 1, then 3 and 4.

Oh yeah!

(That's not a vote, that's in response to bsj)

http://pbsd.cf.huffingtonpost.com/pics/koolaid.jpg

has this been mentioned?
Tago Mago – 40th Anniversary 2CD Edition.

Release Date: 14 November 2011

Halleluwah! Exhibitions in Germany
Deluxe Vinyl Box Set and
Unreleased Lost Tapes Box Set details for 2012

Spoon Records and Mute announce the release of the 40th anniversary edition of the classic Can album Tago Mago on 14 November 2011.

The new edition of this genre-defying album comes packaged in the original UK artwork for the first time since 1971, and includes a bonus CD featuring 50 minutes of unreleased live material from 1972, remastered in 2011.

Tago Mago, the first album with Damo Suzuki on vocals, features the Can line up of Holger Czukay on bass, Michael Karoli on guitars, Jaki Liebezeit on drums and Irmin Schmidt on keyboards, and was recorded at Schloss Nörvenich in 1971, released later that year on United Artists.

Can’s influence is well known and far-reaching and the impact they made on music is felt today as keenly as it ever has been. They themselves have always been impossible to classify and reflecting this, the scope of artists who in recent years have cited Can as a major influence is varied. Of all the band’s oeuvre, Tago Mago has been most often cited as an influence for a host of artists including John Lydon, Radiohead, The Fall, Ariel Pink, Fuck Buttons, Sonic Youth, Factory Floor and Queens Of The Stone Age.

Listen to ‘Bring Me Coffee Or Tea’, as featured on the OST for the 2010 film adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel Norwegian Wood on SoundCloud.

To further celebrate this landmark album, Abtart gallery in Stuttgart (16 Sep – 5 Nov) (www.abtart.com) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin (24 Nov – 18 Dec) (www.bethanien.de) will host Halleluwah!, a visual homage to Can. Artists have been invited to interpret Can’s pioneering role in composition, sound, playing technique, and group dynamics.

Comprising painting, drawing, videos, objects, and sound pieces that relate to the broad spectrum of the band’s manifestations and to the facets of the collective, including critical considerations of its being turned into a myth, some works will respond to the covers of CAN albums, others will be investigations or continuations of sound into the present, while yet others will simply be hallucinatory bows before these great musicians. For further information, and a full list of confirmed artists which includes Albert Oehlen, Daniel Richter, Malcolm Mooney, Carsten Nicolai, go to: http://www.spoonrecords.com/.

Can was formed by ex-student of Stockhausen Irmin Schmidt, who, fired by the sounds of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa abandoned his career in classic music to form a group which could utilise and transcend all boundaries of ethnic, electronic experimental and modern classical music.

All 14 of Can’s studio albums have been newly cut to vinyl from the remastered tapes for release as a vinyl deluxe box set in early 2012. This will include CDs of all the albums, extensive booklets, an exclusive never released live album (vinyl only) and a newly remastered “Out Of Reach” previously unavailable! The vinyl deluxe box set will be available for pre-order at the beginning of October 2011.

The long awaited box set, The Lost Tapes, will be released in March 2012. Curated by Irmin Schmidt and Daniel Miller, and edited and compiled by Jono Podmore, this will include unreleased studio, soundtrack and live material.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Michael Karoli’s death on 17 November 2011, Spoon Records will offer a Best Of Michael Karoli Edit for free download on their site www.spoonrecords.com.

Tago Mago – 40th Anniversary Edition – Tracklisting

CD1
Paperhouse (07:29)
Mushroom (04:04)
Oh Yeah (07:23)
Halleluwah (18:33)
Aumgn (17:37)
Peking O (11:38)
Bring Me Coffee Or Tea (06:47)

CD2
Mushroom (Live 1972) (08:42)
Spoon (Live 1972) (29:55)
Halleluwah (Live 1972) (09:12)

I love "Mushroom" but have not been able to find my way to the heart of Can. The more jam-based material turns me off, unfortunately.

Have you heard Monster Movie?

yeah i was going to suggest checking out the pre-damo suzuki records...

yeah, I never quite understood why 'Tago Mago' was anointed as 'the' Can album, or the starting point for exploring their discography--I mean, I love it, but there is so much more to this band

Really bad Can album to start with, I would think.

i think the first can album i heard was soundtracks, and i might suggest it to a newbie ...

I love Can and I think really Tago Mago is the most accessible! I might be biased because it's where I started, but it has some of the most distinctive songs that are not as long-winded or jammy, as it's been said, and has some of their more interesting work. I can't think of an entire album of theirs I love more, although song-wise, there are others that stand up.

Have you heard Monster Movie?

If I have I don't recall it. Fortunately, Spotify can assist...

Really bad Can album to start with, I would think.

This was the Can I started with, and I'm still a huge fan.

Kinda psyched for the 29 minute "Spoon."

Kinda psyched for the 29 minute "Spoon."

holy shit yes.

^agreed

Also Tim F otm.

I prefer Ege Bamyasi, Future Days, and and Monster Movie to Tago Mago.

'Tago Mago' was the first Can LP I heard. I don't think it's their most accessible, I'd probably point someone toward 'Ege Bamyasi' first. What 'Tago Mago' has that the other's lack I guess is a truly grabbing first song. If I'd have heard 'Pitch' first rather than 'Paperhouse' then maybe I'd never have gotten into the band as much as I did.

Still, I'm *finally* starting to get a little pissed off at the prospect of buying this, and countless other reissues of material that I've bought more than once already.

packaged in the original UK artwork for the first time since 1971

wait, they're going to use this art on purpose?

http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-884436-1295044728.jpeg

"Tago Mago" was also the first album I heard by Can, and it didn't put me off being a fan at all. I'll always have time for the fantastic groove of 'Oh Yeah', and of course the wonderful 'Paperhouse'.

Really bad Can album to start with, I would think.

Well I wouldn't necessarily say that but I'd say "Ege Bamyasi" or "Soundtracks" are an easier entrance. I started with "Soon Over Babaluma", which is a weird one to hear first!

"Tago Mago" was the second, I think... I remember both albums being on the Celluloid label and therefore basically illegal bootlegs

Soon Over Babaluma is so fucking underrated

I don't think it is underrated? Not on ILM anyway! It's my favourite.

I also started with "Soon Over Babaluma" (by accident) and yeah, it's definitely not the one to start with. "Future Days" tones down on some of the jammy weirdness from earlier Can albums, which might make it more accessible for newcomers. Then again, the weirdness is a big part of Can are about, so maybe not.

So Where is "Turtles have short legs" ?

It was the 'non-lp' single of the time, same personnel, same sessions (I think), and it had a 7" edit of "Hallelujah" on the b-side.

To start with? I'd say "Monster Movie", then Tago, then Ege Bam Yasi.

future days was my first can, i don't recommend it as a first can.

listening to "paperhouse" first will get you there but i worry what happens to people whose first intent listen to can includes "aumgn"

So Where is "Turtles have short legs" ?

Yes. But they could probably have put out 20CD boxset of unreleased stuff from around the time they were recording "Tago Mago" - and do it for every other album too.

^Meh. Try harder.

"Tago Mago" is perfect entry level, starts with Can at their most accessible and eases you into the ooga-booga

if anyone can't wait for the live stuff, here's one of my fave can bootlegs: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/5044896090/queuing-down-all-hail-jaki-liebezeit-no-slur-on

Nice one. Bit like the Velvets tho, can be exhausting keeping up with all the bootlegs and diff. versions thereof.

yeah i definitely don't have all the can bootlegs out there, but that one is worth it, pretty much sounding like the best band ever.

I think that Cannibalism 1 is the perfect intro to Can.

yeah, that has edits on it right? i remember being surprised how much i liked some of the shorter versions, but i guess editing was something can was good at.
was thinking that the BBC sessions would work too...oh whatever, anything works, CAN RULES.

Edits aren't very good tho, on the original vinyl version anyway, like Holger spent an afternoon doing it. With Can, really just start at the beginning and move on chronologically, that's what I'll tell my grandchildren, it's quite a trip

I like the edits fwiw

My intro to Can was hearing Loop do 'Mother Sky', closely followed by Thin White Rope's version of 'Yoo Doo Right' and I was just desperate after that to hear this awesome, heavy and mysterious band first-hand. Was living in the sticks at the time so it took about six months, but finally I did manage to track down one of their records at some provincial Saturday-morning street market - the 'I Want More' 7"...

Ha, yes, well that was obviously the first song of theirs I ever heard

My intro was Tago Mago...and now I'm a completist. Though I agree to being a little pissed about the entire discography being reissued...gonna have to snag some, for sure.

Also...I have the original 1971 LP with cover art as above...probably my most prized LP. Was lurking in my girlfriend's father's basement for years till he dug it out after hearing I liked them, saying, "Never could get into this, so you may as well take it." Right on!

Ha, yes, well that was obviously the first song of theirs I ever heard

Should say that I loved it, but I was also really fucking confused about them thereafter.

Listening to Tago Mago songs on youtube this morning. One of the comments on Halleluwah:

This is Happy Mondays, Tuesdays, Weds, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, since 20 years ago.

Despite the garbled syntax, how did I never note this similarity?

Should say that I loved it, but I was also really fucking confused about them thereafter.

As I say, first i heard was "Soon Over Babaluma", which is like, hello... weird upside down reggae with Stephane Grapelli violin and wibbly wobbly bass then sorta Noel Cowerd tangoing with Marlene Dietrich in the 21st century with more Stephane Grapelli violin then 7/8 latin jazz rock blowout then 11 minute one-note proto-techno stomper with occasional cutaways to black holes in space and blues rockin' finishing with a trip into some kinda inner cosmos with subatomic particles colliding and refiguring and weird bass playing... that's confusion for ya

i also started w/Soon Over Babaluma, and have to say it's still probably the one whose tracks I listen to most.

Add one more who started with Babaluma (plus Future Days; got them both at the same time from a friend who was giving away old LPs.)

The first one I got was a U.K. Virgin-era comp called Incandescence. It had tracks from Landed/Flow Motion/Saw Delight but then also Malcolm Mooney period tracks from Unlimited Edition. Very confusing!

my introduction to Can was nabbing "Mother Sky" off of Napster after reading S Reynolds' review of Kid A; that song blew my mind! Tago Mago was the first Can album I ever bought. I was slightly disappointed. Even now, I do kind of like it, but "Oh Yeah" is the only song on there I truly love...

I should do a "When the Levee Breaks" vs. "Oh Yeah" poll.

I think that Cannibalism 1 is the perfect intro to Can.

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, September 7, 2011 11:34 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah, that has edits on it right? i remember being surprised how much i liked some of the shorter versions, but i guess editing was something can was good at.
was thinking that the BBC sessions would work too...oh whatever, anything works, CAN RULES.

― tylerw, Wednesday, September 7, 2011 11:35 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Edits aren't very good tho, on the original vinyl version anyway, like Holger spent an afternoon doing it. With Can, really just start at the beginning and move on chronologically, that's what I'll tell my grandchildren, it's quite a trip

― Euripides Trousers (Tom D.), Wednesday, September 7, 2011 11:36 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

I don't know if Holger's edits on Cannibalism 1 are the same edits on Disc 1 of the Can Anthology 2CD from the 90s? But Disc 1 of the Can Anthology is like the perfect Can mixtape.

'Turtles Have Short Legs' is on my CD of Cannibalism 2. I have not seen it on any other CD. On vinyl, I had it as the B-Side to the 'Moonshake' 12".

Cannibalism 2 is similar to but not the same as Disc 2 of the Can Anthology...

Tago Mago was my introduction to Can because it was the one my library had. It didn't seem too 'out there' to me at the time, and I remember thinking that it was extremely groovy and actually more accessible than I expected.

Don't think I voted in this poll though? Can't remember.

start at out of reach or the self-titled and move backwards. then tell me what that's like.

Also at the time it blew my mind b/c I truly had no idea how much Happy Mondays' Hallelujah sounded like Can's Halleluhwah. Why hadn't anyone told me that?!

Know what is impossible to google? Can, "Can Can"

Surely that is an old joke, but it always makes me giggle because I am easily amused.

Took me years to realize Nick Cave's "Tupelo" was fashioned from "Oh Yeah", right from the thunderclap.

I started with Tago-Mago as ev eryone says its the one to go for and I was impressed with how many bands have taken their style more than I enjoyed it.

It was only a cheap vinyl copy of Cannibalism 1 in Fopp, that I really liked.

then I got Future Days as it has no songs on Cannibalism1,

After that? I've been Can for Life.

starting on Can nowadays? I'd just Spotify the hell out of them....

i usually recommend Ege Bamyasi as a starting point...seems to be a nice balance of the two extremes, and a fantastic record to boot.

i've also really been liking the peel sessions (that were recently reissued on LP)...not a bad track on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npDdOF98MMc
Wonderfully restored video of a 1971 live performance of "Halleluwah"

thank you for giving me a CAN afternoon

oh man that video rules

Great stuff. Strong Rowlf vibes from Irmin towards the end!

Damo kills that chorus in the above ^^^

Kinda come back round to thinking that the best Can album (Tago Mago) is actually the best Can album (Tago Mago). If I had to pick one LP side of Can content for a desert island, it'd be Side A TagMag

I'd love for a drummer to explain to me-- or to spend some time doing some meticulous beat-mapping-- how Jaki grooves so perfectly, he seems to intuitively place his snare off-beats 5ms behind at all times, his eighth notes sound like they're set at 5% swing, idk how he does it but it's crack cocaine for my ears

I’m no drummer but part of the addictive quality for me is his ferociously light touch, every hit and accent seems perfectly separated so the rhythm stays immaculate. Same with Tony Allen, they don’t smear their patterns by blasting the kit.

That’s right— it’s a light touch like tap dancing baby 😎

His playing is my guiding light as a drummer

I am forever going to associate Jaki with the image of a tap-dancing baby 😎

Lol I guess a comma would have prevented that, my apologies

Pauses matter — imo Jaki knew this and played with punctuation in mind, or at least patterns in the same way sentences have patterns.

yes, leaving space where needed like the best musicians know how to do

This revive is a nice coincidence for me. This weekend I was looking for isolated drums for Can and found a user on yt who is isolating a ton of albums (including CAN) with AI help it seems. It’s interesting and if you’re like me also really fun to rediscover them like this.

There’s more on his profile (not just CAN but several other brilliant drummers worth peeking around) but here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ4god09uFE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF3ezq7QI84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuOHW1j7TO8

Now I’m sad because the syncopation of “Oh Yeah”, once isolated, reminds me of “Footloose”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZZd7CjFeb8

I'd love for a drummer to explain to me-- or to spend some time doing some meticulous beat-mapping-- how Jaki grooves so perfectly, he seems to intuitively place his snare off-beats 5ms behind at all times, his eighth notes sound like they're set at 5% swing, idk how he does it but it's crack cocaine for my ears

― 🎶 should I slay or should I ho 🎶 (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, February 16, 2026 5:52 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

yeah it's this precision that's so wild to me, plus his patient dynamic transitions. one gets the feeling that he's somehow in a meditative place when he's playing, mind quiet, ears open, some kind of relentless muscular / nervous training taking over to deliver the conveyor belt. i often have the thought while listening to jaki that, well, drumming must be hard, and i'd also love to hear a drummer's thoughts on it.

jaki definitely did a lot of disciplined work afaict and what he arrived at was something completely unique but very refined.

as far as tago mago goes, the last time i listened i had a greater appreciation for 'aumng'. lots of this feeling of dark metaphysical excavation. idk it's a dark and also funny album in places. i need to give this a listen again soon.

sorry i kinda landed on that post and then skipped to the submit box, should have read the rest.

Bring Me Coffee or Tea getting one vote is a bit sad - Jaki is great on that!

The story with Aumng is that Irmin learned the word was a Crowley incantation that Karoli felt would summon black magical forces and he was freaking out about Irmin chanting it so Irmin kept it up with the chanting probably finding it really amusing. So dark and funny colliding for sure!

have we every discussed how "Halleluhwah" seems clearly inspired by "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic"

I already love this record so much, and the last 12 plus posts have me even more excited about listening to it

I rinsed Tago Mago on CD in my early 20s and pretty much know it like I know my hairline— and always listened on vinyl since then. It was pretty much established in my brain that “the second disc kinda sucks”, but yesterday I played the 2011 remaster and… Aumgn and Peking O are enormously enormously improved, the descent into ingloriousness is so much more lumbering and resolute, with things like the clown keyboards reduced in the mix, Damo’s bassy “aumgn” made more monolithic (and his boodaboodaboodaboodabooda moment no longer killing the vibe entirely). I’m super impressed!! Still think Coffee Or Tea is a weak closer tho

I think all of those remasters are superb, textbook examples of "how to do it"

I had to drive like six hours of errands and was refreshing all the Scaruffi-core stuff while I drove. Faust really is the best fucking band. Popol Vuh might’ve been cool when it came out but it sounds to me now like you’ve been tricked into a sexy weekend with a RennFaire lady and you want to leave so badly but you feel obligated to stay out of politeness

hahaha

my wife, while PV was playing: "is this the fucking Grateful Dead?"

it was some really noodly (and lovely imho) Fischelsinger guitar part, but yeah I laughed

pv might be my favorite of them all

i'm a crystal brained yoga head though

God, I wish. Worst New Age music ever created. I remember trying to get into them and starting at the beginning (those two long ambient whatever albums) and feeling nonplussed. Yesterday I rearmed Hosianna Mantra and was so appalled I had to put on Dead Can Dance (first two albums) to cleanse my spirit.

Yesterday I resigned myself also to this: I don’t much care for Future Days. It’s always been this “wha happened?” kind of album for me, like it’s on and then it’s over. I do like the fact that Holger is just like “I’m playing root notes only ok guys? and only on the downbeat and only every four bars”. It is a cool decision

But really: Faust. Of all these “sometimes we freak out” early 70s bands they are the heaviest of shredders. “Meadow Meal” is such an astounding piece of music

yeah it's be cool to do a mix of the "heaviest" Faust moments

My favourite will always be Neu! but the band that influences my personal life decisions the most is Cluster

Popol Vuh rules, Cluster rules, Faust rules, but Can's Tago Mago album reigns supreme, that's how I break it down to you

when I was a kid it was Future Days and Ege Bamyasi that ruled over Tago Mago. Even though I'm very jazz coded and Tago Mago was kind of a jazz fusion album.

fgti do you know the Walter Wegmuller album

Nope-- I have so many weird blind spots, I'm a Slapp Happy acolyte but have never listened to a Blegvad solo album i.e.

Will check it out tho thx!

Damo’s bassy “aumgn” made more monolithic

I believe that's Irmin.

well idk I think it's a pretty obscure one though given the musicians on it you'd think it would be pretty well known. it's basically the Cosmic Jokers lineup, except they know they're being recorded this time :)

Tarot is a fantastic record, iirc it got plenty of praise in julian cope's book (where I likely first heard of it).

Yes, it's pretty well known in Krautrock circles.

well nobody I know has heard of it :)

I'd never heard of it either till the Julian Cope book tbh.

i like a few popol vuh things but oftentimes their music reminds me of that ritual scene in Help! where they try to cut off Ringo's finger.

ege bamyasi is the overrated can album, like it's good and all but it's not transcendent like tago mago and future days

we can all have can opinions but ffs don't start trying to diminish how fucking great ege bamyasi is, kids!

Hear hear!

haha we should do a "most overrated Can album" poll

it's only like their sixth best album but that means it's still very good

haha we should do a "most overrated Can album" poll

The later albums aren’t as bad as the conventional wisdom had it, but they ain’t better than the canonical albums

the first Can album I ever heard was Soon Over Babaluma at some point in about 89/90 After that I ended up walking half way to Leeds because I was like about 58p short for trainfare, just so I could buy Tago Mago from Jumbo Records.

Oh btw until I googled the lyrics yesterday I always thought it was “bring me coffee or tea / call me pretty or ugly”

Given the choices of Damo’s verbal weighting (and Mark E Smith’s summarization: “What, have you got, in that paper bag”— or worse, “ain’t to time for Western lesson!”)— it has been easy (for me) to miss that Damo’s lyrics are at times very beautiful

EB is fucking fantastic, it’s like a singles collection of short-form brilliant ideas. How it’s even possible to overrate a record with “Vitamin C” and “Sing Swan Song” is beyond me.
Also fgti you need to crank up the title track of “Future Days” and pay it undivided attention. The drama alone.

polling the most overrated CAN album could bring about the final destruction of ILM

I might say Delay 1968, never really got why some people were so gaga over that one, love Monster Movie though

such a poll would require deleting the "L" from ILM

xp it's all about "Uphill" on that one imo

I, Music?

my wife, while PV was playing: "is this the fucking Grateful Dead?"

It's the Grateful Dead IF THEY'D BEEN ANY FUCKING GOOD

(ducks)

which is the most overrated classic-era CAN album?

there's something very gnarly about the keyboards and guitar grinding all over the place in "future days". they're low in the mix so they're easy to miss and honestly also easy to gloss over because they're kinda nasty imo! nasty and weird hiding under holger's plonking away and damo's very tuneful / lovely singing in the chorus and all the high frequencies / cymbals that make it sound like the tide is coming in over everything. it's sorta chromatic, sorta blues, sorta just random, all demented.

suffice it to say but can were weird as hell and they still throw me off sometimes. "soup" on eb. weird track. karoli's soloing has the effect sometimes of making me feel like i have a stomach ache. they kind of have the energy of an evil klezmer band sometimes? playing in a funhouse and you're on ayahuasca.

"thief" is the best

they should really do a repressing of The Lost Tapes...crazy to think between that stuff and Unlimited Edition they could've cranked out like 3 or 4 more classic albums if they wanted to

xp yeah that's peak Mooney

there are so many of those “live in” discs now. what’s the consensus on those

I still relisten to the stuttgart one regularly

I might be in the minority but I'm on record as feeling very "meh" about that entire series. But I think Can has always been more of a studio band for me

hahaha

my wife, while PV was playing: "is this the fucking Grateful Dead?"

― Serfin' USA (sleeve), Friday, February 20, 2026 1:39 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Hahaha

I bought Tago Mago, therefore I like it least.

Bought it LAST, haha

When I first joined ILX, I was on some thread where someone was asking for similar music to CAN, and I recommended early Grateful Dead. That poster came back later, and was like "yeah, that was not it." Whatever similarities I had heard, it wasn't what they liked about CAN.

And to be honest, I'm not that much more knowledgeable about CAN than I was then. I pretty much know 3 albums very well - Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi, and Future Days - and have a passing acquaintance with some of the other stuff. But, and especially having heard those live albums they've been putting out in the past few years, I still think it's a lot closer than people would like to admit.

Popol Vuh might’ve been cool when it came out but it sounds to me now like you’ve been tricked into a sexy weekend with a RennFaire lady and you want to leave so badly but you feel obligated to stay out of politeness

― 🎶 should I slay or should I ho 🎶 (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 20 February 2026 19:38 (yesterday)

Missed this thread revive until now and this post was first thing I see under the cut: made me laugh so hard.

I lost interest in the live series after the 2nd one, but the Stuttgart one is in my regular Can listening rotation, it covers all the bases for me as far as live Can goes

The Keele live album is tremendous, it's become a real fave of mine.

I like the live series as a big whole - like I put one on at random and hang with this band for a bit and they're usually fascinating and sometimes amazing and I drift in and out.

Can't always really remember which is which.

Super obvious but Paris Fünf (Vitamin C) is amazing.