ALBUM REVIEW: CAN - Ege Bamyasi

    Leading up to 1972, German rock outfit CAN (or The Can if you're looking at their first album) had built up a sturdy and comfortable collection of three albums that were able to garner some success - their first outing with the noisy 1969 Monster Movie album served as a capable introduction to the group's electronic influences and often avant-garde, noisy stylings, and their second studio album Tago Mago proved a fantastic follow-up moment for the group, now with a new and more distinctive vocalist with Damo Suzuki. While I think I fall short of the crowd that finds an album like Tago Mago to be a masterwork, it was certainly an album that I found fascinating at the very least, and a work that was certainly highly respectable in scope and style. Throw in a collection of soundtrack work on 1970's Soundtracks and you have a decent run going, and going into the next album CAN was better off than ever thanks to a studio upgrade. The resulting new studio (and funds, thanks to a TV show picking up one of their songs as its theme) would yield CAN's third proper studio outing with today's subject: Ege Bamyasi. Admittedly, some parts of their third studio album aren't nearly as adventurous or out-there as the bizarre moments on Tago Mago, but in some ways Ege Bamyasi may be just as consistently enjoyable, and is certainly a bit more approachable (least of all because it's a disc shorter). Even if it isn't quite as impressive in its scope, Ege Bamyasi is in many ways still the quintessentials of what makes CAN so fantastical and peculiar in the first place. 

    CAN has always been a master of the lengthy song and creative rhythms, and they are far from losing their strength on Ege Bamyasi - if anything, a new studio has allowed them to further hone their skills. Admittedly, even the longest and most explorative moments on Ege Bamyasi aren't of the same magnificent scope as a song like "Halleluwah" on Tago Mago, but I think that CAN has managed to distill their essence on these songs remarkably well. The noisy and hypnotic start of "Pinch" withs its whirring synths and and percussive variation is the very essence of what makes the group such a fascinating listen, even if it can seem harsh on the ears at first. While CAN proves to excel at these more exploratory moments, the album also contains two of the group's most popular, shorter moments - the song "Spoon" that closes out the album proved highly popular in their home country of Deutschland, in part due to being the theme of the aforementioned television show. There's also the mostly conventional "Vitamin C", which remains one of the group's most played songs nowadays on streaming services, like in part because it's not nearly as out-there in contents or structure as many of the group's other moments. The same could be said for the short and sweet energy of "I'm So Green", an effective penultimate song that may be one of the group's finer commercial moments put to record. These moments help to make Ege Bamyasi a fairly approachable to those who haven't dove into CAN, even if it still contains some wild moments sprinkled throughout its 40 minutes of vinyl.

    CAN isn't a group that I'll always understand, but if I've learned anything in my three or so years of doing this review thing, it's that I respect and love that which I can't quite understand, and boy does Ege Bamyasi have that. Some parts of this album are so abrasive in their sound and outwardly harsh, not dissimilar from their previous album in those respects, that it is naturally going to turn plenty of listeners off straight out the gate, but those who stick through will certainly be rewarded by the album's electronic stylings and harsh sounds as they give birth to their ideas. My only regret with this album is that CAN never quite manages to hit the intrepid moments of their past works, which would certainly have made this a home-run of an album, but Ege Bamyasi manages perfectly to carry the momentum of Tago Mago while still having some elements that can appeal to a more casual listener - take the more approachable second half of the album if you're unsure of CAN, but those who are up for an adventure will certainly find no qualms with this record's boldness.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Ege Bamyasi.