CAN
Live In Brighton 1975 (Mute/Spoon)
In 1966, when classical composer Irmin Schmidt founded Can, his vision was to combine the old “new music” with its contemporary counterparts: rock, jazz and anything thing else lying around at the time. Can produced a musical stew with a vast number of ingredients, and on Live In Brighton 1975 – a remastered personal recording, the second in an apparently ongoing album series – the flavour is somewhat muddied.
With the listener invited on an “interstellar journey” with Can, the seven tracks, identified only as German numbers, occasionally soar, often play tricks on your ears, but mostly sound like one long tuning-up session. This might be a harsh thing to say about one of the most influential bands of their era, but for recordings like this, it may be a case of ‘you had to be there.’
Jaki Liebezeit’s powerful drumming leads throughout – Michael Karoli’s vocal on Drei is drowned out – and the crowd noise on Vier is quite amusing. A concert captured for posterity always has some value: Live In Brighton 1975 may at least please listeners of a more avant-garde persuasion.
words LYNDA NASH