Short Reviews [Can - 2021 - "Live in Brighton 1975"]

Back in the Seventies I must confess I was not a fan of Can and am not sure I had even heard the name, as none of my mates were into experimental Krautrock, and they continued to pass me by until about 20 years ago when I first dipped my toes in the water to see what they were all about. Needless to say, it was a revelation, but I soon realised there was a difference between Can in the studio and Can in concert, as the latter was something which took improvisation and experimentation to new levels. This is the second in a series of releases by Mute, the other two featuring Stuttgart in 1975 and Cuxhaven in 1976, and has the band back as the original quartet of Holger Czukay (bass), Irmin Schmidt (keyboards), Michael Karoli (guitar), and Jaki Liebezeit (drums). I am sure all these tracks are based on others which appeared on albums, even if they are only influenced by them, and here the seven songs (91 minutes in length) are literally just numbered 1-9 (in German). I read one review which said to miss out the early songs altogether and go straight to “Vier” as that is where the magic starts, and while that may be true I found the build to that was wonderful. Here was a band who were improvising on the spot, looking to each other for direction and inspiration, then travelling in that direction and bringing the audience with them. By this time they had been playing together for seven years, and it had been a couple of years and an album since the departure of Damo Suzuki, so they were again used to working as a quartet, and through the set they gradually warm up and get into the groove, finding the special place where everyone turns into trans galactic space goats where all that exists is the music and everything else just pales into no existence. This is classic Can, captured in wonderful sound quality and one would never imagine this recording is now nearly fifty years old as it could have been from last week, except people just don’t perform music like this anymore, or do they? Classic progheads, lovers of experimental music and Can aficionados need to dig this out.