Today’s the 60th anniversary of NATO, the North American Treaty Organization. While in recent years it’s become an alliance based mostly on securing stability and natural resources for the members states, during it’s Cold War peak it served as the barrier between two starkly opposed worlds. The Soviet Union and the countries of western Europe held different cultures, different languages, different ways for living their daily lives. And during this time there was creeping paranoia on both sides – the specter of armed conflict and nuclear war stood on both sides. At a time when world politics took center stage in almost everything with the West pitted against the USSR, West Germany felt this conflict more intensely than anyone else in the world.
It was only a couple of decades since World War Two, and the young post-war generation was increasingly disturbed at the post war culture, filled with closet Nazis and former collaborators still in power. Domestic violence raged across the country – Benno Ohnesorg was murdered, and more was around the corner. This was the first generation that was completely separated from the war, and there was an overwhelming urge in the culture to innovate – to separate from a past that weighted on them.
And music was one of the ways they did it. During this decade, rock was fresh and new – and along with a great number of other groups in the country, Can started a movement that put West Germany on the map. The band, composed of bassist Holger Czukay, drummer Jaki Liebzeit, keyboardist Irmin Schmidt, and guitarist Michael Karoli, crafted their songs through extended jams instead of traditional songwriting – and their politics were as radidal as their structure. The groups name, standing for “communism, anarchism, nihilism”, and Malcolm Mooney, the original vocalist was.. er… nuts. After he lost it a couple albums in, Kenji Suzuki took over, and after a couple of records, including critical and fan favorite Tago Mago – but we’re talking about Ege Bamyasi because it’s more focused than their earlier efforts and Can’s most accessible LP. The cover of the album was a sure eye-catcher. with the front face having the face of okra can. The image was very appropriate as the name Ege Bamyasi itself is Turkish for Aegean Okra. What the album lacked in acclaim and stature, it compensated for with originality and the exploration of new musical territory.
The whole LP was recorded at Inner Space studio though not without a mountain of challenges. Some members of the group grumbled that some members of the group, including Suzuki and Schmidt, were not fully committed to the group, making recording sessions a tricky affair throughout the recording and arrangement of the album. But on the final product they sounded absolutely in sync. This was a perfect recipe for a music lovers meal. The crazy sounds on the instrumentals by Czukay, and the ear-bursting sounds of Suzuki would make you want to run, and the electric syncing they used was elevated into a whole new level. Prior to the production and release of this album, Can had released the Spoon as a single to widespread acclaim. It was in a way the motivation behind Ege Bamyasi as it had given them a momentum not only in Germany but in the whole of politically tense Europe. The single had gone on to sell a massive 300,000 copies which was really an achievement in those days. Partly due to it’s popularity, Can put it as the last song in Ege Bamyasi probably to boost sales, though the challenges mentioned earlier are said to have played part. The complacency of some of the members meant there was a shortfall of tracks and Spoon was added to cater for this.
Aside from Spoon, the other track that caught people’s attention was the song Vitamin C which was also in side two of the LP. These two songs catapulted Can commercially, and in a bid to enlarge the scope of their musical influence, the band in 1972 held a free concert in Cologne. When the album was finally released, the group was heralded as the greatest rock band in Europe in 1972. Ege Bamyasi’s scope and influence is reflected in the musical acts that the album influenced, both in rock (the band Spoon is named after the single) and beats from the record were also sampled by Kanye West and Self Devine.
Though critics have gone on to say that Tago Mago and Future Days are better albums, Ege Bamyasi, and the ears drawn in by Spoon, turned around Can’s fortunes as a band. When the LP was re-mastered and released in 2004, music critics and reviewers who had previously had not heard the original LP gave the album the credit it deserves, as it gave a valuable insight to the current generation the musical richness of days gone by. Now you should do the same.
Tags: Can, Ege Bamyasi
Excellent article sir- while Tago Mago is my personal favourite, I think Ege Bamyasi is probably their technical best, and still mind-blowing to listen to!
Tago Mago is quality. When I do these articles, I try to introduce Gentle Reader to a group – I think Ege Bamyasi’s the best place to start. (Although if I liked Tago Mago a LOT more I probably would have written that one up).
Eh, it’s all good. I’ll prolly add Spoon to the player in a day or so.