Can: Tago Mago
1971
United Artists
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Paperhouse 2. Mushroom 3. Oh Yeah 4. Halleluhwah 5. Aumgn 6. Peking O 7. Bring Me Coffee or Tea
Often singled out as being the band's finest moment, 'Tago Mago' is a double album featuring a mere 7 songs....A very immersive experience...When it's time to listen to 'Tago Mago' it's best to make a whole night of it...
Malcolm Mooney is out (after suffering a mental breakdown on stage) and replacing him is Japanese vocalist Damo Suzuki, who brings with him a radically different approach...Not as consistently assertive as Malcolm, Damo is usually more ethereal, but he's more prone to violent vocal explosions...He's a perfect fit... I can't imagine 'Tago Mago' without him. That said, I also can't imagine Damo singing the 'Monster Movie' tracks, either...
This is because the band changes their sound...This album isn't as rock as 'Monster Movie'...It's more shadowy...A hazy sort of rackety German funk-rock, which must have sounded like the weirdest, most alien shit back in '71...Hell, it sounds like the weirdest, most alien shit now!
Each side of the record has its own unique character, so let's break it down that way...
Side one consists of three tracks...Album opener 'Paperhouse' sets the scene...The song slowly flickers to life as Damo sort of mumbles in the murk until the drums suddenly snap into place and the guitars build into a chopping crescendo...Still, Damo doesn't explode like you'd expect him to...Instead he sort of whispers and hisses as the music coils around him...I kind of overlooked this song for a long time, but now I fully acknowlege its awesomeness...
'Paperhouse' bleeds into the second track 'Mushroom,' which is in the running for best song on the album...Jaki Liebezeit unassumingly shuffles into the room on an intricate, clockwork drum pattern, as Damo numbly mutters:
'Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead...'
You fall under its cool, repetitive spell very quickly, but the rug is suddenly pulled out from under you when he abruptly shrieks, 'I'M GONNA GIVE MY DESPAIR!' At least that's what I think he's saying...Hard to tell what he's talking about...
Magic Mushrooms?
Mushroom clouds?
That living mushroom from the 'Troll' movie?
Who knows...Either way, the skies are red...
Side one ends with 'Oh Yeah,' where we learn Damo singing backwards sounds about the same as Damo singing normally...
Side Three similarly only has one song on it...The 17+ minute 'Aumgn' which is where things start to get weird(er.) I personally find this to be the hardest track to get through, and probably the only time I find myself staring at my watch...
Now that I think about it, 'Aumgn' kind of reminds me of those scary cassette tapes you can buy around Halloween...
Yea, those...Either way, it would sound great playing in a haunted house...I will say that bowel-chilling violin scrape always manages to give me the creeps...
Alright! We get two whole songs on Side 4...'Peking O' is just the most insane thing ever...It's all smooth sailing until the drum machine comes in and Damo Suzuki starts losing his damn mind! The part where the drum machine speeds up and Damo responds with his manic jabbering-in-tongues is the single most amusing piece of music I own...It never fails to crack me up...A lot of people seem to hate 'Peking O' but I love it so much...Play this song at your next Friday Night Record Party and it's sure to liven things up...
'Bring Me Coffee or Bring Me Tea' works as a nice little wind-down...It feels really welcome after the 29 protracted minutes of weirdness that came before it and helps hammer it into your head one last time: This is a classic album and stuff like this doesn't come along every day....So yea...When you put on Tago Mago make a night of it...
Let's check out 'Mushroom' by Can... Enjoy...
Bob Burnett: I came to CAN somewhat backwards--through the solo work of Holger Czukay. In the early '80s Holger Czukay, CAN bassist and former student of composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (the guy in deep thought to the right with the dials behind him), released Movies. Movies was an album of immense creativity and skill.
Tago Mago is the third album by the German krautrock band Can, originally released as a double LP in 1971. It was the band's second studio album and the first to feature Damo Suzuki after their previous vocalist, Malcolm Mooney, quit the band in 1970 to return to the United States.
1971
United Artists
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Paperhouse 2. Mushroom 3. Oh Yeah 4. Halleluhwah 5. Aumgn 6. Peking O 7. Bring Me Coffee or Tea
Often singled out as being the band's finest moment, 'Tago Mago' is a double album featuring a mere 7 songs....A very immersive experience...When it's time to listen to 'Tago Mago' it's best to make a whole night of it...
Malcolm Mooney is out (after suffering a mental breakdown on stage) and replacing him is Japanese vocalist Damo Suzuki, who brings with him a radically different approach...Not as consistently assertive as Malcolm, Damo is usually more ethereal, but he's more prone to violent vocal explosions...He's a perfect fit... I can't imagine 'Tago Mago' without him. That said, I also can't imagine Damo singing the 'Monster Movie' tracks, either...
This is because the band changes their sound...This album isn't as rock as 'Monster Movie'...It's more shadowy...A hazy sort of rackety German funk-rock, which must have sounded like the weirdest, most alien shit back in '71...Hell, it sounds like the weirdest, most alien shit now!
Each side of the record has its own unique character, so let's break it down that way...
Side one consists of three tracks...Album opener 'Paperhouse' sets the scene...The song slowly flickers to life as Damo sort of mumbles in the murk until the drums suddenly snap into place and the guitars build into a chopping crescendo...Still, Damo doesn't explode like you'd expect him to...Instead he sort of whispers and hisses as the music coils around him...I kind of overlooked this song for a long time, but now I fully acknowlege its awesomeness...
'Paperhouse' bleeds into the second track 'Mushroom,' which is in the running for best song on the album...Jaki Liebezeit unassumingly shuffles into the room on an intricate, clockwork drum pattern, as Damo numbly mutters:
'Well, I saw mushroom head,
I was born and I was dead...'
You fall under its cool, repetitive spell very quickly, but the rug is suddenly pulled out from under you when he abruptly shrieks, 'I'M GONNA GIVE MY DESPAIR!' At least that's what I think he's saying...Hard to tell what he's talking about...
Magic Mushrooms?
Mushroom clouds?
That living mushroom from the 'Troll' movie?
Who knows...Either way, the skies are red...
Side one ends with 'Oh Yeah,' where we learn Damo singing backwards sounds about the same as Damo singing normally...
Okay, Side Two is where it's at....This entire side is devoted to the 18+ minute 'Halleluhwah,' which is just the most badass piece of Godzilla Funk ever set to vinyl...It's official...Jaki Liebezeit is the greatest drummer of all time and this is one of his best moments...How he plays this for 20 minutes straight without screwing up is beyond me...Perhaps the quintessential Can song...
Side Three similarly only has one song on it...The 17+ minute 'Aumgn' which is where things start to get weird(er.) I personally find this to be the hardest track to get through, and probably the only time I find myself staring at my watch...
Now that I think about it, 'Aumgn' kind of reminds me of those scary cassette tapes you can buy around Halloween...
Yea, those...Either way, it would sound great playing in a haunted house...I will say that bowel-chilling violin scrape always manages to give me the creeps...
Alright! We get two whole songs on Side 4...'Peking O' is just the most insane thing ever...It's all smooth sailing until the drum machine comes in and Damo Suzuki starts losing his damn mind! The part where the drum machine speeds up and Damo responds with his manic jabbering-in-tongues is the single most amusing piece of music I own...It never fails to crack me up...A lot of people seem to hate 'Peking O' but I love it so much...Play this song at your next Friday Night Record Party and it's sure to liven things up...
'Bring Me Coffee or Bring Me Tea' works as a nice little wind-down...It feels really welcome after the 29 protracted minutes of weirdness that came before it and helps hammer it into your head one last time: This is a classic album and stuff like this doesn't come along every day....So yea...When you put on Tago Mago make a night of it...
Let's check out 'Mushroom' by Can... Enjoy...
Bob Burnett: I came to CAN somewhat backwards--through the solo work of Holger Czukay. In the early '80s Holger Czukay, CAN bassist and former student of composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (the guy in deep thought to the right with the dials behind him), released Movies. Movies was an album of immense creativity and skill.
In a time before digital sampling and the inclusion of world-circling short wave radio transmissions (a la Cage's Williams Mix and Stockhausen's Hymnen ) as an 'instrument' within rhythmic rock music, Czukay's work for me followed on the great German dada traditions originally put in motion by WW I era artists like Merz-collagist, sculptor and Urs Sonate sonic creator Kurt Schwitters. Czukay's work fit right into the niche of 20th century music's legacy of concrete/ sound compositions ---I had to know more--and what I discovered by back-tracking was Tago Mago.
In 1971 CAN went into their homemade studio and came away with an album so original and open-ended that it startled the listening public. Tago Mago is a mix of long form rhythmic grooves, floating sound collage, reverberating reel to reel echoscapes and flat out free verse explosions. Remember this came out in 1971--a time way past circa 1967 psychedelic happenings. Psychedelic music seemed to 'free' the listener via expanding space. Tago Mago--albeit an album that expands your listening consciousness, seemingly creates liberation in a micro-like listening experience for me where I feel I shrink into the music--a la kitsch movie Fantastic Voyage.
Holger Czukay reflected on the Tago Mago recording experience on his webpage:
'TAGO MAGO was CAN's official second album and was an attempt in achieving a mystery musical world from light to darkness and return. The album consisted not only out of regularly recorded music, but for the first time we combined 'in-between-recordings', that means the musicians were secretly recorded in the pauses when a new microphone and recording set up was being established. In that time the rest of the group just played in order to make the time pass by instead of waiting till the technical problems were solved. And there was always one microphone and one recorder on standby position for such cases. Altogether certainly a psychedelic experience, and the studio itself even turned into something new e.g. by changing dramatically the whole illumination.'
Kim Kirkpatrick: Tago Mago surfaced as a double LP in 1971. I was 19, and I was open to most any musical genre. If the music was personal, rang true, experimental and/or an attempt to move all of music forward I was interested. Tago Mago fulfilled all of the above traits and filled my head with a 73-minute visit to CAN’s tribal, space world. Hypnotizing, simple grooves that I would get lost in, psychedelic to be sure, Can was a telepathic musical crew in no hurry to return you to earth. CAN was The Grateful Dead at their improvisational best, minus the Chuck Berry, Johnny B. Goode aspect. The Dead’s all night journeys, their searching, long distance flights certainly apply to Tago Mago and Can at their peak. But CAN was all about a jazz groove, jamming, lengthy experimentation, analogous to the electric Miles of the same period. Like Bitches Brew, Live-Evil or especially Tribute to Jack Johnson. Tago Mago is a fusion of rock and jazz, as well as tape editing and studio creativity by Holgar Czukay.
In the sixties, in addition to studying with Stockhausen, Holgar Czukay played the french horn prior to forming CAN. He brought together:
Irmin Schmidt (a classical composer and piano player), Jaki Liebezeit (a jazz drummer), and rock guitarist Michael Karoli. Damo Suzuki joined them on vocals with the recording of Tago Mago. This release may well be the best example of CAN’s telepathic ability to groove and move together. Liebezeit’s drumming is the driving force, with a complexity not often found in rock. He creates and supports powerful grooves on Tago Mago, and in retrospect his playing is a pioneering example of world beat music. Holgar Czukay plays bass, simple, minimal notes, but with a heaviness worthy of dub. Damo Suzuki, well, he was always the difficult one for new listeners. Be it his gibberish, yelling, whispering, or electronically altered vocals, his performances made clear this was an alternate reality for the ears.CAN and Tago Mago specifically, continues to be an amazing and relevant musical experience all these decades later. With all of their musical experimentation, the mixing of genres (electronic, rock, jazz, world beat), the songs still stick in your head like masterful pop music. I have spent entire days with one of them slithering and bumping in my head, and certainly the number one culprit who often rears his head is “Mushroom”.
'When I saw mushroom head
When I saw mushroom head
When I saw mushroom head
I was born and I was dead
I was born and I was dead'
Tago Mago was reissued and re-mastered a few years ago; you need to check it out.I’d say if you wanted to own one Can release this one is clearly it.