Soon Over Babaluma

Late 1973 saw Can lead singer Damo Suzuki depart from the band. In his place would be guitarist Michael Karoli and keyboardist Irman Schmidt - both who take over the vocals on this 1974 album. Can had reached ambient territory with their prior, 1973 album, 'Future Days.' Can takes the ambience explored on 'Future Days,' and transforms it into a more rhythmic stew.

The album starts off with 'Dizzy Dizzy.' The song has a very eastern feel to it and features beautiful violin work from Michael Karoli, accompanied by some otherworldly synth bleeps from Irman Schmidt. Bassist, Holger Czukay and drummer, Jaki Liebeziet give the song a nice, but rather quiet rhythmic pulse.

Track 2 is titled 'Come Sta, La Luna,' and it's my favorite track on the album. This song has a very Latin feel to it. My favorite part of this song is Michael Karoli's flamenco guitar solo. It's easily some of the best flamenco guitar I have ever heard (even better than Robbie Kreiger's).

'Splash,' the albums third track, features some amazing jazz-like drumming by Jaki. It's a very fast and rhythmic sounding song. The rhythm is definitely the best part of this track. Karoli provides some nice guitar to this track as well.

'Chain Reaction' is yet another track which focuses primarily on rhythm. It's an epic, and of course also the longest track on the album, clocking in at 11:12. The song does get somewhat tedious after a few minutes, but you cannot deny the strong rhythmic pulse this track has. It is very up-tempo. The bands ability to change time-signatures right in the middle of the song is amazing!

The fifth, and last track of the album is another one of my favorites - 'Quantum Physics.' This track has a very ambient, cosmic quality to it. Keyboardist Irman Schmidt especially shines on this number. It features some beautiful ambient keyboard washes by Irman, along with Jaki's occasional drum bursts and Michael's atmospheric guitar. Jaki really proves himself as an amazing drummer on this track especially - with his unbelievable drum fills. This is yet another Can track that predates Eno's "ambient" work by about a year. Can had first experimented with ambient music in 1972, on the 'Ege Bamyasi' album. Eno would later go on to coin the term "ambient music" in 1975. 'Quantum Physics' is like a giant soundscape - especially beautiful with headphones.

This is definitely one of Can's more rhythmic albums. Can explores some of the oddest time-signatures on this album that I have never heard come from any other band. As I said before, the album has somewhat of a mystical, cosmic, eastern feel to it. It's an especially great album to listen to on a nice, warm summer night. It fits the atmosphere perfectly. Music-wise, Can are absolutely flawless on this album. It's definitely one of the most tightest Can albums, if not thee tightest. This album comes highly rated, but I recommend that people new to Can's music start off with the groups earlier albums first - primarily their first 5 albums.