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Can: Ege Bamyasi (1972)  
Reviewer: Ben Miler | See all reviews by Ben Miler
Section: Reviews | Category: Music | Area: Germany | Topic: Music  
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click for more info or to purchase!Ege Bamyasi is Can's followup to Tago Mago. This time around, the band decides to get even funkier, with a more percussive-oriented approach. The album opens with "Pinch" which, during the first few listens, seems pretty pointless, as it sounds like a groove and little else, with some rather bizarre and unintelligible voices from Damo Suzuki. After a few listens, it started to grow on me, but still isn't my favorite.

Luckily the next cut, "Sing Swan Song" is much better, a rather meloncholic sounding piece with a killer psychedelic vibe. "One More Night" reminds me of pre-Autobahn Kraftwerk, but with vocals (where what Kraftwerk did prior to Autobahn was completely instrumental), and it tends to groove more.

"Vitamin C" is one song I felt was rather overrated, but I liked the end part as the electronic effects start kicking in. "Soup" starts off in standard Can territory, with Suzuki attempting to sound like Malcolm Mooney, Can's previous vocalist, then all hell breaks loose with all sorts of insane electronic effects and feedback. Gets compared to "Aumgn" from their previous album, it reminds me more of "Peking O" from that previous album, especially from all that strange squawking and screeching from Suzuki himself.

After that, the band returns to music, with the silly "I'm So Green". Quite funky, percussion dominated song, it's definately one of my favorites here. The last cut, "Spoon" was the closing cut, and was originally released as a single at the end of 1971 and was actually a hit in Germany.

I noticed the occasional Middle Eastern influences found in this album, possibly Turkish influenced, especially because Ege Bamyasi was named after a can of okra from Turkey. As far as Can albums go, I personally prefer the albums that came before and after Ege Bamyasi (Tago Mago, Future Days) over this one. But I still recommend this album, especially if you like Krautrock.

More Info

Year of release: 1972 (United Artists)
- Holger Czukay: bass
- Irmin Schmidt: keyboards
- Michael Karoli: guitars, violin
- Jaki Liebezeit: drums
- Damo Suzuki: vocals

Related Link: The Official CAN / Spoon Records Website
   [ Back to Reviews Index | Post Comment ]

Visitor Comments about Can: Ege Bamyasi (1972)
Posted by on 2006-05-30 11:47:31
My Score:

Comment: i love can and the incredible string band but im looking for more bands from the era that have the same eclectic and unique sounds of these bands. any ideas?

Posted by Gstring on 2005-05-13 06:36:33
My Score:

Comment: Matt: Clearly you''re not a drummer. The drum riffs on Vitamin C are rudimentary and are nothing that is deserving of a special mention. Hes playing a straight 8th feel rock beat with some ghosting udnerneith. Its very basic stuff and is certainly not give me ''wet dreams.'' Jaki is a great drummer, but hes a bit of a single stroke warrior. He''ll do a bit of ghosting, a few doubles here and there, but for the most part he''s playing straight jazz riffs.

Posted by Ben Miler on 2002-10-30 18:57:03
My Score:

Comment: Looks like we do have differing opinions, Pressed_Rat. Although Ege Bamyasi is regarded as Can''s most accessible album, it happened I warmed up to Tago Mago and Future Days quicker than Ege Bamyasi, even the weird experiments on Tago Mago ("Aumgn", "Peking O") which were way longer and way more relentless than their following albums (including "Soup"). Of course Ege Bamyasi isn''t a bad album and I recommend it. I can see some of the direction the band would head with Future Days, like the similar use of heavy percussion you''d head on "Spray".

Posted by Ekk on 2002-10-22 15:26:21
My Score:

Comment:
Sorry for all the typos in that last response. Unfortunately there is no edit feature, as there is in the forums.

Anyway, please check out the forums here! We need more people like you in there.

400+ Free Speech Forums!
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More Music Reviews by Ben Miler
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