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Flow Motion | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 3 October 1976 | |||
Recorded | June 1976 | |||
Studio | Inner Space Studio, Weilerswist, near Cologne | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 37:37 | |||
Label | Harvest, Virgin, Spoon, Mute | |||
Producer | Can | |||
Can chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [3] |
Flow Motion is the seventh studio album by German rock band Can. It was released in October 1976 and features the UK hit single "I Want More".
Recording sessions for what would become Flow Motion began at Can's Inner Space Studio in Cologne in the spring of 1976. Since their previous album Landed , the band had been recording on a state-of-the-art 16-track machine, which had changed the dynamics of the group and the way they recorded. Instead of playing everything live together, different members could now record their parts separately. This, and their embracing of rhythms (especially disco) on Flow Motion that were unpopular with rock music fans, is probably why the album was not as well received by fans and critics when it first appeared. [4]
Flow Motion was mixed using "Artificial Head" binaural stereo. [5]
The cover features a photograph taken by band member Michael Karoli.
Throughout their career, Can had always experimented with a number of different rhythms. With Flow Motion, the band became more playful, adding disco and reggae to this list. [6] Apart from the new rhythms, the influence of recording with 16 tracks meant there are multiple guitar lines from Michael Karoli, and Irmin Schmidt's keyboards also come to the fore, providing much of the shimmering and shiny atmosphere that is found throughout the album.
A disco vibe dominates the opening track "I Want More", which is short, catchy and danceable. The song was released as a single and became a hit, reaching number 26 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1976. [7] The band even appeared on Top of the Pops to perform the song. [8]
Reggae infuses most of the rest of the album, although Can experiments with rhythm and instrumentation, rather than playing it straight. This is exemplified on "Cascade Waltz", which combines a reggae beat with a waltz, and on "Laugh Till You Cry, Live Till You Die", which features guitarist Karoli playing the Turkic bağlama.
After the reprise of the opening track "...And More", which finished side one of the original vinyl album, side two opens with "Babylonian Pearl", which is evocative of "Come Sta, La Luna" on Soon Over Babaluma . The song's vocals are handled by Irmin Schmidt, and speak about a girl who "comes from a land where woman is man". This, and all of the other lyrics on this album, were written by Peter Gilmour, the band's live sound engineer.
The next song, the gloomy-sounding "Smoke (E.F.S. Nr. 59)", is more experimental, with Jaki Liebezeit's intense ethnic tom-tom beat driving the song forward.
Another experimental track, the lengthy and unrestrained "Flow Motion", closes the album.
The more accessible nature of Flow Motion, and its flirtation with disco, meant this album was not well received at the time of its release. Many took affront to seeing the band playing disco, lip-synching and dancing to Top of the Pops, especially as rock fans generally hated disco in the 1970s. [9]
Flow Motion, however, has subsequently been re-assessed, with Magnet Magazine labelling it a "hidden gem" in 2012. [10]
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "I Want More" | Peter Gilmour | Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt | 3:29 |
2. | "Cascade Waltz" | Peter Gilmour | Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt | 5:35 |
3. | "Laugh Till You Cry, Live Till You Die" | Peter Gilmour | Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt | 6:43 |
4. | "...And More" | none | Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt | 2:43 |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
5. | "Babylonian Pearl" | Peter Gilmour | Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt | 3:29 |
6. | "Smoke (E.F.S. No. 59)" | none | Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt | 5:15 |
7. | "Flow Motion" | none | Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt | 10:23 |
Produced by Can. "Cascade Waltz" was produced by Can and Simon Puxley.
The album was recorded at Inner Space Studio, Weilerswist, near Cologne by Holger Czukay and René Tinner and was mixed by Manfred Schunke at Delta Acoustic Studio, Wilster, Germany.
Can were a German experimental rock band formed in Cologne in 1968 by Holger Czukay, Irmin Schmidt (keyboards), Michael Karoli (guitar), and Jaki Liebezeit (drums). The group featured several vocalists, including the American Malcolm Mooney (1968–70) and the Japanese Damo Suzuki (1970–73). They have been widely hailed as pioneers of the German krautrock scene.
Michael Karoli was a German guitarist, violinist and composer. He was a founding member of the influential krautrock band Can.
Monster Movie is the debut studio album by German rock band Can, released in August 1969 by Music Factory and Liberty Records.
Tago Mago is the second studio album by the German krautrock band Can, originally released as a double LP in August 1971 on the United Artists label. It was the band's first full studio album to feature Damo Suzuki after the 1970 departure of previous vocalist Malcolm Mooney, though Suzuki had been featured on most tracks on the compilation album Soundtracks the prior year. Recorded at Schloss Nörvenich, a medieval castle near Cologne, the album features long-form experimental tracks blending rock and jazz improvisation, funk rhythms, and musique concrète tape editing techniques.
Soundtracks is a 1970 compilation album by the German krautrock group Can, containing music written for various films. The album marks the departure of the band's original vocalist Malcolm Mooney, who sings on two tracks, and his replacement by Damo Suzuki. "Don't Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone" features Suzuki's first recorded performance with the band. Stylistically, the record also documents the group's transition to the more meditative and experimental mode of the studio albums that followed.
Future Days is the fourth studio album by the German experimental rock group Can, released on 1 August 1973 by United Artists. It was the group's final album to feature vocalist Damo Suzuki, who subsequently left the band to become a Jehovah's Witness, and explores a more atmospheric sound than their previous releases.
Soon Over Babaluma is the fifth studio album by the rock music group Can. This is the band's first album following the departure of Damo Suzuki in 1973. The vocals are provided by guitarist Michael Karoli and keyboardist Irmin Schmidt. It is also their last album that was created using a two-track tape recorder.
Saw Delight is an album by the German rock band Can. It features two new band members who were ex-members of the band Traffic, Rosko Gee and Rebop Kwaku Baah, with Can's bassist Holger Czukay giving up the bass in favour of experimental effects.
Out of Reach is the ninth studio album by the German krautrock band Can, released as an LP in 1978 on Harvest Records. It is their tenth official studio album, discounting compilations such as Unlimited Edition.
Rite Time is the eleventh and final studio album by the German rock band Can. Though Can had not yet split up, it is considered a reunion album because of the time elapsed since the band's previous album, Can, was released in 1979. The album consists of sessions recorded in the South of France in late 1986, edited extensively by the band over the course of subsequent years. Rite Time features the vocals of the band's original singer, Malcolm Mooney, who had left the group in 1970 after their debut album Monster Movie. Upon the album's initial release, "In the Distance Lies the Future" only appeared on the CD version, but it was included on the 2014 vinyl reissue.
Delay 1968 is a compilation album by the German experimental rock band Can released in 1981. It comprises previously unreleased work recorded for Can's rejected debut album, Prepared to Meet Thy Pnoom, recorded with the singer Malcolm Mooney.
"Mushroom" is a song by the German krautrock band Can, from their 1971 album Tago Mago. It's the shortest song on the album, with a duration of 4 minutes and 8 seconds. A video was made for the track which has been shown on MTV.
Can Live Music is a double live album by the band Can, released in 1999 and recorded in the UK and West Germany between 1972 and 1977. It was originally included in the now out-of-print Can box set, Can Box.
Can, also known as Inner Space, is the tenth studio album by experimental rock band Can, released in 1979. Former bassist Holger Czukay's involvement with this album was limited to tape editing. It was Can's last album before the reunion album Rite Time, ten years later, and was released after the band's break-up.
Anthology, also called Anthology - 25 Years and Anthology 1968-1993, is a compilation double album by Krautrock artists Can which was released in 1994. Several of the songs are presented in edited form. The first CD has the same track listing as Can's previous compilation, Cannibalism.
The Peel Sessions is a compilation album by the German experimental rock band Can. Released in November 1995, it contains songs from four sessions recorded for John Peel's Radio 1 show. The sessions took place in February 1973, January 1974, October 1974, and May 1975. The songs are mostly unreleased improvisations. "Geheim" is released as "Half Past One" on Landed and "Mighty Girl" as "November" on Out of Reach.
Unlimited Edition is a compilation album by the band Can. Released in 1976 as a double album, it was an expanded version of the 1974 LP Limited Edition on United Artists Records which, as the name suggests, was a limited release of 15,000 copies. The album collects unreleased music from throughout the band's history from 1968 until 1976, and both the band's major singers are featured. The cover photos were taken among the Elgin Marbles in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum.
The Lost Tapes is a compilation album of studio outtakes and live recordings by the German experimental rock band Can, which was originally released as an LP in 2012 by Spoon Records in conjunction with Mute Records. The compilation was curated by Irmin Schmidt and Daniel Miller, compiled by Irmin Schmidt and Jono Podmore, and edited by Jono Podmore.
Kamasutra: Vollendung der Liebe is a 1969 film score by Innerspace Productions, an early name for the band Can. It was recorded as the soundtrack for the West German film of the same name and was released some 40 years later in 2009. The musical styles heard on the album demonstrate a temporary departure from the Krautrock sound the band was producing around that time, experimenting with styles such as South Asian music and blues rock, more in keeping with Indian setting of the film. Among their first recordings, this score, together with the band's previous soundtrack album Agilok & Blubbo, are seldom discussed by the band members. Neither have material on the band's 1970 compilation Soundtracks which consists of songs previously only heard on film soundtracks.
Live in Paris 1973 is a live double-album by German krautrock band Can, recorded at a performance of the band at L'Olympia in Paris, France. It was released on vinyl and CD by Spoon Records on 23 February 2024, two weeks after the death of Can member Damo Suzuki on 9 February 2024.
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