Monster Movie (Can album)

Last updated
Monster Movie
CanMonsterMovieAlbumCover.jpg
Studio album by
Can
Released16 August 1969
RecordedJuly 1969
Studio Schloss Nörvenich (Nörvenich, West Germany)
Genre
Length38:05
Label
Producer Can
Can chronology
Monster Movie
(1969)
Soundtracks
(1970)
Original cover
SoundFactoryMonsterMovie.jpg
1969 Music Factory issue
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
BBC very favorable [4]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
The Great Rock Discography 7/10 [6]
Pitchfork 8.7/10 [7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Spectrum Culture5/5 [9]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 7/10 [10]
Stylus Magazine A [11]
Tom Hull A− [12]

Monster Movie is the debut studio album by German rock band Can, released in August 1969 by Music Factory and Liberty Records.

Contents

Background and recording

In 1968 Can had recorded an album entitled Prepared to Meet Thy PNOOM, which no record company agreed to release; these recordings were eventually released in 1981 as Delay 1968 . Monster Movie was the group's subsequent attempt at a more commercial record. [13] The album is credited to "The Can", a name suggested by vocalist Malcolm Mooney and adopted by democratic vote. Previously the band had been known as "Inner Space", which later became the name of their recording studio. Some copies of the LP bore the subtitle "Made in a castle with better equipment", [14] referring to Schloss Nörvenich, the 14th-century castle in Nörvenich, North Rhine-Westphalia, where the band recorded from 1968–69. [15]

The image on the cover is a retrace of Galactus, as originally depicted by Jack Kirby (inked by Vince Colletta) in Marvel's Thor #134 - page 3, released in 1966. [16] [17]

Content

Monster Movie brings together elements of psychedelic rock, blues, free jazz, world music and other styles, the influence of the Velvet Underground [18] [19] being particularly obvious on the opening track "Father Cannot Yell". The use of improvisation, experimentation, tape editing and layering of sounds set a standard for Can's subsequent albums in the early 1970s, which helped form the style labeled "krautrock" by the British music press. The 20-minute closing track "Yoo Doo Right" was edited down from 6 hours of improvisation. [18] The lyrics of "Mary, Mary So Contrary" are based on the English nursery rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary".

Monster Movie was the last Can album on which Malcolm Mooney performed all of the vocals until Rite Time , recorded in late 1986 and issued in 1989. [20] [21]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Can (Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli, Jaki Liebezeit, Irmin Schmidt, and Malcolm Mooney).

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Father Cannot Yell"7:06
2."Mary, Mary So Contrary"6:22
3."Outside My Door"4:11
Side two
No.TitleLength
4."Yoo Doo Right"20:27
Total length:38:06

Personnel

Can

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References

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  17. https://70sscifiart.tumblr.com/post/174604854589/left-album-art-to-cans-1969-debut-album
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Works cited