Unlimited Edition | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Compilation album by | ||||
Released | May 1976 | |||
Recorded | September 1968 – July 1975 | |||
Genre | Krautrock | |||
Length | 77:22 | |||
Label | Harvest, Caroline | |||
Producer | Can | |||
Can chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
Pitchfork | 7.9/10 [3] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [4] |
Limited Edition | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Compilation album by | ||||
Released | 1974 | |||
Recorded | September 1968 – May 1974 | |||
Genre | Krautrock | |||
Length | 38:14 | |||
Label | United Artists Records | |||
Producer | Can | |||
Can chronology | ||||
|
Unlimited Edition is a compilation album by the krautrock band Can, released by Harvest Records in 1976 as a double album. Beforehand, United Artists Records released Limited Edition LP in 1974, which was a limited release of 15,000 copies. Unlimited Edition is a re-release of Limited Edition, adding tracks 14–19 tracks.
The compilations collect unreleased music across the band's history from 1968 to 1975, and feature both of the band's major singers (Damo Suzuki and Malcolm Mooney). The cover photos were taken among the Elgin Marbles in the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum. [5]
The compilation albums were "an interim measure" for Can's record company requiring some commercial activity, before the band could release a studio album. United Artists Records licensed the Limited Edition compilation and expanded it to a double LP with a further six unreleased tracks, under the title Unlimited Edition. [5]
Limited Edition was curated by Duncan Fallowell, British journalist and occasional Can collaborator. [6]
Can recorded the song "Fall of Another Year" in the summer of 1969 during their stay in Zurich. The band visited Zurich after receiving an invitation to orchestrate a live score for Prometheus Bound play staged in Schauspielhaus Zürich theater, and recorded "Fall of Another Year" in theater's cellar room "with awful acoustics". The other songs recorded in Zurich include "Thief" from 1982 compilation album Delay 1968 and "She Brings the Rain" from 1970 album Soundtracks . [7]
According to Irmin Schmidt, the song "Cutaway" was assembled into a collage with fragments recorded within a seven-year period. The fragments are "partially copied one after another at different speeds, on top of each other and so on". [5]
The abbreviation "E.F.S.", appearing in several of the track titles, refers to Ethnological Forgery Series, a series of songs in which Can "indulged their fascination with non-Western instruments, scales and rhythms". [8]
The song "Doko E" is an excerpt from a free improvisation recorded at a reunion party in Schloss Nörvenich with a small invited audience, dated shortly before the first Future Days recording sessions. The excerpt is taken from half an hour performance, where "Jaki set up a plodding beat like a donkey bumping along the mountain trails of Provence, as Damo vented his frustrations with his recent stay" in Japan. The lyrics explore Damo's return to his homeland in Japan, which either wasn't his home any longer, or "that he no longer recognised himself in the mirror of his childhood surroundings". "Doko e" means "where to" in Japanese. [9]
"Mother Upduff" is a retelling of an urban legend involving a family whose grandmother dies while they are on holiday together, and whose corpse—left wrapped up on the roof of the family car—is later stolen along with the car. [10] [11] The recording of tracks "I'm Too Leise" and "LH 702 (Nairobi/München)" are seen in the film Can Free Concert 1972 by Peter Przygodda. [12]
Dominique Leone of Pitchfork , writing a retrospective review for Unlimited Edition, said the album was "one of the most underrated items in the band's catalog", especially praising "Gomorrha", "Ibis", "The Empress and the Ukraine King", "Mother Upduff", "Connection", and "Fall of Another Year". Leone described some of the "Ethnological Forgery Series" compositions as "sometimes bizarre, sometimes funny, wherein Can raid the world's various indigenous music and make stuff that would make both Steve Reich and Boredoms proud". Leone compared "Cutaway" to Faust recordings. [3]
In AllMusic review, Ned Raggett described Unlimited Edition as "very much a dog's breakfast—albeit a highly entertaining one", saying the older songs are "manna from heaven for those interested in the band's roots". Reggett praised "a lot of" the tracks that "easily stands up on its own", highlighting "Cutaway", "The Empress and the Ukraine King", "I'm Too Leise", "Mother Upduff", and "Gomorrha". Though Reggett added that "a few tracks are seemingly here to fill space". [1]
Note: Tracks 14–19 only included on Unlimited Edition.
All tracks composed by Can
No. | Title | Recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Gomorrha" | December 1973 | 5:41 |
2. | "Doko E" | August 1973 | 2:26 |
3. | "LH 702 (Nairobi/München)" | March 1972 | 2:11 |
4. | "I'm Too Leise" | March 1972 | 5:10 |
5. | "Musette" | January 1970 | 2:08 |
6. | "Blue Bag (Inside Paper)" | October 1970 | 1:16 |
No. | Title | Recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|
7. | "E.F.S. No. 27" | December 1970 | 1:47 |
8. | "TV Spot" | April 1971 | 3:02 |
9. | "E.F.S. No. 7" | September 1968 | 1:05 |
10. | "The Empress and the Ukraine King" | January 1969 | 4:40 |
11. | "E.F.S. No. 10" | January 1969 | 2:01 |
12. | "Mother Upduff" | May 1969 | 4:28 |
13. | "E.F.S. No. 36" | May 1974 | 1:55 |
No. | Title | Recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|
14. | "Cutaway" | March 1969 | 18:49 |
15. | "Connection" | March 1969 | 2:56 |
No. | Title | Recorded | Length |
---|---|---|---|
16. | "Fall of Another Year" | August 1969 | 3:20 |
17. | "E.F.S. No. 8" | November 1968 | 1:37 |
18. | "Transcendental Express" | July 1975 | 4:37 |
19. | "Ibis" | September 1974 | 9:19 |
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). They featured several vocalists, including the American Malcolm Mooney (1968–70) and the Japanese Damo Suzuki (1970–73). They have been hailed as pioneers of the German krautrock scene.
Holger Schüring, known professionally as Holger Czukay, was a German musician best known as a co-founder of the krautrock group Can. Described as "successfully bridg[ing] the gap between pop and the avant-garde", Czukay was also notable for having created early important examples of ambient music, for having explored "world music" well before the term was coined, and for having been a pioneer of sampling.
Irmin Schmidt is a German keyboardist and composer, best known as a founding member of the band Can and composer of numerous film scores.
Malcolm "Desse" Mooney is an American singer, poet, and artist, best known as the original vocalist for German 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 United Artists Records. It was the band's first full studio album to feature vocalist Damo Suzuki after the departure of Malcolm Mooney the year prior, though Suzuki had been featured on most tracks on the 1970 compilation album Soundtracks. The was recorded at the Can Studio in the Schloss Nörvenich, a medieval castle near Cologne.
Ege Bamyası is the third studio album by German krautrock band Can, released on 29 November 1972 by United Artists Records. The album contains the single "Spoon", which charted in the Top 10 in Germany after being used as the theme song to the German television mini-series Das Messer (1971). The success of the single allowed Can to establish their own studio, Inner Space Studio, in Weilerswist, where they recorded the rest of the album. In 2004, Spoon Records remastered Ege Bamyası and reissued it as a hybrid Super Audio CD.
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, 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.
Landed is the sixth studio album by the German krautrock band Can.
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.
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, lasting for 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.
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. Different recordings of "Geheim" and "Mighty Girl" were released on Landed and Out of Reach respectively.
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.
Agilok & Blubbo is the soundtrack album featured in the 1969 German film of the same name. The songs on this album are the earliest recordings of the German experimental rock band The Inner Space, who would soon become known under the name Can. Years after the film had fallen into obscurity, its soundtrack was eventually licensed from Hans Wewerka's archives and released in Spain in 2009.
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.