Reviews (page 5 of 8)
Not sure what the fuck disc 2 was, but I did sort of get into some of it. Reminded me a lot of early Animal Collective. Disc 1 is a hell of a lot stronger, though.
This funky as hell and so interesting love the atmosphere might even be better than future days
Despite its length this album is kick ass, super interesting and odd songs, I fucking love it
Some of these experimental albums aren't bad, the first few songs are pretty good on this one, but I don't understand why all of these experimental albums are must listen to.
1971 and I'm just now hearing about these guys? It's remastered no less and a few songs have over 3M listens. I quickly figured out why I'd never heard of them. Why did 3M people listen to this? That's the question that needs to be answered. It's garage music gibberish with no direction, weak ass vocals, ridiculously repetitive with zero groove. The last 3 songs are pure junk. There's no way this was influential, it certainly wasn't a hit, there's no radio songs and I've never heard anyone mention they know the band or to check them out until today. I didn't hate it but I sure didn't need to spend an hour listening to it. 1 star, thanks for trying!
Een album dat je niet snel vergeet. Je stapt er vrij aangenaam in, maar voor de onbekende luisteraar val je al gauw in het diepe Can-gat met de twee keer achttien minuut durende Halleluwah en Aumgn, de tweede nog ontoegankelijker dan de eerste. Maar het punt van dit album is niet om lastige muziek te maken, er zit geen pretentie achter. Voor mij voelt het alsof er grenzen opgezocht werden. De heren, allemaal klassiek getrainde muzikanten (en Damo), die probeerden de norm te doorbreken en zoals bleek met intens dagenlange opnamesessies hun gevoelens de vrije loop lieten gaan. Voor mij ging er met dit album een wereld van muziek open. Dat heb ik wel eens eerder gezegd in een review, maar bij deze meen ik het echt. Toen ik het voor het eerst luisterde, zo’n acht jaar geleden, is Oh Yeah misschien mijn favoriete nummer aller tijden geworden. Dat ik er nog steeds zo warm voor loopt zegt genoeg. Damo, fascinerend persoon, leerde mij dat het ook gewoon een vibe kan zijn. Het hoeft niet te begrijpen te zijn, het kan gewoon ‘zijn’. Dit album heeft mij voor zo veel nieuwe muziek opengesteld, en sinds het ontdekken ervan heb ik ook zo veel artiesten gehoord waar ik tegenop kijk die dit album als inspiratie hebben. Voor de mainstream zal dit altijd onbekend blijven, wat misschien ook niet zo erg is.
What an epically long shit.
I feel like the whole Krautrock genre is hit or miss. One song in and I'm pleased to say this one looks like something I'm going to enjoy. I don't know what it is about this album but it is unmistakably European. Or maybe just 'not American' would be the better term. I really like how experimental it is at the same time as being fairly structured. It's kind of like what a jam band should be. There are a lot of complaints in the reviews for this album about how long the songs are, I don't agree. I don't mind a 15+ minute song if it's done well. Halleluwah is a great example - 18 and a half minutes and it goes through a couple different movements. The playing is good, the groove is good. What's not to like? Moving into the second record, it definitely gets weirder and more experimental but I still kind of like it. I feel like this is what that damn Trout Mask Replica album was trying to do and failing. People think that album is genius, sorry, it's not. This isn't really genius either, but it's better. If the whole album was like the first record, this would be a 5/5 for sure. The second record is still good and I like it, weird though it is, but I can't see it as something I would listen to often. It falls off for me about halfway through Peking O but then picks back up with Bring Me Coffee or Tea. So 3.5/5 for this one, rounding up.
Man, this one was all over the fucking place, what a weird journey. At first I was kind of bemused, not-really into it, but fine. A bit too disjointed and artsy for me, but better than I thought it was going to be. Then some of the tracks I was kind of on-board with. Despite it being over 18 minutes I was down with that first jam track… but then it’s followed by an equally long one that’s shit, and yet ANOTHER really long one that’s mostly mad, raving gibberish. And then we’re back to a track that actually has some kind of musical basis, where even if you’re not into it, it’s still interesting, with layered instruments and great drums. So… up and down? But mostly bad. I’m glad people can enjoy this, but jeeez man.
Some things I really liked but in the end too experimental for me
Has moments that are really great but Aumgn and Peking O bring it down.
I enjoyed the product of this mad scientist laboratory. To read more, copy/paste link: https://tinyurl.com/3ydyp8wu
I do try hard to listen to this genre, I know I should like it, but it’s too challenging. I’ve heard worse so I went with a 3.
reminded me of animal collective, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way
Most influential bands sew the seed of an idea in their music which subsequent artists water and nurture, eventually maturing into fully-grown new genres. Can seem like the kind of influential band who sewed the seeds of several ideas at once and immediately plied them with whatever chemicals they could get their hands on, resulting in an overgrown tangle of strange new crops. It was left to future generations to hack through the thicket, find the good stuff and generally make the plants (songs) shorter and more pleasing on the eye (ear).
Arhgg det er for avant-garde til mig
weird ah hell
Definitely not my cup of tea. I should be better about figuring out what I can like about this sort of music instead of trying to put into words what I don’t like about it. But I just don’t like it enough to do that. Anyway, it’s always good to expand horizons even if it kinda sucks at the time. I’m sure I’ll tuck this away somewhere and it will add context to something else or at least come in handy at trivia. Aumgn is the most interesting one on the album so far.
It was great until it wasn't. 2/5
Completely new to me, very different for 1971!
Really good
Bad
Not a fan of this. These long tracks kill me. Most of them are just not interesting enough to be so long. It works as background music a bit and I can tell they’re having fun jamming out but it’s just not my thing.
Very interesting!
Boy lots of highs and lows on this one. I guess it rounds out to a 3 at the end of the day. Some specific songs might be a 5 and some might be a 1. Or even sections of songs.
The second half of this album is a slog, but the first half has some solid material.
GREAT ALBUM AHEAD OF ITS TIME WITH THE EXPERIMENTATION
Whoa the first few on here sound modern for some reason
musica rock psichedelica sperimentale, alcune delle ultime tracce molto particolare. do 5 stelle per tenerne traccia e rivisitarlo anche se sarei più da 4
Ok, but odd. 3/5
Ebbs and flows from great to wtf
Meh. Kind of a wandering disjointed mess.
Interesting. Aumgn felt very "Cthulhu'esque" to me.
I can’t decide!
3.75
Very wild and compelling. Not everything is successful, but it kind of doesn’t matter. This needed to happen.
It’s taken me 3 days to get through this and it’s still not over
Tago Mago is a fitting name for this behemoth of a record. Can were fast becoming their own private island full of mystery and intrigue; a vast landscape of endless wonder. All that was needed was the piece of the puzzle that fit to make everything go together and for the German born band members of the group (Irmin Schmidt, Jaki Liebezeit, Holger Czukay and Michael Karoli) the inclusion of Japanese nomad Damo Suzuki, after the departure of American vocalist Malcolm Mooney, was the piece that fitted. Tago Mago is the volcanic eruption that, despite its immediate impact upon German and other European circles, wouldn't be truly felt for decades to come. At least the last twenty-five or thirty years or so of rock adjacent music that is worth its salt can be traced back to this album. Yet, when it came down to Can, it was just the tip of the iceberg. This ain't Krautrock, this is otherworldly.
Good enough
Experimental and quite psychedelic. Kinda obsessed with how the creepy vocals in “Aumgn” do literally sound like the title of the song.
Extremely rambly, atmospheric, sometimes dissonant rock
Neat
A little too weird for me
I'm cool enough to appreciate a little musique concrete now and then, but typically I feel that a little goes a long way. However, I quite adored this. The rocking to weirding ratio is perfectly appropriate. I feel that I could keep listening to this for years and keep finding new stuff in it.
Don't go past track three. You have been warned.
Well, it started off fine and devolved into madness. The longer tracks were just pure experimentalism and not enjoyable. I can see doing that for yourselves as artists, but to actually put it on an album and expect people to eat it up is just wishful thinking.
It's one of the most influential albums ever, and the most famous Krautrock album. It is a bit crazy to think that it was released almost 55 years ago, it must have been mindblowing back in 1971. It's a fusion of experimental, psych rock, music concréte, jazz, funk - it's cool, funky, sometimes confusing, but it keeps my interest throughout which I love (and this is why I love experimental music so much). I can also hear the Eastern influences (by Suzuki) and how it influenced later artists and bands. For its influence and importance alone it deserves a 5.
Thus was mostly just noise to me.
Never heard of this. Starts out as ok experimental funk rock with unintelligible lyrics, then goes into spooky Halloween sounds, and just gets weirder and weirder. Supposedly there are English lyrics here, but I could barely understand a word. I didn't like it. Favorite track: I don't know. Probably one of the first three.
Started off good, but fell away towards the end.
2+ Stars (6/15)
Tago Mago is a a mildly frustrating listen. The combination combination of rock, funk, avant-garde and tape loop experimentation makes for an interesting and quite an accessible listen on the first record but the demented scale has a sharp rise on the second record. They have quite a mesmerizing, trippy sound and it's clear they weren't going for top 40 singles chart and I rated the album on this basis.
Great collection of crazy sounds and shit
Lost me a bit in the middle (what the hell was Aumgn all about?) but otherwise an absolute belter of an album. Must've blown a fair few minds over the last 50 years.
Trying to be weird a bit too hard.
Part genius, part batshit crazy. The first half was more interesting than the second half. Gonna have to re-listen to their Future Days album to see how it compares. 2.5
The overriding sense of this is that it's very, very, very long and weird. I was quite into it for a short while, but really, you've got to stop a lot sooner than they do. Having said that, there's some cracking guitar work throughout, and it's never boring.
I find it really difficult to put a genre on Can, and that why I quite like them. They’re definitely rocky and a bit proggy, but they’re also funky and jazzy. There are parts of this album that wouldn’t feel out of place in an old school crime drama. In typical Can fashion, there are only a handful of songs (7 this time) but totalling 74 minutes. Again, a bit jazzy and proggy in that regard too. It didn’t blow my mind, but I certainly did enjoy listening to this today.
Y'know, I gotta wonder if my brain is just wired differently, 'coz I did not have the reaction to this that I was expecting to. Now, to be clear, the reaction I was expecting to have was... Well, there's a review of this album on this website that calls it "hoe scaring music," right? Simply put, I was expecting to be one scared hoe. After all: 74 minutes of experimental avant-funk 70's Krautrock? How would I be able to survive? And being a day or so late with my review, I was able to build it more and more in my mind as an absolute slog to get through. A big ol' case of "Gawd, let's just get this shit over with..." So on the one hand, it might be my fault for over-inflating my expectations. Or maybe it's not; my brain has a tendency to over-worry and blow things out of proportion sometimes... Or maybe I just didn't engage with it right, and I let way too much of it just float on by me? Like... OK, let me discuss the two discs one at a time so you can get what I mean. On the first disc is where we find all of the funk stuff and, like... Oh, gawd, it's all so "Who the hell cares?" Even if I didn't come into this album expecting a cream pie of weirdness to the face, I still wouldn't have been all too impressed by what I heard here. Like... Sure. It's funk. I guess it was improvised, maybe? And, sure, there's a violin playing out of key in one part, but other than that? I could hardly be assed to pay much attention — so if I **did** miss something, I guess you can blame the material for not holding my interest well enough in the first place. Or I'm just dumb for expecting too much weirdness off the bat, I'unno. Then we get to the second disc, where **finally** all of the experimental stuff comes out to play, and... I mean, look, this is all clearly way more interesting than the first disc. All the places it goes to, versus the endless loop of "whatever" funk... If there's any side of this record to hear, it's this side. You could definitely "Fantasia" to this and let the music conjure some wild imagery in your mind, like I did with BITCHES BREW. At the same time, however, lordy me, was I ever unimpressed. It's why I ask if my brain is just wired differently. I mean, whenever I come across highly experimental, avant garde "big brain smart" tracks like this, my immediate assumption is always that it's gonna be an unbearable slog, but then it just, like... Never is? "Revolution 9" has honestly never bothered me, and I remember listening to "Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet" a few weeks ago and not really getting much out of it except mild annoyance in its last minute. Y'know, if this is "hoe scaring music," consider me not even a hoe to begin with. Don't get me wrong, there are interesting parts in there. There's some drum stuff about fifteen minutes into "Augmn" that I dug, and there's moments early on in "Peking O" I could nod to like, "Yeah, this is something." But then it seemed like most of "Peking O" was dedicated to someone slapping their hand on a keyboard and burbling while rapidly speaking gibberish. Like, is this really one of the "best albums ever, period?" This? This nonsense? I don't wanna go all "My kid could do that," but if this don't stand as the audio example of how I just can't see what the big deal is supposed to be here. And I wanna emphasize the crazy thing: whether I just don't get it or I let too much of it float past me, **I AM FOR THIS**. Unlike most every other negative review that just calls this thing unlistenable noise, I was all ready, despite my prehensions, to ride this roller coaster and see where it took me. But... Y'know, food metaphor. Largely thanks to my autism, I'm a picky eater. Whenever I'm presented with new food that looks or smells strange, I always psych myself out over how it's gonna be awful and I'm gonna hate it. But then, when I do take a bite of the damn chip or broccoli or whatever, it just... Tastes wholy inoffensive. It's something I **could** eat again, but, like, why in the hell would I when it doesn't do anything for me? Y'know? Honestly, I wanted to like this album. I wanted to hear this exciting, thrilling experimental album that just blew my mind. I wanted to buck against my kneejerk reaction that this was "Ooo, so serious and important and adult" Bran Flakes next to something like Britney Spears's "**DUMB AND FOR BABIES**" Fruit Loops. (Yes, I almost made **TWO REVIEWS** about those reviews — dodged a bullet, eh?) At the very least, I wanted to justify giving this thing a 3 off of "Hey, at least side two is **doing things**." But given everything I just wrote, and thinking back on what parts stick out in my mind... No, no, I'm sorry — I gotta go with a 2. Like, it's so weird to be on the "I think it's boring" side of a 2 and not the "I think it's not fun to listen to" 2, but here we are. In the end, all I can hope for is that, if there are other CAN albums on here, they can do more for me than this one did. Jus', I'unno. "CAN?" More like "CAN do without, thank you."
Krautrock is a pretty underrated genre in the grand scheme of music. 4.5 bumped up to 5.
I am unbelievably at a 5. You have to fully accept what this album is going for to appreciate it – that means you have to fully buy in, you have to fully commit, and you have to fully accept that this is music clinging onto a thread of sanity that will unravel over the course of 73 minutes, taking you on a ride that, for better or for worse, will sort of discomfort & challenge the very notion of what “music” is. For my money’s worth, this is a masterclass in sound design, atmosphere & feel – for 1971 in particular, this is far, far beyond anything I’ve ever heard from the decade, and it may genuinely be revolutionary. It’s certainly one of the most experimental & avant-garde albums we’ve gotten so far, and while I’m no stranger to “experimental”, it’s very rare for the quality of the album to match the sort of audacity and boldness of what it’s trying to do – Kollaps got a 3 from me, Trout Mask Replica got a 3, & Locust Abortion Technician got a 3 – all solid enough albums, if only for how bold they are & well they execute their vision, but this album executes it in a way that leaves space to fully appreciate just how wild everything is. It’s a trip, yes, but it’s a trip that has just enough space between listener & artist to allow the vision to become clear as you’re listening, and sort of have a better aha moment than could ever have happened on those other three albums. As far as the “music” itself goes, it’s harsh, it’s gritty, it’s certainly a bit throat-y at times, but it’s always anchored by the saving grace of consistent percussion – a tiny little lifeline to hold onto that resembles the normalcy of music, and perhaps the only sane normal thread of this protagonist’s ongoing anxiety-induced mental breakdown, performed and executed brilliantly by production work that feels years before its time – there are elements of 90s grunge rock, some weird electronica, vaguely jazzy tones, and oddly, sort of an anti “Kid-A” vibe, where the total non-ambience sort of loops around into a cacophony of sound that feels coherent despite itself. Yes, the vocal work & lyrical content make barely any sense, but at some point, they really don’t need to – the transition from good 70s rock to “I have no idea what the fuck is going on” happens rather fast, but still kind of slowly naturally comes out of nowhere. Trust me, I understand why this has an average of 2.79 (still, hilariously, higher than Britney Spears’ album) – it is NOT easy to enjoy this if you don’t fully buy into it, and even if you do buy into it, there will be moments where repetition & a sort of fatigue comes in, especially because this is a 73 minute album. It is, however, meant for one continuous experience, and it’s certainly a nighttime-y sort of album, to allow for its harsher and more horror-adjacent elements to really shine. I had a few moments where I just went into a pitch black room for 2 or 3 minutes just to really let a few tracks fully encapsulate my ears (looking specifically at “Aumgn” though), and it worked like a motherfucker. Insanely harsh percussion that feels like a sort of sacrificial ceremony happening, before dogs eventually come in and bark at you out of nowhere in a pitch black room? That’ll get the anxiety rolling. So, yeah, it’s a 5 for me. Again, you HAVE to buy into what the album is going for, and it is a one-shot, no skip experience, but it’s a journey worth taking – if you let yourself settle in and go along with the ride, the soundscape alone will conjure up images that tap into the creative spirit in a way that not many of these “experimental” albums have done before. It is harsh, and occasionally annoyingly loud, but I think those are compromises that had to be made to really sell the experience of the album. It could very well be revolutionary, or I could just be gassing up an overblown pretentious mediocre album that could be perceived as art if you squint at it for long enough. That’ll be for any subsequent listens to decide, but I really think this is gonna hold up well for me. I fully bought in, and I really enjoyed it, hence the 5.
First listen.
7,57
I agree with the guy that said this fucks.
Coincidentally I listened to this album in full yesterday before being assigned it, and again today. I have listened to Ege Bamyasi and Future Days front-to-back a lot more than this one, owing partly to it being a double album, and partly to Aumgn and Peking O being a little too far out for me. I have played Halleluhwah on its own many times though. I thought at times that I had "got" those songs listening to them just now, but they still elude me, I think. I'll still give it five stars though.
I appreciated the experimental nature of these tunes but the music itself didn't speak to me so much.
can appreciate how influential it is for prog rock and psychedelic rock but it's not for me some songs are good
6/10 I was really enjoying the first half of this album - it's buoyant and rhythmic (though all the tracks are a tad too long). But I hate Peking O and Aumgyn so much, I had turn it off.
I enjoyed the first three quarters or so of this very much, but the weird shouting and yelling on the "Peking O" track drove the score down from a 5 to a 4. It sounded like someone having some sort of drug induced meltdown, which I guess was the desired effect, but it just made me feel a bit nauseous. I listened to the entire album twice, which is always a good sign. There's some very good bits, where the strange vocals aren't fully dialled up, and don't detract from the music. I would even suggest that they are fine in this context. where the band are German, so I wouldn't expect to understand what they're singing about. But the final third is where everything else takes a back seat, and we just have strange gargling sounds.
Some of the droning on got a little excessive but there was a lot there I really enjoyed. Some of the best rock instrumental bits I’ve heard in a minute were there but they lost me on the vocals (too quiet, mumbling) and like the droning on.
I was into the first half of this album and even the 17-minute song Halleluwah kept me hooked. Then it gets weirddddd starting with Amugn. Listening to it plus Peking O feels like you're on a bad acid trip or something. I think this is firmly a 3 for me.
Well this is a roller-coaster of an album... Sides one and two are pretty straightforward (in a sense), and along those lines they succeed greatly. Paperhouse is a crusty and wonderfully sprawling jam and I love how it transitions straight into Mushroom. The production here is wonderful. Crusty with wonderful stereo mixing of the instruments and warm bass and guitar tones. Halleluhwah is fantastic drawn out funk-rock that gives in to jam-experimentation, but is easy enough to keep hooked into through its 18 minute playtime. However, sides three and four are pure, sprawling experimentation in the form of Aumgn and Peking O. These two tracks are pure anxiety inducing nightmare fuel that have next to no discernible form. Drawn out across >28 minutes these are explorations of reverberation, machine-gun aesthetic electro play, incoherent shouting, and occasionally regular rhythmic sections. Honestly, I don't outright _hate_ these songs, but I do question why they felt the need to record these and distribute them to the world. If their intent was to breed anxiety, mission accomplished! The album ends on a toned down and, honestly after that trip, relieving jazzy outro track that slowly devolves. Frankly I don't want any part of the drugs Can are taking, but I'm glad they are having fun. If music is purely for enjoyment, then this skews low due to the unsettling experimentation; however, I can't deny that I was immediately pulled back in for a second listen. I'm really conflicted here, but land somewhere around a low to mid 4. Challenging, but interesting and kept me guessing.
Started off fine. Ended bad weird. Low 2. Kinda made my day worse.
This seemed like a pretty standard (yet very good) psychadelic album. But then 17 minutes of Aumgn made me question my entire life. Had to take off my head phones and walk my dog after that then continue the rest of the album. After I resumed listening, Peking O then made me question all of reality as we know it. This was truly one of the strangest albums I have ever listened to. The beginning 4 songs were flirting with 4 territory, but the last 3 were just really quite awful. Not sure at all what to give this, so 3 it is
Hell yeah Can. We've had at least one solo album from Can and many inspired by them. Krautrock def isn't for everyone so interested to see how this is rated. I'm bouncing and loving tf out of this! Paperhouse and Mushroom fucking rule. Ok, Aumgn is a bad acid trip at a carnival. Interesting enough and very fucking weird. Feel like I'm about to blast off towards the end of it with these drums and crazy noise. Holy anxiety inducing shit. Not even sure I liked that but very happy I experienced it. The same can be said about Peking O. I prefer Ege Bamyasi and Future Days to this as their a little more accessible, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued and felt like I was on drugs for parts of it. Playing Aumgn at the next party I go to.
Some songs cam be a tad too long, enjoyable tho
If the objective of this album was to piss me the fuck off, consider it a smashing success.
* Gotta be a "5". Why do I love Can but not Radiohead?
I want to mark this positive but god damn does it need trimming down.
Giving Rush a run for their money both in song length and in personal enjoyment of said songs.
Классно, очень классно, но оооочень затянуто. 5/5
Psychedelica
I enjoyed this. It's in no way spectactular, but it's plenty listenable.
1 stern
I got half way through and couldn't do it anymore.
Sorry to say the krautrock is not my cup of tea. Odd because i do enjoy prog and psych, and some electronic drone stuff, but this recipe has just never been for me. However, Shout out to my favorive song of all time now being on this record. Side C Halleluwah or whatever its called is tremendous
I couldn't hang with this. There's not enough composition to get into. Obvious talent though, especially in the rhythm section.
1. paper - 1 2. muzhroom - 0 3. yeah - 1 4. haleluyah - 1 5. augemn - 0 6. peking - 0 7. tea - 1
This slaps. Got those great grooves and rhythms you can listen to for days. Thankfully the best track keeps going for 18 minutes.
psychobabble but not in the fun to listen to way
I can appreciate long form experimental music to a degree, like the next guy, but I have my limits and can stand only so much. Side one, I enjoyed and even the longest track (all of side two), Hallelluhwah was good background music, but it began to try my patience about half-way through the next track, Aumgn which clocked in at a modest 17+ minutes. From there it went off the rails and I admit was a difficult listen, but I stuck it out and got "treated" to extended live tracks on the version I listened to...ugh! Can is one of those "acquired tastes" bands that can be a rewarding listening experience when you're in the proper mood and state of mind. Clearly, I didn't take enough mind altering drugs to enjoy this to the max, maybe next time.
Whenever I read a Bio that starts with "Experimental German rock..." I cringe. In the spirit of 1001, I gave it a go and rest my case. Although, I would be mad at a cover of Halleluwah done by Sublime, perhaps....
Interesting enough
I just can't
Good krautrock
I liked the music, but not the vocals - I found them grating and annoying. My favourite track was the 18 minute "Halleluhwah". I think the vocals on "Peking O" are by Pingu.
A struggling 3. Lots of rhythm, lots of noise, lots of space. Feels alive, like it’s just happening in real time. The drums hold it all together, but everything else feels totally free. Sometimes it’s cool, sometimes it’s too much.
3.5
Great drums, but the rest feels like a jam session that forgot the snacks!
Not at all what I expected from the art, name, or this list in general. This was terrible. Now unfortunately for this band, they happened to pop up on my list after 2 nostalgic bangers from the 90s, but I don't think anything could have saved this from a 1 star. It started off "okay". I thought maybe I've heard of one song from this band and that will be fun. Nope. At least not from this album and likely not from anything else. First 3 songs were tolerable, then it went into 18, 17, 12 minute long annoying trash. I even convinced myself they called themselves Can because the drums sound like a trash can. If that winds up being true then they can keep the 1 star for irony, otherwise it goes to "Aumgn" because I may be able to use that on my Halloween playlist. It will either scare people or keep them away, both would be great. I'm also not a fan of vocals where I can't tell the language. Some songs sound half English then maybe half French? But I thought I saw they were German? Not my thing, Favorite track "Oh Yeah" 1/5 Anyways
Always been a fan of Can's track, Vitamin C. However, this is the first time listening to a full length album of theirs. Infectious grooves sprinkled with some avant-garde. My social media addled brain had trouble at times keeping up with the 18 minute/17 minute tracks, so definitely need to re-visit in the future.
Taco Mango is good for a few. The rest is noise. I’m just an old man tho.
The unlistenable tracks got to me. Won’t revisit
Love can. Really enjoyed 1/2 of this album. But like most can albums, there was a couple songs that I could barely get through. Usually I can look past this, but 30 minutes of haunted house sounds is capping this one at a 3 for me.
Enjoyable Krautrock. A new one on me, but not sure why as very good.
Sometimes experiments don't work that good.
Starts off pretty normal and enjoyable, then takes a very sharp turn for the weird. Still really enjoyed the experimental bits even if they were not at all what I was expecting. Peking O is the type of song that might make sense had you ingested some mind altering substances. My favorite of the experimentals is the last track - Bring Me Coffee Or Tea.
I was vibing with it for a while, then it got really weird. Very psychedelic. Another one of those where if I were in a certain mind set I'm sure I'd love it.
I was quite enjoying this until the 18 minute long Aumng, which I have to admit, lost me a little.
i didnt mind some of it, but no song ever needs to be 18 minutes long
My friend, John, drummed in a scratch band that backed Damo Suzuki once. I wasn't there, unfortunately, but what an incredible experience it must have been making that music or even to be there as it came into being from nothingness. I can never fully get into a Can record, precisely because of the distance from that spontaniety. The record is the lingering light of a star, long dead. But even a dead star gives off radio waves, a pulsar or pulse - a groove? - we can tune into and tune out of. Every moment of Halleluhwah I tune into, I love. Every moment of Aumgn I tune into, I don't love. I am never tuned into the whole thing, however, and I have no more sense of what Aumgn is than Halleluhwah. If I'd just been in the room, though, not even in the band, I would have known everything there is to know - not just of Tago Mago, but of all cosmic shit and stuff. What a groovy experience this album faintly documents. 3 I came to this album today under difficult circumstances. Yesterday the list gave me Norah Jones’ debut album and I scorned it, rightly I think, and yet while I was listening to Tago Mago today I couldn’t help but feel the weight of its proximity as an almost moral burden. There I’d be trying to enjoy listening to some member of Can fellate a microphone (‘blubelubbelubelblubelblub’) and I’d sense Norah’s album at my back saying ‘I get two stars and a pissy review for trying to make nice recordings of carefully rehearsed songs and what’s this nonsense going to get? You’re going to give it 4 or something aren’t you, you prick?’ Well, Norah’s album has a point of sorts but I can only hope that my preference for Can’s album is more than my own superficial sense that while ‘Come Away With Me’ sounds not only like music that my squarest Aunt would buy but also music that she might make if she had any skill, ‘Tago Mago’ sounds not even like music made by a cool Uncle - it sounds like music made by someone who is not a member of my extended family at all. Some of Tago Mago sounds really good - but it’s not as good as it sounds. Drums are a difficult instrument to make sound so distinctive and they are continually fascinating here. There are a lot of interesting choices made in the mix - particularly with the vocals. There is a great sense of colour in this record (which almost by itself counterweighs the beigeness of Norah Jones’ accusing ghost). After my first listen I made the mistake (I think) of reading a bit about Tago Mago and the weight of critical praise for it really is astonishing for its plain injudiciousness. The oddest critical motif seemed to be the insistence on the indispensability of every moment on Tago Mago - the concision of it. Yer hole. It’s all well and good to change the face of popular music but must you take 73 minutes to do it? It’s a bloated, indulgent album by the standard of any genre. I read one account that insisted the first side of the double album was ‘in Sonata-Allegro form’ (bollocks) and the album was actually a symphony. Well 73 minutes is long for a symphony. You had best be Beethoven 9 or Mahler 5 and Tago Mago ain’t by a long shot. In conclusion, Mushroom is brilliant, the drums sound awesome, the guitar solos are lame - especially by the standards of 1971. 3/5
Interesting album. A lot of instrumentals with some cacophonous parts. I couldn't get through "Peking O". The "singing" was just too much.
Very odd yet somehow kind of thrilling
2/10
Easily the best "shamanic avant-funk" record on this list, and indeed ever recorded. What a record – arty and cool and dark and funky. Oh so influential, too, of course – metal, art rock, jam bands, new wave and indie – and deservedly so. Despite vocals that are, ahem, unconventional, the playing is first-rate and the drumming (especially on "Oh Yeah") just otherworldly and trance-inducing. "Hallehuwah" is as epic as groovy can be. "Aumgn" and "Peking O" lead one astray a bit ... or drop one out of the long, winding and immersive vibes of previous cuts. The closer resolves in fine fashion. Rounding up because obviously and of course.
Experimental 70's crap... 😏 No thank you
You know, it was fine. It wasn’t great. It was pretty bad in parts. I didn’t like it. But if I was super-ass high in a sunlit San Francisco apartment in the summer of ‘71, I would dig on this and then fall asleep. So.
I don’t really get can to be honest, especially with the two 15 minute tracks then an 11 minute track with a segment that sounds like the guy from storage hunters. But I can’t say it was bad and I appreciate it. Probably funner to see live with the absolute insanity of it all 4/5 and I’m being generous but I think they deserve something in that level
While not my favorite Can album (that honor would go to Future Days), this is definitely Can's most ambitious and most adventurous album, especially given how much of the second half is this very odd and kinda creepy sound collage and musique concrete. My favorite song of the bunch is the side long "Halleluwah," which is just one of the funkiest things this group ever did. Overall, amazing album. Definitely worth checking out. Mid 9
I have mixed feelings on this one. Some of it was pretty good, some of it wasn't. There were definitely some trippy parts, and other parts were way too "jam band"-like for my personal taste.
Couldn’t get into this album. The one bright spot was ‘Oh Yeah’.
Liked the first half, the second not so much
I enjoy a lot of this album, but at the same time, I don’t like Aumgn, and Peking O is worse. Both are still more interesting than a lot of other stuff on this list though.
Loved the experimentation on this but after the last few songs it went downhill. 2.5/5
this is going to sound pretentious of me but i think people really don’t get this and think that augmn and peking o are supposed to be taken 100% seriously. i feel like a lot of people expect it to have some kind of deeper meaning bc it’s avant-garde, but i feel like that’s missing the point. it feels like an early equivalent of shitposting in music form, and it’s awesome. though the highlights here are the first four tracks, which are all perfect, particularly paperhouse and halleluwah, just endlessly replayable jams
WTF did I just listen to? In a good way, at least for the first half of the album. I can't believe this was made in 1971! Gets pretty avant garde towards the back half of the album, but the first half is stunning.
So close to being utterly brilliant but it does fall down with tracks 4 and 5 which are just too abrasive and experimental to be enjoyable. Everything else is a fantastic melding of so many genres that it's pointless to list them all. Definitely a band I could see myself loving especially having enjoyed Holger Czukay's solo appearance on this list. It should be a 4, maybe even a 5, but nearly a quarter of the album is unlistenable.RIP. 07/01/24
The beginning of the album was quite good, the experimental waffling starting with the 18 min track then kind of lost me for the rest. But overall it was fine.
Tago Mago Wango
this was a fun experimental album, the drumwork on this album goes crazy, i enjoyed it although some bits were extremely weird
Nur schräg!
I have loved this album for a long time, but must admit I can't help but skip over some songs...
Not my cup of tea. I can appreciate the "differentness" but no thanks.
70s ambience? no entenc que sigui del 71 està desafinant expressament •_• ala mira una bomba wtf bro where is paul mccartney bé definitivament: eeee prou.
Some interesting ideas that never seem to go anywhere; which makes it, ultimately, just a waste of a fairly decent drummer.
yeah nah
Experimental but baaad.
This album got really fucking weird in the back half. Just post-modern, weird crap. Not sure why it's here. 1*
interesting but not for me
I’m not really into jam bands, but the musicians are clearly talented. The more experimental tracks seem a little aimless and long winded.
Never heard these guys and I like it!
My first thought was that I've never heard of this band or seen this album cover before and I'm going to listen to over an hour of music with only 7 songs? Well, surprise, surprise, I really got into it. Although, about halfway through Augmn I thought I heard the forerunner to the muppet Martians saying, yep yep yep yep yep yep. I was expecting to hear brrrrrinnnngggg. It would've fit right in with this song. Augmn and Peking O are long and trippy, and you definitely have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to them. Bring Me Coffee or Tea was a good way to end this intriguing album.
Holy shit. What did I just listen to? I have no idea, but I know that I kind of liked it. This album is fucking insane and I love it. But how? How can I hate something like Throbbing Gristle or Einstürzende Neubauten but enjoy Tago Mago by Can? I'll tell you. See, those other albums did not feel like music to me. They just felt like random noise meant to evoke discomfort from the noises themselves. Tago Mago still feels like music to me. It may be very unconventional and (at times) deeply unsettling music, but it's still music. Well, except for the second half or so of "Peking O" which does feel like pure insanity. However, given what came in the album earlier, I guess it makes sense that this is what it results in. Speaking of which, let's talk about the earlier songs in the album. The first half or so of the album is actually relatively straightforward. It's not too unconventional. It's a bit odd, but it's absolutely in a good way. The singing is a bit odd, but it fits the vibe. The writing gets the point of each song across well. The sound is the focus of the album for. The first few songs and the last one are clearly musical, but are still a bit odd for newcomers to more avant-garde music stylings. Later songs like the aforementioned "Peking O" and its predecessor "Aumgn" just get weird. However, it's still tolerable for me. It's funny. The perfect blend of these two vibes comes in the 4th song on the album, "Halleluwah." If there's one song that represents what makes Tago Mago such a great album, it's this one. In conclusion, Tago Mago is absolutely not for everyone. I myself have to admit that some parts of the album aren't for me. However, the fact that something as fascinating and (at times) haunting as Tago Mago was made in 1971 is astonishing to me. This is an album that belongs on this list. 4/5.
Trippy but groovy. Will check out the rest of their discography for sure.
Experimental, psychedelic, mostly light and nonabrasive while still being pretty heavy for the time. The extended jams might not be for everyone, especially since some parts are not musical at all or are atmospheric and ambient, but I think they go well with other activities like driving or working. This is not gonna be the album for someone looking for catchy singles.
Not my thing
I really have quite a hard time getting into Can. They have made a few good songs ('She Brings The Rain', 'Vitamin C'), but sadly, none of those have been found on the records on this list so far. After listening to Can more, I also realize that they aren't very typical Can songs. There are many songs on this record that has something to it, but only temporarily. 'Mushroom' for example, is decent at times, but derails at the end of the song. 'Halleluhwah' has a nice main riff to it, but is just way too long and becomes repetitive after some time. Then you have 'Aumgn' and 'Peking O' that are... I don't know what. The black sheep of this album, perhaps? Complete garabage. I'll give this a weak 2. It is bordering on complete trash, but there are some rays of light that saves it. But just barely.
Not much to say on this one, it just passed me by. The only times I noticed it was during some of the noisy chaotic segments.
Surprisingly liked this
4/5
Tago Mago is definitely an interesting Krautrock album — experimental, unpredictable, and at times completely out there. It’s the kind of record that keeps you on your toes, even if it doesn’t always land. “Halleluhwah” is easily the highlight. That groove is hypnotic and somehow manages to stay engaging through its long runtime. It’s weird, but in a fun, head-nodding kind of way. On the other hand, “Aumgn” was a tough listen. It leans a little too far into abstract noise territory and kind of lost me along the way. Overall, I respect the creativity and the influence this album clearly had, but it’s a mixed bag for me.
That's not my taste in music. Strange
I’m compelled to give this a 4. Why? No idea, I’m just as confused as you are. Wait, who are you?
fine?
Started out pretty cool. Could’ve been current 30-40 years after its release date. Then they got real fuckin weird with it. I decidedly do not like nearly 20 minute songs with assorted irritating sounds.
Bruv I did not need 20 minutes of factory funny moments followed by coked up cavemen Parts of this I really enjoyed, like Paperhouse and Halleluhwah were great, and if they hadn't decided to lose their brain cells halfway through this would have been a great album
Some nice melodies, cool
Better suited for background ambience than focused listening. Album is too slow for me. More pace needed. Also it gets a bit too weird for me in the last couple of songs.
I love krautrock and while I know Can, I haven't really gone deep into their stuff. I do however recognize several tracks from this album, for example I love the bumbling groove of Halleluwah. I listened to half of this album with other people at the office, some only tolerated it for a little while and found it annoying pretty fast. I find the minor changes and tweaks to repetition of the songs interesting and enjoyable. Is this still considered experimental today, I don't know nor care. They did experiment the hell out of this record, I mean it's not totally atonal, but it also has bits that are. It is a genre defining album for all I know.
INFLUENTIAL
En vaan tykkää krautrockista. Genren nimellä vaan annetaan oikeus hakata esineitä ja nauhoittaa se.
Oire: he kokeilevat kaikkea maan ja taivaan väliltä, mutta parhaalta kuulostavat geneerisimmät blues-osuudet.
Hot trash.
Interesting. 1971. Musically seems later
Psychedelica The authors happy space
4.5
I have no problem with some experimental sonic wankery, but Aumgn and Peking O are a bit indulgent by any standard. Overall, an enjoyable enough A-side of this album saves me from being more critical of its somewhat... challenging B-side. 3/5 Highlights: Paperhouse
3.7, bit weird
Frustrating listen as it starts super strong with great grooves and seemed like something I'd really like. Next thing you know, you got several 17 minute songs of literal noises and gibberish.
WHY DOES IT KEEP DELETING MY COMMENTS gonna make this short: Kinda 2 albums, one first few songs and last one, second second last and third last. first is quite good but last is terrible overall around 5/10
Decent start, but really fell off into random noise at the end.
01) Paperhouse - 7,0 02) Mushroom - 7,5 03) Oh Yeah - 7,0 04) Halleluhwah - 7,0 05) Aumgn - 1,0 06) Peking O - 1,0 07) Bring Me Coffee or Tea - 5,0 TOTAL: 5,07 (51/100) Current ranking: 353/379
Meh
“Tago Mago” crystallises everything that I have come to value in improvisation-derived music. It’s full of parts that I could joyfully vocalise, weird looks bedamned. It has a strong sense of a designing order: not just a piano shoved down the stairs, but a piano shoved down the stairs and painstakingly recorded, the tape cut up and reordered into ballet and maelstrom. There’s an order to the turmoil and an intelligence behind it; the wilder tracks follow a narrative, deranged though it may be. The end of “Peking O” means something, though I don’t need to know what that is. Surprise and drama dictate the structure rather than the procession of dutiful turns at the helm of trad jazz or jam bands Thematic consistency is maintained within each song - “Aumng” is not a pleasant listen, but it’s richly evocative, starting like a bad happening deep in one of Central Europe’s massive forests, processing through a gothic keep of mad scientists and the hum and beep of their machines, drum patterns like distant artillery, ending with the rhythm and squeal of a train going to Hell: this is their mythos of the Nazi era. I only learned that this was recorded in a medieval castle after writing that last paragraph. The schlocky horror accents are heavy on this record and it’s hard to avoid wondering if its coloured by the war - the seventies were a big decade for German kids freaking out their parents. I’m pleased the list has made me return to this, as this is a record I’ve owned and respected for a while, but never close-listened to until today, apart from to the enormous “Halleluhwah”.
Oh look, more Can. Oh listen, even fewer tunes than last time. Nope. I usually make it through even the worst selections on this list twice, but couldn't summon the effort here. Uninspiring
Weird and experimental. Amazing that it's so old. 2nd side felt like a trip but it was interesting
I didn't enjoy it.
very odd, very german, very long (but not really), very interesting musically
Not knowing what to expect, I found a smile developing on my face after the first track, and immediately dug deep to learn more about them. And then I heard Mushroom, which I know from The Jesus and Mary Chain. Interest definitely piqued now! Halleluhwah and Aumgn were too long. The album kind of lost appeal. Started as a 4 and ended up a 3
Just because you can think of the experiment, doesn’t mean it’ll necessarily sound good in practice. The ideas throughout Tago Mago probably sounded groundbreaking and inventive in theory, and they *were*, technically speaking, but as music, this is incredibly tedious and borderline unlistenable. Side A is maybe the most traditional, composed of actual songs. After that, it is the idea of music, progressively unraveling to become less and less sonically appealing as it goes. It’s not that Can makes harsh noise – they’re very much a psych rock band (derogatory) – but the majority of this is not something I would call composed in any sense, and that’s for the absolute worst. Can are good enough musicians to execute these ideas well, though, and if you meet them on their own terms, I can imagine someone who has more affinity for psych rock respecting this. But any honest praise feels more like music critic intellectual posturing than actual enjoyment. I’ve heard worse music trying to have actual mass appeal, sure, but I’ve also heard better experimentation in harsh noise. Tago Mago may accomplish its boundary-pushing goals, but it was a chore and a goddamn half for me to listen to, and I will never revisit it again.
I would give zero if I could. What in the world was that.
Estoy entre 3 y 4. Este álbum me hizo descubrir la banda (muy buena canción "Vitamin C"). Me voy a inclinar por 3 porque el album es bastante raro, en el sentido que me gusta por lo experimental pero es también un poco difícil de seguir y de realmente disfrutar las canciones. Ojalá salga algún otro álbum de esta banda.
Yeah, no. No clue what the heck that was.
New to me. Interesting.
Well this was one of those albums where the vive couldnt have been further away from when i listened to it. I was very hungover and tired, flying solo through an airport. It gave me anxiety and thats more my fault than its. If it caught me at the right time then this could be interesting, but not today.
I reviewed Can’s Future Days a few months ago, and I really enjoyed it, and wound up giving it four stars. I’m excited to listen to Tago Mago today, and I have pretty high hopes for it. Tago Mago was really good, but I liked Future Days more. There wasn’t one particular musical element that I really enjoyed on this album, but I thought the overall sound was incredibly dense and interesting. At the expense of sounding like a hippie, each song really did feel like a journey, and I enjoyed not knowing what little auditory surprises were waiting for me around each corner. “Paperhouse” and “Mushroom” were my favorite songs on the album, and I really loved how seamlessly the former segued into the latter, even though both songs were really different in sound. The album started to lose me at “Aumgn,” and it really lost me on “Peking O.” I appreciate something different and a little avant-garde, but “Peking O” was really grating to listen to. I respect Can’s willingness to push boundaries and experiment, but that was a little too much for me. Other than though, this album was fantastic. After two Can albums, I’m very inclined to check out more of their work.
homer simpson voice: brilliant. [chuckles] i have absolutely no idea what's going on.
that was really cool! i really enjoyed the sprawling instrumentals in a way that I usually don't on some of these other albums that have that (like the prog rock ones). this sounds like the kind of experimental music that was probably really cool to see live too.
3.5/5 The first disc is awesome, the second one is experimental noise and makes the album too long. Still will round up to 4*.
With many psychedelic records, you wonder if it would be better experienced under the influence of something hard-hitting. As for Tago Mago, that sounds like the worst experience possible - especially 'Peking O' is already hellish enough as is. Influential as it might be, I only really enjoy 'Mushroom' and the sublime 'Halleluhwah', and although a combined runtime of 20+ minutes is usually enough to warrant a higher score, that's not the case when the album is 73 minutes long.
Can is pushing the limits with the length of Tago Mago - parts of the half end of the record could easily have been cut. At the same time Can is also pushing the boundaries of what music should sound like at the time of its release. Highly influential and never boring.
Seventies trippy jam music. I think it’s probably better under the influence
favourite song - peking o. favourite lyric - did anybody see the snowman standing on winter road / with broken guitar in his hand, are you feeling sleepy yet? / it's my recording station, man but I record in his head / knowing that to big mouth, oh, ice can flow away, one knows. simply because wtf does that mean cover - 4/10 album overall - 3/5 nothing special
I can certainly appreciate the musicianship of this album, but I am beyond my sparkup days to really dig it.
This got more and more weird (in a bad way) with each new track. I thought it would peak with the 18 minute middle track, but later tracks included what I can only describe as Pingu noises. I don't understand how people can create something like this while taking themselves seriously. Like surely they knew it was trash while recording? I'd be embarrassed to perform this in front of people
Not as bad as their other album on the list isn't a good benchmark
Sounds like a garage band from a developing nation. Not awful. Wait…Can? As in, they’re playing with cans? Ok then… street performers in a developed nation. Not particularly good, but at least they’re enjoying themselves. How can you not when you’re beating on cans.
My second Can album form the list, and another great one. Some songs (esp. the second half) are a bity too experimental for easy listening but the first four are great. The album is not exactly background music (good) but a careful listen is an interesting experience. I like the breakbeats and the often jazzy feel even though the instrumentation isn't jazzy. Very creative and interesting and, when in the right mood, great sounding too.
4/5
Hard to keep pay attention to it to be honest - it doesn't sound horrible but it's a bit purposeful awkward
I feel like E.T. made this album. WTF?
Can made a very skilled version of psychedelic, experimental rock. They created their songs through extended improvisation sessions, and the result is interesting, rich, exploring songs. Tago Mago is the second studio album from the band, and is regarded as the band's best work. The band, and this album in particular, influenced generations of musicians. This album ranges from groove-based jam band rock to fairly odd experimentation. All of these songs could part of the recording of a modern, improv-based jam band. Some of the experimental material wanders toward self-indulgence, but it staying interesting throughout. Much of the later part of the album could be the "drums & space" sequences from Grateful Dead shows, which the band started doing seven years after the release of this album.
In a nutshell: Revolver v2.0 Can is a strange creature of a band. When I listen to their work I feel like I'm tripping when I haven't taken a thing. Overall: 5/10
Can not
THIS. IS. NOT. MUSIC.... Anything that starts with "experimental" is usually garbage....which is true here as well! You can't just play random noises over random mumbling, drums, and abused synthesizers and call it music. This literally made me angry, and gave me a headache. Aumgn sounds like zombies in space. Whoever put this on this list is an absolute moron. Favourite songs: Halleluhwah Least favourite songs: Aumgn, Peking O 1/5
I think the first half of this album is some very interesting psychedelic jams with great performances all around. The trip goes bad in the second half though.
Haven’t heard of these guys before. Supposedly this is krautrock, kind of psychedelic avant- garde, some interesting bits but there’s a couple of 17 minute + pieces that noisily drone on in the middle of the record, that’s where they lost me
Early Animal esq
Honestly I like can but didn’t love this, maybe cuz I listened after tubular bells which is similar but way better
Dreary Dirge
This is #day77 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... how many cans can a canner can, if a canner can can cans? Well, a canner can can as many cans as a canner can, if a canner can can cans! To me, Tago Mago is the embodiment of what music sometimes should be: a statement, an experiment. This album is more than music. A sound play, a sound performance? Either way, it's shamanistic, funky, and jazzy. Face it, Putting "Aumgn" on a record in 1971 deserves a fucking credit. This piece may well scare the shit out of you. One other fun observation: those reverse-taped vocals at the beginning of "Oh Yeah" sound like a precursor to the language of A Man From Another Place in Twin Peaks. If this "was an attempt in achieving a mystery musical world from light to darkness and return", sleep well, the mission is accomplished. But then, I'm not sure where I am now after listening to it. In the words of Special Agent Cooper, what year is this? Of course, it's a 5 out of 5. Looking forward to #day78.
What Thomas Pynchon had to be listening to when he wrote "Inherent Vice."
Amazingly influential on me and countless others but some songs are TOO DANG LONG
The type of music I imagine Radiohead listen to whilst disappearing up their own arseholes
Sometimes trying too hard
Music variety is wild, enjoyed the variety of notes
unpleasant
It was really going really well and then I guess the drugs hit the bands and it all became just cringe.
Great first 4 tracks, then tails off into madness
Ok so this was actually terrifying. It is mid day and I am scared listening to this honestly. The songs were so so long and just sounded like screaming. They were like noises in a movie continuously going for 12 minutes. Did not like this at all.
Can't. Wanking over one chord for 18 minutes is uninspired, directionless, and unimaginative dreck. Not to even mention the unmusical halloween horror show of the last half. Fans of VU will probably love it tho. 1/10 1 star
Cool
Sorry. Influential it may be but Pink Floyd meets art school improv group is not my thing. Sounds like an acid trip and maybe that's what you need to enjoy it. Not for me
Different kind of alternative band. Strange sound.
Classic Can album, just as practically all their earlier work. So in my memory, there was no doubt that this was a 5-star album. Initially I could not connect with the two lengthy experimental tracks and wanted to give 4 stars, but kept listening to the album over andn over, and in the end changed my mind.
Most of the tracks were really good, but I did not care much for the very experimental Aumgn and Peking O.
The first half is more than acceptable but with Aumgn and Peking O I'm losing it.
Tago Mago is an absolute wild album, there is a lot going on. It’s 2 albums in 1. Side A is clangy, raw psychedelic jam rock and Side B is the atmospheric music that influenced Radiohead. It’s too long, but need to listen to it more 6.8/10
I was enjoying it but it really lost its way by the end
Absolute brilliant album. Band is still ahead of time.
A Can record I actually liked! Well, Aumgn and Peking O are a bit much, but the rest of the album is very strong. Out there enough to be interesting and most of the tracks were approachable enough to want to listen through to the end.
Not sure how to rate this. When they could find the groove, this was a great record. When they couldn't, it was a rough listen.
No The first few songs were okay, I guess. Sort of got a grove that was tolerable. Then they start getting to 15+ minute songs that are terrible. I can't fathom how people think this is even listenable, let alone good.
Awesome early psychedelia
Trippy psychedelic album, but sometimes I think the songs drag for too long.
A Masterpiece in experimental Krautrock. Put this on a permanent loop all day. My mind has expanded since I listened to this btw.
An interesting mix of psychedelic and pop rock at the start and then gets forgettable in the second half.
There aren't many of those in here, all-time favourites that I have feelings for, albums that I would use to describe my personality with and wear as a t-shirt, but this is one of them. And - I had not listened to the whole thing in quite a while - as much as I had to realize how much more I had filed "Tago-Mago" under the beauty of "Paperhouse" and the hypnotic groove of "Oh Yeah" than the 𝘍𝘢𝘳 𝘖𝘶𝘵! experiments of Aumgn and Peking O, well, those count, too. Stellar.
Degenerates into a puddles of shit, no thank you.
Started off well then went to crazy town. 2.5
No
Not a big jam band guy, but this is decent. A little weird, though. I recommend psychedelics.
Different and interesting
This album was released over 50 years ago, but it sounds like it could have come out yesterday. It’s so ahead of its time. Agree with the reviewers who said it “sounds only like itself, like no-one before or after" and that it’s "shamanic avant-funk." A wild and crazy trip.
Great work, I'm sure they did their best
why does every album this guy pick sound like this i promise you no song needs to be that long, nothing interesting going to happen at the 7 minute mark that hasn’t already happened at minute 2 bud, at least for this type of music, evil pink floyd gremlin
Pre-listening: ohhhh I’m gonna hate this sorry. Based on the reviews I just know. 1 hr 13 mins for like 7 songs never bodes well for me. Post/during listening thoughts: yeah I hate psychedelic rock. Like cannot stand it. It feels aimless and bores me and often is experimental. People tend to praise experimental music just for being experimental when in fact the experiment was a failure and bad. And that’s how I feel about this album. 1/10 DID I NEED TO HEAR THIS BEFORE I DIE: no I hate krautrock. Fav tracks: paperhouse I GUESS Least fav tracks: mushroom (where are the rest of the instruments), halleluhwah (18 mins is too long), aumgn (nuff said), Peking o, bring me coffee or tea
Mushroom
A weird album with some cool vibe to it at times. The first 4 tracks are like a mix of classic/experimental rock and a Jam band. I really liked the different layered rhythms and unique sounds. Then you get to the really experimental stuff which loses me. 4 for first half, 1 for second half.
Awful
It does go on a bit and there are some weird passages but it does motor along with purpose.
listened to again a psychedelic journey
This album lulls you into a false sense of security with some solid music, and then suddenly Frank Zappa comes out of nowhere to barrage you with like 35 minutes of feeling like you're losing your mind.
Very experimental with the middle 3 tracks being over 10 minutes long. Not for me but I can see how this band is influential to so many artists
Cruising into 1001. Strong, cool start that I was feeling. Deteriorated hard. When you are adding dog noises to songs, it's time to stop.
Некоторые вещи неплохие, но некоторые - это какой-то зависший реверс
First half was great, got a little weird for me in the last half or quarter
Pretty good first half, gets a little too weird and abstract in the second half
The album art is dumb, like a can of spaghetti-os. This got increasingly unnerving to the point where it became a 1 star. Sorry, but eerie wailing during my music at work is not what I'm looking for on a Monday morning. I turned it off 15 minutes into track 5. I'm good never hearing this one before I die.
Either very strange or a bit interesting in equal parts
0*
It seemed like maybe it was going to be something I could vibe with, but then it never really turned over into 2nd gear.
Glorious. 10/10 top quality wackiness. I will be returning to this zany madness again voluntarily and merrily. It started and I was a little miffed it sounded conventional... then... it got weird and I was happy.
Begins as rather ho-hum before unfolding into an epic journey of sound. A tour-de-force!
3 songs in and it's awful. Not a fan.
Ok, first half is pretty cool but then someone somewhere channeled some really weird animal energy
Was about to give this at least a 4 but then the second half happened.
Jam band, super jammy. Meh
This is a jam album. So much so that I feel like I’ve been listening to the same song for 3 songs now. This as well, has a place. If I may be picky, the vocals are a bit flat and drowned out. There could also but a deeper sounding bass added to take away the high frequency sound. The drums are solid though. As I said, it’s jammy. If you like that, enjoy! Choice cut: Halleluhwah
I couldn’t make myself finish this one.
I loved this. Never really listened to Can but I'm totally going to be playing this a lot more.
Dit album begint eigenlijk best prima. Wat experimenteel, maar nog wel lekker. Vooral bij 'Oh Yeah' krijg je iets voorgeschoteld wat niet had misstaan op een Radiohead album. Heb het op een gegeven moment zelf maar afgekapt. Eerst helft van het album 5 sterren, tweede helft 0 sterren. 'Halleluhwah' is nog een heerlijk stukje gejam en geïmproviseer, maar daarna gaat het mis. Er wordt over de grens gestapt van lekker experimenteel naar verschrikkelijk. Een viool die verkracht wordt, dat soort werk.
Meandering psychedelic early 70’s jam band folk indie rock.
Nicht meine Richtung
Stop yelling at me please
deicioso de se ouvir
Quite the strange, freaky trip. Very forward thinking. I see why the hipsters like it 👍
The first half is amazing. Like a much better version of Pink Floyd (they are so overrated). And then they ran out of good ideas. Favorite song: Oh yeah
Good background music but can get a bit grating. Some interesting musical ideas but goes on for very long. I feel like it's a 4 at it's highest points but I will probably never revisit it for the more experimental aspects which do not work for me. Those last few tracks are really dragging it down, even though I'm sure they were influential. 3.5/4
1.5 not good
Yucky
Nothing completely wrong with this album. An experimental and avant adventure into early 70's psychadelia. Very good, engaging, and melodic dispite the large selection of uncommon instruments. Percussive elements shine on tracks like Mushroom and Peking O.
i'm sure this influenced someone. it only influenced me to turn it off. actually, no, the first half of the album was okay - kind of vibey and not unpleasant to listen to, though nothing i'd seek out on my own. but by the time we got to the back half when the songs were longer than a sitcom episode and tonally directionless, i started to get mad. why is this on here?
come on robert there are better albums out there. what is this. I've already done my time and listened to future days for you. the only things i enjoyed about this 73-minute avant-garde experimental slog was a few brief moments in halleluhwah and of course, the crazy cacophony and screaming gibberish in peking o. that was honestly the only moment i was actually awake and paying attention while listening to this. favorites: halleluhwah
Experimenteel, vooruitstrevend, gaaf en met vlagen zwaar onluisterbaar. Toch best goed!
This was a very pleasant listen. I didn’t like the 2 tracks before the last one on this album. 10+ mins of aimless noise.
I assume the inclusion of this album was a typo.
Umm. No thank you!
A little too experimental and psychedelic for me, first few songs were sweet then the acid trio starts.
Never thought I would enjoy Can or their albums but I really enjoyed this one and I'm looking forward to more Can on the list I hope. Mushroom & Halleluhwah were particular highlights.
Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it, but it really didn't hit at all.
I'd listen to it again minus the two noise tracks.
Wow this is some crazy shit. I can see it benefiting from another listen when on more drugs then just caffeine.
Bring your own drugs.
+1 for Halleluhwah
The first 4 tracks are awesome. Maybe like 4 or 5 star material for me. Experimental but still pretty easy listening and really interesting. It's the type of music I absolutely love. Track 5 & 6 are definitely songs meant for tripping so I understand why people wouldn't like it.
This was a fun album! I was really surprised by this one. Its not a record that I would have expected to come out of 1971. Admittedly, I haven't spent a lot of time with Krautrock. It gave me Radiohead vibes for sure. It also sounded like Nine Inch Nails in some songs and also Animal Collective. Kind of cool to see how it influenced avant-garde experimental music down the road. It almost feels like there was a 20 year lap from where this music was happening to where it caught up in the 90s. It gets harder to listen to as it goes on, but overall, I really enjoyed this. I'm glad this came through!
Ok, spanish
This ain't it. Half of it is just sounds.
Det her var ret sjovt. Det nåede ikke at blive kedeligt. Måske fordi det var så eksperimenter med mærkelige lyde, forlæns/baglæns sang og eller musik. Det skal klart høres med høretelefoner.