CAN - Monster Movie (Album Review)

 

CAN - Monster Movie

(1969)


My copy: 2022 limited remastered reissue on blue vinyl by Spoon Records and Mute.


CAN, or formerly The Can, set out to disrupt the conventions of rock music with their 1969 debut by belaboring song structures with layers of calculated repetition. Almost entirely composed of classically trained musicians, the group sought to wreak havoc on tradition, and Monster Movie would kickstart a career that would largely shape a whole new philosophy for modern rock. 

Original vocalist Malcolm Mooney breathes life into the frantic shuffle of “Father Cannot Yell”; with the anxiety in his speaking only broken by what feels like an accidentally catchy lyrical repetition. The bass is indecisive and switches from ascending scales to steady grooves. The guitar playing begins as rhythmic and clean before turning into a searing textural element. The song eventually thins out into the closest thing to a chorus, with all but the rhythm section and vocals dropping away. Mooney’s unstable vocalizations continue into “Mary, Mary, So Contrary” which features some of the most conventional songwriting on the record. 

“Outside My Door” builds with drums and harmonica, boiling into a creative take on Zappa. The bass adds dissonance before the vocals become increasingly distraught, leading the song into pure chaos. The entire B-side is taken up by the 20-minute “You Doo Right” which pushes the limits of repetition. If CAN were not clever musicians, this track would likely come across as obnoxious, but in their hands it slowly shifts and rearranges itself in an interesting way. The vocals are very dynamic, ranging from spastic and unhinged to whispered sentiments. The drums maintain the core, with stilted toms that occasionally balance out rhymically. “You Doo Right” is more like a musical jigsaw puzzle, and CAN continuously swap out pieces, testing the limits of what fits and what doesn’t, even stripping the song down to simple stick clicks and vocal chanting. Their concept of “no soloists” or “all soloists” allows each instrument to go off into strange fits; a key element of this particular release. 

Monster Movie is not CAN’s most prolific work, but it is the beginning for a band that is likely one of the most influential in the world of rock. The patient use of repetition is a cornerstone of krautrock, but CAN’s ability to combine this with their own brand of psychedelic chaos is wholly original.

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