Future Days

Can | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 28, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mute U.S.
• ASIN: B0009NSCX0
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #253,189 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can's most beautiful album, June 30, 2005

By 

Eraserhead (Twin Peaks) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Future Days (Audio CD)

'Future Days', the last Can album that featured the vocals of the maniacal Damo Suzuki, is easily the most subtle and quiet album they ever released. Damo even keeps his vocals down to a near whisper, instead of them being directly in the forefront like on previous albums. 'Future Days' is also the least experimental album of Can's career. Instead of interjecting the album with weird (and sometimes nauseating), avant garde noisescapes, they choose to par the album down to its bare minimum. There are only 4 tracks on 'Future Days' and the vocals are few and far between.

Side one contains 3 of these songs, including the beautiful title track, the haunting 'Spray', and the short, upbeat 'Moonshake' (the funkiest Can ever got). Side two contains one of the great mood peices in rock history, 'Bel Air'. This 20 minute song, which is divided into 3 distinct sections, touches on many genres, including ambient, which at the time didn't even exist.

These four tracks helped create the moodiest and most well rounded album in the Can catalog. Unfortuantely, Damo Suzuki decided to leave the band follwing this album to become a Jehovah's Witness (WTF?). 'Future Days' might not be as legendary as 'Ege Bamyasi', or as daring as 'Tago Mago', but it is certainly is in no way inferior to those albums. 'Future Days' is the final statement from a constantly evolving and consistently original band that continues to add to its legacy through re-issued records like this....for the sake of future days.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric Grooves, July 11, 2005

By 

Jeffrey J.Park (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Future Days (Audio CD)

This 1973 release was the last recording with vocalist Damo Suzuki and along with Tago Mago (1971), and Ege Bamyasi (1972) saw the band at their creative and artistic peak. The four pieces on Future Days flow along smoothly and range in length from the 3'02" Moonshake to the epic, 20'00" Bel Air. The particular type of Krautrock practiced by Can is perfected on Future Days and is characterized by atmospheric keyboard and guitar parts atop hypnotic, percussive grooves churned out by the rhythm section. In fact, it is the creative drumming of Jaki Liebezeit and the pulsating, nearly monotonic bass work of Holger Czukay that really makes Future Days breathe and swing so freely. Vocalist Damo Suzuki is virtually absent on this recording and his avant-garde vocal style, which included screaming and ranting on the previous two recordings, has unfortunately been reduced to barely audible, melodic lines only. All in all, Future Days is an excellent place to start exploring this great band.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No sonic revelations on this SACD, but still a classic album, August 4, 2005

By 

Gavin Wilson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Future Days (Audio CD)

This is just a brief review written for Amazonians who already know this album well. (Like me, you may rate this as one of the Top 100 rock discs of all time.)

I now possess two versions of this on CD -- this hybrid SACD and the earlier SPOON CDoo9 release of 1989. My brother also has the original LP. I have to admit that I am a little disappointed by the SACD, but that is largely because I have been so eagerly waiting for its release.

Although the SACD version is the clearest edition, it isn't that much clearer than the 1989 cut. 'Bel Air', for example, is still pretty murky. The SACD comes with informative inlay notes (and a good selection of photos), which remind the reader of the balmy 1972 summer in Cologne, the malfunctioning heating system in the Inner Space studio, the two-track recording equipment, and the enormous number of edits and treatments given to the music.

So there you have it. I assume this is the best version of the classic that it will ever be commercially viable to produce. (It would be nice to have 5.1 surround mix rather than the two-channel offering we have here.) My only complaint is with some of the bass; despite it being indistinct, I still got a headache from playing 'Bel Air' at volume. Happy Days!