Customer Reviews

Tago Mago

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Can's 1971 release, "Tago Mago," is nothing less than a watershed moment in the world of early progressive rock. Surrounding the emergence of Can was a highly sophisticated rock evolution. With the likes of King Crimson pushing performance boundaries into substantially more complex territory and Pink Floyd exploring the outer realms of space, it would be logically difficult to emerge as something truly unique during the rise of progressive rock in the early seventies. Ironically, Can made originality look effortless. With complexity rapidly becoming the focus of rock, Can pushed against the grain, delving into a far more primal brand of avant-garde modern minimalism, with magnificent success. "Tago Mago" is truly years ahead of its time.

"Tago Mago" was originally released as a two disc LP, therefore clocking in at around 70 minutes rather than 45 minute standard LP time. The contrast between each disk is exceedingly stark, showing two distinct sides of this anomalous entity. The first half of this disk ("Paperhouse"- "Halleluhwah") is very "jammy." The songs are largely made up of repetitive percussive cycles and various bits of improvisation. While the songs largely pulse forward at a non-transitive rhythm, there is much more going on than would seem possible within each track. "Paperhouse" starts off relatively slow, and eventually loops into an expansive jam session, containing some delightful guitar work from Michael Karoli. "Paperhouse" ends with an intense let-out of energy that Jaki Liebezeit has masterfully brewing through his increasingly aggressive percussive cycles. "Mushroomhead" then begins. This is the shortest and most instantly accessible song on the album, consisting of what seems to be an electronic drum beat and Damo Suzuki's disconnected murmuring; a song, to these ears, reminiscent of today's Radiohead. "Oh Yeah" begins an explosion sound bite and what sounds like Suzuki's vocals being played backwards. "Oh Yeah" eventually evolves into a jam with an almost "folky" feel to it. "Halleluhwah" begins like something right off of Miles Davis' electric-jazz-fusion apex, "Live-Evil." A funk beat dominates the entire song, that expands into an amazing variety of atmospheres and colorful, textural explorations in its' 18 minute entirety. The song seems to slowly succumb to insanity as it progresses, but never quite loses its' steam. After "Halleluhwah," Tago Mago completely loses touch with reality, delving into some seriously avant-garde territory, previously explored by the likes of modern composers Stockhausen and Varse, which serves as a perfect contrast to the minimalist nature of the first half of the album. Can continue to delve in a perpetual nightmare of psychedelic hysteria until the album closes.

Everything in "Tago Mago" is sharp, angular and uneasily tense, while somehow able to slowly expand into the listeners inner conscious. The performance is delightfully tight, in its own choppy manner, even as "Tago Mago" moves into obscure and highly illogical territory. You can never really guess where "Tago Mago" will take you, even after multiple listens. There is almost a conscious equilibrium throughout this albums entirety, matching every moment of melodic bliss with haphazardly primitive intensity. Such a staggering amount of cohesive variety has never been as accurately put to mainstream music than in this krautrock classic.

Though "Tago Mago" is unquestionably a landmark statement in rock music, it is certainly not for the average listener. This album is a "grower" in every sense of the word. Even amongst fans of prog-rock, you would be hard pressed to find a listener who can honestly say that they enjoyed "Tago Mago" upon first listen. Everything about this album is sharp, intense, and unsetting, even in its' most accessible moments, revealing almost none of its' dark secrets without intense patience from the listener. If I were pressed to find a single adjective to most accurately describe "Tago Mago," it would undoubtedly be "subtle." "Tago Mago" demands unwavering attention, vivid imagination, and tolerance for the quintessential avant-garde. There is, undoubtedly, nothing more painful to the average listener than the constant barrage of violent percussion cycles that "Tago Mago" offers, or the a-melodic, audio-hallucinations featured throughout the last half of the disk. Of course, when "Tago Mago" finds its way to the appreciative ears of the music fanatic, it eventually becomes a permanent favorite.

Akin to any truly innovative musical composition, even the most thorough of descriptions fall despairingly short of personifying the actual experience. I can only appeal to the adventurous listener's curiosity by resulting in using the utterly cliché, but never more appropriate statement: "You have to hear it to believe it."

I honestly think that this is some of the greatest ever recorded music. Ok, admittedly the song-writing isn't great, but to criticize that would be to miss the point slightly. The fact is, these men had no pretence to being songwriters. Instead, they concentrated on rhythm, texture and electronics, and, in doing so, re-invented their instruments. Tago Mago is their best album. It opens with Paperhouse, which sounds pretty unremarkable to start with. That is until they descend into an unstoppable, primal rhythm, which maintains its intensity for the duration of the track. Mushroom is the shortest track and strangely eerie, but again has some impressive drumming. Then you get possibly the funkiest 25 minutes of music ever. Oh Yeah, uses a wonderful cyclic groove as the base for some inventive experimentation with backwards sounds and some great guitar imrovisation. The centre piece, however, is Halleluhwah. Incredibly, the band manage to create an even more complex and funky groove than on Oh Yeah, and stretch it out for far longer and include all manner of sounds and effects (including what sounds like a modern drum'n'bass rhythm on drum machine) to ensure that it sounds like nothing ever before or since. This track can either be soothingly hypnotic or funky depending on mood. From there on, Can move into altogether more sinister areas. Aumgn is extraordinary. Mainly electronic, Damo Suzuki seems to be trying to exorcize demons through religious chanting while the band create a claustrophobic atmosphere with very little use of recognisable sounds. It climaxes with an ear-bending tribal dance rhythm and Suzuki's unholy shreeking. Peking O takes music far past the normal boundaries of taste. Suzuki chatters unintelligably as though a thousand demons are trying to speak through him at once. The fact that the only words you can make out are "gonna kill you, gonna kill you!" adds to the uncomfortable atmosphere. The track finishes off with a throbbing groove which seems to have been beamed in from outer space, and sounds unlike anything that has been created even today. It is a good track even though people will hate how it makes them uneasy. I don't understand that attitude, when horror films, which are made for the sole purpose of scaring people, are accepted as good. Why can't the same apply to music? Anyway, to calm you down, the album ends with the very chilled Bring me coffee or tea. Slightly oriental, it is exactly the sort of track you would want to listen to after being subjected to the madness of the previous 2 tracks. The track is eventually drowned out by what has made this such a brilliant album in the first place: the rhythm section. So there you have it, my thoughts on this album. You may very well disagree with everything that i have said, and i'll just tell you fine, stick to your travis and stereophonics etc. But for ingenuity, humour, energy and dynamics, this band cannot be touched.

I just discovered Can and I fear it may be one of those once-in-a-lifetime event type discoveries. I still almost can't believe that it's for real. Tago Mago was my first Can album, and I was left in complete awe. To think that this was done 30 years ago! After this I heard Monster Movie, Future Days, then Ege Bamyasi, and can I say, "How, in all my years of record collecting, have I never heard of this group -- Can?!!"

The music on this album not only precludes, but out-performs so many of today's musical genres, and it does it in incredibly groovy, irresistable way. The grooves are insane, the beats: exciting and entrancing, hooks galore, and the mind trip can't be matched.

Tago Mago pioneers the deep, relentless rhythm seen today in nearly all forms of electronica, ranging from trance to industrial to acid-jazz, dub, and even drum n' bass. The diverse guitar and bass concoctions, as well as the array of singing styles that Suzuki explores, have influenced players across the spectrum of rock and electronic genres. Clearly Radiohead must have been learning from Tago Mago's minimalist textures and jagged vocal delivery while working on Kid A and Amnesiac. The raw, mad vocals of Suzuki may have inspired the likes of Jesus Lizard's David Yow, or Butthole Surfer's Gibby Haynes, while his more subdued performances are clear inspirations to a plethora of others. It seems that the variety of jam-rock bands, and even ancestors Phish and Widespread Panic, may owe their free-form "jam" roots to more than just the the Dead. And as for the experimentation of creating such soundscapes... nearly all forms of ambient music ranging from ambient dub to Einsturzende Neubauten might have been getting ideas from this stuff.

Who knows? Maybe they've been keeping it a secret from me this whole time.

But somehow the truth got out and I heard about it, and I'm sure many others have and will. All the Radiohead and Tortoise comparisons in interviews will get the word out, and I predict very soon people will be re-discovering this group -- Can. The hipsters will be a little sore, because their diamond of a secret had just been given away, but the world will be done a favor by knowing the truth. To entire genres of contemporary music, In The Beginning There Was Can. Can owns music. Can rules.

Hailing from Germany in the late 60's early to mid 70's, Can is one of the most best kept secrets of influential alternative music----combining the cosmic progressive rock complexity of King Crimson and PInk Floyd, the nightmarish freeform noise and unorthodox jazz stylings of Sun Ra, the punkish electricity of THe Velvet Underground, the wild out of control funkiness of early Santana, and the intriguing production values of Joe Meek, Can was truly an important and energetic part of psychadelic music in the 20th century. THe influence of this album can be heard everywhere from Sonic Youth ("Mushroom" and "Oh Yeah" as well as elements of the excellent head tripping noise peices "Aumngh" and "Peking O") to Radiohead ("Paperhouse", "Oh Yeah" once again) to The Birthday Party (Damo Suzuki's insane vocal delivery, crossed with the equally intense music, sometimes bears similarities) to Mars Volta (mixture of Crimson-exque prog rock with more aggressive punk elements and funky Latin influences) to Japanese noise-rockers THe Boredoms (listen to where it all goes mad on "Peking O") to Stereolab (no distinct similarities, but there are a few reference points), and the countless bands that those bands inspired. As said before, Damo Suzuki is an intense vocalist---at times his wild ranting comes off as Mick Jagger mixed with Birthday Party-era Nick Cave and Mr.Bungle madman Mike Patton, while at others his soft delivery is closer to Thom Yorke. Actually, his vocals are alot like Yorke's, with the some virtually indiscernable somewhat mumbled appearance. Each song is it's own little adventure easily discernable from the last, and all are epics that find time to extend each song to it's spaced-out, wormhole-inducing, mind-expanding best---isn't that wha a psychadelic masterpeice should do? My favorite tracks are the super-funky and freaked out "Halleluwah" and the noise trips "Aumgn" and "Peking O". Get this if you like good music and better trips.........

I picked up Tago Mago pretty recently. I have already been a rather casual CAN fan for about ten years, after first hearing their Yoo Doo Right on a weak college station. I was mesmerized. I bought Tago Mago because I was curious to hear what their Mushroom sounded like. The Jesus And Marychain have a wonderfully sexy version that I pretty much grew up with on their Barbed Wire Kisses album/collection. The record store clerk wouldn't shut up about this album while he rang up my order.

"You're going to positively looove this album. " he declared, enunciating every word dramatically and clicking his tongue ring here and there, "at one point, man, " he paused and looked around, "they just start singing backwards!"

I was borrowing a car at the time, and had the whole day off with nothing to do, so I began to drive home with my new purchases. I flicked Tago Mago into the cars' CD player and was blown away. I got home but didn't want to stop, so I kept driving, I just kept going, I didn't know where to go so I drove through Golden Gate Park, I just wanted to drive and listen to this forever. They do indeed sing backwards, though, it's not the entire album, they only do that on the amazing Oh Yeah. I drove up and down the beach, at the rim of the Pacific Ocean and the car stereo was turned on and vice versa.

The general feel of the album is that it is very progressively percussive, in a very rhythmic tribal way, but not at all in a world-music sense (thankfully). There is something indescribable about CAN, at least this incarnation of CAN. This album, which is the best I have heard of theirs (though they have about twenty-seven, in one way or another). I tend to think I like their early period, Tago Mago is from 1971 and Monster Movie (another good one) is from 1969, though Deutschland proves to not have been no Woodstock or Summer of Love, because this music is positively from another galaxy! The singer for Tago Mago's line-up is Damo Suzuki, apparently stepping up to the plate after Malcolm Mooney lost his marbles (?), a bit like Skip Spence I suppose. Damo has a wonderfully franticness to him, unlike so much of what was around him in those days, he sounds like he was stolen from this era of music and transplanted in the late 60's with no way of return, and you can hear such entrapment in his vocal-chords, I would and I wouldn't want to be in the same room as Damo Suzuki when he decided he wanted to let it all out and scream.

This really is a great album. I can't imagine not having it, now that I do.

Not only is this album lightyears ahead of it's time, it's a timeless classic as well. One of the things that made CAN so influential is that they were aforded the luxury of owning their own recording studio. Therefore, they could experiment without time constraints. Of all the songs,the opener, "Paperhouse" is the only one that sounds remotley dated for it's lyrics about mind expansion (not the fresh subject it was then) which take nothing away from the ambience of the music. "Mushroom" predates the punk movement but sounds fresh today thanks to Jaki Leibeziet's post modern style of drumming."Oh Yeah" is a tour de force complete with backwards drummming, trippy organ, crisply recorded rain/thunder sound effects and -like all songs on the album- the emotional no holds barred vocal delivery of Damo Suzuki in Japenese, which makes the album all the more mind blowing. Who cares what he's singing about?! Most mind blowing of all, however, are "Augnm" and "Peking O". I'll bet everyone a can of okraschoten that these tracks greatly influenced Pink Floyd. Admittedly, these two numbers are arty, strange, and self-idulgent, but I'm tired of reviewers thinking that these are bad words. They are not. In Can's case they are the ingredients for some of the greatest avant-garde music ever recorded. Stockhausen would be proud. As for the final number, "Bring Me Coffee or Tea" play it during the crepuscle hours of sunset and you will truly see the light.

This is Can at the peak of their powers, starting into a trilogy of releases that, for most, define the Can sound. The entire first half is just a total attack, with Damo now comfortably in his role as the voice of Can. A very rough, raw sound prevails throughout, one that wouldn't pop up again for perhaps 20 years or more in rock records. The havoc continues right through total flip-outs like 'Mushroom' and 'Oh Yeah', and into the marathon 'Hallelujah'. Then part two...originally record two when this was on vinyl...revs up with the incantory creepiness and noisefestivity of 'Augmn', and just keeps right on attacking with 'Peking O'. Finally, 'Bring Me Coffee or Tea' intervenes to wrest the controls away from these crazed musicians. Those who consider themselves 'alt' should be required to own this record. This is the one, folks, that everyone from Public Image Ltd. thru Sonic Youth to Labradford, everywhere in between, and still going seems to have gotten more than a scrap of ideas off of. Possibly one of the most essential things out of Europe, rock-wise, of all time.

I'm not even sure how to write this review. This was my introduction to the German phenomenon known as krautrock. But, more importantly, this is some utterly transcendent, ecstacy-inducing and otherworldy music - which has me spellbound, and in love.

There's not an easy way to describe the music found on _Tago Mago_, but here's a slight stab at it: Imagine a proto-Radiohead (the vocalist reminds one of Thom Yorke at times) with tasteful psychedelic/jam elements slightly reminiscent of Cream, The Grateful Dead, The Yardbirds and others of that pantheon - added with an ambient aesthetic foreshadowing some of the ambient/dance music that became large some decades later (this was released in 1971.)

This is just a taste of what you'll find on this album, added with many other elements. A track by track overview:

"Paperhouse"--A 7 1/2 minute psychedelic workout featuring some tasteful guitar noodling, an addictive rhythm and some sensual vocals from (then) Oriental singer named Kenji 'Damo' Suzuki. I just love that sensual accent. The first day I got this, I listened to this track alone 23 consecutive times (non-stop), which came out to 2 1/2 hours. It can get very addictive (as well as the rest of the album.)

"Mushroom"--A proto-ambient/dance number. To be honest, some of these tracks could mislead you from believing this came out in 1971, because they don't sound too dated.

"Oh Yeah"--Another ambient number. This time, with some bluesy licks and some eerie keyboard textures. Once again, the underlying funky, tasteful rhythms can become very addictive.

"Halleluwah"--A mid-tempo number which manages to keep the same rhythm for 1,107 seconds (with the exception of a quiet break somewhere in the middle) without sounding like it drags. By the way, the time limit is 18:27 folks, if you were confused by the "seconds" sentence. Once again (sorry if I sound repetitive), the grooves & rhythms, the guitar/bass interaction and the vocals are so tasty, they can get addictive.

Now, the second half (or second disc, if you own the vinyl) is where it gets VERY challenging and inaccessible - depending on your point of view. These next few tracks are intense, relentless and uncompromising excercises in experimentation.

"Aumgn"--If you pay close attention, you'll notice the opening for "Paperhouse" is the way this track begins - and elaborates more on what was left behind in favor of the duration of the aforementioned track. Listen to this in the dark, with eyes closed and scare the daylights out of yourself. Listening to this is probably even scarier than most of those cheesy horror flicks. Ominous, slithering keyboard textures, creepy vocal atmospherics and some disturbing, relentless percussion & drumming can be found, which gives this track an aura of exorcism (I'm not joking.)

"Peking O."--Sounds like a prototype (along with Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention) for the type of thing Mr. Bungle does. This track features moments that will scare you, warp your mind, and make you laugh out loud. Underneath all the demented vocal shoutings (some sped-up) and ultra-bizarre, abrupt switches in dynamics, is an unlikely amalgamation of ambient, reggae, ragtime and fusion.

"Bring Me Coffee Or Tea"--Probably not as inaccessible or wild as the previous two tracks. This time, it's a slow, meditative number featuring some haunting chords, tasteful instrumentation and some exotic percussion that reminds one of the type of instrumentation King Crimson would revel in during their 1973-1974 period. This also probably sounds the most like a prototype for Radiohead.

To prevent (further?) embarrassment, I'm going to end this review, because there isn't much more I can say, except that this album is EXCELLENT. I don't consider myself someone who uses big terms very often, but, if there's a new discovery that deserves such big praise - this would definitely come to mind. Recommended to adventurous music listeners, as well as those progressive rock fans that want a little more than the usual Yes, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson stuff (and I'm not degrading these bands, as I love them all as well.)

(Side note: I found out from a second read through the credits, that most of this stuff is actually improvised.)

For a long time I'd heard mention of Can as this influential force on all that is good in modern music but it is only this year that I've been fortunate enough to delve into it due to unavailabilty, expensiveness etc. I heard an mp3 of Mushroom & was hooked, those beats! something about the vox & keyboard & the total aura. As soon as I saw the cd in the hip city store I picked it up & took it home to experience the full journey that is Tago Mago. Paperhouse sounds vaguely of its time, a little bit hippyish but far beyond what the typical practitioners could ever dream of concocting. Over a double album it unfolds [I later forked out for the vinyl & it was so worth it] w/ the 1st certainly more accessible & legitimately funky while most of disc 2 is studio paranoia nightmare sounds best experienced on headphones [true of most outer things like Interstellar Space & Metal Machine Music, to avoid the derision of philistines & understand what you're hearing better yrself], Aumgn & Peking O initially seem to impenetrable weirdness but repeated listenings show the supreme drum workouts, unique inventiveness & aura of it all. Bring Me Coffee Or Tea is the relaxing comedown. Next album EGE BAMYASI is just as good, perhaps more consistent though of course shorter & whilst predecessor MONSTER MOVIE [featuring Malcolm Mooney instead of Damo Suzuki] is less of a revolution it's still worthwhile & legendary. Here is perhaps the best place to start though. Astounding!

Even prog. and Kraut rock fans like me still think that tago Mago by Can is completely out of one's imagination. THe first half (Paperhouse, mushroom, oh yeah and hallelujah) you can still call "rock" (well,if you want to. Weird structure plus superb drum and bass... not necessarily "complex", but always unpredictable). The whole aura is an unique strange Inner-Space studio production. THe melody is also impressive too. Paperhouse is dense, while Mushroom is very groovy and funky, suggesting what to come in "Egg Bamyasi". The real challenge is the second CD. Completely chaotic studio effect+ improvision and jammed lyrics... I could just say that it's Schizophrenic... unless you have a fatal amount of LSD you won't experience these sounds... (just a metaphor, don't really go to try LSD)... if you don't believe listen to Peking O and Have Coffee or Tea you will know. Take about 3 times listen to really enjoy this. The first time not count, it will make you scared, but the second time you will know something, the third time you will wonder "is it the limit of rock?" Too excellent. Try "egg bayamsi" if you like the song "mushroom" very much.