The Cans want to have a chat with you over on their main page... Fromster Groovy Overall Album Score: 7.2 out of 10 These guys definitely don't make it easy on their listeners. In Can's first official release (though Delay 1968 might have been recorded earlier), they reportedly spent HOURS in the recording studio just jamming away, and what you see here are the edited highlights. Well, this music is definitely interesting --- they continue down the Velvet Underground inspired stuff that they already explored at length in that rejected album. When you think about it, you wonder why that album was even rejected --- It was quite a bit more entertaining than Monster Movie. The first three tracks aren't actually that bad... You know, they're ugly, garagey Kraut-rock tunes. They value endless repetition while usually managing to insert some diversity to keep the effort from growing too plodding. Apart from a single, blistering guitar solo on "Father Cannot Yell," this stuff is usually middle-of-the-road material that's fit for weird audiences who eat up Kraut-rock no matter what platter it's being served on. This music is intentionally ugly, which is a problem for obvious reasons --- but, you know, it's a different kind of music, and some of it is very awesome. But not Monster Movie. Monster Movie fails to amaze me. Apart from that one instance in the opening track I mentioned, there's honestly nothing here. They don't actually annoy me, however, until the closing track "Yoo Doo Right." It's a 20-minute jam that's absolutely plodding --- It was reportedly edited from an entire six-hour jam. That amazes me considering they can't come up with enough ideas for three minutes. It's just an overly repetitive track consisting of endless loops, annoying vocals and sheer lack of creativity. You at least want weird music to be creative... If Can can't be overly creative, at least, and stop me in my tracks every once in awhile, then what's the point? Why do they expect me to sit through "Yoo Doo Right?" Are they trying to make me self-implode? Overall Album Score: 7.2 out of 10 (Surprisingly, this isn't nearly as fun as their then-unreleased 1968 album. So, I guess their freshman album is a big ole disappointment!!) Average Song Score: 7.2 (Can is being obscure and artsy --- but they're not being awesome. And that's just a shame.) Album Tilt: 7.0 (The gears weren't working quite right --- at least it's consistently not working right.) Artist Rating: 7.5 (Well you can at least give it some credit for being purposefully unique.) Track Reviews Father Cannot Yell 8.5/10 The nicest thing about this is its bass-riff that it starts on. This track starts off remarkably well --- with its driving beat. Then there's an extremely drugged up and intentionally ugly but blistering electric guitar solo. That's probably the whole highlight of the album already! After that solo is through, they're playing this really strange loop that's not so enjoyable. It would be one thing if this track were infectious, but it turns out to be fairly dull and plodding --- and they don't have any good excuse for that. Mooney reduces his vocals to weird chants in the middle. In a way, this track is pretty interesting. After all, they were pushing the way for a new brand of rock music --- Kraut-rock! OK, it's ugly and not really that fun, but at least they do a good job bringing in and fading out different sounds to at least keep my senses from growing too dull. That's all I ask for. Mary, Mary So Contrary 7.5/10 More slowly paced, and Mooney's whispy chops sings an old nursery rhyme to the band's nicely done backing music. You don't expect this to be the sort of track that would ever get stuck in your head --- well, I guess it's not that kind of music. But I'd at least like something a tad more memorable. There's a nice electric guitar performance, but it's fairly subdued --- and the group lets Mooney take over the track with this psedo-dramatic performance. (How seriously are we supposed to take someone singing nursery rhymes on top of his lungs?) It's nice that this song ends up having pretty good development --- there's a little explosion in the middle and they start up all again. I don't see why they couldn't have given this a spectacular ending, but --- I guess that wasn't in the works. Outside My Door 8/10 This is a relatively brief track that even contains a harmonica! I can't pretend I'm enjoying this song either. There's a certain interest in their silly, disjointed loop. It's not that enjoyable, though, and it seems like they were pretty tired already. Yeah, I'm listening to the electric guitar performance, and it's nice... Then, Mooney comes in and tries to scream, except his voice is extremely hoarse. I can't say these guys know how to make weird music!! The ending has a sort of apocalyptic feel to it that I like --- that also would have been worth expanding on. But I guess they weren't up to it... Yoo Doo Right 12/20 Every critic cites this as the big ole turd, and I can't do much else but agree. It's a 20-minute turd that doesn't do much --- and they don't prove why it even have to exists. It starts OK enough --- with a tribal beat and Mooney sings silly lyrics. There's a certain value to the primitive chord progression they're using. But they don't do much different throughout this effort, and it grows very monotonous VERY quickly. Why they couldn't have worked on developing this a bit more is a shame. Mooney's vocals are so annoying --- no wonder they would vote him out of the band pretty quickly. They insert some interesting wavy synthesizer effects, but that only goes to drive you insane. It just gets worse when they strip everything down to just Mooney's half-singing and a pone tapping sound. And then around the 15-minute mark you grow really tired of those endless drums --- Quit it!!! Geez, what an annoying song! It's the main reason why this album is so boring. You CAN e-mail me your comments here!

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