#454 Can, 'Ege Bamyasi' (1972)

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I admittedly listened to this album a few days ago and have been considering it ever since. Wasn’t sure what I thought, and to be honest, still not entirely sure. It has some cool elements, but it also has some annoying elements like the 41 seconds of water running in ‘Sing Swan Song.’ The band often go off on tangents in their songs, which I usually don’t mind, but in this case I didn’t feel it entirely necessary. I’d say it was quite experimental for its time and I can hear elements of subsequent bands in their music. In fact the band, Spoon, named themselves after the last track (and first single) of the record. The album lost me around the point of ‘Soup.’ It sounds like they’re pressing all the button in the studio to see what they do. 

This record was a major influence on artists such as Beck, Geoff Barrow (Portishead), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Stephen Malkmus (Pavement), and even Kanye, who sampled ‘Sing Swan Song’ on his song, ‘Drunk and Hot Girls.’ Ultimately I can understand how this is a great record, but it’s definitely not an easy listening record. I’ve felt exhausted at the end of each listen (I gave it about 3-4 listens).

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