Monster Movie – CAN*

Father Cannot Tell/Mary Mary So Contrary/Outside My Door/Yoo Doo Right

Monster Movie was the debut album from the Cologne experimental group Can. They were pioneers in establishing Germany as a major force for avantgarde electronic music in the seventies.

“Starting off with the berserker sonic vortex of Father Cannot Yell, the band carves out a wild patch of territory somewhere between noise-rock, jazz improvisation, new music, and beat-poet-ranting that hits home like a .44 magnum bullet to the brain even to this day. The whole second half of the release is taken up by the amazing Yoo Doo Right, which is one of the truly great jam classics of all time, featuring astounding work by all the band, topped by ranting, yowling declamations.”

“Malcolm Mooney shared the same offbeat concept of lead vocals as his successor, Damo Suzuki. The big difference is that Mooney was an expatriate American and spoke English as a first language, meaning you can actually make out what he's 'singing' (reciting might be more apt).”

“This was back with original vocalist Malcolm Mooney, who just lets it all go on this record in the tradition of the truly possessed, he becomes at times hysterical in the energy he channels on this record, you fear that this much passion and terror, love and intensity coming from one person would kill them.”

“Why are Malcolm Mooney's vocals always described as deranged ranting? It's a cliché. But a good cliché. There really isn't a better way to describe his vocal style.”

“Very annoying, looped repeated guitar strums, plodding doldrums drums and weak whiny vocals like a geeky traveller trapped in a particularly uninspiring and insipid vinyl valley. An extra-special annoyance, however, is Yoo Doo Right all twenty bloated minutes of it. What amazes me the most about this 'song' is the quality of the lyrics, it's beyond generically awful. This incredibly annoying 'epic' seems to think it's some kind of super cool pre-eminent funk jam. Could I ever face listening to this again...well probably not.”

“Screeching guitars, thump-a-lumping drumming, and neurotic vocals is what usually comes to my mind when Can is brought up. These characteristics defined Can from the get-go with their debut release: Monster Movie.”