Overview
“Tago Mago” is the second studio album by Can, a German rock band formed around Irmin Schmidt (keyboards), Holger Czukay (bass, engineering, electronics, editing), Jaki Liebezeit (drums, percussion), and Michael Karoli (guitar, violin) in Cologne, West Germany in 1968.
Commentary
The album was recorded in 1970–1971, and was released as a double LP in 1971 by the United Artists Records.
It was the band’s first studio album after American artist Malcolm Mooney (vocals) left the band and Japanese musician Damo Suzuki (vocals) joined as the vocalist.
It is an experimental rock album blending a variety of elements, such as psychedelic rock, jazz improvisation, funk, electronic music, and tape editing techniques. It is a krautrock masterpiece.
It is characterized by Jaki Liebezeit’s funky virtuoso drumming called the “metronome style” and repeated beat.
“Halleluwah” is a long track (over 18 minutes) with a trancey repeated beat.
The album has a huge influence on many new wave/post-punk and alternative rock bands, such as Public Image Ltd., Talk Talk, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Radiohead.
A double CD “40th Anniversary Edition”, which contains the 2004 remastered edition and previously unreleased recordings of the 1972 live performances, was released in 2011.
