A Can of Turtles Piles it On Parappa
70s Experimental Rock and Parappa Audio Beef Today. Can asks whether turtles have short legs while Parappa drives with a moose.
'Turtles Have Short Legs' by Can from the 1971 single Turtles Have Short Legs, available on the 1990 compilation Cannibalism 2
'Check And Turn' by Parappa The Rappa featuring Moose from the 1996 Playstation game Parappa The Rappa
The Can track is apparently a bit of a Can rarity. I'm not musically educated enough to know who Can is, but they're on my hard drive and they rock. (So here we are.)
Apparently they're some kooky German guys who recorded a whole pantload of records that nobody (including critics) liked. This particular song appeared on a single in 1971, around the time they recorded Tago Mago. It features Japanese singer Kenji "Damo" Suzuki, though I use the term "singer" a bit broadly here. He certainly has energy, and I suppose the words don't really matter that much. (Oh, turtles have a short regs, not for warking!! )
There's a great groove happening here and the changes just pump up the jam. I guess this is Prog Rock before it started (Rush) sucking. I think part of the horror (Rush) that befell Prog Rock had to do with an army of fans who write reviews like this :
Once back into the full ensemble fray, Holger Czukay starts pumping up with his space-filled Jaguar bass lines, and Damo throws in a line about “a cigalette (sic)/Not for the toking”. The guitar-dominated coda, sees Michael Karoli playing around the edges of all the unpeeled paint upon the walls of Schloss Norvenich with extra sensory mojo and feeling at top volume as circling drums just continue pressing onward and upwards, seeing drummer Jaki Liebezeit soon hitting his cymbals not with sticks but carefully aimed and stamina-directed tree trunks, beating the piece to rest.
(Uh, ok, dude. Whatever you say.)
The Parappa track, well. It's from Parappa the Rappa. In order to record it, I actually had to play the Playstation game. Presumably there's some easier way to extract the audio, but google and emus fell short. So when you hear Parappa rapping along, just know that's yr obt. svnt... Darwin.
The things people do for love!
(Why did I post Parappa with this Can track? Well, you'll just have to click them to find out!)
(Once you've listened to both, you'll understand the connection... If Cat Stevens' copyright owners can win a judgement against The Flaming Lips over similarities between 'Father and Son' and 'Fight Test' then this one is a slam dunk.)
Comments
It's, like 'in the can' as they say. I was wondering if you have a line on any of the Iraqi punk rockers.
Posted by: Rockets Redglare | September 29, 2004 10:00 AM
No, I haven't heard any local Iraqi music yet. I have a friend over there, though I think he is out of country right now. When he goes back, I'll see if he can hook up some local Iraqi music.. :)
Welcome to The Beef! Aren't you supposed to be dead?
=darwin
Posted by: Darwin | September 29, 2004 07:15 PM
nobody liked? beg to differ. I think even you would recognize a few tracks you may already know and like. Vitamin C in particular (ege Bamyasi) gets a lot of play to this day.
Damo Suzuki, well
"
Can remains an inspiration to other musicians;in 1997, artists like the Orb, Sonic Youth, and Bruce Gilbert of Wire for an album called Sacrilege: The Remixes, and the New York garage band Mooney Suzuki took its name from Can's two vocalists;and Suzuki in particular is a hero (the Fall wrote a song in homage entitled "I Am Damo Suzuki"), largely because of the completely free and daring way that he approaches making music. "Comfortable things are the enemy of creative things"
...
"
http://www.jimdero.com/TurnOn/CanExcerpt.htm
Posted by: anon | September 30, 2004 01:45 PM
Yeah, that was a shorthand way of saying "some people really liked them, everyone else was really confused." The impression I got from googl0r is that they produced so much divergent material that it's difficult for someone to categorically say "I like Can."
And Damo, well.. I certainly appreciate the daring and free way he approaches music. Kick out the jams. In any case, thanks for the link and input.. :)
Welcome to The Beef!
=darwin
Posted by: Darwin | September 30, 2004 03:35 PM
Parappa the Rapper character designer Rodney Alan Greenblat offers music, including the entire BABY SEA ROBOT CD for free on his website.
http://www.whimsyload.com
Thanks for convincing me to pull out the old CAN LPs and give 'em a spin.
Posted by: Katya | October 12, 2004 07:23 PM