Future Days is the last Can album to feature Damo Suzuki, who evidently left the group to join Jehovah's Witnesses (Wow, I didn't know that Jehovah's Witnesses were so anti-rock. Next time they knock on my door, I'm not sending them away politely). Of course an album like "Future Days" can be labeled rock only in the widest sense i.e. musicians using electric instruments. The album has 4 songs and lasts more than 40 minutes - which is not that rare for 1973, but without solos? Instead of one solo after another, the songs evolve slowly. 1st track "Future Days" starts off with 2 minutes of ambient noise from radio static to sea waves and birds. Slowly a beat establishes itself and keeps driving the song until the end (Some time after the 3rd minute a song does emerge and it is a killer tune). Vocals and guitar are subdued but handled well. There are no concurrent reference points for this kind of music, but think of the tropicalia-styled songs of Beck and Devendra Barnhart, give them a prog twist and you'll have an idea of the pop song hiding inside "Future Days". "Spray" continues on the same ambient motif but this time without the melody. Suzuki's vocals are buried deep in the mix, almost inaudible. "Moonshake" on the other hand is a bona fide pop single, to my ears the equal of their big hit "Vitamin C". Latin percussion, great keyboard work, discrete sax and flawless vocal delivery, all condensed in 3 minutes. Brevity is the one thing missing from "Bel Air". It seems to be an expansive suite edited from a number of improvisational sessions and it is the proggiest piece of the record. Experimental though it is, a couple of songs threaten to emerge (between 0:00'-2:43' and 4:30'-7:14') before the song descends into space-rock chaos. This album is considered required listening and features on a lot of "all-time-greatest-albums" lists. It's easy to see why: rarely have I heard an album pointing to the future so much. Although it also draws from rock's experimental past (Pink Floyd circa Ummagumma), it has created a completely new path for adventurous bands (e.g. Radiohead circa "Kid A") to explore. Very aptly named, then.
***** for Moonshake
**** for Future Days
*** for Spray, Bel Air
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