Can - Delay 1968 LP

Label: Mute/Spoon

Our Review:

The aptly titled Delay was recorded in 1968-1969 with Malcom Mooney on vocals. This is a way more stripped down, raw, proto-punk Can then maybe most folks are used to. Recorded around the same time as White Light / White Heat, this shares the same blistering spirit that The Velvet Underground were exploring across the sea. There's no doubt that Can is a huge influence on so many critical favorites including Circle, No Neck Blues Band, Nurse With Wound, Throbbing Gristle, Radiohead, Tortoise, etc., but listening to Delay you begin to think that Can may just out-rock them all. A year or so before The Stooges would hit the scene, Can were already displaying such raw emotion and all out-rock exuberance, that the world couldn't help but be awed (if they'd heard it). Delay once again demonstrates that no matter what kind of sounds Can were working with they always managed to find the emotional core, and let it seep into every bit of music they made.