Flow Motion

This, oddly, has one of Can’s few chart hits, a goofy thing called “I Want More,” which isn’t nearly as good as M’s “Pop Muzik,” but is in the same oddball bag of well-executed trifles. The band is very into reggae and this album ends up having the same shape as Landed: trifles and larks, and then a heavy back end. “Smoke” is technically “Ethnological Forgery Series 59”—huge credit to Can for tagging their own cultural appropriation out of the gate (not sure who else has done that and this was early in this discussion [also it’s not even a specific place or culture they’re imitating, so I’m not sure what it really is])—and it’s a big beautiful chunk of Jaki pounding his rack toms to death married to some spooky, dark echoey bits. Very underrated, excellent track. And then “Flow Motion” is a ten-minute vamp, sort of reggae, sort of funk, a bit like something from Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul. Maybe a touch of On The Corner? Not amazing but full of rich Can meat.