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Landed (album)

Landed
Studio album by
Released12 September 1975
RecordedFebruary–April 1975
StudioInner Space Studio, Weilerswist, near Cologne, Germany
GenreKrautrock
Length40:18
LabelHörzu, Virgin
ProducerCan
Can chronology
Soon Over Babaluma
(1974)
Landed
(1975)
Unlimited Edition
(1976)
Audio sample
Hunters and Collectors
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
Pitchfork6.1/10[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]
Tom Hull – on the WebB+ ((2-star Honorable Mention)(2-star Honorable Mention))[5]

Landed is the sixth studio album by the German krautrock band Can.

Recording and production

Landed was recorded in 1975 at Inner Space Studios in Weilerswist, near Cologne. Holger Czukay engineered the recording and mixed side B at Inner Space. He teamed with Toby Robinson to mix side A at Studio Dierks in Stommeln. René Tinner assisted with the mix for both sides. The album was produced by the band themselves and included the single "Hunters and Collectors" (backed by "Vernal Equinox"), which was issued in Germany on the Harvest label that same year.[6][7]

Landed became the first Can album recorded with "MCI JH-16" multitrack tape recorder, replacing their previous two-track tape recorder. The new tape recorder doubled the productivity of their recording studio and allowed the production of composition layered with more overlapping sounds.[8]

The track "Red Hot Indians" features Olaf Kübler from Amon Düül guesting on dual sax solos.[9]

"Unfinished" is a thirteen-minute edit of sounds Can recorded in one prolonged session referred by the band as "the magic day" with no post-processing, where they tried to create the conditions in the studio to let their instruments practically play themselves. Michael called it "one of those pieces where we let the atmosphere of the studio impress itself on the tape, it's really a piece composed by the studio". Somewhere we had found a very old Selmer organ. "Unfinished" was recorded with Selmer organ, which was broken and didn't make ordinary sounds. During the recording of "Unfinished" the organ produced a continuous noise al by itself. Irmin liked the noise that served as the basis of the track."[10]

The title "Landed" is simply denotes a touchdown after Soon Over Babaluma. Landed album cover was created by Christine, Jaki Liebezeit's girlfriend at the time. Christine, head of Can fan-club, sent out promotional postcards and portraits of the band, printed on the backside cover of Soon Over Babaluma and autographed by Can. Christine piled up a number of these portraits and doodled on them, drawing beards, moustaches, rouged cheeks and lipstick, eyepatches and elaborate bouffantes. Christine assembled thirty six drawings into a collage.[11]

Reception and legacy

Irmin Schmidt, member of Can, described Toby Robinson's work on mixing the album as "listening so loud and mixing so loud and insisting that it's rock that we couldn't really judge what the fuck he was doing. So after that was mixed we came back to our studio, listened to the mixed tape properly in a civilised loudness, and were extremely disappointed. Of course, we had to use it, but it sounds like a satirical version of rock music, which we didn't mean at all. And still I think "Full Moon on the Highway" is one of our worst pieces. Not because of the piece, but because of the sound."[7]

Rob Young, author of Can's biography, described the album as "both more detailed and more dry, claustrophobic in places, as if the group members have drawn themselves into a huddle in the middle of the studio." Young added that the new "MCI JH-16" multitrack tape recorder brought fresh, unpaved difficulties. The technology of the new tape recorder allowed the band to record in isolation and exponentially add sound layers, which produced a more "fragmented and solitary" album.[12]

Dominique Leone reviewed the album for Pitchfork in 2005 and said:

1975's Landed was the first Can record to get what Czukay describes as a "professional mix", as the band upgraded to 16 tracks and had the opportunity to bring out many more layers of sound. However, what might have sounded like a godsend to fans craving as much Can magic as they could get didn't quite turn out as we expected. Gone were the epic, funky ambient songs or minimalist rock experiments in favor of some pretty straightforward jam-band tunes.[9]

Musician Barry Adamson included the album in a list of his 13 favorite albums.[13]

Australian rock band Hunters & Collectors took their name from the song of the same title.[14]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Full Moon on the Highway"Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Peter GilmourCzukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt3:32
2."Half Past One"Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Peter GilmourCzukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt4:39
3."Hunters and Collectors"Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, SchmidtCzukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt4:19
4."Vernal Equinox"noneCzukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt8:48
Side two
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
5."Red Hot Indians"Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, SchmidtCzukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt5:38
6."Unfinished"noneCzukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt13:21
Total length:40:18

Notes

  • Recorded at Inner Space Studio (Weilerswist, near Cologne) by Holger Czukay 1975, assisted by Bob Hickmott
  • Tracks 1 to 4 mixed by Toby Robinson and Holger Czukay at Studio Dierks, Stommeln, Germany
  • Tracks 5 and 6 mixed by Holger Czukay at Inner Space Studio, Weilerswist, Germany
  • Composed, written and produced by Can.

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Boisen, Myles. "Can: Landed > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Can". Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  3. ^ Leone, Dominique (12 July 2005). "Can: Landed". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
  4. ^ Nathan Brackett; Christian David Hoard (2004). The new Rolling Stone album guide. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8.
  5. ^ Hull, Tom (July 5, 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  6. ^ "45cat - Can - Hunters And Collectors / Vernal Equinox - Harvest - Germany - 1C 006-31 392".
  7. ^ a b Rob Young; Irmin Schmidt (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can. London: Faber & Faber. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
  8. ^ Rob Young; Irmin Schmidt (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can. London: Faber & Faber. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
  9. ^ a b Leone, Dominique. "Can: Future Days / Soon Over Babaluma / Unlimited Edition / Landed Album Review - Pitchfork". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  10. ^ Rob Young; Irmin Schmidt (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can. London: Faber & Faber. p. 230-231. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
  11. ^ Rob Young; Irmin Schmidt (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can. London: Faber & Faber. p. 233-234. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
  12. ^ Rob Young; Irmin Schmidt (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can. London: Faber & Faber. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
  13. ^ "The Quietus - Features - Baker's Dozen - Experimentalism Wrapped Around Pop: Barry Adamson's Favourite LPs". Thequietus.com. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  14. ^ McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Hunters & Collectors'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-768-2. Archived from the original on 29 August 2004. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  15. ^ a b "Finding The Lost Can Tapes: Jono Padmore, Irmin Schmidt & Daniel Miller". Soundonsound.com. Retrieved 16 June 2021.