Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

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Mojo JULY 2017 - by Jim Irvin

CAN: THE SINGLES

Buying the cheapest copies via Discogs, the 45s here would cost you over £400.

Can had no trouble crafting compelling grooves but were disinclined to write convincing pop to go on top. When they finally secured a hooky topline, courtesy of their soundman Peter Gilmour, it wasn't much, but enough to Trojan horse them into the UK singles chart in 1976. I Want More was their only hit, yet Can had been persevering with lateral singles since 1969's spooky Soul Desert (mastered here from scratchy vinyl). One of the weirdest is 1971's stand-alone curio Turtles Have Short Legs, attractive but unfeasible thanks to singer Damo Suzuki's contribution, ludicrously random even by his standards. She Brings The Rain, Vitamin C and Moonshake might have been smashes in a perfect world, while other choices for 45 pitched hope against reason. Nonetheless, this parade of audacious flops is a powerful introduction to this great band's pleasures, should you need one.