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INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Record Collector JULY 2016 - by Phil Smith

HOLGER CZUKAY: MOVIE!

Can you party?

Grönland's nice-looking but slightly slapdash reissue of 1979's cinema-obsessed Movies does little for Can member Holger Czukay's first solo album, other than swap the cover shot for an image newly approved by him and add the previously released instrumental take of Cool In The Pool. The album is still in demand though and has been expensive to procure despite several generations of reissues, so at least it is now available again.

Movie! is a good record either way, alternating between a couple of singles and two longer pieces and featuring guest spots from other members of Can. It has perennially found new devotees, lured in by the world music samples which Czukay (ahead of his time) sprays all over his and Jaki Liebezeit's well-recorded, spacious and loosely funky tunes.

Critics tend to (understandably) focus on the experimentation, but one might also hear the influence of the Bonzo Dog Band in Czukay's madcap adventures, in the wilful silliness of Cool In The Pool's clubland lyrics and in everyone's favourite crackpot uncle's confidential, slightly spooky vocal tone. Even the more kosmische outings feature the sort of goofy interruptions we're now accustomed to hearing all over quirky dance records. Which Movie! is, of course.