There was no Curry-Heute, no time. Today was about witnessing Irmin Schmidt promote and sign his book – All Gates Open – at Waterstone’s (Deansgate, Manchester). All Gates Open – is in two parts, a history of CAN written by Rob Young, and – Can Kiosk – where Irmin Schmidt has collated interviews, notebooks and diaries to complete the story.
Howard accompanied Hector even though his allegiance is towards CAN’s Düsseldorf rival whose name shall not appear here, it’s a Köln thing. Howard was possibly more excited at meeting Stuart Maconie, author and presenter who would chair the proceedings. Rob Young was first seen introducing the book in April 2017 before the CAN Project concert at the Barbican. That evening, Irmin Schmidt conducted the London Symphony Orchestra playing a synthesis of themes from early CAN compositions. This has yet to be released in any format to my knowledge.
The problem when journalists try to tell the story of CAN is that the same stories are repeated: Schloss Nörvenich their first studio before moving to Inner Space (Weilerswist, Köln), how Damo Suzuki was busking on the streets of München and was asked to perform with CAN that very evening. There, I’ve just done the same thing. The book(s) will surely tell more. I want more.
One thing that became evident over both Rob Young interviews was how the CAN compositions came about. The tales of recording live performances on a two track machine have been told since the late 1960s. Only now do we get to appreciate that the album tracks are often edited pieces of tape by Holger Czukay. Drummer Jaki Liebezeit did not like this approach and wanted to replay everything live for recording purposes. Sadly, Holger and Jaki will be adding no more to the story of CAN as both passed in 2017.
Howard and Hector, sitting in the front row, had our questions prepared. Mine was asked before I had the chance, there is allegedly the potential to release a whole new collection of CAN Live albums. However, we were told by Irmin that it is now up to him to do the editing. Quote: I don’t listen to music.
The first solo Irmin Schmidt album was Filmmusik (1980) which I bought on vinyl on the release date. This has never appeared on CD. Howard had a copy made for Hector in 2015 and it wasn’t even my birthday. When asked why, Irmin evidently thought we were referring to the CAN – Soundtracks – material. His daughter at the rear of the room insisted that Filmmusik appears on the triple Anthology CD, not all the tracks are there. My favourite Michael Karoli guitar break on – Verfolgung – (Im Herzen Des Hurrican) is not there. I rest my case.
Curry tomorrow is at Sarina’s (Queensbury, Bradford).