Can – ‘Tago Mago‘ (double vinyl LP)

The influence of Can’s double album opus looms over Britain’s alternative music with the same permanence as the imposing 15th century castle near Cologne where it was recorded. ‘Tago Mago’ captures the band at the height of its considerable powers. The precise and beautifully recorded drumming of “half man, half-machine” Jaki Liebezeit on the likes of ‘Mushroom’ and the side-long ‘Halleluwah’ are usually the first layer of this album’s depths to reveal itself to new listeners, but there are so many more. The second disc’s freakery shows where krautrock had been, while disc one mapped out where it could go. But it was only Can who went there.