Can - I Want More

What happens when you take an experimental and highly influential German band and combine them with the burgeoning disco scene which is taking hold during the mid-seventies?
You get 'I Want More'. A surreal, unearthly mechanical track which kinda slivers into your ears, beats out one heck of a groove and just stys there. This is like Kraftwerk meets Funkadelic. To be honest, that prettymuch sums it up. By this time, Krautrock and Funk had been heavily dipping into each others pools for quite some time, the minimalist beat of sly stone and laterday funkadelic, the wah wah'd staccato rythms, the cosmic themes, the longing of creating a music for 'their' people, the evolution from rock towards electro, etc, etc. The similarities between the two can go on forever.

I Want More starts off with a funky guitar riff leading into a funky beat and whispery other worldly vocals of an extreme vagueness. But this is post-Suzuki Can, the vocals serve as nothing more than an interesting texture which layers over the music. This then segues into an amazing musical break, sheer Krautrock at it's best and most enjoyable. An upbeat melody over a robotic funk beat. The ghostly whispers of 'I want more and more and more' return and then so does a reprise of this delicious delicious melody, and we fade to silence. This is a superb track, and sounds so surreal and unique compared to the norm. But believe it or not, I Want More is the more normal of the two tracks on this round disk of black plastic.

More, the B-side generates one heck of a groove, the chant of 'More and more and more and more' repeats throughout, creating a whispery and almost sacred, exptremely desperate sounding texture, a vocal version of a steam train rolling along the rails. It gives the music a major sense of urgency and keeps the groove rolling. A funky guitar solo is overlayed, it's funky without breaking into the Hendrix-isms. Which is always good. The track kinda fades out, but it really does what it needs to. Give you a solid groove that's both experimental and danceable (muchlike David Bowie's can inspired Berlin Trilogy, which I will no doubt speak about in great lengths at a later point on this blog!), and has solid musical hooks.

Can's I Want More is an amazing single, proof that Krautrock had 'commercial appeal' and that our German friends are far funkier than we British often give them credit for. A true missing link between funk's playful offspring (disco), and avant-garde rock. It has my full endorsement. Get hold of a copy now!