Out of Reach (album)

Out of Reach
Studio album by Can
Released	July 1978
Recorded	October 1977
Genre	Krautrock
Length	35:19
Label	Harvest
Producer	Can
Can chronology
Saw Delight (1977) Out of Reach (1978) Can (1979)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
George Starostin	(9/15)[2]
Pitchfork Media	(3.7/10)[3]

Out of Reach is the tenth studio album by the German krautrock band Can, released as an LP in 1978 on Harvest Records.^[1] It is their tenth official studio album, discounting compilations such as Unlimited Edition.

Context

The band's previous album Saw Delight was the first to include former Traffic members Rosko Gee and Rebop Kwaku Baah. Founding bassist and producer Holger Czukay was reduced to the position of making electronic sounds^[4] as Gee took over the bass duties. Czukay left the band during the recording sessions for what was to become Out of Reach.^[1]

Style

As a partial result of Czukay's departure, the new members are said to dominate the group's sound on this album (or "to impose too strict a sense of rhythm on Can's once free-flowing music", according to an interview^[5]). Critically acclaimed drummer Jaki Liebezeit's beats are greatly reduced in their power in relation to Baah's percussion.^[1] However, the album's strong guitar solos from Michael Karoli are a link to the older Can sound, and have drawn comparisons to those of Carlos Santana^[6] and Eric Clapton.^[2] Gee has also been praised as creating a jazz sound,^[1] but equally Out of Reach has been criticized for delving into a disco style.^[6]

Music

Rosko Gee takes lead vocals on "Pauper's Daughter and I" (quoting the "Jack and Jill" nursery rhyme) and "Give Me No 'Roses'", and is credited with writing these two tracks,^[1] although according to a 1997 interview with the band in Mojo magazine, this lack of collaboration with the rest of the group was a sign that the band was about to collapse.^[5] Rebop sings on the track "Like INOBE GOD", which has been eschewed for having an 'ethno-disco' feel,^[2] and has also been called Can's worst-ever recorded piece.^[1]

The four other songs ("Serpentine", "November", "Seven Days Awake" and "One More Day") are instrumental. "November" in particular has been praised as having outstanding guitar work,^[2] although others such as the album's closing piece, "One More Day", have been seen as weak and uninspired.^[2]

Reissued versions

Out of Reach has been reissued along with Can's 1979 self-titled release Can (which is also known as Inner Space, named after the band's recording studio).^[7] Various other reissued versions of this album do exist on CD, such as the issue of Out of Reach (without Can) on MagMid (TKO Magnum Music) in the United Kingdom,^[8] although it is considerably more difficult to find than other Can albums in general.^[1] However, this album, being the only Can album that features no input from Holger Czukay (as its 1979 followup Can had some editing by Czukay^[9]), has been disowned by the band in recent years as it is not listed as part of Can's discography on their official website,^[10] and was not remastered on CD in the 1990s, nor was it reissued on Super Audio CD in the mid-2000s as all the other Can studio albums were.^[11]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Serpentine[1]"	4:03
2.	"Pauper's Daughter and I"	5:57
3.	"November"	7:37
4.	"Seven Days Awake"	5:12
5.	"Give Me No 'Roses'"	5:21
6.	"Like INOBE GOD"	5:51
7.	"One More Day"	1:37
Total length:		35:19

Personnel

• Rebop Kwaku Baah: Vocal, Polymoog Synth, Percussion
• Michael Karoli: Guitars, Violin
• Irmin Schmidt: Keyboards
• Rosko Gee: Bass, Piano, Vocal
• Jaki Liebezeit: Drums

Citations

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Mason, Stewart. "Can: Out of Reach" at Allmusic. Retrieved 21 February 2007.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Starostin, Georgiy. "Out of Reach". Can. starling.rinet.ru. http://starling.rinet.ru/music/can.htm#Reach. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
3. ^ Richardson, Mark (11 August 2003). "Can: Out of Reach". Pitchfork Media. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1270-out-of-reach/. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
4. ^ "Saw Delight". Can Releases. Spoon Records. http://www.spoonrecords.com/saw.html. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Gill, Andy (April 1997). "Can". Mojo (London: EMAP Performance). ISSN 1351-0193. Archived from the original on 5 May 1999. http://web.archive.org/web/19990505023308/http://www.sci.fi/%7Ephinnweb/krautrock/mojo-can.html. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Prindle, Mark. "Out of Reach". Can. MarkPrindle.com. http://www.markprindle.com/can.htm#out. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
7. ^ "Can & Out of Reach" at Allmusic. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
8. ^ Channel 4 SlashMusic^{[dead link]}
9. ^ "Can". Can Releases. Spoon Records. http://www.spoonrecords.com/disco/canal.html. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
10. ^ "Can Releases". Discography. Spoon Records. http://www.spoonrecords.com/disco.html. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
11. ^ "Can ‒ Remastered!!!". News. Spoon Records. July 2005. Archived from the original on 1 December 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20051201111300/http://www.spoonrecords.com/news.html.