Mark Lager’s Summer Vinyl: Can – Future Days (1973)

Everyone, no matter who you are, needs a vacation. Can’s Future Days is a quintessential summer vacation record. Many of us would love to spend time on a beach, a faraway island, yet we are still stuck in our homes because of the coronavirus quarantine. Future Days magically transports you to a hidden refuge. Damo Suzuki, Holger Czukay, Irmin Schmidt, Jaki Liebezeit, and Michael Karoli needed a vacation in 1973. The band had been recording and touring for four years (first with African American vocalist Malcolm Mooney during their debut Monster Movie in 1969, followed by their new inspiration with Japanese singer Damo Suzuki, who joined the band in 1970, which yielded Tago Mago in 1971 and Ege Bamyasi in 1972). During the early summer of 1973, the band embarked on a holiday. When they returned (June – July), they were re-energized and, at Inner Space Studios in Cologne, Germany, they recorded the ambient, dreamy, experimental, funky improvisations which became Future Days.

The album artwork of Future Days perfectly fits the record: it is blue and features both the Greek letter Psi, shaped like a trident (symbol of biological rhythm, extrasensory perception, Neptune, and water potential), and the I Ching hexagram Cauldron (symbol of community, nourishment, ritual). The album contains aquatic atmospheres and soundscapes. The band were the most united they would ever be.

Damo Suzuki himself said “Future Days is for me the best album I made with Can because it was very easy to quit from Can after that album. I wanted nothing from them after that. Musically, I was completely satisfied.” I agree with Damo Suzuki. Although I appreciate Tago Mago (“Paperhouse”, “Mushroom”, “Oh Yeah”, “Halleluhwah”, “Bring Me Coffee or Tea”) and Ege Bamyasi (“Sing Swan Song”, “One More Night”, “Vitamin C”, “I’m So Green”), Future Days will always be my favorite Can album because there are no tracks I ever skip. (I always skip the noisy “Aumgn”, “Peking O”, “Soup”.) My reissue of the record, gold swirl vinyl, is a treasure.

The four songs on Future Days flow harmoniously, Damo Suzuki’s melodic voice guiding the band’s flights of fancy. The album begins with extraterrestrial echoes and what sounds like Jacques Cousteau in his aqualung. Tropical music emerges with Holger Czukay’s bass, Irmin Schmidt’s keyboards, Jaki Liebezeit’s percussion, and Michael Karoli’s guitar. Damo sings “Save that money for a rainy day for the sake of future days.” Despite the tropical music, Damo Suzuki’s lyrics are the anticipation, the prelude, the restless waiting for a much needed vacation rather than the vacation itself.
“Spray“, as the name suggests, seems to take place underwater, the band’s intricate polyrhythms in one moment are cresting and ebbing waves and in another moment creatures drifting through coral reefs and forests of kelp. Damo is lost in this strange subterranean terrain. “Just don’t know where I’m going, just don’t know where you are, where you run, the water run.”

“Moonshake” is above ground, on the surface. After the snorkeling/scuba diving of “Spray”, Damo and the band have enjoyed a delicious dinner and drinks so now they are enjoying this coastal or island nightlife. “You can’t often stay all night,” croons Damo. The band find a groove that is seductive and sensual.

“Bel Air” could be considered Can’s most mesmerizing masterpiece. Damo chants “Spinning down alone, you spin alive.” The closing track is certainly the band at its most blissfully dazed and boldly complex. The twenty minutes of “Bel Air” are an entire day in an Edenic paradise- an active afternoon beach combing for shells at low tide and at high tide sailing through the wind, followed by the return to shore, the sunset shimmering on the sea. You are awakened by birds calling at dawn as the mellow morning light glimmers on the ocean. You breathe in the salty scents. You open your eyes to the blinding, radiant turquoise.

by Mark Lager