Soon Over Babaluma
Encyclopedia
Soon Over Babaluma is the sixth studio album
by the rock music
group Can
. This is the band's first album without a lead vocalist who does not play an instrument, following the departure of Damo Suzuki
in 1973 during which he married his German girlfriend. The vocals are taken care of by guitarist Michael Karoli
and keyboardist Irmin Schmidt
. It is also their last album that was created using a two-track recorder
.
It takes the ambient
style of Future Days
and pushes it even further at times, as on "Quantum Physics". The album also has its fair share of upbeat tracks, such as "Chain Reaction" and "Dizzy Dizzy".
gave the album a positive review stating that "[a]s überrock goes, this is diverting enough, ricky-ticking along through various moderately arresting sci-fi soundtrack noises, some of them melodies". American musician Dominique Leone
gave the album a rating of 8.8 out of 10, and in his 2005 review for Pitchfork Media
of the Mute Records
remastered edition of the album, wrote that "[he] was constantly surprised at how clear everything sounded, as if the band had recorded all of this stuff in one fell swoop during an unbelievably inspired, marathon session. One of the great things about Can[, ... ,] was the attention to detail and realization that the affect of each tiny moment in the course of a song can affect the momentum of the entire piece. No small miracles here: even if it's sad to think these albums represent Can's last great gasp, none of their moments have ever sounded better". In his review for Allmusic, American music journalist Ned Raggett
stated that "With Suzuki departed, vocal responsibilities were now split between Karoli and Schmidt. Wisely, neither try to clone Mooney or Suzuki, instead aiming for their own low-key way around things", giving the album a rating of four stars out of five.
Production
in Europe in 1974 throughout United Artists Records
, with the exclusion of Spain where it was released on Ariola Eurodisc
. It was published in the U.S. the following year under United Artists. In 1989, it was first released in CD format in Europe and the U.S. on Mute Records
and Spoon Records
. In 2005, the album was remaster
ed and first published in Super Audio CD
format.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by the rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
group Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
. This is the band's first album without a lead vocalist who does not play an instrument, following the departure of Damo Suzuki
Damo Suzuki
, universally known as Damo Suzuki , is a singer best known for his membership in the German krautrock group Can.-Biography:As a teenager, Suzuki spent the late 1960s wandering around Europe, often busking....
in 1973 during which he married his German girlfriend. The vocals are taken care of by guitarist Michael Karoli
Michael Karoli
Michael Karoli was a German guitarist, violinist and composer. He was a founding member of the influential krautrock band Can....
and keyboardist Irmin Schmidt
Irmin Schmidt
Irmin Schmidt is a German keyboard player and composer, probably best known as a founding member of the band Can.-Biography:...
. It is also their last album that was created using a two-track recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
.
It takes the ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
style of Future Days
Future Days
Future Days is the fifth studio album by the rock music group Can. This is the last album to feature Japanese vocalist Damo Suzuki. On Future Days, the band employs more of an ambient sound than on their previous efforts, especially on the title track and the twenty-minute "Bel Air".-Track...
and pushes it even further at times, as on "Quantum Physics". The album also has its fair share of upbeat tracks, such as "Chain Reaction" and "Dizzy Dizzy".
Reception
Reception for Soon Over Babaluma was positive. American music journalist Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the album a positive review stating that "[a]s überrock goes, this is diverting enough, ricky-ticking along through various moderately arresting sci-fi soundtrack noises, some of them melodies". American musician Dominique Leone
Dominique Leone
Dominique Leone is an American musician and writer based in San Francisco, California. He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on December 29, 1973, and grew up in the Dallas, Texas area....
gave the album a rating of 8.8 out of 10, and in his 2005 review for Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
of the Mute Records
Mute Records
Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...
remastered edition of the album, wrote that "[he] was constantly surprised at how clear everything sounded, as if the band had recorded all of this stuff in one fell swoop during an unbelievably inspired, marathon session. One of the great things about Can[, ... ,] was the attention to detail and realization that the affect of each tiny moment in the course of a song can affect the momentum of the entire piece. No small miracles here: even if it's sad to think these albums represent Can's last great gasp, none of their moments have ever sounded better". In his review for Allmusic, American music journalist Ned Raggett
Ned Raggett
Ned Raggett is a library assistant, freelance writer and music journalist. His work has been published in Allmusic, the OC Weekly, Plan B, Metal Edge and The Quietus, while pieces have also appeared in Dream, Arthur, as well as Stylus, The Broken Face, Fake Jazz, Freaky Trigger, Careless Talk...
stated that "With Suzuki departed, vocal responsibilities were now split between Karoli and Schmidt. Wisely, neither try to clone Mooney or Suzuki, instead aiming for their own low-key way around things", giving the album a rating of four stars out of five.
Track listing
Personnel
Can- Holger CzukayHolger CzukayHolger Czukay is a German musician, probably best known as a co-founder of the krautrock group Can. Described by critic Jason Ankeny as "successfully bridg[ing] the gap between pop and the avant-garde," Czukay is also notable for creating early important examples of ambient music, for exploring...
– bass, vocals - Michael KaroliMichael KaroliMichael Karoli was a German guitarist, violinist and composer. He was a founding member of the influential krautrock band Can....
– guitar, violin, vocals - Jaki LiebezeitJaki LiebezeitJaki Liebezeit is a drummer probably best known as a founding member of Can who has been called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral"....
– drums, percussion - Irmin SchmidtIrmin SchmidtIrmin Schmidt is a German keyboard player and composer, probably best known as a founding member of the band Can.-Biography:...
– keyboards, vocals
Production
- CanCan (band)Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
– producers - Holger Czukay – chief engineer and editing
- Ulli Eichberger – artwork and design
- Andreas Torkler – 2005 remastering
Release history
The album was first released in LP formatLP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
in Europe in 1974 throughout United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
, with the exclusion of Spain where it was released on Ariola Eurodisc
Ariola Records
Ariola Records is a German record label. As of the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of BMG which in turn has since become a part of the international media conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment...
. It was published in the U.S. the following year under United Artists. In 1989, it was first released in CD format in Europe and the U.S. on Mute Records
Mute Records
Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...
and Spoon Records
Spoon Records
Spoon Records is an independent record label managed by Hildegard Schmidt, wife of keyboard player Irmin Schmidt, since 1974, on which music by the krautrock band Can and its members has been released and re-released. It takes its name from the song Spoon on Can's Ege Bamyasi album....
. In 2005, the album was remaster
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
ed and first published in Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
format.
- See the table below for a more comprehensive list of the album releases.
| Year | Format | Label | Country | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | LP LP record The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
United Artists United Artists Records United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:... (UA[S>G] 29673[1]) |
France, Germany, UK, Yugoslavia | — |
| Ariola Eurodisc Ariola Records Ariola Records is a German record label. As of the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of BMG which in turn has since become a part of the international media conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment... (88723-I) |
Spain | |||
| 1975 | United Artists United Artists Records United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:... (UA-LA343-G) |
U.S. | ||
| 1981 | Celluloid Celluloid Records Celluloid Records, a French/American record label, founded by Jean Georgakarakos operated from 1976 to 1989 in New York, and produced a series of eclectic and ground-breaking releases, particularly in the early to late 1980s, largely under the auspices of de facto in-house producer Bill... (CEL 6610) |
France | ||
| 1984 | Spoon Spoon Records Spoon Records is an independent record label managed by Hildegard Schmidt, wife of keyboard player Irmin Schmidt, since 1974, on which music by the krautrock band Can and its members has been released and re-released. It takes its name from the song Spoon on Can's Ege Bamyasi album.... (SPOON 010) |
Germany | ||
| 1989 | CD | Spoon (SPOON 010) | Germany, Austria | |
| 1998 | Mute Mute Records Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:... (9065-2) / Spoon (SPOON CD[0]10) |
U.S. | ||
| 2005 | P-Vine P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is a record label started by Blues Interactions, Inc., a firm in Tokyo, Japan established in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi... (PCD-22206) |
Japan | ||
| SACD Super Audio CD Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard... |
Spoon (SPOON SA 010)/(0724356329621) / Mute (9289-2) | Europe, UK, U.S. | Remastered | |
| 2007 | CD | Spoon ([CD ] SPOON[CD] [0]10[ WY]) | Germany | — |
| ArsNova (AN99-0320) | Russia |