Celebrating Damo Suzuki, 16th January 1950 to 9th February 2024.
This one damn near broke me. And I don't mean on an emotional level, but physically trying to get today's selection and post up here. I like to think that in some other plane of existence, Damo is aware of my amateurish efforts and chain of mishaps this morning and is having a belly laugh at my expense, before turning his attention to things of greater cosmic import.
I had another post lined up for today, but I woke this morning to the news of Damo's passing and decided that I wanted to post a tribute to him instead.
To be honest, I didn't expect it to be a very big job: I have relatively little by Can to begin with and Damo was with them from 1970 to 1973 which narrowed the selection further. I have absolutely nothing of Damo's post-Can career.
And the news that I could have seen Damo play a gig with Fuzz Against Junk in the intimate surrounds of Fiddlers Club in south Bristol in March 2004 is a non-story as I decided not to get a ticket. In retrospect, I should have gone and taken the following day off work.
I then got it into my head that, in the spirit of Damo's improvisational style, I should actually try and cut-and-paste collage of all of the entire longlist, throwing in cover versions and remixes of Damo-era Can songs to boot. So I suddenly had about 20-odd songs and about 3+ hours of material to work with. Okay, so it was going to take a big longer than usual, but I was game...
I was about 3 songs in and thinking that it had got off to a reasonably good start when the Apple Music app which holds my digital music collection starting acting weirdly, shortly followed by the on-screen announcement that the wireless mouse has 1% charge left. Closing down and re-opening the app completely wiped the working playlist that I'd created. No problem, I said through gritted teeth (okay, I did swear a bit too), I'll start over again.
I do have a 'backup' wireless mouse. Unfortunately, it's the 'original' one whose increasingly impaired performance resulted in the purchase of the 'current' one, which had less than 1% at this point and promptly lost connection. The 'backup' had 20% charge which would be fine. However, one it's quirks is unpredictable cursor action, usually resulting in you getting the complete opposite of what you're trying to achieve. Cue lots of examples in the Audacity app of highlighting, moving, editing and cutting anything but the bit of the music that I was actually working on.
I could see the job doubling and trebling in length. Thankfully, after an hour there was sufficient charge on the 'current' mouse to abandon the 'backup' and have some hope of completing and posting this selection before Sunday is over.
Another 'improvised' decision as a result of my tech woes, but which may be a blessing to you dear readers, is that the selection is a mere 14 songs. I decided to cut my losses after Halleluhwah and tacked the intended closing song Turtles Have Short Legs at the end.
So you are denied/spared (delete as applicable) Future Days, Moonshake, Paperhouse, Sing Swan Song, Mighty Girl*, Vitamin C and Yoo Do Right. What you do get is two hours of music edited down to roughly 66 minutes, all giving a nod to Damo's brilliance.
Mother Sky switches between the Can original and the Pilooski edit. On Mushroom, you'll hear Damo duetting with Jim Reid for the first and last time. Mark E. Smith inevitably gets in on the act with The Fall's own tribute from 1985.
Oh Yeah appears in three increasingly shorter sections, courtesy of Can, Kris Needs and Mute label maestro Daniel Miller. There's the wonderfully titled Tape Kebab from a John Peel session* and three versions of Can's masterwork Halleluhwah.
First up is the 1995 version by Spirit Feel, featuring Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag formerly of Propaganda. This is followed by Damo fronting the original album version. Both of these push beyond 18 minutes; you get much less here, but the addition of a third, closing section from - who else? - The Orb, released a couple of years after the Spirit Feel cover version.
The closer, Turtles Have Short Leg, is incredibly short by Can standards, but one of many examples of their lighter, poppier moments. Well, relatively speaking.
Neither the words nor the selection really do justice to Damo the man, the musician, the uniquely talented individual and front person, be it Can, Damo Suzuki's Network or the numerous collaborations and improvisations that he's been responsible for.
But in reading about my amateurish efforts and chain of mishaps to get this out here today, I hope you'll join Damo in a chuckle, a laugh or a full-on belly laugh. And then go and play some more of his music, long and loud.
See you, Damo.
1) I'm So Green: Can (1973)
2) Mother Sky (Album Version): Can (1970)
3) Mother Sky (Pilooski Edit By Cédric Marszewski): Can (2007)
4) Mushroom (Album Version): Can (1971)
5) Mushroom (Live In Nuremburg): The Jesus & Mary Chain (1986)
6) I Am Damo Suzuki: The Fall (1985)
7) Oh Yeah (Album Version): Can (1971)
8) Oh Yeah (Secret Knowledge Mix By Kris Needs & Henry Cullen ft. Jah Wobble): Can (1997)
9) Oh Yeah (Sunroof! Mix By Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones): Can (1997)
10) Tape Kebab (John Peel Session): Can (1974)
11) Halleluhwah: Spirit Feel ft. Claudia Brücken & Susanne Freytag (1995)
12) Halleluhwah (Album Version): (1971)
13) Halleluhwah (Halleluwa Orbus II) (Remix By The Orb aka Alex Paterson & Andy Hughes) (1997)
14) Turtles Have Short Legs: Can (1971)
I Am Damo Suzuki (1:06:16) (KF) (Mega)
