New Live album recorded at local venue…47 years ago! Can Live in Keele

Sure, Slash recorded Made In Stoke at the Victoria Hall Hanley in 2011, and The Ramones have finally released their Viccy Hall 1977 gig (although it’ll cost you £100 to get a copy). But there aren’t many others that spring to mind.

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Oh, sure there were bootlegs of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin at Trentham Gardens, but I’m talking official releases. That really only covers Status Quo’s live at Trentham track on an EP over 50 years ago…and that’s about it!

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So, it’s a big deal when a live album of a local gig is released officially. It’s like a blue moon; it doesn’t come round too often. This time it’s Keele University’s Student Union Ballroom.

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But now, released last week is an album by the “krautrock” band Can entitled Live In Keele 1977. The band were one of the leaders of this 70s genre that fused German psychedelic prog rock with new electronic music, including synthesizers.

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The gig was recorded at Keele (Newcastle-under-Lyme) on 2nd March 1977, as Can resumed a previously cancelled tour. (Their keyboard player had fallen down some stairs.) It was billed as the opening gig of the Can tour, although in reality they’d actually played Kent Uni the night before!

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For this tour the classic lineup of Holger Czukay (electronics!), Michael Karoli (guitar), Jaki Leiberzeit (drums), Irmin Schmidt (keyboards) were joined by former Traffic/Go bassist Rosko Gee who freed up bassist Czukay to add wild shortwave and morse code sounds to enhance the hypnotic rhythms the rest were achieving.

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Curiously, this Can-at-Keele gig may not be new to Can fanatics. A 6 minute snippet of the gig appeared on the pricey “Can Box” Box Set released by the band over 25 years ago. However, the gig was widely available on bootleg for many years before that! Now, I would never normally refer to illegal bootlegs, except now bands themselves are getting hold of these live recordings – sometimes supplied to them by their fans! – and are now releasing a load of them in a tarted up format.

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And the sound is good. Five pieces on one CD, entitled Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier and Funf! (Or more accurately, “Keele 77 Eins”, “Keele 77 Zwei”…) Mostly it is hypnotic krautrock instrumental jamming, some of which are vaguely recognisable album tracks from their just released 8th album Saw Delight. (Drei is effectively Don’t Say No, and Funf takes Animal Waves to new extremes.)

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But that’s Can for you. Depending on your mood and attitude, it can either be a challenging listen or intriguing background music.

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The opening track “Eins” or “Fizz” (on Can Box) or “Improvisation” (on the bootleg!) is particularly beguiling, with the rhythm section leading the other musicians to places where they can stretch their skills. By the time of Funf, the musicianship is shining brightly, and the band are on a roll.

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However, this is little evidence of Keele here. Occasionally, you hear a tiny ripple of applause, as a piece begins to wind up, but with the exception of the intro to Zwei, there is little of the (known) interaction with the Keele crowd. At the very end of the CD the clapping is cut off almost as soon as it starts.

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This is probably to ensure they can squeeze as much music into one CD disc (75 minutes). This makes one wonder if they have the rest of the gig on tape somewhere, including their rendition of their then recent (solitary) “hit” I Want More. (It reached No.26, and they even got on Top Of The Pops!) We know they played it, as fans (and even roadies!) have put the actual set-list for this particular gig on the web!

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This is really a CD for the many thousands of Can fans, another in a set of live albums they’ve released over the last few years. It is probably less for the 600 Keele students who attended that night, although they should be proud to be part of this release. I recommend they buy a copy (CD, LP or MP3), turn it on, close their eyes and take themselves back 47 years.

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The reason to close their eyes is that tragically there is no footage or photography of the gig, which brings a tinge of sadness to the album sleeve. The inlay notes are written by the distinguished Jennifer Lucy Allan (BBC Radio 3 & The Guardian), and it is worth buying just for them.

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However, I didn’t say her notes were not controversial! Tongue in cheek she writes: “Campus universities are often dreadful places, and Keele is one of the worst.” “Keele campus bar and venue…a gloomy, sticky place that reeked of stale lager…The whole site seemed a drab and isolated place…a life-sucking place to perform”!

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Now, we’re not to take these jabs personally or even literally. Jennifer is also observing that Can weren’t in a great place either, with their Saw Delight album slaughtered by the media for not being a punk-rock record (this was 1977, remember).

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What she’s building up to is to say that Keele and Can in 1977 were an unlikely combination to produce such a great live album. And she’s right on the whole. Yes, her criticism of Keele is harsh, but in context she is actually only being playfully catty, reminiscing her visits to Keele from her studies at rival Sheffield Uni.

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So, should us locals invest in this locally-recorded album? Yes! I can honestly say that although I am not a Can fan, I am thoroughly enjoying wallowing in this edgy krautrock morass, with the warm feeling that this creation was formed just down-the-road. (Or should that be down-the autobahn?)

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Afterall, I’m not sure when the next blue moon is due.

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