Track Listing

1. Father Cannot Yell
2. Mary, Mary So Contrary
3. Outside My Door
4. Yoo Doo Right

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #905854 in Music
• Released on: 1998-05-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Import

Customer Reviews

Unutterably good
Can really are the absolute daddies. Along with the Velvet Underground they pretty much defined the sound of so-called alternative music, and while they are often cited as influences by modern bands very few if any come close to capturing their power and originality. Monster Movie is their first album, and their only complete one with original vocalist Malcolm Mooney. To people used to the more melodic feel of the Damo Suzuki albums the sheer rawness of this debut can be quite a shock. Opener father cannot yell is a scything blast of punk which veers into trance territory before giving into the noise again, with Mooney's free-association lyrics dropped haphazardly into the mix. By the end you feel quite breathless. The next track debases and seduces a sweet n innocent nursery rhyme with some low-slung blues, before Outside my Door closes side one with the most straightahead rock track they ever recorded. Side two is the legendary Yoo Doo Right, a massive 20 minute mantra built around a simple bassline with lyrics read straight from a letter. It is so difficult to describe this track - It's so simply constructed, but each listen reveals new details or different meanings. I cannot praise this album highly enough. If you value your ears, you will buy it instantly. Really. Do it now.

Raw and powerful
Besides the brilliant cover art, this album also boasts some of the most gripping experimental music from the late 1960s.

The opening track Father Cannot Yell is a real stunner that reminds me of the Velvet Underground on tracks like European Son or White Light/White Heat with its raw pulsating bass, insistent keyboard and stuttering vocals.

Mary Mary So Contrary is a slow rock excursion with bluesy vocals, whilst Outside My Door is a powerful piece of acid rock psychedelia, not too dissimilar from Big Brother And The Holding Company's masterpieces like Piece Of My Heart or Combination Of The Two.

The long winding track You Doo Right is a 20 minute tour de force of impressive instrumental textures and varied vocals that captures many moods. It includes tribal drumming and veers from bluesy rock to world music to psychedelic textures.

Monster Movie certainly exerted a profound influence on post-punk music of the late seventies and eighties - Talking Heads and Public Image Limited being only two of the groups that come to mind. It remains a classic of brilliant power and has stood the test of time very well.

{...perfect sound forever...}
A truly classic album, but one which still borders on shockingly fresh when you hear it (or any CAN) for the first time.

Only 4 tracks in length, but the first (Father Cannot Yell) and last (You Doo Right) alone (27 mins between them) will take your breath away.

In an age where 'popular' music is largely the production of a billion-dollar multinational industry, CAN will always blow your mind. Don't be put off by the word 'experimental', cos although CAN have always been that, they do do SONGS, and not just pootle around arhythmically/tunelessly.

This was the first CAN album released, but 'DELAY 1968' can be seen as a sister album, that material being produced at around the same time. What better places to start? Some of the best songs you will ever hear are here. Let CAN broaden your horizons.. yes, even YOU, jaded listener!