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The WireAug 8, 2017While The Singles fails to represent Can’s adventures in untethered improvisation and oceanic drift, if you wanted to hand somebody one record that told them what Can was, you could do far worse. [Jul 2017, p.67]
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Jul 28, 2017The music is the story, and The Singles, whether it’s filling in the gaps or just presenting the band’s legacy in a slimmed-down package, is all about the story.
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MagnetJul 18, 2017The Singles is as good a starting point as any, as it highlights the diversity that spanned the band's entire career. All the classics are present and accounted for. [No. 144, p.54]
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Jul 5, 2017Ultimately, though, as a collection that welcomes the near misses and the questionable latter-era caricaturing, The Singles is real and admirable testament to the full Can story.
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UncutJun 26, 2017Here is Can, warts and all. [Jul 2017, p.49]
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Jun 26, 2017As an entry level to this magnificent band, this more than suffices.
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Jun 23, 2017Can – The Singles is laid out logically and chronologically, and makes a convincing, consistent case for the accessibility of enigmatic, semi-abstract art rock when delivered in concise and chewable chunks.
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Jun 22, 2017On seminal albums like Monster Movie and Tago Mago the songs flow and breathe in a very different way than the shortened pieces here. Those unfamiliar with Can would be wise to start with the albums, then come to this collection and enjoy the peculiar window it offers, which is full of fun surprises and brief snippets of Can’s genius. Fans, though, needn’t think about it before snapping up this necessary release.
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MojoJun 22, 2017This parade of audacious flops is a powerful introduction to this great band's pleasures, should you need one. [Jul 2017, p.104]
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Jun 20, 2017A late-career lapse into gimmicky covers of “Silent Night” and “Can Can” aside, this compilation is a marvellous confirmation of pop’s fringe possibilities.
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Jun 20, 2017Taken as whole though, The Singles is a strangely satisfyingly testament to the belief that most great musical ideas--even those delivered with such wilfully uncommercial and unconventional intent--can still be boiled-down to fit on one side of a 7” slice of plastic.
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Jun 20, 2017For all of their serious, avant-garde inclinations, Can could be awfully fun to listen to, and this alternate universe hit parade is a sterling demonstration of the group at its most immediate, energetic, and enjoyable.
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Jun 20, 2017To hear tracks like ‘Dizzy Dizzy’ or ‘Halleluwah’ hacked down to mere Can-ettes for the humble 7” format feels a little like trying to make sense of a vast painted canvass simply by focusing on, say, the top left corner. Once you get over that, with singles typically being the most accessible or marketable moments in a band’s trajectory, this collection represents a superb introduction to the Can catalogue for anyone lacking the willpower or patience to trawl their albums or the goldmine of material presented on 2012’s essential ‘The Can Tapes.’
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Jun 20, 2017As evidenced here, experimental doesn’t mean inaccessible. This is music from the past that, while only looking forward, is still daring the present to catch up.
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Jun 20, 2017The Singles traces both Can’s genius and how they ultimately ran out of ideas, losing all of their Vitamin C.