Sacrilege - Remixes
Without a doubt, Can were the best thing to come out of Germany (with the possible exception of Borussia Dortmund). Lodged somewhere outside the sacred and profane, their music was never less than challenging, quite often confounding and an influence on a generation of musicians who listened with its brains. Can, of course, are in the can now, but the malady lingers on, and in these 16 tracks it's exhumed, restructured and generally treated to all sorts of amazing necrophilia, to the point where you could call this something new. But better to call it brilliant. Even Sonic Yoof, not known for their taste, turn "Spoon" into something that's dripping with menace. The Orb perform the usual magic on "Halleluwah," while Pete Shelley's tinkering with "Father Cannot Yell" manages the odd feat of turning it into an '80s extended disco mix. And not one bit of it is bad. If getting in a bunch of grand remixers (add System 7, Kris Needs, Bruce Gilbert, and others to the list above) to perform surgery is the tribute album of the future, then I'm all in favor.--Chris Nickson