Soon Over Babaluma

Soon Over Babaluma
Studio album by Can
Released	November 1974
Recorded	August 1974 at Inner Space
Genre	Krautrock
Length	38:56
Label	United Artists, Spoon, Mute
Producer	Can
Can chronology
Future Days (1973) Soon Over Babaluma (1974) Landed (1975)

Soon Over Babaluma is the sixth studio album by the rock music group Can. This is the band's first album without a lead vocalist who does not play an instrument, following the departure of Damo Suzuki in 1973 during which he married his German girlfriend. The vocals are taken care of by guitarist Michael Karoli and keyboardist Irmin Schmidt. It is also their last album that was created using a two-track recorder.

It takes the ambient style of Future Days and pushes it even further at times, as on "Quantum Physics". The album also has its fair share of upbeat tracks, such as "Chain Reaction" and "Dizzy Dizzy".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B− [2]
Pitchfork Media	(8.9/10) [3]

Reception for Soon Over Babaluma was positive. American music journalist Robert Christgau gave the album a positive review stating that "[a]s überrock goes, this is diverting enough, ricky-ticking along through various moderately arresting sci-fi soundtrack noises, some of them melodies".^[2] American musician Dominique Leone gave the album a rating of 8.9 out of 10, and in his 2005 review for Pitchfork Media of the Mute Records remastered edition of the album, wrote that "[he] was constantly surprised at how clear everything sounded, as if the band had recorded all of this stuff in one fell swoop during an unbelievably inspired, marathon session. One of the great things about Can[, ... ,] was the attention to detail and realization that the effect of each tiny moment in the course of a song can effect the momentum of the entire piece. No small miracles here: even if it's sad to think these albums represent Can's last great gasp, none of their moments have ever sounded better".^[3] In his review for Allmusic, American music journalist Ned Raggett stated that "With Suzuki departed, vocal responsibilities were now split between Karoli and Schmidt. Wisely, neither try to clone Mooney or Suzuki, instead aiming for their own low-key way around things", giving the album a rating of four stars out of five.^[1]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Can, except (1) - lyrics by Duncan Fallowell. 

Personnel

Release history

The album was first released in LP format in Europe in 1974 throughout United Artists Records, with the exclusion of Spain where it was released on Ariola Eurodisc. It was published in the U.S. the following year under United Artists. In 1989, it was first released in CD format in Europe and the U.S. on Mute Records and Spoon Records. In 2005, the album was remastered and first published in Super Audio CD format.^[4]

See the table below for a more comprehensive list of the album releases.^[4]

References