1973′s Future Days marked the end of the band’s stretch with singer Damo Suzuki, but ’74′s Soon Over Babaluma extends Can’s golden era for one more disc. Reduced to a quartet, its members shift duties and stretch psychedelia further from its source: When he isn’t augmenting his guitar with violin, Michael Karoli plays it as if it were one. He and Irmin Schmidt — who uncharacteristically pounds a regular piano on a couple of cuts — contribute vocals that recede to the background after the first two tracks. Drummer Jaki Liebezeit’s beats deviate from their usual funk, and bassist Holger Czukay holds back even more than usual, giving to the band’s space rock additional spaciousness. Can has never been cluttered, but here it’s finely defined.

Opening track and single “Dizzy Dizzy” begins Can’s recurring excursions into reggae so unconventional it’s rarely recognized as such. Karoli takes the mic to twist James Brown catchphrases into abstract pillow talk, but his violin — popularized in contemporaneous rock by Roxy Music, Cockney Rebel and ELO — is the focal point. He plays it in gypsy style while his bandmates swoop and skank as if the Jamaica of their dreams lacked gravity. “Come… read more »