Holger Czukayの晩年のClaremont 56での作品が、新しいコンピレーションで称賛されている。元Canのベーシストで、独創的な音楽家として知られるCzukayは、2009年から2012年にかけてPaul Murphyのレーベルから一連のインスパイアされたトラックをリリース。中には独自の再構築やエピックな楽曲が含まれている。Claremont 56の創設者であるMurphyが、2009年のRoundhouseでの伝説的なライブを見たことをきっかけに、Czukayとの協力関係が始まった。コンピレーションには、Czukayのアーカイブから引き出された貴重なトラックが多数収録されており、特に「Ode To Perfume」や「Photosong」はそのライブに基づいている。また、「A Perfect World (Remix)」や「Let’s Get Cool」など、未発表の楽曲やリミックスも含まれており、Czukayの妻Ursa Majorが参加した「In Space」や「Music To be Murdered By」も収録。これらのトラックは、Czukayの創造性溢れるキャリアを象徴するものであり、ファンにとって必聴の一枚となっている。

A1. Ode to Perfume (London Live 2009)
A2. My Persian Love (Remix)
A3. Photosong (Roundhouse Mix)
B1. A Perfect World (Remix)
B2. Music To Be Murdered By
C1. Let’s Get Cool
C2. Fragrance (Remix 2009)
C3. In Space
D1. Music Is A Miracle

The magic and majesty of Holger Czukay’s late career works for Claremont 56 is being celebrated on a new compilation. The former Can bassist – a musical maverick renowned for his freewheeling approach to composition, recording and promotion – released a string of inspired tracks on Paul Murphy’s label between 2009 and 2012, typically delivering hard-to-pigeonhole workouts, bona-fide epics and radical reinventions of some of his most beloved tracks.

The collection has been a labour of love – fitting given the sonic details and inventive musicality that marked out the late artist’s solo career – for Claremont 56 founder Paul Murphy AKA Mudd, who first reached out to Czukay after witnessing his now legendary live performance at the Roundhouse in 2009. As Murphy details in his introductory liner notes, it led to a productive working relationship between the pair that included collaborative recording sessions with Ben Smith in Czukay’s legendary Innerspace Studio – a former cinema in Cologne in which much of Can’s music was recorded.The impact of that Roundhouse gig on Murphy is reflected in the fact that two of the tracks on the collection are based on that celebrated performance. There’s ‘Ode To Perfume’, a languid and solo-laden version of one of Czukay’s most celebrated solo records that ratchets up the original’s inherent dreaminess, and a jaunty take on quirky kraut-pop number ‘Photosong’ featuring a spoken introduction recorded at the concert in question.

Murphy’s ability to coax Czukay into delving into his archives is evident across the compilation. Opener ‘A Perfect World (Remix)’ is an eccentric, ever-building masterpiece originally recorded in 1984 – but later re-imagined for Claremont 56 – featuring vocalist Sheldon Ancel and former Can band-mates Jaki Leibezeit and Michael Karoli, while ‘Fragrance’ is a subtly re-wired slab of picturesque Balearic kraut-dub which was initially recorded as a coda for ‘Ode To Perfume’ but lay unreleased for decades.

Then there’s ‘Let’s Get Cool’, a bright and breezy, French horn-sporting 2009 take on 1979 avant-disco classic ‘Cool In The Pool’; ‘My Persian Love (Remix)’, a 2010 re-take of one of his earliest solos recordings; and the near 18-minute brilliance of ‘Music Is A Miracle’. Originally recorded for his fans in the 1980s – but only released three decades later – this widescreen epic not only features drums by Jaki Leibezeit and a fine spoken word vocal by Czukay, but also numerous nods to some of his most revered tracks.

It's fitting, too, that two of the most potent cuts feature Czukay’s much-missed wife and musical muse Ursa Major: the dense, trippy and fittingly out-there ambient soundscape ‘In Space’, and the mesmerising ‘Music To be Murdered By’. Partially inspired by hearing painfully out of tune violin practice through his studio windows, the track was originally recorded for an unreleased album but finally found a home on Claremont 56’s 10th anniversary box set ion 2017. A genuinely spaced-out and mind-mangling slab of organic dub in Czukay’s distinctive style, it delivers a fine curtain call to the iconic artist’s endlessly inventive career.