About this item

1981 album from post Can project.

Bizarre, how the magnificence of some music only comes to be recognized retrospectively. The albums of the Cologne combo put together by Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit undoubtedly falls into that category. In spite of continuing in the vein of the last three Can albums, the Phantom Band (recording three albums themselves) remain unknown to many who would count themselves fans of Can. The two LPs from 1980 (“Phantom Band”) and 1981 (“Freedom Of Speech”) are quite different to each other – although there was just a single change in personnel: whilst ex-Can bass player Rosko Gee (earlier Steve Winwood’s bassist in Traffic) played a significant part in both the music and the production of the first, he was absent from the next. The surviving quartet managed without a bass for the most part (or substituted a keyboard) and invited spoken word performer Sheldon Ancel to step up to the microphone. And whilst the debut album revealed many Caribbean or African influences and a generally positive frame of mind, “Freedom of Speech” is a somewhat darker avant-garde rock manifesto, interspersed with individual dub or reggae pieces. All they have in common are Jaki Liebezeit’s inimitable monotone polyrhythmic drumming and the Phantom Band’s predilection for hypnotic (Jamaican) grooves.

The CD booklet and LP insert features comments by Jaki Liebezeit, Helmut Zerlett and Dominik von Senger, bringing to life the creation and unique chemistry of the Phantom Band.