Phantom Band - 1980 - Phantom Band

Phantom Band

1980

Phantom Band

01. You Inspired Me

02. I'm The One

03. For M.

04. Phantom Drums

05. Absolutely Straight

06. Rolling

07. Without Desire

08. No More Fooling

09. Pulsar

10. Latest News

Recorded At – Inner Space Studio

Mixed At – Conny's Studio

Mixed By – Conny Plank

Bass, Vocals – Rosko Gee

Drums, Percussion – Jaki Liebezeit

Guitar – Dominik Von Senger

Horn – Holger Czukay

Keyboards – Helmut Zerlett

Percussion – Olek Gelba

Who or what is the Phantom Band? Unknown, or unheard, by even the most die-hard CAN fan, this side project by founding CAN drummer Jaki Liebezeit and late-CAN era bassist (and ex-Traffic member) Rosko Gee finds them exploring the most trance-inducing part of CAN’s music – their reggae and African musical influences – to surprising results. It’s all these things: jazzy, funky as hell, and astonishingly accessible. Not everyone can go down into the keyhole of post-Future Days CAN tripped-out polyrhythmic music (think Soon Over Babaluma), but this can serve as a great gateway back to those headier days.

Featuring future members of CAN-influenced German New Wave band Dunkelziffer – Dominik V. Senger (lead vocalist and guitarist) and Helmut Zerlett (keyboards) – as Michael Karoli and Irmin Schmidt stand-ins, Phantom Band allowed Jaki Liebezeit, specifically, to sprawl out in rhythmic directions later-day CAN was struggling to fully integrate. Recorded by visionary producer Conny Plank in 1980, their whole self-titled debut bounces from one hypnotic number to another. The closest analog I can think of is this being a German Cedric Im Brooks The Light of Saba; reggae filtered through all kinds of more uptempo dance styles. Although, truth be told, the best numbers are the one’s where the band sidesteps their lead vocalist altogether and just stick to their CAN-in-Lagos sound.

If one could criticize this album for something, it’s that Dominik’s vocals seem to belong with another band altogether — maybe the Alan Parson’s Project? Although in “No More Fooling” this criticism actually works to his favor. So, don’t let what I’m saying deter you. Highlights like “For M.” featuring some of the deepest, most locked-in grooves of that era, blink and you’ll miss them ethno-experiments like “Phantom Drums” and “Latest News” – the latter being a track begging for someone to sample and take into the dance floor, or stuff that you could theoretically dance to – like “Absolutely Straight” – but end up sitting back and soaking in the atmosphere…simply scream of a band tapping into unexplored nooks and crannies still waiting for others to take the baton and run with. I mean, how many times in your life are you going to hear a Latin-tinged instrumental ballad, subsumed under the influence of modernist Cologne musical aesthetics?

Right out of the '70s, Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit formed a new band, Phantom Band, obviously to carry on where a creativity-depleted Can had left. Yes, the group's eponymous debut, released in 1980, has the "Krautrock goes worldbeat in the cold wave" feel found on Can's last two or three records. Phantom Band would make three albums, and this first one is the weakest of them, mostly due to the presence of bassist/singer Rosko Gee. Once a member of Traffic, Gee contributes the blandest pop songs on the album, and his slightly androgynous vocals simply don't fit the dub-ish mood of the music -- however, his bass work does. For this project, Liebezeit recruited (in Cologne) percussionist Olek Gelba, keyboardist Helmut Zerlett, and guitarist Dominik von Senger. Can alumnus Holger Czukay makes an appearance on horn. The drums take center stage; it is obvious that each song has been assigned a carefully designed beat, and Liebezeit is exploring most of his interests in music here, from repetitive Krautrock pummeling to complex Afro-funk and reggae-dub patterns. The arrangements are dark but clear-cut. Liebezeit's songs are the most interesting, from the tense "No More Fooling" (although Gee's falsetto mars it) to the funky vamp of "Absolutely Straight." Zerlett also contributes strong compositions in the spacy "Pulsar" and "I'm the One," the most expansive song of the set at six minutes. The two songs penned by Gee, each opening an LP side, have forgettable melodies and mediocre lyrics (they are also the most dated tracks production-wise). Despite Liebezeit's long and strong experience by 1980, Phantom Band bears all the signs of a debut album by a band that still hasn't gelled. Can fans who diss the group's final albums will definitely not like this one. In any case, skip forward to the group's second effort, Freedom of Speech, a much stronger proposition recorded after Gee's departure.

Originally released in 1980 on Sky Records, Bureau B reissues the debut album by Phantom Band, a Cologne combo assembled by Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit. In spite of continuing in the vein of the last three Can albums, the Phantom Band (recording three albums themselves) remained unknown to many who would count themselves fans of Can. All of their albums are quite different from each other, even though there was just a single change in personnel: while ex-Can bass player Rosko Gee (earlier Steve Winwood's bassist in Traffic, now with the Helmut Zerlett Band) played a significant part in both the music, vocals and the production of the first, he was absent from the next. Featured heavily here is Jaki Liebezeit's inimitable monotone polyrhythmic drumming and the Phantom Band's predilection for hypnotic (Jamaican) grooves. Regular Phantom Band members alongside Jaki Liebezeit included keyboarder Helmut Zerlett, known to a wider television audience in Germany through the Harald Schmidt Show, percussionist Olek Gelba and guitarist Dominik von Senger, all drawn from the deep pool of Cologne musical talent which has given rise to so many projects over the past thirty years: Dunkelziffer, Damo Suzuki Band, Unknown Cases ("Masimba Bele"), Club Off Chaos, and Trance Groove, to name just a few. The CD booklet features comments by Jaki Liebezeit, Helmut Zerlett and Dominik von Senger, bringing to life the creation and unique chemistry of the Phantom Band. Mixed by Conny Plank, guest appearance by Holger Czukay.