Phantom Band - 1984 - Nowhere

Phantom Band

1984

Nowhere

01. Loading Zone 3:50

02. Planned Obsolescence 1:06

03. Mindprobe 2:18

04. Morning Alarm 2:00

05. Weird Love 2:46

06. Neon Man 3:49

07. Positive Day 3:00

08. Nervous Breakdown 4:57

09. The Party 1:31

10. Georgethe Spacemonster 2:30

11. This Is The Rule 2:29

12. Cricket Talk 3:38

13. Nowhere 3:07

Drums – Jaki Liebezeit

Engineer – Holger Czukay

Guitar – Dominik von Senge

Keyboards – Helmut Zerlett

Voice – Sheldon Ancel

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.

A combination of spacey electro-pop, dub and dark avant-rock influences, Phantom Band is one of the most authentically weird, essential and yet surprisingly overlooked organisms orbiting the Can universe. This is the third and final album from the project, masterminded by Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit.

I totally dig this album, especially as it features 'Helmut Zerlett' who in his time, has produced some great music on the german ambient label; Recycle Or Die!...projects such as; '9 dream' & 'Baked Beans' just to name a few...are undeniably brilliant...though this project,(phantom band) i feel is targeted at the wrong audience, as people who enjoy 'CAN' probably arent going to get this release at all, however if your from the other side of the genre fence, and have an appreciation for german avant/amb electronica, then the 'Phantom Band' is well worth checking out!

Phantom Band - 1981 - Freedom of Speech

Phantom Band

1981

Freedom of Speech

01. Freedom Of Speech

02. E. F. 1

03. Brain Police

04. No Question

05. Relax

06. Gravity

07. Trapped Again

08. Experiments

09. Dream Machine

10. Dangerous Conversation

Drums – Liebezeit

Guitar – Von Senger

Keyboards – Zerlett

Percussion – Gelba

Voice – Ancel

Things changed a lot for Phantom Band in less than a year. Original bassist/singer Rosko Gee left and was replaced by spoken-word artist Sheldon Ancel, remaining bass-less. This lineup change made it possible for the band to align its actual sound with its experimental leanings. The situation can be summed up by comparing the first two albums' opening tracks. The lead-in track on the group's 1980 debut LP was the Gee-penned midtempo song "You Inspired Me," clearly meant as a crowd-pleaser and potential hit single. The lead-in track on "Freedom of Speech" is the title track, a vocodered rant on how the government knows what's best for us, presented over a disquieting rhythm track. The tone is set: Freedom of Speech is a darker, edgier record. It retains the Krautrock-gone-dub feel of the first album, but drops all pretensions of charting to present a more mature, better asserted group sound wrapped in a production that has aged much better than the debut LP. Ancel is not a rapper, but a spoken-word performer: he embodies characters, and uses effects to dress up his voice. It works very well, especially on the dub-laden "Brain Police," the angry "Gravity" (a love story at its sour end), and the electro-freak "Dream Machine." Freedom of Speech is a stunning avant rock record informed by the New York no wave scene and the European reggae/dub scene, with Can's history in genre-pushing repetitive rock serving as the foundation.

For fans of pioneering Krautrockers Can, the band’s later years can be a touchy subject. The final three LPs—Saw Delight (1977), Out Of Reach (1978), and Can (1979)—found the group embracing a much more radio-friendly sound than ever before. They even had something of a hit single with the disco track “I Want More.” Die-hard adherents to their early, arch avant-garde material abandoned them during this time, and it was all over by 1980.

One of the more obscure groups to rise from the ashes of Can were Phantom Band. Phantom Band were led by one of Can’s founding members, drummer Jaki Liebezeit. They recorded three albums in the early 1980s: Phantom Band (1980), Freedom Of Speech (1981), and Nowhere (1984).

In addition to Liebezeit, the initial incarnation of Phantom Band included vocalist/bassist Rosko Gee (who had also played with Can), keyboardist Helmut Zerlett, guitarist Dominik von Senger, and percussionist Olek Gelba. All were leading lights of the underground music scene of Cologne at the time, so it is surprising to hear the direction they took with the debut.

Phantom Band opens with “You Inspired Me,” which sounds like nothing so much as a contemporary R&B single. If a radio station had slotted the song in between some George Benson and Grover Washington Jr. at the time, nobody would have noticed it. Phantom Band is all about the rhythm, in fact. “Phantom Drums” is a short 1:21 showcase for Liebezeit, and acts as something of a prelude to his “Absolutely Straight.” I was more than a little surprised to recognize the bass line of “Absolutely Straight,” as a near-exact replica of the one from “Bad Luck,” by Harold Melvin And The Bluenotes.

Freedom Of Speech was released just a year after Phantom Band, yet it sounds almost like it's by a completely different group. Rosko Gee had departed by this time, leaving the quartet with no bass or vocals. They soldiered on without a bass, using keyboards at times in its place. For vocals, they used spoken-word performer Sheldon Ancel, with some unique results. “Freedom Of Speech” kicks things off in a typically bizarre way. The drumhead military beat is enlivened with some nearly indecipherable proclamations from Ancel, while wild sound effects fill in the empty spaces.

Repetition is a key quality of Freedom Of Speech, and is the driving force behind “Gravity” and “Brain Police.” The loss of Rosko Gee is most keenly felt on “E.F. 1” and “Experiments,” both of which nod toward reggae, and would have benefited greatly from an actual singer.

Brain Police has a fairly obvious antecedent in Frank Zappa’s “Who Are The Brain Police,” and even shares a musical mood of paranoia. One of the more interesting parallels occurs in “Experiments,” which at times sounds almost like a carbon of “Ghost Town,” from The Specials. Since both were released around the same time, I think it is just coincidence, but the similarities are somewhat striking. While Freedom Of Speech is certainly Phantom Band’s own work, I also hear elements of Funkadelic, Talking Heads and the great Afro-beat pioneer Fela Kuti at times. Which proves they had great record collections, if nothing else.

Phantom Band and Freedom Of Speech are both key pieces of the post-Can continuum. For obsessive fans such as myself, their release on CD is a cause for celebration. As always, Bureau B have done a great job, with plenty of information and pictures in the packaging. These are a couple of records that definitely merit a listen.

Released in 1981 on Sky Records, The second album by Phantom Band, By this point in the band's history, ex-Can bass player Rosko Gee (earlier Steve Winwood's bassist in Traffic) had left the band. 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 while 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. 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.

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.