Rite Time

Rite Time is the eleventh and final studio album by the German krautrock band Can, released in later Summer 1989 by Mercury Records.^[2] The album features the vocals of the band's original singer, Malcolm Mooney, who had left the group in 1970 after their debut album Monster Movie. Upon the album's initial release, "In the Distance Lies the Future" only appeared on the CD version, but it was included on the 2014 vinyl reissue.

Rite Time
Studio album by Can
Released	Later Summer 1989
Recorded	December 1986
Studio	The Outer Space
Genre	Krautrock, reggae[1]
Length	41:52
Label	Mercury Spoon Records (through Mute Records)
Producer	Michael Karoli, Holger Czukay
Can chronology
Delay 1968 (1981) Rite Time (1989)

Rite Time consists of sessions recorded at the Outer Space studio in December 1986, mixed at the Can Studio in 1988, and edited at Holger's "Lab for Degenerated Music" in 1989.

Background

Can's reunion project was proposed by both Malcolm Mooney (Can's early vocalist) and Hildegard Schmidt (Can's record label manager). The recording took place in the Outer Space studio set up by the band's guitarist Michael Karoli in his house built near Nice, Southern France. The project was sponsored by production company Fink & Star, founded by George Reinhart—art patron and a nephew of the wealthy Swiss art collector Oskar Reinhart. "Fink & Star" previously financed the work of the Spoon Records and Irmin's LPs Musk at Dusk and Impossible Holidays. Fink & Star's resources paid for the musicians, technicians, travel costs, accommodation, and studio time.^[3]

Recording and production

Can met in the Outer Space "just after Thanksgiving" in 1986 and recorded their nascent album up until December 1986. Malcolm told Rob Young, Can's biographer, the band recorded a set of sixteen-minute takes, and out of these thirty-three minute take they conceived Rite Time. One of Malcolm's favourite compositions wasn't included into the final version. With Hildegard's permission, Malcolm included the composition on his vinyl release of The Sound of White Columns (2012), released by White Columns Gallery in New York.^[4]

At the time of the Rite Time sessions, musicians Duncan Fallowell and Simon Puxley spent time with Can. Fallowell remembered the sessions as chaotic, "if one was there or not there, it didn’t seem to affect the fact that life would continue. People would drop in … this ongoing thing." Jaki Liebezeit called their time as "not a good working atmosphere there, it was a holiday atmosphere. [Everybody] would prefer to eat something there and have a nice time. But there was not a group feeling."^[4]

A number of tracks include a background chorus, occasionally featuring Hildegard and Shirley (Michael Karoli's spouse).^[1] On "Below This Level (Patient's Song)", Malcolm reflects on his mental breakdown and his experience in a psychiatric ward in late 60s.^[5]

Rite Time consists of sessions recorded in the Outer Space studio in December 1986, mixed by Michael, Holger, and René Tinner at Weilerswist's Can Studio in 1988. The next year, before the album was delivered for release, Holger performed last edits at the "Lab for Degenerated Music", the room at his Cologne apartment.^[6]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[8]
Hi-Fi News & Record Review	A:1[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]

Irmin Schmidt thought the album was disappointing, saying "it's not very new. We didn't invent a new Can. When we started, I thought this will be a chance for a new Can. But Rite Time is a Can record like any one before. It's nothing surprising. Not that I dislike the record – it's OK, and there are some nice pieces on there, but it's just a good record." Schmidt, however, had "Below This Level". Michael Karoli reminisced warmly about their reunion with Malcolm Mooney, but added that "there were a lot of fights. It was [actually] the wrong time." Holger Czukay, on the other hand, remembered as "a typical, not a youngster's, a beginner's work, but a good work and there is no need to be ashamed of it."^[1]

Rog Young, Can's biographer thought the album "didn't sound exactly like any previous Can album and landed like a gleaming UFO among the other alternative music appearing in 1989." Young highlighted the drums sounding "beefy and widely separated", the space between instruments clearly defined with digital effects, and the "corona of brightness" flooding tying the entirety of the record together. The production, however, saved from becoming too pristine by Malcolm's "sandpapery, confident holler".^[1]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"On the Beautiful Side of a Romance"	7:27
2.	"The Withoutlaw Man"	4:18
3.	"Below This Level (Patient's Song)"	3:44
4.	"Movin' Right Along"	3:28
5.	"Like a New Child"	7:36
6.	"Hoolah Hoolah"	4:31
7.	"Give the Drummer Some"	6:47
8.	"In the Distance Lies the Future"	4:00
Total length:		41:52

All tracks are written by Czukay, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt, Mooney

Personnel

Can

• Malcolm Mooney – lead vocals
• Michael Karoli – guitar, chorus vocals, pocket organ, bass, production, mix
• Irmin Schmidt – keyboards, kalimba
• Holger Czukay – bass, French horn, synthesizer, dictaphone, production, mix
• Jaki Liebezeit – drums, percussion
• Hildegard Schmidt and Shirley - backing vocals

Production

• Patrick Jauneaud – recording
• René Tinner – mix
• Werner O. Richter – art direction
• Alfred Steffen – photographer (back cover photo)

References

1. Young, Rob; Schmidt, Irmin (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can (e-book ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
2. Young, Rob; Schmidt, Irmin (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can (e-book ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
3. Young, Rob; Schmidt, Irmin (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can (e-book ed.). London: Faber and Faber. pp. 289–290. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
4. Young, Rob; Schmidt, Irmin (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can (e-book ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
5. Young, Rob; Schmidt, Irmin (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can (e-book ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
6. Young, Rob; Schmidt, Irmin (2018). All Gates Open: The Story of Can (e-book ed.). London: Faber and Faber. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-571-31151-4.
7. Mason, Stewart. "Can: Rite Time > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
8. Larkin, Colin (2011). "Can". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0857125958.
9. Clark, Pete (December 1989). "Review: Can — Rite Time" (PDF). Hi-Fi News & Record Review (magazine). Vol. 34, no. 12. Croydon: Link House Magazines Ltd. p. 139. ISSN 0142-6230. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021 – via World Radio History.
10. Nathan Brackett; Christian David Hoard (2004). The new Rolling Stone album guide. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-7432-0169-8.