Ege Bamyasi - Reception and Influence

Reception and Influence

Ege Bamyası has received considerable critical acclaim since its release. British music weekly Melody Maker wrote: "Can are without doubt the most talented and most consistent experimental rock band in Europe, England included." The success of the song "Spoon" and sales from this album inspired Can to throw a free concert in an attempt to reach a wider audience. The Can Free Concert was filmed by Martin Schäfer, Robbie Müller and Egon Mann for director Peter Przygodda at the Cologne Sporthalle on 3 February 1972 and is included on the Can DVD.

Various artists have cited Ege Bamyasi as an influence. Stephen Malkmus of Pavement has been quoted as saying "I played Can's Ege Bamyası album every night before I went to sleep for about three years." Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth recalls, "I found Ege Bamyası in the 49-cent bin at Woolworth's. I didn’t see anything written about Can, I didn’t know anything about them except this okra can on the cover, which seemed completely bizarre. I finally picked that record up, and I completely wore it out. It was so alluring. Something about it made Can seem to be playing outside of rock 'n' roll. It was unlike anything else I was hearing at the time."

There have been cover versions of songs from Ege Bamyası by various artists. "I'm So Green" was covered by Beck and was submitted for a planned Can tribute album produced by the Dust Brothers. Kanye West sampled from "Sing Swan Song" for his song "Drunk and Hot Girls" on the album Graduation, and derives many of the song's lyrics from Damo Suzuki's vocals. Remix versions of several Ege Bamyası songs are included on the album Sacrilege. Minneapolis based hip hop artist I Self Devine sampled from "Vitamin C" for the song "Overthrow" on his 2005 release, "Self Destruction". Kleptones have incorporated "Vitamin C" into their mix Hectic City 7 – May Daze. "Vitamin C" can also be heard in Pedro Almodóvar's movie Broken Embraces. Joe Frank used "One More Night" as the score for "The Road To Calvary" from Somewhere Out There.

For the album´s 40th Anniversary, Stephen Malkmus played the album in its entirety on December 1st, 2012 at WEEK-END Festival in Cologne, Germany.