Can- Tago Mago (1971)

This was the first "Krautrock" album I ever heard, in my early- to mid- twenties. Anything with a whiff of "prog" I still considered verboten at that stage. But "Krautrock" was fine, pretty much on the grounds that John Lydon liked it. Fortunately, over the last eighteen years or so, while far from an expert I've explored the whole genre a bit more.

Anyway, this album is awesome- sounds good, goes well over my head so never gets boring, and is a very specifically weird soundscape that somehow evokes its era. It's also bloody long. But it is, I think, the best introduction to Can and, perhaps, the best introduction to "Krautrock", which we probably shouldn't be calling this. If you like this album, feel free to explore more Can, plus stuff by Faust, Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel and Amon Duul II. Some, all or most of these bands are from Dusseldorf which, I'm told, is Germany's answer to Wolverhampton. Shudder.