Listen to rare Can track Turtles Have Short Legs

By Scott Munro
( Prog )
published

Rare 1971 track Turtles Have Short Legs will feature on Can: The Singles - out in June

Can
Can

A new album featuring 23 tracks by Can is to be released later this year.

Titled Can: The Singles, the compilation will launch on CD, digital download and triple vinyl on June 16 via Mute/Spoon Records.

And to mark the announcement, the track Turtles Have Short Legs from the record has been made available to stream. Listen to it below.

It was the band’s third single and was released in 1971, but never appeared on a studio album. It features Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli, Jaki Liebezeit, Irmin Schmidt and Damo Suzuki and was recorded around the time of the Tago Mago sessions.

Meanwhile, Schmidt will conduct the London Symphony Orchestra on April 8 at London’s Barbican to mark Can’s 50th anniversary.

The performance will be a world premiere of an original orchestral work composed by Schmidt and Gregor Schwellenbach titled Can Dialog. It will include quotations of some of the band’s most well-known pieces.

In addition Schmidt will also conduct the premiere of the concert version of La Fermosa, Ballett-Suite.

The show will be split into two performances, with the second half featuring The Can Project, which was brought together by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore featuring Can’s first singer Malcolm Mooney, along with Steve Shelley, Deb Googe, James Sedwards, Pat Thomas, Valentina Magaletti and Tom Relleen.

The Can Project will also appear at this year’s Glastonbury festival, where Schmidt will join them onstage.

Can - Turtles Have Short Legs (Official Audio) - YouTube
Watch On

Can: The Singles tracklist

  1. Soul Desert
  2. She Brings The Rain
  3. Spoon
  4. Shikako Maru Ten
  5. Turtles Have Short Legs
  6. Halleluwah (Edit)
  7. Vitamin C
  8. I’m So Green
  9. Mushroom
  10. Moonshake
  11. Future Days (Edit)
  12. Dizzy Dizzy (Edit)
  13. Splash (Edit)
  14. Hunters And Collectors (Edit)
  15. Vernal Equinox (Edit)
  16. I Want More
  17. …And More
  18. Silent Night
  19. Cascade Waltz
  20. Don’t Say No (Edit)
  21. Return
  22. Can Can
  23. Hoolah Hoolah (Edit)

Can's Irmin Schmidt: "I needed to prove I could do it on my own.."

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.