Customer Reviews

Neu 75

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The duo's self-titled debut was seemingly a breeze, knocked off in less than a week in 1971. Neu! 2 was a triumph of will (and probably spite) in the face of ridiculous setbacks. Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother could have called it a day for good after battling to finish that second album, but they decided to reunite after three years for one last hurrah.. and I'm immensely glad they did, because Neu! '75 is the prettiest shining gem in their catalogue. Like the others it's a fascinating (and quite influential) work that's avoided sounding dated even today, but this is also the album where their weird abstract side wholly took a backseat to the sweet ear-candy grooves, making it the most consistent and listenable.

One of the previous record's difficulties had been the conflict between Rother's peaceful, atmospheric tendencies and Dinger's tilt toward the brash rock-and-roll side of things. So this one was a compromise. Side one was largely calm: "Seeland" and "Leb Wohl" float through beautiful clouds of ether on beds of soft guitar (in the former case) and gorgeous piano with slow wordless singing (in the latter) without the usual steady-driving drum beats. The two elements are perfectly blended in the opening "Isi" however, which is quite simply one of the most perfect five minutes of music I've ever heard - seriously, no exaggeration. This track adds flowing piano lines to the standard clockwork drums and shifting atmospheres to produce something extraordinarily blissful.

And then side two dives straight into Dinger mode - fiery fuzzy guitars, weird electronic effects, and even some Johnny Rotten-ish punk vocals. Half-incoherent lyric lines pop up through "Hero" and briefly reprised as "After Eight" coasts to the album's end, spit out almost drunkenly in the finest 70s-rock tradition. The extended "E-Musik" in between is another classic 'motorik' ride that begs to be spun endlessly on the highway, coasting from layers of driving synths and guitars to oddly filtered drums and back again.

The first album best showed the group's whole range; the next showed their weird experimental side the most. And I can't quite say which is most essential (that would obviously depend on your own taste), but the consistently beautiful & listenable Neu! '75 is definitely my top pick. No matter your taste, though, you can probably find something to like somewhere in this remarkable band's catalogue. They still sound quite like nobody else around.

One of the most important pieces of Euro-unobtainium for years has been the NEU! albums. These works influenced a host of musicians who've managed to get hold of them in some way or another; from Detroit techno wizards to lo-fi tinkerers, a host of players owe a long-unsung debt to NEU!

The final Brain-released 'canon' effort, "NEU! '75" was created after an initial breakup of the duo following a UK tour to support their second album. And almost to illustrate this break and the looming second one, this final album is a really schizoid effort. But by no means is it flawed by this. Vide...

The first half is a melodic, more ambient-flavored affair. Very pretty, it's dominated by Michael Rother's work, which would become more apparent once his solo albums would begin appearing in subsequent years. As you go forward here, the intensity ramps down, and the tempos slow until you're deposited into the surf and reverberant piano of "Leb' Wohl". Here, we find the precursors to much that would come later in 'ambient' music across the next couple of decades.

But the second half is dominated by a crazed Klaus Dinger...and he wails and yowls across a Kraftwerk-...-Stooges variant of the NEU! sound on "Hero" to kick this off. After a drop into the metronomic NEU! beat to follow, howls of feedback and yelling kicks off "After Eight"...and doesn't this sound a lot like the Sex Pistols yet to come? My, my, my...no coincidence there! NEU!, especially on this album, was one of the oft-cited influences on the sound of the Brit punk scene of the late 1970s.

All of the NEU! albums are essential. But this one is the one that left several marks on history-yet-to-come. As such, it rises a bit above "NEU!" and a good bit more above the semi-unfinished "NEU! 2". But one thing I can say is that five stars is not sufficient here, and if you're someone into the cutting-edge of present-day music, this is one piece of 'retro' (which doesn't really sound it!) that's a must-get.

This is the final album proper from the duo known as Neu! While they are part of the entire so-called Krautrock scene, and worked with many others, their reputations rest on these three albums they did as Neu! This is, in my estimation, the best of the three. It starts out with a classic "motorik" groove number, then a more static melodic piece, then closes (what was originally, back in the LP day) the side with a faintly punk-ish, energetic but grooving number. The rest of the CD follows a similar pattern: moving from groovier rhythm pieces with subtle washes of guitar and synth patterns, to the final track, which ups the energy level again in a way almost antipatory of punk.

Highly original, unprecedented, and a CD that will grow on you. It rewards repeated listening like special records do. You'll still be listening to this 20 years from now.

I write as I listen to this disc, and this band, for the first time and find that Neu! (New! in German) truly lives up to the challenge of its name. I cannot believe this sonic adventure was released all the way back in '75.

As I listen to this succinct effort, it proves to me what I believe Dali said: that the best artists are also the best thieves. Once you've added this to your collection (if you haven't already done so), see if you can hear Stereolab, the Sex Pistols, Wire, Galaxie 500 (?) and other top-shelf artists obviously influenced by this band in later years.

German bands like Can & Kraftwerk had a strong influence on "electronica" in the 70's and beyond. Listening to this makes me wonder whether 70's German bands cut out a wider swath in modern music than I originally thought.

A very rewarding listen indeed.

Seems rather simplistic to talk of this brilliant album in terms of Michael Rother=melodic and Klaus Dinger=noisy. Anyone familiar with Klaus Dinger's subsequent work with La Dusseldorf will know that he could be just as gooily romantic as Michael Rother. But, yes, the first three tracks here are the Rother tracks - and yet "Isi" and "Seeland" are miles better than anything on his solo LPs. "Isi" is a lovely streamlined version of the definitive Neu noise, pulsing drums, chink-a-chink rhythm guitar and sweet keyboard melodies. "Seeland" is calm and stately and guitar-based, it seems to look backwards to "Weissensee" from the 1st Neu LP, while "Leb'wohl" is a wonderful hypnotic two-chord piano piece with cracked, moving vocals from Klaus Dinger. The final three tracks are the "Dinger tracks". "Hero" and "After Eight" are, as has often been pointed out, direct precursors of punk and post-punk: Dinger's aggressive incoherent yelp, the relentless double drum pounding (which almost drowns out the rest of the track on "After Eight"), massed fuzzed-up guitars. (Tho' let's not forget that Rother pulled off the same trick with the track "Monza" on Harmonia's 2nd LP). Sandwiched between these 2 headbanging meisterwerks, "E-Musik" lays the cards on the table, I mean what chords do you need other than E-major - it's the most noodly, weakest track here but still pretty special nonetheless. All in all, their most consistent album...

Every noise-pop enthusiast's prayer answered: NEU! on CD, at last! The third album is still my fave, as it seems to be the crossroads of punk, pop and "atmospheric" sound. This stuff just induces folks to go night-driving, in search of... anything. NEU! seemed to be writing soundtracks for films that exist only in the mind. The list of people they inspired reads like a Hall of Fame roll call: everyone from PiL and Joy Division to Sonic Youth and Radiohead. It's just too cool to know this stuff is back in circulation.

Amazing- trancy but vibrant... calms the listener but keeps the listener awake. Consider this among the other western popular music releases of 1975 and you will hear a band that was well ahead of its time (check the proto-punk tracks such as "After 8"), though you may hear hints of the Velvet Underground and others here and there. A wonderfully transcendent listen; mechanical yet organic.

I've said it before, I'll say it now, and I'll say it again and again - Neu! was way ahead of their time just like other great bands from Germany during the 60s-70s period. It's amazing how they sound like they were recorded yesterday(or tomorrow) 30 years later. Neu!75's spacey, hypnotic sounds with the trademark 'motorik' drumbeat is simply irrestible. Neu! has been hugely influential to whoever's had the oppourtunity to listen to them. And why not? The beautifully layered textures of sound and white noise with flowing guitars and unique hammer drumming creates a hypnotic effect. Simply put, Neu! was a great creative output and this albums along with Neu! ranks as some of the best of their era.

This record is nothing short of brilliant. Obviously you will have heard of the different personalities between Micheal Rother and Klaus Dinger. One favoured a more laid back, languid, mellow pace to his songs ( Rother ) while the other wanted a more all out assault on the listener ( Dinger ). This album catches that beautifully and balances either side out very well. While side 1 has soothing ( all 3 songs of side 1 ), almost spacy feel to the music, the second ( again 3 songs ) is more aggressive but still retains a certain spaciness to it. The result shows that whatever/despite the overall differences between Rother and Dinger in their approaches and their personalities, they could still make great music together. An album recommended without hesitation

The third and final record by the 70's Krautrock duo is easily their most accessable, while still showing an influential edge that helped inform the punk and new wave movements that were shortly to come in 1975. It is mostly instrumental, and ranges musically from ambient to symphonic to proto-punk at the drop of a hat.

The first half of the album is more in a Krautrock-meets-symphonic-prog style while things take a turn toward punk on the second half (side 2 for those of us who grew up with vinyl.) The opening track, "Isi" is a dressed up and slimmed down variation on "Fur Immer" from Neu!2. Neu! again starts with the metronomic Krautrock beat, then layers atmospheric guitars and synths over it. Much more "composed" and concise than "Fur Immer" plus the bass player learned a few more notes! "See Land" slows the tempo for a long ambient ride. It's probably this type of track that drew Brian Eno's attention, sounding a lot like Eno's work of the period. Beautiful yet slightly foreboding, it's my favorite track on the record. "Leb Wohl" begins with more ambient sound effects before a lilting piano rises up from the mist. The first vocal on Neu75 appears here, although the voice is used more as an extra instrument than a traditional vocal. Imagine Eno ca. Another Green World mixed with Sigur Ros for an idea of how it sounds.

Some brash guitar work and a pounding beat announce a total change of direction on "Hero," which also shows where John Lydon learned his vocal style. This song reminds me of Can, always a good thing. "E-Musik" is the longest piece on Neu!75. The driving Teutonic motorbeat is overlayed with some cool speaker-to-speaker swirling effects before the whole thing slows to what sounds like a narcotic reprise of "Leb Wohl." A classic slab of Krautrock although proggers might find it repetitive and overlong.

"After Eight" starts out as a straightforward punk song, although punk hadn't technically been invented yet. The angry, slashing guitar is later joined by a piano that could only be described as "rollicking," the kind of inventive merging of styles that perfectly sums up Neu! 75.

In my opinion their best, most accessable and most satisfying album.