Neu! - Classic or Dud?

I don't ever remember any mention of Neu! in early Jesus & Mary Chain pieces (there was a lot of talk from journalists about the Velvets, Stooges, Suicide, Ramones etc), but Neu 2 is all over some of their early stuff. I guess the journalists just hadn't heard the records in '84, '85?

They were 'relating' them to the VU, at which point they decided "job done".

It wasn't until the J&MC covered "Mushroom" that the possibility of "other influences" were considered.

Probably more likely that journalists had heard Neu! than JAMC, it's possible JAMC had but they were 110% Velvets anyway

Anyway, I don't hear the influence!

When was Ciccone Youth? That was one of the first time I heard of Neu! being namechecked... in the 80s that is. And then Stereolab came along and it was obvious they'd been "rediscovered" big time.

Well, I saw SonicYouth supporting the J&MC at the Hammersmith Palais back when, and Ciccone Youth was after that.

Obviously JAMC had turned them on to Neu! when they were all hanging around in the dressing room after the gig

Definitely a Neu! influence on Bobby Gillespie as you can hear if you listen to his motorik bongo beats from that one show he played sitting in with Damo Suzuki and Captain Beefheart.

Also he says this:

"Neu! is, in my opinion, one of the more towering musical achievements in recent history, and we are all living in the individual shadows of these two men. Speed and stillness, simplicity and cacophony, gentleness and aggression, mania and focus, are all juxtapositions that have been given a voice, and have learned to coexist under the equally as contradictory guidance of Michael and Klaus."

Nah, I'm sure they were all trying to get tales out of Jayne Casey... (xpost, Pink Military were 2nd support)

Spitzenqualität could be a mid-80s JAMC b-side

Also he says this:

"See that fuckin' Neu!, fuckin' ripped me aff so they did. They came tae see the fuckin' Mary Chain, ah think it wis at Janie's in Gourock... aye the Boey Hairdressers wur supportin' us, pile o' shite they wur till ah fuckin' lent Norman some Big Star records and said, "Here ye go, son, rip that moab aff and ye'll be laughin'"... anywey, where wis ah? Oh aye, there ah um fuckin' knockin' back the shandies wi' Stephen Pastel and that fuckin' Klaus Dinger cunt comes up tae me 'n is aw like "Oh, herr Bobby, you are the best drummer I hef ever seen, Mo Tucker voz right about you!" and ah'm like, "Aye aye, pal, heard it. Who let this pair o' losers in?". And the other yin, he wis oo'er at fuckin' Wullie Reid bendin' his fuckin' earhole aboot fuckin' guitar strings or sumthin'. Next thing ye know, the cunts huv pit oot their fuckin' first album 'n it's goat the fuckin' Mary Chain aw oo'er it!"

^ much more believable than his actual quote, when will these so-called newspapers print the truth?

Pretty good interview with Michael Rother in the new Wax Poetics, of all places. Summary: Couldn't really handle being friends with Klaus because he was crazy, but we really connected over the music and I'm super proud of that.

I know that Klaus was really the "genius" of the group but I feel like Michael should have had the final word on what was actually released

i have read this thread several times over the years, but never dived in until today.
just found neu! and neu!2 in fopp in the £2 exchange bins in very good condition.
listened to neu! and starting neu!2 now.
i already know that these going to be top of the playlist for a very long time to come.
very chuffed.

Neu 75 even better!

as of today, i will be tracking that one down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHUwkYkn_kA

Is there anything else like side 2 of Neu '75? Proto-punk classic.

Not by Neu! La Dusseldorf carries on equally awesome but never as raw.

If you're John Lydon you'd say "Nadir's Big Chance" by Pater Hammill.

Thanks Dan, I'll check them both out.

I totally love the La Dusseldorf albums, but I admit I once played them through my Arp 2600's preamp so I could distort it a little bit!

"Opa-Loka" by Hawkwind has a nice punk-kraut vibe.

where have this band been all my life.

just picked up neu! 75 from hmv in bristol as the counter guy said : 'excellent album - now go get la dusseldorf album'

i genuinely feel as if i have struck audio gold as this stuff ticks so many of my boxes.

oh, and for an update on this type of groove, i reckon steve webster from the band fort lauderdale in his higamos hogamos guise gets pretty close to the source :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyQez0TwDvA

must give a shout out for michael rother's "sterntaler" & "flammende herzen" beautiful plangent gtr / xylophone / synth melodies with jaki l on the tic-toc rhythms. thankfully picked em up at the local for 1.50€ a pop whoop!

Rother is divisive round here- see the krautrock listening club thread from here onwards. I think Rother's stuff is great, personally, but I can understand why people like the edge Dinger brought to things with Neu!

right on, if you enjoyed Neu! a lot, the first two La Dusseldorf albums are the way to go.

suspect i wont be able to just nip into fopp and pick them up ..

I think the La Dusseldorf albums are fairly commonly available, Rother solo probably not. I got the former from eMusic not so long ago...

Don't sleep on Harmonia - far better than Rother solo.

Oh yeah - those two albums are far better than anything I've heard from Rother solo.

how great is that first La Dusseldorf album? I feel like I really hadn't paid it enough attention until now. It's freakin' gorgeous.

i listen to the first 2 la dusseldorf records way more than neu!

side 1 inner label is a work of art!

http://ripyourvinyl.com/wp-content/plugins/rss-poster/cache/59ad1_001cbbbc_medium.jpeg

I listen to Neu! 75 way more than pretty much anything, but yeah those first two are really something. You could make a really nice Frankenstien's monster out of Neondian and Blue as well.

1st album on Decca!!!!!!! Is that a US copy? I've had two copies, one on Radar (UK) and one on Teldec (German).

Radar copy looks like a reissue:

http://www.discogs.com/La-D%C3%BCsseldorf-La-D%C3%BCsseldorf/master/25062

Retagging track 2 of my mp3s with that Decca jpg

(xp) Yeah, looks like it, I didn't know that album had been released in the UK before it was on Radar... and certainly not on Decca! My copy is on Teldec and is def. from 1976, not Nova as that discogs. page suggests.

http://i.imgur.com/GZwsZ.jpg

My eyes!

Klaus Dinger or Kip Winger?

so, like, the moment halfway through Negativland where the drums drop out and the wind-tunnel noise modifies into a descending four-chord pattern before the drums return - Sonic Youth based their entire career on that moment, right?

it's a fucking amazing moment to be fair

Anyone pick up this yet? http://klausdinger.com/download/Japandorf_Press-release_EN.pdf

http://youtu.be/Lic9-aMsFB8

Weiransee has been looping through mind all day. Hot, still summer requires little else

Did they do anything after Neu 75 that is worth checking out?

Dinger's work as La Düsseldorf is great.

xp search: the pre-Neu! recording they did when they were in Kraftwerk (usu titled "Radio Bremen" or "K4" or some combination thereof), the two Harmonia albums, and the 7" that Rother put out w/ Steve Shelley and some other guy as Hallogallo 2010 which incl this magnificent track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHEwwge7NR0

I like Michael Rother's post-Neu! 70s solo records (Sterntaler is a stand-out) though I know not everyone on ILM would agree.