Neu! - Classic or Dud?

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.

I'll second Neil's recommendation of Rother's solo LP's, great stuff. Personally Katzenmusik is my favourite (great drums from Jaki Liebezeit on that one).

I'm a huge La Dusseldorf fan and consider some of their output to be as good as anything from the time. The first two are justifiably cult classics but the third one 'Individuellos' is an adorable album.

For the more adventurous the La! Neu? releases have some great stuff on them. The 2 CD long live take on ‘Cha Cha 2000’ is a beast.

if you like La Dusseldorf its also worth checking out Thomas Dinger's only solo album, "Fur Mich" from 1982
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i71C5Uzjp40

um I meant Weissensee. No idea where Weiransee came from

I wrote an article about Neu! and Dinger here:
http://listology.com/jamool/story/neu-plus-la-dusseldorf-and-beyond

Long story short - for Dinger, the first two La Dusseldorf albums are best. Third isn't so hot but the albums that were intended to be the fourth and fifth ones (Neondian and Blue) are both pretty good, especially the latter. Skip most of the La! Neu? stuff unless you want to hear badly recorded improv and a zillion takes on "Cha Cha 2000". The recent reboot of La-D (and unfortunately, the last project he ever made) is Japandorf which is surprisingly strong. Not as good as the best La-D stuff but it mostly stays on the right track and is a lot of fun. Thomas Dinger's album is also worth checking out - lots of repetition but it's actually quite unique.

As for Rother, the two Harmonia albums are great (especially Deluxe) but I never dug his solo career outside the first one.

Third isn't so hot

Dunno, I like it well enough. "Menschen/Individuellos" has a sort of ABBA vibe to it. "Tintarella Di" is sleighbells in the snow music. "Dampfriemen" is a bunch of red faced men in a Bavarian bierkeller smashing steins of foamy ale together. And so on.

Which one is "bunch of backpacking tourists trying to hit a nail into a block of wood with the thin end of the hammer" ?

I've always felt that Individuellos works better in pieces than as a whole; it's probably his loosest and most saccharine album if you're into that. I just never got the urge to relisten to it.

nah first side of Individuellos is killer and works really well as once piece imo

Which one is "bunch of backpacking tourists trying to hit a nail into a block of wood with the thin end of the hammer" ?

I've got "Kommunion/Intensitat", in fact it's the only Stockhausen on vinyl I've managed to buy in five years in London. On "Intensitat" (I think), Stockhausen hammers different lengths of nails into a plank of wood for 20 minutes - doesn't sound all that great to be frank!

― BarabadabaDadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 18:33 (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Did they do anything after Neu 75 that is worth checking out?
Neu! 86 has some great moments, especially Grundfunken.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGEZYr8BfDE

I've only just gotten into Neu! but I prefer the more song-based material like "Hallogallo". Anyone put together a compilation of just those sorts of tracks?

Song based?

you mean stuff with rhythm, as opposed to the more avant-garde things on the debut? if it helps there really isn't much of that outside of the first album. Neu! 75 may be what you're looking for.

There are three sequel tracks to "Hallogallo" on Neu! 2. Neuschnee, Super and Fur Immer. Neu 75 is more rinky-dink on the first half and has vocals on the second half and it's also worth your time.

As for Rother, the two Harmonia albums are great (especially Deluxe) but I never dug his solo career outside the first one.

Madness! Flammende Herzen, Katzenmusik and Sterntaler are all three of them abso essential.

Some good discussion on Rother c or d? here:

KRAUTROCK Listening Klub! - New Albums Every Wednesday

is that Hallogallo 2010 seven inch the only studio stuff from that project? i thought there might be a whole album forthcoming -- they sounded pretty fucking great in the live shows I heard.

I don't remember much about the album but this is one of my favorite covers -

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_250/MI0002/038/MI0002038579.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

and seconding the japandorf recommendation. much better than I expected.

that annoying gap about 1:13 into Sonderangebot, is that meant to be there? is it on the originals or did it creep in with the remasters?

according to Dinger, yes. he was quite pissed when the bootleggers "fixed" the error

He liked annoying listeners did Klaus

having a real 'neu! 75 is the greatest album ever' time lately