Neu! - Classic or Dud?

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

75 fur immer

Hm, something's up

50 years ago, in March 1972, I walked through Düsseldorf ´s "Altstadt" and saw that the cover of our first NEU! album was displayed in the windows of several records shops. Please stay tuned for infos on the celebrations and special concerts planned for this year... pic.twitter.com/gkqEUMFbGF

— Michael Rother (@_MichaelRother_) March 2, 2022

!

Well it was rumored and here it is, a Neu! box set:

https://www.groenland.com/product/neui-50/

lol love the stencil
want the 7" but the postage price is a joke

not sure what the point of this is, all 4 albums are very available & I can't imagine there's any unreleased stuff out there anymore. like with Faust you at least had a bunch of unearthed stuff + the fact that at least one of those albums (So Far) was very hard to get on vinyl in a non-4MWB edition

What, you don't like stencils?

apparently Iggy has been playing Hero from '75 on his recent tour

one of the remixes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuF1wauj9h0

ordered me this as a lil bday present :)

Selling points in press release!

Featuring Reworks by The National, Idles, Man Man, Mogwai, Guerilla Toss & More

NEU! Picture Disc and Cassette Available June 17th

only just found out iggy pop has been playing hero on tour and rother joined him in hamburg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FspF8LRRXWs

baller move imo

NEU! featured with cover story in the new issue of The Wire. Mike Barnes writes in 'The Unbroken Circle' about the history of NEU! and cites from an interview I recently did with him on behalf of the 50th anniversary of the first NEU! album. Get it here: https://t.co/4UVNx9ZBhH pic.twitter.com/r0ZrVSest8

— Michael Rother (@_MichaelRother_) August 10, 2022

so, is the box worth it? sounding any different than the previous releases?

Haven't noticed difference in sounds but it's a beauty for the collection

Magic Rother and friends gig tonight, they hit the NEU! / Harmonia / solo classics hard, pretty heavy in places too. Vittoria added vocals to E-Musik which surprised me but worked well. Crowd loved it all.

ach, Negativland, I meant

that sounds awesome, hope someone recorded it

was meant to see them earlier this month but got ill :(

this is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ksmzvVT6ko