Neu

11-18-09 Neu!

7" ISI / AFTER EIGHT U.A. UK UP 35874 1975 2 TRKS no pic sleeve

CD NEU ASTRALWERKS ASW 30780 1972 6 TRKS ('01 issue)

LP NEU BILLINGS US BG 1001 1972 6 TRKS

LP NEU BRAIN DE BRAIN 1004 1972 6 TRKS (0001 004)

CD NEU 2 ASTRALWERKS ASW 3078 1973 11 TRKS (’01 issue)

LP NEU 2 U.A. UK UAG 29500 1973 11 TRKS

CD NEU '75 ASTRALWERKS US 30782.2 1975 6 TRKS ('01 issue)

LP NEU '75 TEICHIKU JPN UXP-702-EB 1975 6 TRKS insert

7" SUPER / NEUSCHNEE U.A. UK UP 35485 1972 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

Klaus Dinger (1946 – 2008) and Michael Rother. I last wrote about Neu! in 2003. Since that time, I have now obtained all 3 of their proper albums on legit issue CD’s. And Klaus Dinger passed away. I never saw a CD of “Neu! 4”, but I wouldn’t have bought it if it was too expensive. I really liked the first few Michael Rother solo albums, but I never got into La Dusseldorf very much. Whereas, I like Harmonia very much. This particular batch of German musicians are rather “all over each other’s records / bands”.

Finding the first Neu! album in the U.S. in 1972 or so was really a revelation – a revelation of what was possible in the context of rock music. I’ve no idea how / why Billingsgate Records came to exist to release such a thing in the U.S. – I certainly remember writing to the record label, but I don’t remember them replying.

For a while there, my enthusiasm was really flamed – “Neu! 2” came fairly quickly after the 1^st album. If memory serves, I got the 2 x 45’s in either at a 70’s swap meet – or on a visit to England. Real Neu! 45’s are kind of unusual. At least they picked the right songs for the A-sides of both singles! I remember being disappointed that “Neu! ‘75” came out in the U.S. on Capitol Records – so I went and found out how to get a Japanese pressing! (I ordered it when it was a new release).

I didn’t like it when the bootleg CD’s of the Neu! albums were around. Expensive Germanophon bootlegs, each and every one of them “needle drops”. Same story for the first three Kraftwerk albums. I never bought any of that crap on boot CD. I’ll stick to my (mostly) original German LP’s, thanks.

The music? It’s that “motorized musik” beat – ‘intoxicating’, I think it was written. As a youngster, I just knew that they (the cool, intelligent music world) were thinking way past “the 3 minute pop song” in rock music of the early 70’s. I am not at all surprised that many famous folks (Mr. Bowie, for example) always name-check Neu! when speaking of their “influences”.

I was also mightily into Faust, Amon Duul II, Cluster, Kraftwerk, Can et al. We all know that Krautrock was on the menu from 1971 – 1977. Seems to me that quite a few people tried German rock music at the time, but not many took it all that seriously. I know Krautrock was more popular in England than it was in the U.S. (in the 70’s). Now it seems to be a worldwide phenomena – at least for 70’s German music.