Neu! (album)
Neu! | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1972 | |||
Recorded | December 1971 | |||
Studio | Star Studios, Hamburg | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 45:51 | |||
Label | Brain | |||
Producer | ||||
Neu! chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Mojo | [3] |
NME | 8/10[4] |
Pitchfork | 9.7/10[5] |
Q | [6] |
The Austin Chronicle | [7] |
Neu! is the debut album by German
Upon release, the album was largely ignored internationally but did well in West Germany,[8] selling 35,000 copies.[9] In 2001, the album was reissued by Grönland and then licensed to Astralwerks for US distribution. In 2014, Fact named it the 36th best album of the 1970s.[10]
History
Having broken off from an early incarnation of Kraftwerk, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger quickly began the recording sessions for what would become Neu!. The pair recorded the album in four nights in December 1971[8] in Star Studios in Hamburg, with the up-and-coming Krautrock producer Conny Plank, as Dinger had with Kraftwerk. Dinger noted that Plank served as a "mediator" between the often disagreeing factions within the band.
According to Dinger, the first two days were unproductive until he brought his
The band was christened by Dinger (Rother had been against the name, preferring a more "organic" title) and a
... it was a protest against the consumer society but also against our "colleagues" on the
Pop Art, Contemporary Art. I had always been very visual in my thinking. Also, during that time, I lived in a commune and in order to get the space that we lived in, I set up an advertising agency which existed mainly on paper. Most of the people that I lived with were trying to break into advertising so I was somehow surrounded by this Neu! all the time.
Reception
Neu! sold well for an underground album at the time, with approximately 35,000 copies sold.[9]
In 2001, Q described the album's motorik beat as "krautrock's defining relentless rhythm" and an influence on ambient music and punk.[6] In 2008, Ben Sisario of The New York Times described the album and its successors as "landmarks of German experimental rock."[1]
The track "Negativland" provided the name for a later group of American musical satirists.
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
4. | "Im Glück" ("Lucky") | 6:53 |
5. | "Negativland" ("Negative Land") | 9:47 |
6. | "Lieber Honig" ("Dear Honey" or "Preferably Honey") | 7:18 |
Personnel
- Neu!
- Michael Rother – guitar, bass guitar, bowed bass
- Klaus Dinger – drums, guitar, Japanese banjo, vocals
- Additional personnel
- Konrad "Conny" Plank – producer, engineer
References
- ^ a b c Sisario, Ben. "Klaus Dinger, Drummer of Influential German Beat, Dies at 61". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
- ^ Male, Andrew (February 2016). "Rothervatin'". Mojo. No. 267. p. 47.
- ^ "Neu! review". NME. 2 June 2001. p. 39.
...The album staggers psychotically through metallic scrapings, drifting space musik, unwinding drones, Japanese banjo moments and noise extremism worthy of Pil or Einsturzende Neubauten...
- ^ Sirota, Brent S. (5 June 2001). "Review: Neu! - Neu!". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
- ^ a b "Neu! review". Q. July 2001. p. 136.
...Neu! Invented the motorik beat - Krautrock's defining relentless rhythm....influencing both punk and ambient...
- ^ Chamy, Michael (13 July 2001). "Neu!, Neu! 2, and Neu! 75 (Astralwerks)". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
- ^ a b "Neu! | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-01-05.
- ^ ISBN 9780472053193. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
- ^ Kelly, Chris; Lea, Tom; Muggs, Joe; Morpurgo, Joseph; Beatnik, Mr; Ravens, Chal; Twells, John (July 14, 2014). "The 100 best albums of the 1970s". Fact. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
- ^ Male, Andrew (February 2016). "Michael Rother Interview". Mojo. Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via moredarkthanshark.org.