“Neu!” by Neu! - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1972Album Chart of the Decade: 1970s

TJR says

New! From Germany. Damned right. This duo from Düsseldorf were Michael Rother (22, guitar, bass guitar) and Klaus Dinger (26, drums, guitar, koto), both recently departed from Kraftwerk citing that old chestnut, artistic differences. The ubiquitous Conny Plank, with whom they had worked at Kraftwerk, was at the helm on production duties, synths at the ready. The classic “Hallogallo” makes for a glorious starter, a propulsive, repetitive, futuristic groover, delivered at a steady 100 mph heading nowhere in particular in a criminally short 10 minute journey. Who knew efficient musical mechanics could be so blissful? Trivia hounds will be interested to know that “Hallogallo” is a play on “Halligalli”, a German slang term for “wild partying”. Ideal for clearing the party is “Sonderangebot”, which is basically 5 minutes of eerie effect, more suited to film-score work. The lazy “Weissensee” doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing either, although its moody synthesized pulse is not completely charmless. The unaffecting film-score-style is back at the start of side 2, with “Im Glück” needlessly taking up 7 minutes of everyone’s time. And then “Negativland” tears up all the known rule books. How can we have post punk before we’ve actually had punk? Long before Einstürzende were revving up their Black & Dekkers, Neu! were at it in 1972. After several minutes of being pretty vacant, the group are suddenly possessed by the need to double the BPM as we get another taste of that wild Halligalli vibe. Unfortunately, it all comes to an abrupt halt, just when you’re raving to the max. And, once again, they attempt to clear the party with the thoroughly depressing “Lieber Honig”, where the somewhat pathetic sounding vocal spoils any chance that the moody vibe has of resonating with any degree of cool. In summary: when Neu! are hot, they're damn hot.

The Jukebox Rebel
06–Oct–2007

Tracklist
A1 [10:07] 9.2.png Neu! - Hallogallo (Klaus Dinger, Michael Rother) Trance Rock
A2 [04:51] 4.9.png Neu! - Sonderangebot (Klaus Dinger, Michael Rother) Avant-Garde
A3 [06:46] 5.7.png Neu! - Weissensee (Klaus Dinger, Michael Rother) Moodcore
B1 [06:52] 5.1.png Neu! - Im Glück (Klaus Dinger, Michael Rother) Avant-Garde
B2 [09:47] 8.9.png Neu! - Negativland (Klaus Dinger, Michael Rother) New Wave
B3 [07:18] 4.3.png Neu! - Lieber Honig (Klaus Dinger, Michael Rother) Moodcore

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