Neu! '75
| Neu! 75 | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1975 | |||
| Recorded | December 1974 - January 1975 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:33 | |||
| Label | Brain, United Artists | |||
| Producer | Conny Plank, Neu! | |||
| Neu! chronology | ||||
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| Klaus Dinger chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Neu! 75 | ||||
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Neu! 75 is the third studio album by the krautrock band Neu!. It was recorded and mixed at Conny Plank's studio between December 1974 and January 1975. It was released in 1975 by Brain Records, and officially reissued on CD on 29 May 2001 by Astralwerks in the US and by Grönland Records in the UK.
Overview
This album saw Neu! regroup after a few years' break, during which time Michael Rother had worked together with Cluster in the krautrock supergroup Harmonia.
By this time, Rother and bandmate Klaus Dinger had somewhat diverged in their musical intentions for the band, Dinger preferring a more aggressive, rock-influenced style than Rother's ambient predilections. As a result, they agreed to a compromise: Side 1 of the record was recorded in the old Neu! style, as a duo, with Dinger playing drums. For the pieces on side 2, Dinger switched to guitar and lead vocals, recruiting his brother Thomas and Hans Lampe to play drums (simultaneously).
The result is essentially a split record, subtly melodic in the first half and boldly unconventional in the second. On both sides, the use of keyboards and phasing is increased compared to earlier records. Dinger's rock song "Hero" was an inspiration for many musicians of the time, including John Lydon of the Sex Pistols, and is since considered an example of proto-punk. David Bowie alluded to the album on his "Heroes" album.[4] The band Negativland (named after a song on their first album) named their record label Seeland after the song on '75. Fact described the album's sound "spartan psych-rock set to power driven drum tracks."[3] while Thomas Jerome Seabrook labeled it a kosmische musik album.[2]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| The Austin Chronicle | [6] |
| Pitchfork | 8.5/10[7] |
| NME | 10/10[8] |
| Q | [9] |
| Rolling Stone |  [10] |
In 1979, NME critic Andy Gill reviewed the album, stating that "Neu took the repetitive pulse of rock, stretched it out and wove lush, shifting layers of sound over the framework to produce a distinctive, hypnotic music which, whilst undeniably rock, was definitely outside-looking-in." and that "this strain which reaches full fruition on Neu '75, and it's because of this that the album's so pivotally important".[11] The review referred to the tracks "Hero", "E-Musik" and "After Eight" as "damn-near perfect as makes no difference, an achievement which exhausts superlatives".[11] Gill called the track "Hero" "magnificent", comparing it to "Brown Sugar" or Bob Seger's "Rosalie".[11] Gill assessed "Isi", "Seeland" and "Leb' Wohl'" as "less immediate but only slightly less satisfying: evocative, entropic, hot-summer-daze music which balances — and is even more successfully "ambient" than — side two's sweaty nightclub pulse".[11]
Ben Sisario of The New York Times described the album and its predecessors as "landmarks of German experimental rock," also referred to by journalists as krautrock.[1]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Isi" (phonetically: "Easy"; also an abbreviation commonly used in German-speaking countries for the name Isabella) | 5:06 |
| 2. | "Seeland" ("Sea Land" or "Lake Land"; also the name of various locations) | 6:54 |
| 3. | "Leb' Wohl" ("Farewell") | 8:50 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 4. | "Hero" | 7:11 |
| 5. | "E-Musik" ("Serious Music", a contraction of ernste Musik, as opposed to "entertainment music", Unterhaltungsmusik) | 9:57 |
| 6. | "After Eight" (Refers to the number "9", in German "neun".) | 4:44 |
Personnel
- Band members
- Michael Rother – guitar, keyboards, vocals
- Klaus Dinger – drums (side 1), guitar (side 2), vocals (side 2)
- Thomas Dinger – drums (side 2)
- Hans Lampe– drums (side 2)
- 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.
- ^ a b Seabrook, Thomas Jerome (2008). Bowie in Berlin: A New Career in a New Town. Jawbone Press. p. 85.
- ^ a b "Krautrock figurehead Klaus Dinger's final album to get posthumous release". Fact. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
- ^ Snow, Mat (2007). MOJO 60 Years of Bowie, "Making Heroes". p. 69.
- ^ Jurek, Thom. "Neu! 75". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Chamy, Michael (13 July 2001). "Neu!, Neu! 2, and Neu! 75 (Astralwerks)". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Sirota, Brent S. (5 June 2001). "Neu!: Neu! '75 Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ "Neu! review". NME. 2 June 2001. p. 39.
... Part transcendental dreamscape and part unhinged autobahn-punk... NEU!'75 is their apotheosis...
- ^ "Neu! review". Q. July 2001. p. 136.
Their masterpiece, providing their most mesmerizing slow number in 'Seeland' and their most startling piece of proto-punk in 'Hero'.... A necessity for any record collection.
- ^ Blashill, Pat (5 July 2001). "Neu! '75 : Neu! Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d Gill, Andy (July 21, 1979). "Neu: Neu '75". NME. Retrieved September 7, 2016.(subscription required)
