A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, far away, a group of musicians created some of the most exiting, free and alive music ever recorded.
Strangely - considering the cultural before and after - that 'galaxy' was Germany and these bands we speak of, in hushed tones and with raised eyebrows, had minds without roofs. Neu!, Can, Faust and to a lesser, far more electronic extent, Kraftwerk, formed and ignited a 'scene' that became Krautrock, a parameter-free, expression-frenzy of sound and vision.
Klaus Dinger (drums) and Michael Rother (guitar/keyboards) were Neu! and everyone from David Bowie, Brian Eno, the Sex Pistols, Sonic Youth, New Order and Julian Cope to Stereolab, Thom Yorke, Damon Albarn and the Super Furry Animals know exactly what they sound like. Between 1971 and 1975, the duo recorded three albums that have been incessantly acclaimed but forever unavailable. These reissues change all of that.
Dinger and Rother were originally in Kraftwerk, but departed to forge their own vision, which they did immediately. Debut album 'Neu!' finds the band announcing their arrival as a mighty musical force with an unparallelled opening statement, that of the ten-minute repetitive feast of 'Hallogallo'.
Neu!'s primary contribution to the future of music can be heard immediately, in the incessant and intoxicating 'motorik' beat of Dinger's drumming, with strains of freeform guitars smeared over the skeletal shape. Minimalist, driving, droning and experimental, this was the Neu! blueprint, their chosen autobahn. And it was beautiful.
Elsewhere, 'Neu!' offers plenty of - albeit skewed - delights, namely the flooded studio atmospherics of 'Im Gluck' and elaborate guitar pyrotechnics of 'Weissensee'. However, 'Negativeland' is something else, as a drilling cement mixer and rapturous applause part to the sound of a delicious, endlessly loping groove. (9)
'Neu! 2', meanwhile, showcases perhaps one of the most audacious scams in music history, as Dinger and Rother grappled with the realisation that the recording costs had spiralled out of control. Therefore, amidst the effortless, thrusting Neu! zerox of the brain-defying 'Fur Immer', the duo came up with an equally brain-defying idea to complete the record - they would alternate the speeds on numerous tracks and include them again, as fresh recordings. 'Super' for example, features three times.
As intriguing and fascinating as it is possible to convince yourself that these are, once a locked groove has hypnotised your mind - the helium-fed 'Neuschnee 78' and 'Super 78' basically predate electronic music (albeit accidentally) with their hyperactive drum tattoos - it's hard to see beyond the ridiculous, if amusing, conceit. Elsewhere, 'Neu! 2' is a little lacking in focus, noisily unhinged, very experimental, but still essential. (8)
However, it was what followed that really blew the doors off Krautrock and sealed Neu!'s position as Germanic sonic figureheads.
'Neu! '75' was recorded as Dinger and Rother reunited for the last time. It was a distillation of everything the band had searched for and is the most harmonious of the three records. High-water marks are there at every turn, as celestial piano vies for attention against the trademark pulse of 'Isi', in the metronomic beat and familiar, broad guitar figures of 'Seeland', 'Leb' Wohl''s hushed, contemplative wash, and culminating in 'Hero', a blitzing, rampant cocktail of rhythmic percussive aggression, guitar fireworks and garbled vocal theatrics. (10)
As is the way with a string of influential bands, Neu!'s importance would only resonate years later, once the cognoscenti started name-dropping them and writing songs that, if not outright covers, were paying extreme homage to their exulted and glorious peers. And rightly so.
Neu!, incidentally, means new, if that wasn't already obvious.
