NEU!- Neu! 75 (1975)

Pulling this LP out is never a problem as the music contained within is faultless, galaxies beyond anything released in 1975. The LP has two very separate sides (as do all LPs some smart-arses will say). There's the ambient, more progressive side 1 and the proto-punk wig-out that is side 2. Both are equally entertaining in their own way. Neu! was a duo who formed in the German city of Dusseldorf in the early 70's. The two core members, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger (R.I.P), started Neu! after splitting from Kraftwerk. The pair decided to focus on more lengthy, drawn-out music pieces that would go on to defy the boundaries of rock altogether (Hallogallo on Neu! is the quintessential example of what we're talking about here). Dinger is widely recognised as the creator of the 'motorik' drum rhythm which can be heard on vitually every Neu! track. On this LP, Dinger comes to the fore on numbers such as "Hero" or "E-musik", tracks that influenced countless post-punk bands (Public Image Limited, This Heat and Pere Ubu come to mind) and defined the sound of a generation. Neu! released 3 impeccable LPs during the 70's (Neu!2 is probably the weakest of the batch) and Rother/Dinger collaborated on diverse Krautrock projects such as Harmonia (with Rodelius/Moebius from Cluster) and the stellar La Dusseldorf. My copy of the LP is a clear vinyl reissue which makes me want to pull it out of the racks even more. Nuff said!

Hear Neu! on the apocalyptic Hero