Neu! '75

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neu! '75
Neu! '75 cover
Studio album by Neu!
Released 1975
Recorded December 1974 - January 1975
Genre Krautrock, Electronic music, Ambient music, Protopunk
Length 46:22
Label Brain
Producer Conny Plank, Neu!
Professional reviews
Neu! chronology
Neu! 2
(1973)
Neu! '75
(1975)
Neu! 4
(1996)

Neu! '75 is an album by 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 May 29, 2001 by Astralwerks. Illegal bootleg CDs (derived from vinyl) had been available in the latter half of the 1990s on the 'Germanofon' label.

This album saw Neu! re-group after a few years' break, during which time Michael Rother had worked together with Cluster in the krautrock 'super group' 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 one of the record was recorded in the old Neu! style, as a duo, with Dinger playing drums. However for the pieces of side two, 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. It is also the referent of David Bowie's "Heroes" album. The band Negativland (named after a song on their first album) named their record label Seeland after the song on '75.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side one

  1. "Isi" (5:06) (phonetically: "Easy")
  2. "Seeland" (6:54) ("Sea Land"; also the name of various locations)
  3. "Leb Wohl" (8:50) ("Bye Bye")

[edit] Side two

  1. "Hero" (7:11)
  2. "E-Musik" (9:57) ("Serious Music" (a contraction of ernste Musik) as opposed to "entertainment music", Unterhaltungsmusik)
  3. "After Eight" (4:44)

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Sample