Neu! 4 is the fourth and final studio album by Krautrock band Neu!. It was revised and re-released as Neu '86 in 2010.
Recording
It was recorded and mixed between October 1985 and April 1986 at Grundfunk Studio, Düsseldorf, Germany, Dinerland-Lilienthal Studio, Düsseldorf, Germany, and Michael Rother Studio, Forst, Germany. This was the first time Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger had entered a studio together since 1975. However the sessions were not completed and the planned album was abandoned.
Release
During the 1990s the first three Neu! albums were available on CD on Germanofon Records, a dubious label allegedly based in Luxembourg who specialized in unauthorized and illegal reissues (bootlegs) of otherwise unavailable Krautrock albums. Germanofon managed to get a number of their releases, including the three Neu! albums, into mainstream distribution. According to Michael Rother's account Dinger released Neu! 4 "in an act of despair, so he says" in late 1995 as a response to the bootlegs, which Dinger rails against in the liner notes. Neu! 4 was issued by the Japanese label Captain Trip Records, without Rother's input, knowledge, or consent. He only learned what had happened in a telegram congratulating him on the release of the album. Rother, writing in March 2007, described this experience as "a rather painful disaster between Klaus Dinger and myself".
The release of Neu! 4 exacerbated the disagreements between Rother and Dinger, which prevented an official CD release of the three classic Neu! albums until 2001. The 2000 agreement between Rother and Dinger which led to the CD releases on Astralwerks in the U.S. and Grönland Records in the UK called for Neu! 4 to be recalled and it has been out of print since then.
Despite Michael Rother's continued objection to Klaus Dinger's original decision to release Neu! 4 and his oft stated opinion "that [Neu! 4] isn't a legal/real Neu! album", Rother had no objection to fans buying the CD second hand and would always leave open the possibility that Neu! 4 could be reissued legally with his consent in the future. Rother and Dinger did attempt to negotiate such a release after the official reissue of the first three albums. In March, 2007 Rother termed the failure to reach such an agreement "unfortunate". With Dinger's death in 2008, such an agreement seemed unlikely.
Neu! '86
In early 2010 Rother announced that he had arrived at an agreement arranged with Dinger's heir, Miki Yui, and has completely remastered the album from original multitrack and master tapes to produce Neu! '86, which he termed "our fourth studio album".[3]
The new album shares several tracks in common with the original release, but has a few new or remixed tracks. Critics have argued that the new version seems over-produced.[citation needed]
Track listing
Neu! 4 (1995)
|
1. |
"Nazionale" |
3:11 |
2. |
"Crazy" |
3:15 |
3. |
"Flying Dutchman" |
3:56 |
4. |
"Schöne Welle (Nice Wave)" |
4:30 |
5. |
"Wave Naturelle" |
5:37 |
6. |
"Good Life (Random-Rough)" |
3:51 |
7. |
"'86 Commercial Trash" |
3:18 |
8. |
"Fly Dutch II" |
5:06 |
9. |
"Dänzing" |
5:08 |
10. |
"Quick Wave Machinelle" |
3:46 |
11. |
"Bush-Drum" |
3:10 |
12. |
"La Bomba (Stop Apartheid World-Wide!)" |
5:59 |
13. |
"Good Life" |
3:42 |
14. |
"Elanoizan" |
3:24 |
Neu! '86 (2010)
|
1. |
"Intro (Haydn slo-mo)" | "Nazionale" |
0:33 |
2. |
"Dänzing" | "Dänzing" |
5:05 |
3. |
"Crazy" | "Crazy" |
3:14 |
4. |
"Drive (Grundfunken)" | new track |
5:13 |
5. |
"La Bomba (Stop Apartheid World-Wide!)" | "La Bomba (Stop Apartheid World-Wide!)" |
5:30 |
6. |
"Elanoizan" | "Elanoizan" |
2:31 |
7. |
"Wave Mother" | "Wave Naturelle" |
4:52 |
8. |
"Paradise Walk" | "Bush-Drum" |
5:11 |
9. |
"Euphoria" | "Quick Wave Machinelle" |
3:57 |
10. |
"Vier 1/2" | "Fly Dutch II" and "Dänzing" |
1:01 |
11. |
"Good Life" | "Good Life" |
3:41 |
12. |
"November" | "Schöne Welle (Nice Wave)" |
1:42 |
13. |
"KD" | "La Bomba (Stop Apartheid World-Wide!)" |
1:55 |
Personnel
- Band members
- Michael Rother – Fairlight, synthesizer, guitar, bass, voice, programs
- Klaus Dinger – voice, guitar, OB8, mix, drums, percussion, programs
- Additional personnel
- Gigi – drums on "Fly Dutch II" and "Good Life"
- Konrad – bass on "Fly Dutch II" and "Good Life"
- Jochen – voice on "La Bomba"
- Brigit – voice on "La Bomba"
- Michael Grund – engineer
Release history
Region |
Date |
Label |
Format |
Catalogue |
Japan |
October 17, 1995 (1995-10-17) |
Captain Trip Records |
CD (Neu! 4) |
CT CD 020 |
UK & Europe |
August 16, 2010 (2010-08-16) |
Grönland Records |
LP (Neu! '86) |
LPGRONIV |
UK & Europe |
August 16, 2010 (2010-08-16) |
Grönland Records |
CD (Neu! '86) |
CDGRONIV |
References
External links
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| | | Studio albums | |
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| Other albums | |
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| Singles | |
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| Klaus Dinger | |
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| Michael Rother | |
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| See also | |
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| | | Kraftwerk | |
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| Neu! | |
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| La Düsseldorf | |
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| solo | |
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| Die Engel des Herrn | |
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| La! Neu? | |
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| Klaus Dinger + Japandorf | |
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| producer | |
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| See also | |
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