Neu! 2

NEU! 2
Studio album by Neu!
Released 1973
Recorded January 1973
Genre Krautrock, ambient, proto-punk
Length 42:14
Label Brain, United Artists
Producer Conny Plank, Neu!
Neu! chronology
Neu!
(1972)		 Neu! 2
(1973)		 Neu! '75
(1975)
Klaus Dinger chronology
Neu!
(1972)		 Neu! 2
(1973)		 Neu! '75
(1975)
Singles from Neu! 2
  1. "Super/Neuschnee"
    Released: 1972
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
The Austin Chronicle[2]
Pitchfork Media7.5/10[3]
PopMatterspositive[4]
Q[5]
Rolling Stone[6]

Neu! 2 is the second studio album by the krautrock band Neu!. It was recorded in January 1973 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, mixed in February 1973 at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios, Hamburg, Germany, and released in 1973 by Brain Records. It was officially reissued by Astralwerks on 29 May 2001. Illegal bootleg CDs (with the audio taken from vinyl) from the Germanofon label were widely available in the late 1990s.

Overview

This album further focused the classic Neu! krautrock sound, with the 11-minute "Für immer" in particular being the archetypal example of their style—a seemingly endless forward-driving vamping, propelled by Klaus Dinger's 4/4 drumming and Michael Rother's layered guitar with its fluid lines and droning harmonic structure. It also features elements of ambient music and proto-punk.[7]

Side 2 of the record caused consternation at the time. Neu! had quite simply run out of money to finish recording the album, so side 2 is made up entirely of their previously released single "Neuschnee/Super", manipulated at various playback speeds on a record player, or mangled in a cassette recorder. Critics at the time dismissed this as a cheap gimmick and a rip-off. While it was indeed an experiment born of desperation and necessity, it was entirely in keeping with Neu's pop art aesthetics, taking a "ready-made" sound object and re-presenting it with a series of stylized manipulations, and also quite in keeping with the way Neu's music deconstructed and pared down the form of rock music. Dinger has since pointed to side 2 of this album as being a prototype of the now ubiquitous multiple remixes which typically accompany any pop single release.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother. 

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "Für Immer" ("Forever") 11:17
2. "Spitzenqualität" ("Top Quality") 3:35
3. "Gedenkminute (für A + K)" ("Minute's Silence (For A + K)") 2:06
4. "Lila Engel" ("Lilac Angel") 4:37
Side two
No. Title Length
5. "Neuschnee 78" ("Fresh Snow 78") 2:32
6. "Super 16"   3:39
7. "Neuschnee" ("Fresh Snow") 4:07
8. "Cassetto" ("Cassette") 1:48
9. "Super 78"   1:36
10. "Hallo Excentrico!" ("Hello Excentrico!") 3:44
11. "Super"   3:11

Personnel

Band members
Additional personnel

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2001-07-13/82355/
  3. ↑ Pitchfork Media review
  4. ↑ PopMatters review
  5. ↑ Q (7/01, p. 136) - 3 stars out of 5 - "... In addition to inventing the motorik beat... Neu! also invented the remix album.... these are completed tracks combined with a strategic hand on the turntable..."
  6. ↑ Rolling Stone review (web.archive.org)
  7. ↑ Sirota, Brent S. (5 June 2001). "Neu! Neu! '75". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 24 May 2011. ...the radical proto-punk of their second album...
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