TCCDM Pulls One Out..."NEU!" - NEU! (1972 - 2020)

"NEU!" - NEU! (1972 - Rei 2020)

"There's no excuses, my friend.
Let's push things forward."  (The Streets)
And that is exactly what Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother were doing with their debut album.  Hailing from Düsseldorf, Germany, the duo left the early incarnation of Kraftwerk and created a wonderfully experimental, hypnotic, trippy, and very proto-atmospheric feast.  Variations of some avant-garde goodness, for sure.  But it's the driving hypnotic German "motorik beat" of "Hallogallo" and "Negativland" that puts the lead in your pencil.  Everything else is just delicious brushstrokes of trippy weirdness.  "NEU!" wasn't necessarily the first album to take this direction, but one can certainly hear the influences this one had on later artists.

Since picking up this album, I've dropped the needle on it almost daily.  It's gotten under my skin.  The album might have been recorded in 1972, but it still sounds as fresh as ever.  When I wanna lose myself, I grab some headphones and let the square spin take me away.  And the more I actively listen, the more nuances my cute little ears seem to notice.  NEU! recorded two more albums before breaking up that I've yet to stumble on, but they are considered must-grabs as well.

"NEU!" - NEU! (back)

"NEU!" - NEU! (inside gatefold)

Favorites include:
"Hallogallo"
"Negativland"
"Weissensee"

This is a white vinyl 2020 reissue on the Gronlund label.  The record comes in a textured gatefold jacket, but the inner sleeve is just crappy white paper.  (Polylined inner sleeves need to be standard issue.)  The playback is quiet when it should be.  No pops or tics.  The front and back album fonts look red in my photos but are actually more of an orange.  I found this new copy at The Record Ship for $23 along with a couple of other pickups I'll show later.


Grönland Records label (white vinyl)

Cat #
LC 23354
SIDE A  DEADWAX
BK10459-01  A1  111  VX
SIDE B  DEADWAX
BK10459-01 [scratched out]  B-1  VX

Barcode: 5 065001 040733

"Hallogallo" - NEU! / "NEU!" (1972) 

TRACKS:
A1  "Hallogallo" (German slang for "wild partying") 10:07
A2  "Sonderangebot" ("Special Offer") 4:50
A3  "Weissensee" ("White Lake") 6:42
B1  "Im Glück" ("Lucky") 6:52
B2  "Negativland" ("Negative Land") 9:46
B3  "Lieber Honig" ("Preferably Honey" 7:15

PERSONNEL:
Michael Rother – guitar, bass, guitar, bowed bass
Klaus Dinger – drums, guitar, Japanese banjo, vocals
Additional personnel
Konrad "Conny" Plank – producer, engineer

Good stuff.

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