STERNTALER

I picked up this album in the 70's since I was a fan of Neu. What a find!!! I know that most people will disagree, but I feel that this album exceeds any of Neu's albums. Much more polished, and without the punk aesthetic that gave Neu its legendary status, this album immediately reminded me of three of my favorite artists at that time: Brian Eno, Can and Mike Oldfield. Of course, Can's drummer plays on this album, which explains that comparison. The other two have to do with Rother's guitar and synth sounds, and his tendency to slowly add instruments to the mix. Rother's first three solo albums are great; after that, he started tinkering with his sound (adding clunky drum machines and new- fangled synths that weighed things down), and lost track of his ability to write a decent melody.