NEU! '75

Although not gaining true mainstream acceptance the duo of Michael Rother and the late Klaus Dinger (an offshoot of the first incarnation of the German electronic band Kraftwerk) who constituted the musical entity collectively known as NEU! were considered by their peers to be one of the most influential bands of the 70`s with their alluring surreal sonic experiments. Nue!`75 completed a trio of futuristic albums released between `71 & `75 which, although produced on almost shoestring budgets, managed to inspire such diverse artists as Gary Numan, Hawkwind as well as The Sex Pistols not to mention David Bowie who even invited Rother to participate in the production of his 1977 avant-garde album Low which was graciously declined.

At best, NEU! `75 with it`s futuristic compositions is a great album to put on when entertaining dinner guests from Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately it signaled the disollution of this unlikely alliance of two extraordinary yet diametrically opposed artists, both personally and professionally. Although the band didn`t refer to it as such, what they did have in common was a rhytmic device they developed known as motorik beat ( motorik was an amalgamation of the German words Motor and music ) which was employed in most of their compositions that rationalized their music into captivating 4/4 time signatures with crash cymbal accents and can be heard throughout this work which is their most accessible despite the distance between the two individual musical perspectives. Fortunately for the casual listener the clash of styles, Rother`s more ambient hypnotic stylings and Dinger`s more aggressive proto-punk designs are presented on separate sides of the original vinyl release with the running order being retained on the CD reproduction.

Like the previous two NEU! albums these musical explorations are not for everyone and it`s a pity that these guys couldn`t reach more of an overall compromise with their music. After digesting the first three hauntingly sensual Rother tracks with their more seductive sound textures and relaxing environmental effects one is taken aback when confronted by Dinger`s ferocious obstrusive braying vocals and single chord guitar assaults. No doubt NEU`S whole spectrum is showcased here but one might as well be listening to two separate albums and it therefore suffers from a case of Dr. Jekyl & Mr Hyde syndrome. The whole album, groundbreaking as it was at the time of it`s release, also has the tendancy to sound dated because of the many artists it managed to influence. Nonetheless, Neu! 75 is worth investigating if only savouring Rother`s more thoughtful approaches while ignoring Dinger`s contribution which gives the impression that he was deliberately aiming for another novelty album with the minimulistic formula appearing to have run it's course by this time. Even so, along with their first album a must have for die hard fans of the early 70s Krautrock scene.