NEU! 2

NEU! 2 is perhaps best approached as two halves, the first half, which consits of the first 4 tracks: Fur Immer, "Spitzenwualitat", "Gedenkminute" and Lila Engel . This is the heart of the album, with the driving Fur Immer connecting the dots between Kraftwerk's motor beats with alternative rock riffing. Lila Engel pounds agressively like there's no tomorrow, years before it became fashionable in punk music. Did I mention this music was originally released in '73? Awesome!

The second half consists of the remaining 7 tracks which, reportedly due to budget restraints, were recorded with minimal material. The band's solution was to drag or speed up pieces of their own music in various configurations using a turntable (complete with needle drops and vinyl scraping). The woozy Cassetto feeds music through a dying cassette player until its last, wretched gasp. This section of NEU! 2 is remixing in its most primitive form. Although it's an amusing idea to recycle pre-existing material in this fashion, the approach wears itself thin quite early, and hardly justifies any repeat listens.

I would say that NEU! 2 is second best behind the band's self-titled debut, and tied with their 3rd and final(?) effort Neu! 75, where the band were beginning to sound too self-conscious, IMHO. NEU!'s music has become better with age and surpasses any music out here that is being labeled "alternative" these days.