LUST

Lust was Michael Rother's fifth solo album after he left NEU!. While not his best work as a solo artist, this album is still a good release, especially for fans of electronic music. The style here is immensely different from his work in NEU!, as it is catchier, more new age at times, and overall, simpler and poppier if I dare use that word. While not exactly pop, this release is much more user friendly than any of the NEU! albums.

Lust starts out with "Palmengarten," which was the single used to promote this release. It's one of the better tracks on the album, very lively and catchy, but still dark sometimes. "Primadonna" is a much more playful, repetitive track, but still very upbeat and enjoyable. "Dynamotron" to me sounds like a mix of the first two tracks, upbeat, not too dark, catchy, and a bit repetitve.

The title track keeps the style of the previous ones, but incorporates an acoustic guitar, which is quite nice. "Cascadi" is another lively electronic ditty, but isn't quite as good as the previous pieces (by now, it's becoming a little bit to samey for me...). The last track on the original LP, "Pulsar," is a bit slower paced and overall different from all of the other one on the album; it's nowhere near as upbeat.

Lust is a good album for fans of Rother's previous projects (Harmonia, NEU!, Kraftwerk), but it's not the best place to begin exploring his solo career. While a good album, this suffers from being a bit samey, and is nowhere near as consistently great as Katzenmusik, arguably, his best album as a solo artist. By the way, the Random Records release has three bonus tracks which are pretty good themselves, sounding a bit more modern than the tracks on the original studio album. In the end, this isn't for everyone, but for those interested it's a good album that deserves a solid three stars.