#8: NEU!: NEU! 75
Hi, MB! notice anything different? I'm back, with the #8 entry. I remember neglecting this album for the longest time for no apparent reason. I loved
NEU! and
NEU! 2 but for some reason I was reluctant to listen to this one. Well, one day I was without internet access (I was in rural Alberta, the boringest place on the face of the earth) and I finally manned up and listened to it. Well, now I can say that I completely regret that. This is an awesome album that blurs genres together in the awesomest way possible. Apparently, one half of the album was dedicated to Rother's more ambient style of music and the other half was Dinger's more aggressive songs.
On the ambient part of the album, you have three tracks;
Isi, Seeland and
Leb Wohl.
Isi is a pretty song that reminds me of the road trips that I took every summer to my family in Montreal. These Kraftwerk Castaways sure know what they're doing. This song is a beautiful, spacey song that used to be a summer anthem to me, about two years ago, when I first found it. The next ambient-ish track,
Seeland, is a happy, hopeful slow track that reminds me of my first airplane trip when I was ten. I flew at sunset, so it was very pretty, and nighttime above the clouds was gorgeous, with glowing cities, twinkling stars, and hazy moonlit clouds. The next track,
Leb Wohl, which translates into "farewell" according to Wikipedia, is a VERY chill track, with atmospheric pianos and and the sounds of the ocean, and faint vocals. It's hard to believe that this music is from 1975, because it's so full, and definitely not from it's time. You always hear those tinny recordings from 1970-something and it really isn't that impressive, but right here, you have a beautiful, full, rich sound.
Leb Wohl probably wasn't the best place to leave the ambient side, because it sure is shocking to go from a pretty piano track to
AND YOU'RE JUST ANOTHER HERO OMG! screaming. Speaking of
Hero , I personally think this is the best song. It's a proto-punk masterpiece, filled with energy, sweet drums and an angry atmosphere (with lots of yelling!). the next song,
E-Musik, is damn cool. What the hell did they do to it? whatever they did, it sounds pretty neat. The next aggressive song,
After Eight, is a little more atmospheric sounding than
Hero, but still keeps the proto-punk charm. This song is another favourite for me, with Klaus Dinger's screamed vocals, pleading the words
Help me through the night!. Echoey yelps abound in the backround. I think it was terrible of kraftwerk to kick these guys out of their band. Imagine how awesome they'd sound if The members of NEU! stayed in the band! But yet again, Krautrock just wouldn't be the same, would it?