|
| Neu! 2 | 
 enlarge | Artist: Neu!
Label: High Wire Music
Category: Music
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $10.95
You Save: $4.03 (27%)
New (17) Used (4) from $8.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 19908
Format: Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 2
UPC: 854882200726
EAN: 0854882200726
ASIN: B001CVCBYE
Release Date: August 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
|
| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-10 of 10 | | « PREV | | |
Is there such a thing as avant-garde punk? February 8, 2005
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
If so, it probably starts here. What do you do when you've finished recording half of your second album (despite you and your partner trying to pull it in opposite directions while dealing with screwy studio equipment), then run out of money and have your label refuse to advance you any more? Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother chalked one up for spite and finished Neu! 2 anyway, presumably through sheer force of will. Tracks were doubled, stretched, compressed, sped up, slowed down, remixed and voila - enough new material to finish the record. It probably wasn't intended to be avant-garde or a new experient in strange recording techniques, let alone to spawn a whole genre niche on its own, but it's amazing how things can take on a life of their own.
If Neu! self-titled was an exploration of simplicity in repetitive grooves, this album is the sound of that idea being gnawed at by gerbils, composted, half-torn apart, spit out in a mess of tangled tapes and reassembled by a frazzled sound engineer in a hurry on his day off. And I realize that makes it sound like a hopeless mess, but it's not, really. The off-the-wall wackiness is what makes the finished work so fresh and intriguing. "Super" closes the album out nicely with a trademark smooth-chillin Neu!groove, but before we get there we hear part of it once at half speed and once at a zippy hyper pace that leaves your head spinning. "Neuschnee" is put through a similar treatment to get "Neuschnee 78," and I can't even tell what the source for "Cassetto" was, since that track consists of a tape being chewed up in the player. Fun stuff.
Elsewhere some moments are sheer motorik satori, creating more of the same blissful clockwork-cruising grooves the first record did. The dreamy "Fuer Immer" alone is probably worth the price, traveling from beautiful highway cruise to trippy outer-space groove and back again without missing a beat. "Neuschnee" and "Lila Engel" (even though it's got some questionable vocals on the side) are similar patches of ear-pleasing Krautrock, which are usually enough to keep the flow of the whole thing listenable amid the freaky parts.
Neu! 2 may be my least favorite of the three and the most rarely listened to (as it probably will be to anyone who usually prefers the sound of a finished product to the sound of a half-baked one put through a broken paper shredder), but it's got its own musical value all the same. And of course "Fuer Immer" is sheer aural perfection any way you look at it. Go for Neu! '75 for the most listenable taste, then come here to make your day a little more surreal.
As heard in "Kill Bill"! April 22, 2004
4 out of 10 found this review helpful
If the Astralwerks label that released this 1973 gem were clever they'd re-release it with a bright yellow sticker on the cover that says: "FEATURING: 'SUPER 16', AS HEARD IN THE NEW QUENTIN TARATINO MOVIE KILL BILL VOL.1!!!" Then watch the sales of NEU! 2 surge its way up to the top of the Billboard album charts, purchased by young hipsters salivating for any and all obscure references incorporated into the cult movie flick.
Okay, that may never happen, but still, it was quite a treat to hear the brief snippet of "Super 16"'s turntable sludge ooze from the speakers of Tarantino's movie. "Super 16" might serve a few seconds of quirky soundtrack music, but as representation of the superb, and breif, discography of NEU!'s body of work it does the band a great disservice. Hearing this track rekindled my interest in NEU!'s music again, and to write this review.
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" (as of this writing Amazon's tracklisting is incorrect) . 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 consits 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 (Rating: 5 stars), and tied with their 3rd and final(?) effort Neu! 75, where NEU! 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. It's good enough for Tarantino, and it's good enough for you! BUY IT!
Favorite tracks: "Fur Immer", "Lila Engel", "Super"
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
 We're gonna do it anyway February 19, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
First of all, let me say that once in a great while amazon gets the track listing slightly off. I bought the album tonight and it is sitting here in front of me as I write this. The album, I assume, is supposed to look as closely to the original vinyl as possible. It even has the songs split into two sections which are noted as Sides 1 and 2. The correct track listing should be:
1. Fuer Immer
2. Spitzenwualitat
3. Gedenkminute
4. Lila Engel
5. Neuschnee 78
6. Super 16
7. Neuschnee
8. Cassetteo
9. Super 78
10. Hallo Excentrico !
11. Super
On the back of the CD, what would have been side two of the original record release, is above what would have been side one. So if you do not happen to notice that they are labeled as side one and side two then you may be confused. However a CD as we all know only has one side.
Anyway, the album is brilliant. I'll bet Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother said some variation of "we're gonna do it anyway" a time or two in their careers as NEU! Just look at the record, the track listing is shoved all the way into the top left corner and takes a minute to figure out. Beyond that, once you listen to the album you'll notice something. For those familiar with turntable speeds, you'll know that Super 16 does not refer to the variation of 16mm motion picture film used to give a higher quality look when transfered to 35mm. If you know anything about the history of the turntable, records, and vinyl (in relation to sound recording) you'll know about the 16RPM records were used for voice recording and by Chrysler for the car stereo turntables that they jokingly used. They printed special versions of various albums in 16RPM. Yes, to answer your question, every bump your car hit caused the needle to scratch and most likely ruin you're album. The turntable was only good when the player was used while your car was at a complete stop. Anyway, they took the same song (on vinyl) that was recorded at 33 1/3 speed and ran it at 16 and 78 RPMs. They even included the 33 1/3RPM version. They even have another track (Neuschnee) at 33 1/3 were they run it at 78 and include both versions. I'm sure someone along the way said something to Dinger and Rother and they replied with some variation of "we're gonna do it anyway." Different versions of the same song? Hard to read track listing? They deserve some credit for doing what they want to do. It obviously looks like somewhere along the way they didn't take someone's advice and it was for the better!
The music holds up even under the technical aspects. Weak music is made even more weak with technical special effects. However, great music can be made even better with the same effects.
I'm only sad that each generation is farther removed from vinyl than the last. One day someone will see this album and say "what does 16 and 78 mean?"
Motorik Masterwork, wunderbar!!!! July 9, 2002
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
An ELECTRIC AUTOBAHN towards the infinite... be carefull, this is veeeeeeery trippy stuff...
Interesting July 17, 2007
Quite the fun one. Im going to try to be as succinct as I can and not draw out the review or anything here, but Fur Immer got me listening. Although minimalistic on the skin, the deeper you get, the more you start hearing. Whether this is due to subtle instrumentation or just sounds playing with your ears, it is quite entertaining. Some critique the "speed up slow down" tunes, but nonetheless its interesting to note the differences between the tracks. Its almost as if you are looking at the same picture from different angles, except you are looking at it with your ears. The distortions bring out peculiar visions thats for sure. And Super, is just, well. . .Super.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
