NEU!
NEU!
Vinyl Box (Grönland)
Gröenland are very proud to announce the
release of the NEU! Vinyl Box, a complete retrospective of
one of the most influential German bands of the 1970’s.
The NEU! box set reveals the myth of NEU! and gives deeper
insight into the music of NEU!. In addition to the three original
NEU! studio albums of the 70’s, the limited edition
box set features two additional releases, appearing officially
for the first time – NEU! ’86, the most recent
studio recordings of NEU!, as well as never before released
material, revised by Michael Rother, and NEU! “72 non-public
test” maxi-single, a stunning, previously unheard live
recording of the band in Düsseldorf. The NEU! Vinyl Box
includes a 36-page book with text about the history and workings
of NEU!, illustrated with previously unpublished materials
and photographs by Anton Corbijn and Peter Lindbergh, amongst
others, a stencil of the NEU! logo, and a download code for
the digital versions of all the LPs and a NEU! t-shirt (one
of three different designs).
A (Very) Brief History of NEU!
The legendary German group NEU! released only
3 albums between 1972 and 1975, but these albums had an influence
wildly disproportionate to their modest commercial success,
repeatedly praised by and influential to artists such as David
Bowie, Iggy Pop, DEVO, Sonic Youth, Stereolab, Autechre, Radiohead,
U2, Wilco, Primal Scream, and beyond. Michael Rother and Klaus
Dinger first came to the public’s attention shredding
Hendrix-toned riffs and pounding monotonous, tom-heavy beats
in a particularly psychedelic 1971 version of Kraftwerk. The
pair left after six months to form NEU! and took with them
their tandem musical language that would go on to have a far-reaching
influence. Dinger’s propulsive beat is often cited as
the quintessential motorik drumming, while Rother’s
guitar playing made something new from a variety of influences:
The timbres were of rock music, but the melodic sense was
something else -- the scales were bittersweet and very European,
accompanied by a Middle-Eastern style open-string drone. The
trio of Rother, Dinger, and producer Conny Plank created a
cohesive universe where straightforward tones and melodies
intermarried with heavily processed elements, where reality
could turn itself inside-out or stretch out seemingly forever.
Rother and Dinger parted ways after the third NEU! album.
Rother concentrated on Harmonia, his collaboration with Cluster
(Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius), and, starting
in 1977, released a series of solo records. Dinger began a
new project called La Dusseldorf. The pair regrouped in 1985/86
but were never able to complete another album to their mutual
satisfaction. In 2008 Klaus Dinger passed away. Regarding
the NEU! box set, Rother says, “It was my aim to present
Klaus Dinger´s musical strengths and visions just as
much as my own ideas. All during the emotional process of
reworking our album Klaus was on my mind and I contemplated
what he would think about my decisions.”
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