NEU! - NEU! 75

Let's go huskies! (clap clap clapclapclap) Let's go huskies! (clap clap clapclapclap) Oh wait, that's NU. Sorry.

So... krautrock. It's been a while since I listened to Faust IV, my introduction and only foray in krautrock thus far. I found it to be a boring, droning, overlong and occasionally obnoxious listen. NEU! 75 was released 2 years after Faust IV, and judging from the track listing alone (6 songs, 42 minutes) this might be more of the same. On the other hand David Bowie's Station To Station is said to be heavily influenced by krautrock, so maybe there's hope.

I really like the opening instrumental "ISI". It's an upbeat and underplayed piano piece supported by light cheesy sci-fi synths. Its ethereal tones remind a bit of what I heard on Trans Europe Express, but thankfully the music is mostly played by real instruments and the synthesizers mostly understated.

"Seeland" is much more subdued, probably not the type of song I should be listening to at my desk while I'm struggling to stay awake. Especially since the end of the song is a recording of rain drops. "Leb'wohl" is even worse, since the tempo is much slower than an elephant's heartbeat, and the song includes the softest most soothing unenergetic vocals I've ever heard in my life. It's also the same 2 chords repeated over and over again on piano with ocean waves slowly rolling in the background. Did krautrock forget to bring the rock?

"Hero" opens side 2 by possibly inventing 1980s britpop. If NEU! had released this song in say 1985 I would think they were harshly poking fun at the bands like The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen that played endlessly dreary and reverbed songs with heavily accented lyrics. But since this song was released in 1975 I'm forced to consider this jokey tune to be a sincere hard rock effort by NEU! and the possibility that this song might have inspired the wave of britpop bands that started appearing in the late 70s.

"E Musik" is an extended 10-minute jam around a single 2-measure lick and beat. Different band members fade in and out over the runtime, and the mix is played with quite a bit in an attempt to make the song interesting. I'm reminded of "Krautrock" off of Faust IV, which will never be a positive statement. The band eventually fades out so I can listen to the sound of wind for about a minute. Then the band comes back for a few chords and a couple vocals from the depths of hell. I'm suddenly starting to hate this band.

"After Eight" is just under 5 minutes long but feels way longer. It's the repetition. I'm pretty sure the lyrics are repeating, "Help me through the night," over and over, but it's hard to tell. I would think a German band would be speaking German, so maybe it's a mondegreen. At the very least "After Eight" features a key change for the chorus.

Outside of "ISI", which felt like a real composition, I feel like NEU! 75 was mostly the band recording jam sessions then trying to add effects or minimal vocals after the fact to pass relatively standard junk off as songs. It's not the worst music I've ever heard, but none of these songs, outside of "ISI" really deserved to be more than 2 or 3 minutes long. 2 stars.