OFF: Neu

[John Majka]

At 08:09 PM 4/9/97 -0400, you wrote:
>On Wed, 9 Apr 1997, J Strobridge wrote:
>
>> obgroupDefinitelyInNeedOfReissue> Neu
>
>Speaking of Neu, my local shop has a copy of _Neu 2_ on CD in their Psyche
>section.  Is this any good?  I've seen at least two other Neu CDs
>advertised in mail order outlets.  I remember someone on here saying they
>bought a Neu album and it was fairly lousy, whereupon someone explained
>that they'd bought the "wrong" Neu album (i.e. later material which was...
>different).  My interest in Neu was piqued by the fact that Dave Brock was
>a big fan.  Didn't he write the liner notes to one of their albums?

Well, "Neu 2" is the one to avoid.  The first album, "Neu" and the third
album "Neu 75" are both fantastic however.  "Neu 2" has a great deal of
filler material of the most irritating sort, such as the same song at 16
speed and at 78 speed, or played from a crappy tape player with random
rewinding and fast forwarding and other stuff.  If you like Neu a bit,
you're likely to enjoy Stereolab, who sound almost identical to Neu except
much more refined and (IMHO) much better, with beautiful female vocals in
the style of Cocteau Twins or Lush.
Try "Refried Ectoplasm" or maybe the EP titled "Space Age Bachelor Pad
Music".  Once you're hooked with these two, try "Mars Audiac Quintet" and
the rest of their stuff.

>Also, whilst I'm at it, does anyone have any opinions on these other
>outfits thronging my local psyche section:
>        Can

Can is like the blueprint for a whole style of music.  It's generally long,
rambling improvised stuff with superior quality drumming (the other
instruments are certainly quite good too).  The best albums are the early
ones:  Tago Mago, Ege Bamyasi, Soundtracks, Future Days.  Monster Movie (the
first one) is good too, but just not as good as the others I've mentioned.
The band has a definite interest in ethnic musics and as time went on, they
became less improvisational/psychedelic and more funky/worldbeat.  I won't
say the last few albums suck, but they're just not as much fun as the early
stuff.

>        Bardo Pond

Bardo Pond sounds like early Hawkwind jammed-out songs, sort of like the
first side of In Search Of Space.  I recommend "Amanita"

John Majka
flossbac at wcic.org