This is Hawkwind - Do Not Panic + Neu! Question

[K Henderson]

>Also, as I'm sure everyone is aware, Neu!'s 2nd album (Neu! 2) has a second
>half consisting of various speed versions of tracks played at normal speed
>in the first half (plus a cassette-eating version too). I own the (illegal?)
>CDs from a few years back and I was wondering if the legit re-issues differ
>in any major way (besides hopefully giving the artists royalties).

Reposted from the 'isi' Krautrock list, courtesy of Fred Mills, Associate
Editor of Magnet Magazine.

Grakkl (FAA)

Someone asked if the Neu reissues were from master tapes; below is Rother's
answer to that question when I posed it to him. (Note that he subtly
misunderstood my use of the word "remixing". I meant remix in the way the Who
remixed Who's Next for the latest reissues, while he took it to mean
something along the lines of the Can multi-artist remix project.) After his
answer is Dinger's reply.
--Fred

MAGNET: Tell me about the reissues themselves: have they been remastered from
the original tapes, and was there any remixing involved?

ROTHER: For the mastering we were able to use the original 2 track master
tapes.  Fortunately the master tapes have survived 30 years without any
decrease in audio quality and still are in a perfect condition. Another lucky
circumstance was that they had not been lost at the record company as has
happened with the original artwork elements. Metronome returned the master
tapes to me in 1996 shortly before this sub-company was shut down by
Polygram (now Universal Music). As to the artwork we were able to
reconstruct that from original vinyl copies which I had kept in my archives.
Our aim is to re-release the original music and artwork on CD and vinyl in
the highest possible quality but without changing the characteristics or the
feeling of the originals.  So far Klaus and I have not yet agreed on any
remixing project. Quite a few musicians are in fact interested in doing
remixes for us, some have already sent  me their ideas but due to new
controversies we decided to concentrate on the originals for the time being.
Generally I am interested in hearing what other musicians nowadays come up
with when they work on NEU! material but, of course, the release of the
originals is our main goal.

MAGNET: Tell me about the reissues themselves: have they been remastered from
the original tapes, and was there any actual remixing involved?

DINGER: Yes, four times. First Herbert Groenemeyer remastered the original
master tapes at Metropolis, London, with Tim Young in October 2000. Michael
praised the result; I couldn't. In February 2001 the second attempt was with
John Cremer (ex-EMI) in his studio near Cologne. This time Michael and me and
Herbert were there as consultants. I introduced Andreas Reiuse, of Kriedler
(and La! Neu?) and Kazuyuki Onouchi, a young Japanese guy with whom I'm
working together very closely on two La Dusseldorf productions, a Viva remix,
and a new Japandorf, due the end of 2001. With the result of this attempt,
nobody was pleased, so we (Neu!, Herbert, Andreas and Kazu) had our third
attempt, at Metropolis with Tim Young; this was still in February. Which came
very close, except for three titles, which Herbert and Tim slightly changed
soon afterwards.
   The vinyl reissues won't be remastered -- they are 1:1 from the original
tapes.  Remixing, not yet, but we're talking about it. Kazu made an interesting
experiment that everybody liked except Michael. Also, regarding new Neu!
material, Herbert made a great offer, but Michael so far can't agree.