NEU!

This album should be on every self-respecting Porcupine Tree fan's wishlist, at least if you like the first few years of PT's career. With two tracks that served as a clear inspiration for PT classics and a creative spirit that would inhabit so much of Wilson's output, you should own it already.

Hallohallo was first covered by Wilson and then, by altering the main riff a bit, it evolved into the track Signify. Less known but not less remarkable is how the he stark slow beat and bass groove of Weisensee must have served as inspiration for Radioactive Toy.

But it didn't take Steve Wilson to discover the amazing qualities of this band. While close to a total failure at its release, countless post-punk bands picked up a dusty copy in shabby second-hand store. The rhythmical drone, the snappy and dissonant guitar playing and the textured noise that serves as lead melodic element would inspire diverse bands such as Magazine, Simple Minds, PIL, Siouxsie, Einsturzende Neubauten, Sonic Youth and many more.

Due to all this digression on the band's relevance we would almost forget about the music. Each of the 6 tracks here are a very different adventure, sometimes upbeat, sometimes slow, sometimes harsh then again spacey. Most of it is unlike anything else in existence around 1972 which makes this band into one of the rare truly original forces in rock.

Neu! was formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother from the early Kraftwerk line-up. Some songs echo the minimalist rhythms of Kraftwerk and also the sonic experimentation, or should that be 'sonic anarchy', is similar. But Kraftwerk never rocked as hard and punk as this album. This brings early Can into the picture who also experimented with noise, dissonance and relentless funky grooves. While different from each other it's likely you'll either like both bands or none of both.

Unlike many other Krautrock bands, Neu! didn't take inspiration from Pink Floyd or blues, but created a completely new and discomforting type of music, seemingly from out of nowhere. I'm actually surprised this album hasn't inspired an onslaught of 1 star reviews. The harsh dissonance of Negativland or vocal anomaly of Lieber Honig could easily achieve that. A landmark album and fun all the way!