LA DÜSSELDORF

This is a wonderful record, very much in the spirit of NEU! Klaus Dinger continues his fascination with gently pulsing, hypnotic rhythms that feel like a long drive in the country, even if the title track is concerned with the city. La Dusseldorf is more focused than NEU! in that on the latter band's albums we would get one gem like Fur Immer or Hallogallo and spend the rest of record wishing for more. Here, Dinger seems to have realized what his strengths are and honed in on them, giving us a mere four tracks (although the second song is really just an extension of the first) which are extremely satisfying.

Synthesizers are more prominent, largely due to Dinger's boredom with the drum kit and desire to focus his energies elsewhere. This fattens up the sound of the group, given the music a fullness and warmth that NEU! never had. It almost reminds me of Cluster, although not quite as syrupy. The highlight as far as I'm concerned is the album closer "Time." The lyrics begin with a defiant proclamation of the word "time" in various languages, and then proceeds into some lighthearted German punning (if you know even minimal German, as I do, you'll get the joke.) The music is the usual Motorik chugging, pleasant and hypnotic, reflecting the songs title in both its length and the trance like state it induces. Suffice it to say that La Dusseldorf have a much more positive view of the concept of time than Tangerine Dream did when they made "Zeit."

The idea of the existence of La Dusseldorf and the music character will have been bands in the band from Germany activity in the early the 70's and a variety of with an indeed peculiar constitution. The idea of Klaus Dinger from Kraftwerk to Neu might be indeed advanced attended with the major break.

There might certainly have been a dissension by the member in the part besides the music character of Neu. However, the grasp of the music character that had to be aimed indeed might have suited the theory that Klaus Dinger had thought about enough. He had appointed the word that was called "Apache Beat" partially of the music character of this band. It appears remarkably exactly in the sound of the band.

The music character of La Dusseldorf will have been opening of the sense exactly. Music that pushes only the part completely refined while following the method of the music character done with Neu out forward is expressed in the album as a part where La Dusseldorf reached. Respect where decorated part is given to the directionality of 1st Album might be able to be felt in this album. And, the united directionality is carried out as music of the band.

The diversity of the sound might be introduced enough in this album. The sound that there is diversity on the nucleus of the band that has been completely established while excluding the part of the extra is introduced and the performed tune feels wide further. The part of the individuality that the member pooled for the music character done with Neu might naturally advanced to what should be of each thought music in a sense. And, the existence of La Dusseldorf would have been opening of zeal and the idea as one shape that Klaus Dinger reaches.

"Viva" starts accompanied by a complete song and the chorus. Apache Beat that Klaus Dinger advocated completely contributes to the tune. Rhythm repeatedly done. And, feelings are opened. The construction of the piled sound creates complete space.

As for "White Overalls", the element of Punk Rock might be a little strong. Beauty and destruction are involved to the guitar and the song in close relation to a piano melody. An advanced sense shows the originality of this band as original Rock.

As for "Rheinita", the piano twines round a steady rhythm with the sound of the keyboard. The flow that the sound produced with the nature of humankind everywhere while introducing an electronic sound is felt might be splendid. The sound and the rhythm of a gentle keyboard that feels peace completely have originality. The performance done while having always reached the peak and submitting the melody might be continuous of the sense. I might feel the state of the nature of humankind, feelings, and the limit. It might contain a very dangerous blissout in a good meaning.

"Vogel" contains the part of SE and advances. I might feel the part where the sense of nature and bird's cry were appointed different as a composition of the album. However, the listener will be able to feel music that they regarded by this SE and man's essences. Daily life, Usually.It is order and disorder. It is guessed that essence and an artificial part are expressed by this SE.

"Geld" starts from the sound of the shining keyboard. And, it rushes into the part of Rock attended with the sound of an intense guitar. Their music characters and ideas might have been completely established. Feelings are opened as a refined performance. The sound of the keyboard of Apache Beat that puts and shines twines well. Twining of the sound has originality though this tune has the element of Punk a little.

"Cha Cha 2000" might be one result of blocking the thought of Klaus Dinger. It is known well for the listener as a highlight of this album. The zeal of the band that tries to exceed the region of Rock completely might be blocked. The repeated melody progresses attended with peace. The song is originated in the complete sense. Repeated rhythm and melody advance consistently. The part of music and man's essences might be splendidly expressed. Their music might always be done from the state in the top. The tune has the part where the flow is interrupted on the way. The piano is does a float in the space and advances. The melody repeated before long gradually attended with the dash feeling is accompanied. The tune completely gives the listener one establishment on the top. It is a tune that involves a beautiful part and the part of the limit.

In this album, the thought of expressed Klaus Dinger might have accomplished one establishment from another angle as a music character refined from the music character that had been done with Neu further.

｢It was voluntarily made. It is related to saying that the audience will react to the sound of the band very. ｣In the remark of this Klaus Dinger, perhaps, he is Neu. It will have been a part necessary to pursue the music character of man who drank and had been doing music further. And, whether the flow that Klaus Dinger needed concerning music very was understood might be understood.

The above-mentioned remark remarkably showed the intention of the music at which Klaus Dinger had to aim indeed. A remark similar as for Jaki Liebezeit of "Can" was done. That is, it is partial of music that excludes the element of the extra and is done. And, it means the repeated rhythm. It will have been appearance of music that pursued the part of complete essence for Can and La Dusseldorf at this time. It is surely Neu though it developed into the opinion with Michael Rother and the difference of directionality. Details until twining La Dusseldorf will have been the proofs of the pursuit of the music that had to be aimed exactly.

It was an event that Neu recorded "Neu75" multiplied in January from December to 1975 1974. Klaus Dinger is Neu. It is said that it drinks, the part of "Pop Art" is calculated at time, and it acted.

It is guessed that the result advanced by having already thought a part of idea that should do the element that Klaus Dinger exactly thought about for the music character of the band that derives from Neu by catching.

La Dusseldorf that caught from still another angle while succeeding to the music character of Neu and challenged might have been pursued as a part of the idea refined further and the music character. It was said that Klaus Dinger had not adopted the character to be called "Motorik Sound" generically of their music characters as a result. Meaning that approaches essence of music as well as Jaki Liebezeit. Or, it is pleased repeated. They might be parts of the essence of the music of this band. The listener occasionally called it "CosmicSurfPunkBand". Or, it might have been Post Punk. These music characters also certainly had the opinion thought about as one of the elements that gave directionality to "Low" and John Lydon of David Bowie. However, Klaus Dinger might understand a complete necessity enough and challenge music. It will have been inevitable appointment because it made this music character an embodiment by as many as two people (Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe).

"Dusseldorf" progresses to an electronic sound that flows completely in the space attended with the repeated rhythm. Music combines repeating the blissout, invariability, and the top. The melody and the chorus of peace are inevitable as the music character. However, power and the idea of the involved music have succeeded. The part of the directionality at which the band should aim is exactly included enough. An electronic sound, and repeated melody and rhythmMusic that excludes the extra and is done might be completely refined.

"La Dusseldorf" advances from shout of joy SE as complete Rock. Whether it influenced various very musicians might be understood. Cutting of refined guitar. And, the song and the chorus who includes the element of Punk. A straight rhythm and the idea might be the music for this band.

As for "Silver Cloud", the feature an electronic melody and the guitar that flows in the space. Making the sound completely refined will not be simple Rock. It might be understood to have developed the music character done with Neu further. The band has consistently established the music character. Peace and space are involved to an electronic sound with the anacatesthesia. Their music can feel the blissout in the listener. Klaus Dinger is made remarks, "How it keeps moving is important". It will accompany a mental part as essence of music. There might be a nucleus of the band in the part where essence is understood and music is caught in the sense. The tune heads from the part that flows in space for the top further attended with the transposition. The never-ending space might be splendidly created by music.

When "Time" also talks about the essence of this album, it might be an important tune. An electronic sound that slowly flows to the song with the anacatesthesia twines with the piano. The blissout and space might be completely expressed. The performance that completely understands the meaning and the directionality of the repeated rhythm and is done can be caught enough as a music character at which this band aimed.

La Dusseldorf might have influenced various musicians. And, the thought that Klaus Dinger thinks about appears in the music character of this band.

White overalls, shouty vocals, synths, deutsche back-beat percussion, love and money, a proud working-class DIY ethic --- Klaus Dinger returns with the second La Dusseldorf album. Those who followed his musical autobahn from the first Neu! album will find much to recognise and enjoy here.

'Viva' is a stomping opener; 'White Overalls' a strident, funny, dumb and exhilarating romp that could have been a great lost punk single. In fact the single was Rheinita, a reflective and melodic river journey throught the urban-nature interface; it's terrific. 'Vogel' is indeed a short interlude of bird songs before the fabulously angry and infectious groove of 'Geld'. The final track, 'Cha Cha 2000', was the whole of the original side two and has two voices, the familiar and much-loved industrial auto-groove followed by a reflective and delicate piano part which, though pretty, does mean that the album finds a more pastoral energy when fans might have preferred a whole side of La Dusseldorf crashing into a disused factory.

Overall, a solid album and a great testament to the 'raise a finger' attitude of Klaus Dinger ? an attitude that never obscured his romantic yearings.

RATING ? Vision & Innovation: 24/30; Playing & Composition: 22/30; Listener Enjoyment: 26/30; X-factor [Cover, Motorik adjectives, Reviewer bias] 8/10. Total: 80/100 -> 4 Stars.

Drummer Klaus Dinger first appeared in the public eye as a guest on KRAFTWERK's debut from 1970.He would go on to form NEU! along with guitarist Michael Rother.After that band broke up Klaus quickly regrouped and formed a band he called LA DUSSELDORF in honour of his hometown.By now he had grown weary of drumming,so he plays the guitar on this one while his brother Thomas and Hans Lampe take care of the percussion duties. Brian Eno had this to say about Klaus : "There were three great beats in the 1970's.Fela Kuti's Afrobeat,James Brown's funk and Klaus Dinger's Motorik". Julian Cope adds "Klaus Dinger's sound was the architectural blueprint for British punk". In fact i was reminded of both punk and new wave on this record that was recorded in the fall of 1975 at Conny Plank's studio.The album's cover is a picture of the Dusseldorf airport at night. "Dusseldorf" opens with a lady making an announcement in the airport as the sound of a jet takes off.Dual drums and synths take over.Vocals 2 minutes in with organ.Some power 2 1/2 minutes in.Piano before 9 1/2 minutes while synths return a minute later.A relentless beat is featured throughout.Interesting lyrics about his city of Dusseldorf : "Sharp wind,expensive real estate.Mirror and stainless steel = the corporate brand names. Today let's go to the old city.Golden bridge and pround swans". It's all in German of course. "La Dusseldorf" opens with the sounds of a crowd at a hockey game.Then an aggressive beat comes in with vocals.Very punk-like.The tempo shifts throughout. "Silver Cloud" is an instrumental that hit the German singles chart "fulfilling Klaus' goal to push the left-field NEU! sound into popular entertainment".It's mid- paced with a catchy beat and prominant synths.A calm arrives as this contrast continues. "Time" is laid back to open with gentle guitar and piano as psychedelic vocals come in that at times echo and whisper.The tempo picks up after 3 minutes with a great sound to follow.Electric guitar before 5 minutes is tasteful.It settles after 7 minutes as whispered vocals,synths and organ create a psychedelic/krautrock mood. I was reminded of CAN,NEU! and KRAFTWERK at times.There is something special about this album that may take a while to really appreciate.This is all about the beat man!

After the ace Krautrock team of NEU! split in 1975, drummer/guitarist Klaus Dinger took the remnants of the band and, with only a few minor adjustments, re-emerged the following year at the wheel of a shiny new musical machine named in honor of his hometown on the river Rhine.

How's this for civic pride: a band from the city of Düsseldorf, calling itself La Düsseldorf, with a self-titled debut album on which the first two tracks (filling all of Side One on the original vinyl) are named "Düsseldorf" and "La Düsseldorf". And don't forget the lyrics, for the most part an endless repetition of the mantra "Düsseldorf...Düsseldorf...Düsseldorf...Düsseldorf...", all of it reproduced ad infinitum on the enclosed lyric sheet. It's enough to make the local chamber of commerce stand up and cheer.

Dinger was always the more hard-boiled, proto-punk half of the pioneering NEU! duo (alongside the pony-tailed hippy benevolence of MICHAEL ROTHER), and the one responsible for the band's trademark motorik beat, refined here to the acme of relentless perfection. La Düsseldorf may not have broken any new stylistic ground, but the stripped down rhythms were a breath of fresh air in an age of increasingly hyperbolic virtuoso overkill.

Check out the unique instrumentation: two drummers working in lock-step syncopation, and a lot of chiming electric guitars, with no soloing allowed. The bass player is only an occasional guest, and the sparsely utilized "synthies" (quoting the album credits) add a shimmering veil of colorful highlights.

None of the music is improvised (although you might be forgiven for thinking otherwise), and the mood is more upbeat and brighter than the typically dark counterculture excursions of most classic Krautrock, often building to an ecstatic, exhilarating climax. Lend an ear to the (first) title track, and to the album closer "Zeit" ("Time"), in which Dinger alternately whispers and wails in three languages over an escalating series of clockwork rhythms. The album even yielded a surprising hit single (in Germany): the toe-tapping instrumental "Silver Cloud", the title by the way an apt description of the music.

Two more very similar efforts would follow, each of them worth a listen, but the band's debut was the most consistent of the bunch. Newcomers may find it a tad monotonous, but don't be fooled: listening to the album is like taking a long road trip, where the journey itself is the final destination.

The band La Düsseldorf (from, as you might have guessed, the city of Düsseldorf) stands in relation to its parent group NEU! like a sleek, newer model of a vintage roadster, fresh off the assembly lines in 1976. This was the sophomore effort for Klaus Dinger and company, not as strong as their self-titled debut but still another minor gem from the less traveled corners of late '70s Krautrock

Fans of NEU! will immediately recognize the automotive 4/4 beat, the ringing guitars and gentle washes of keyboard, and of course the home-made cut-and-past cover art, a Dinger specialty years before it became a New Wave cliché. But it's a more haphazard collection of songs this time around, sounding in places not unlike outtakes from the earlier album, patched quickly together but presented with confidence and more than a little post-punk gusto.

The title track opens the album with a fuzzed-out, foot-stomping anthem, followed immediately by the equally energetic thrash of "White Overalls", a tribute to the band's stylish new uniforms. Or would it be crass to read a deeper Teutonic subtext into the title, translating "overalls" as "über alles"?

A few shorter numbers lead to the album's obvious highlight: the epic 20+ minute "Cha- Cha 2000", on the original vinyl filling all of Side Two. In true Krautrock fashion it's a schizophrenic beast: one half quintessential motorik adrenalin rush, the other half a dreamlike lullaby played on a solo piano. "The future is calling", chants Dinger throughout, and here it is: a celebration of soon-to-be modern times in pre-unification Germany, made from equal parts sleek, shiny chrome and infectious optimism.

Sample lyric: "We need better leaders, who love us and don't cheat us". Not exactly poetry, but refreshing stuff from a musician who in the past wore a punk rock sneer every bit as Vicious as Sid's. And believe it or not the words even rhyme (sort of).

The year 2000 may already be a distant memory, but the song (and the sentiment) is still ahead of its time. As was the band itself: one of the more forward-thinking outfits from an always innovative musical culture.

— First review of this album —

Music can sometimes make you want to get up and dance, and sometimes make you want to curl up between a comfortable pair of headphones. But only Klaus Dinger's late '70s combo La Düsseldorf will make you want to buckle up for a long road trip on an eight-lane urban highway, cruising at a steady 150 kph. The band was one of the more unique to emerge out of the counterculture fringes of Krautrock, updating with a generous measure of electronic spit and polish Dinger's earlier experiments alongside MICHAEL ROTHER in NEU!.

The same, uncompromising beat of the earlier band was stripped even closer to the motorik bone on La Düsseldorf's third and last LP, released like a matching bookend at the tail end of the same decade that saw NEU!'s debut almost exactly ten years earlier. It's hard to tell from the inner sleeve notes (as always, a barely legible handwritten scrawl), but it looks as if the band was by then reduced to just Klaus and his brother Thomas, both of them (primarily) drummers, which may explain why their collective moniker is presented here as a hastily abbreviated 'La D'.

The music itself sounds likewise rushed, with little cosmetic gloss beyond a healthy application of reverb. But the Spartan production at least preserves the energy of the performances: all sputtering drums, shimmering keyboards, and sound-effect collages, combined in a style elsewhere described as the aural equivalent of cotton candy.

The first five tracks on the album (Side One, for all you vinyl junkies) work together almost like a multi-movement Krautrock symphony. Trying to describe it would be pointless, but together the suite may well be the ultimate expression of the Dinger/La Düsseldorf ethos: a counter-intuitive mix of trance-inducing repetition and relentless percussive energy.

The balance of the album (Side Two) is more varied but less focused, moving from the Geppetto's workshop jollity of "Tintarella Di." to the proto-ambient soundscapes of "Flashback", aptly titled for the way it recalls the rusty oarlock scrapes of "Im Glück", off the first NEU! album. (Another NEU! throwback, the heavy rocker "Lieber Honig '81", bears no musical relation to its forefather.)

There was always something quintessentially German about La Düsseldorf (besides their giveaway name), calling to mind a blend of Bavarian beer halls, Black Forest idylls, and the industrial rhythms of the Ruhr. But after three very similar albums (another NEU! parallel) even Dinger must have realized the well had run dry. Any one La Düsseldorf album would be enough to get their gist, but all three together make an attractive package of offbeat music from a country with a rich heritage (at least during the 1970s) of breaking down cultural barriers

4.5 stars really. Following the demise of Neu! in 1975, Michael Rother opted for a solo career while Klaus Dinger formed La Dusseldorf with the two guest musicians - Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe - who had appeared on side 2 of Neu! 75. This fine album was their debut, and it sees them picking up where Neu! left off.

The album opens with the lengthy title track. It starts with the sound of an aeroplane landing before the familiar motorik beat kicks in, with a simple guitar motif and a Kraftwerk like synth melody woven around it. The sound is at once familiar and new; the pulsing rhythm is pure Neu!, but the multi layered vocals and the melodic twists and turns are developments that had only been hinted at on Neu! 75. It's as though we're driving through Dusseldorf on an empty autobahn in a brand new Mercedes, with the neon lights gleaming in the darkness, and it's as catchy as Kraftwerk at their best. Where Neu! would have kept to the same achingly minimal groove for the duration of the piece, La Dusseldorf speed up, slow down, play around with the melody and generally sound like they're having huge amounts of fun. Dusseldorf, the second track, has something of the punky energy that was heard on Neu! 75's Hero. It opens with a chant by the local football supporters before leading into a raw, 2 chord trawl through the sleazy underbelly of the gleaming metropolis portrayed in the first track; ' And so many Daimlers/And so many gangsters'. Silver Cloud is an instrumental that has the kind of glacial beauty more usually associated with Dinger's former bandmate Michael Rother and which showcases his keyboard skills (Klaus Dinger played all the keyboards for La Dusseldorf, but for some reason they were credited to Nicholas Van Rhein). The closing track, Time, features more multi lingual lyrics and builds up slowly on pounding drums and fat organ chords to bring the album to a fitting climax.

La Dusseldorf effectively reconciles the 2 sides of Neu! 75 and adds several new ingredients to the recipe. It's a highly effective and enjoyable album with a smoother sound than might be expected. The pared down minimalism of Neu! has been updated and infused with some downright dirty rock guitar and joyful vocals, and for the most part it works out brilliantly. Not quite a masterpiece, but strongly recommended.

This is a real good one. Closed to Neu ! 75, we have here the trio that appears on the B side, those that gave us "Hero" and "After Eight" : Klaus Dinger, Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe. The music still quite the same, but it sounds more « clean », taking distance from the previous « punky » tendance. We also recognize the Klaus Dinger's crazy voice yellling in the air ; it's just amazing. If you've liked Neu ! 75, this one will also become a classical, even better than what have made Michael Rother in is solo carreer.