from the LP NEU!, Brain Records, 1972Come along and take a drive on the super-stoner highway, where we be hazin’ & phazin’ though the galaxy at twilight (thank you Choo Choo), prompted forth by the metronomic pulse of Klaus Dinger’s drumming, dubbed ‘motorik’ by those who needed it to have a name. Few krautrock bands have managed to acquire the level of veneration, both critically and amongst the underground, that his band NEU! has come to behold, and it’s no wonder---ah, that progressive post-war German spirit really comes alive here, literally and metaphorically. There aren’t a lot of touchstones which you can point to that would be indicated as influences for this manic crusade: maybe the Velvets, maybe compatriots Can to some extent, perhaps Pink Floyd most of all, having just dropped Meddle the year before this came out. Or maybe, so much LSD was being ingested that the players merely needed a way to keep moving along while being stuck inside the studio, and this persistent driving rhythm was the result. Who can say?
