puntiniCAZpuntini

Metallà, if you're a good boy, I'll let you in on a secret. Alright, I'll tell you anyway: with those cheap browsers, there's no longer a limit on messages, and you can send up to 15,000 characters. But don't tell anyone.

And then I'm wary of islanders, I met one once and he was a nasty piece of work, just like you with the bandana...

Enea, but obviously that’s what I wanted: a beautiful string of bullshit. Of course, it slipped out of my hands because there wasn’t any bullshit to start with, since you’re too grounded; there’s no fun playing with you in your reviews, you care about keeping them clean. I also lost track of time, since I’m still in the office catching up on today’s nonsense. Then, about changing my mind: I reiterate for the umpteenth time, I haven’t changed my mind, I just discovered that what I thought was the best of Kraftwerk wasn’t by Kraftwerk. I gave you the example of Plastikman, and I’ll give it to you again. Plastikman, if he only did stuff under the name Richie Hawtin, I’d like it, yes, but if he was called the king of techno, he’d get on my nerves. He doesn’t annoy me because he also does things under Fuse & Plastikman. Therefore, I saw what I considered Side-Project 1-2-3 (Neu! 1, Neu! 2, Neu! 75 "3") as Plastikman or Fuse, and Kraftwerk as Richie Hawtin. Then I discovered that instead, the side project wasn’t a side project, but a schism. So I haven’t changed my mind; I’ve always considered the more extreme and faster things (i.e., the supposed side project) to be better, and I would still give 5 to what I gave 5 to, and I continue to give 5 to what I gave 5 to, but now they annoy me even if I give them 5, and I still prefer the "side project," even if it’s now called Neu!, and no longer Side Project. You disappoint me Enea, I’ve written it 90 times including examples, and you insist on this change of mind. I haven’t changed my mind; I’ve only changed my sympathy for Gianni & Pinotto, but the musical idea remains the same. If you want a change of mind – and I have tons of changes of mind every month, not just once a year, I wish the changes of mind were so few – I’ll give it to you, but this isn’t the case: I had a change of mind about Neu! 2. For years I considered it a low-profile work because having my ears full of modern Techno at that time, I saw proto-techno as flat. Then, when someone told me: What the hell do you expect from a record from '73? I had yet another galactic epiphany that I was a fool, and now I consider it the best of the three. That’s a change of mind, not what you’re saying. A change of sympathy happens very often, see Ozzy Osbourne; I’ve always idolized him since I was a child, even if his solo records made and still make me sick, he remained The Prince Of Darkness. Then he did that thing on MTV, and he became a fool. The fact remains that with Sabbath he was a prince, even if he annoys me. This is a change of sympathy, while keeping the musical idea intact. Do you want an example of music that annoys me but I don’t judge as crap? Classical music. Undoubtedly of great value, but after two minutes of such heavenly acoustic melodies, I get sleepy. It annoys me, but I never say “bah,” I believe I haven’t even commented on one of the reviews on de-b. Then, yes, if I’m asked like you did last time and it gets on my nerves, I’ll tell you; it’s not a crime. However, the fact remains that I’ve never changed my mind about Kraftwerk as you say. This has always disgusted me; the first three are this and that – even if I prefer to listen to the first three of those that came after because I prefer the proposed genre – and the others laid the foundations for so much stuff that came after. Even though I prefer the stuff that came after from other places, and that I prefer Squarepusher to Depeche Mode is something decided by higher authorities. So, I haven’t changed my mind. And this record is just a draft. And now clarity has been achieved. Anyway, if you look carefully, I discovered that I had already written the story about the Neu! CDs, but I won’t give you the link since you didn’t take the time to write the review; now you waste time reading this entire tedious comment and waste time finding the link. A fair exchange, and salami for fontina.

Ah, so you're a Nazi with a heart on the right, huh... good good...

On Can, Future Days is a record that is quite different from the others: Tago Mago, Egebamiasy, Soon Over Balooma are still anchored to the roots of Rock. Future Days, as its title suggests, indicates they were trying something new, but it's still not at the level of a Man-Machine or a Neu!2 in terms of electronics in the sense of using machines.

Zion, in the first of Neu! there’s only one track (negativeland) similar to the other two. Download the second one, that’s the oldest electronic album I’ve ever heard, Super 78 sounds like it came out in ’92, try it to believe it.

Damn, you are furious. If I’m convinced I already have all the records (and it was true), what am I doing searching for info online? You look for new things you don’t know about, Kraftwerk were already well digested and filed away. Do you realize what you’re saying? I, as soon as I hooked up the computer to the internet, should have said: “Let’s go check if everything I’m convinced is right is really right…”. I should have started checking if the heart is really on the left, if Argentina really won the World Cup in ’86, if borlotti beans really have more protein than cannellini beans, if it’s true that the time when there’s no sunlight is really called night, how many records Kraftwerk made, if Silvio Piola really existed or if he’s just an invention of Mussolini… and so on. And above all, how would I have figured out that the record I had without a title with just a name written in marker on the CD was called Neu!? I might have known about a schism of Kraft, but not that I actually owned that record. When I had the doubt, arisen after I came into possession of this original record (and therefore a reliable and certified source) called Neu! that I had already heard under other names, I went to look. I’m also convinced that A Tribe Called Quest’s first album came out after Paid In Full by Erick B. & Rakim, but I didn’t search for confirmation online, I’ve known that for a while and I trust my memory. However, no one said it wasn’t a flaw, much less that you’re at fault, I’m just saying that this record is a half-assed mess. And that Neu! are the fathers of Techno electronics, and Kraftwerk of that poppy dance music.

I'll tell you the whole little story then, since you're curious. I first had about ten Kraftwerk cassettes, and then with the advent of the CD burner I had CD-Rs made from vinyl, by the same person, that is, a DJ from my city. I discovered the mystery when I decided to buy the original Neu! album from '72. I bought the Neu! after reading a review here, and in the review their previous involvement with Kraftwerk wasn’t mentioned, so I thought they were just another Krautrock band. When it arrived, as soon as Hallogallo started I recognized it and exclaimed, "What the hell, these are Kraftwerk!". I went online and read the story of the schism, and the difference between Gianni & Pinotto of Kraftwerk and Dinger & Rother of Neu!, then I asked my knowledgeable friend for more details and he sent me some interviews where D&R explained the reasons behind the split. I believe it all happened roughly a year ago.

Aeneas, in summary, I'll sum it all up for you: This album is crap, but it's completely different from the rest of Kraft's albums. Even Zion gave it a 2, and yet he goes crazy for them. It's pointless for me to bring out the other albums I've given a 5. I can't stand them, the albums have their own reasons for existing, but THIS, no. It's crap; it's not like just because they later made some nice pop albums this one becomes good, it remains crap.

The dancey and fizzy electronic music is all theirs; since '75 they've churned out quite a bit that's a decade ahead. The thing is, "electronic" is a big word that encompasses a thousand things and a thousand genres; it's not all dancey and fizzy. I fully agree that a lot of stuff comes from Kraftwerk, but an Aphex Twin or any other "heavier" electronic artist comes from different places. To take an example, it definitely comes much more from a Neu! than from Radioactivity. The Kraft are a huge band, but they don't make the stuff I enjoy; I have a lot of respect for them, but I listen to other things. Name: puntiniCAZpuntini | Date: 23/9/2005 | Vote: | Rating for the Album: /////// Note the "The Kraft are a huge band, but they don't make the stuff I enjoy; I have a lot of respect for them, but I listen to other things." ////// Also, you still haven’t grasped the cassette thing; first of all, it was a CASSETTE, not a VHS, and now you explain to me how the hell you can know who made the music just by listening. If someone gives it to you and says, "this is the side-project of this guy," as a side-project, you can't expect the same kind of stuff. The Magnus are completely different from dEUS, but Tom Barman is always involved, and if you don’t have official references, how can you figure it out? You simply don’t get it because you’re too used to turning on the computer and going online to search for information. Back then, you had to settle for what was written on the cassettes, and if they wrote Kraftwerk, for you they were Kraftwerk.