"I thought the rhythm section was perfect for him. Billy Cox and Buddy Miles—those were two cats who could hit. I mean, it was so solid that when Hendrix went into his psychedelic stuff it was like a perfect contrast. You could see how far he was traveling because the ground was so clear"!
- Jazz-fusion guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly on Jimi Hendrix's 1970 album Band of Gypsys
First some extensive background. In 1970, the German band Kraftwerk released their debut LP. It sported an overtly pop-art infleunced album cover (a drawing of a traffic cone over a white background done in a pop-art style with the group's name in black lettering placed over the image at a slant). The music itself was produced by Conny Plank and was a mix of rhythmically-driven music bearing a rock-influence and Stockhausen-esque effect-laden electronic explorations, typically occuring all within the same song. Drums feature on 3 of the 4 tracks, with the opener of Side 2 being a mostly calm and meditative piece. The drums were played by Andres Hohmann on Side 1 and on the final track were played by Klaus Dinger, who had joined Kraftwerk mid-recording of the album as a replacement for Hohmann who had left to join another band. Dinger's drumming on this final track rocks in a way that Hohmann did not and serves as a very energetic closer to the album. After the album was released, Kraftwerk went through some lineup changes with guitarist Michael Rother joining and founding member Ralf Hütter temporarily leaving. Rother had not been acquainted with any of Kraftwerk's members up until that point but the lineup of Rother, Dinger, and co-founder Florian Schneider seemed to meld well and they appeared on a number of television music programmes, of note is their performance on Beat-Club. According to Rother, their performance on Beat-Club was not one of their best perfomances due to there being no audience feedback for them to communicate with or respond to. Regardless, this performance feels very much like a continuation of the rock-based music that was on Kraftwerk's debut (specifically the second half of "Stratovarius" from their debut LP). The music is not entirely rock in the way that the psychedelic and hard rock of the 60s was but instead tends to always occupy a very spacey area. Rother's guitar is at times very clean and soaring while at other times he plays a distinctively rock riff but his playing never falls into blues cliches. Likewise Dinger on the drums responds to the other two by playing his drums either for rhythm or uses them for effect while the others explore. Florian performs mostly on an electronically modified flute, and because of this tends to always guide the music back into the more exploratory areas. The instrumentation may make it seem like the pair of Dinger and Rother are a rock band with Florian holding them from keeping that vision, but Rother's playing is a complete different beast in comparsion to guitarists like Eric Clapton who were ultimately blues purists at heart. Shortly after these performances, This lineup of Kraftwerk went to the studio to attempt to capture their sound on record but were faced with the same problem as with their Beat-Club performance. Instead of attempting to compromise their live sound or releasing whatever they could muster in the studio, Dinger and Rother decided that they would be better going their own way and Florian going his own. Florian then reconvened with Ralf to record Kraftwerk's 2nd album, which entirely removed whatever rock-influenced concept of tension and release Kraftwerk's debut and television performances had in favor of an emphasis on spacey explorations. Dinger and Rother decided to continue working together and further develop their musical style born out of their time in Kraftwerk.
Dinger and Rother chose Conny Plank as their producer whom they had known from their time in Kraftwerk and settled on the band name Neu!. Their debut LP was released in 1972 and it's packaging and title share the same pop-art influence as Kraftwerk's debut. That pop-art influence even extends to the band's name with Neu! being German for "New!" as a sort of commentary by Dinger on the advertising industry and amount of things constantly being sold to the public.
The album opens on "Hallogallo", without a doubt the quintessential Neu! track. Much has been written about "Hallogallo" and its rhythm, which became to be known as the motorik (German for motor skill, drawing parallels to the feeling it conveys with the experience of driving on a long road) is a simple straightforward drum pattern that has very minimal changes or variations. Klaus Dinger did not invent the motorik rhythm, but it was "Hallogallo" and several of Neu!'s other tracks that turned it not only into Neu!'s calling card but also a trademark of the 1970s "krautrock" sound. "Hallogallo" is a song that perfectly illustrates the contrast between Rother and Dinger and works perfectly in the way a true musical collaboration should. While the rhythm is straightforward and never ceases, it never suggests a heavy mood and despite being a 4/4 rhythm, in this particular use it feels like it has not much to even do with rock music or the rock mentality of music. It instead suggests its namesake, a relaxing and freeing ride on a straightforward road. Occasional cymbal splashes occur when the occasion calls for it and as the song and mood progresses Dinger occasionally tightens the rhythm but never does the music ever feel the need to reach a climax of sorts. It just occasionally changes in mood but is always straight and simple. Rother's guitar playing perfectly compliments the Dinger's Motorik by not riding alongside but instead soaring above his motorik like a bird gliding through the wind. His guitar suggests a glide or perhaps the clouds or water running down a river. To have one musician so successfully play in a way that suggests the ground while the other so perfectly suggests the sky is quite literally a match made in heaven in terms of the art that is produced. The song invokes a calmimg mood, but never crosses the line into new age muzak territory nor does its rhythm ever suggest jam-based music. Instead it feels like a pure natural collaboration between two great musicians. It manages to feel both like something well-calculated and perfect while also feeling spontaneous as if the musicians themselves are discovering these sounds for the first time too.
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