Editing Neu! 2

{{Infobox album
| name       = NEU! 2
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Neu!]]
| cover      = Neu2_albumcover.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = 1973
| recorded   = January 1973
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = 
*[[Krautrock]]<ref name="nyt"/> 
*[[experimental rock]]<ref name="nyt"/> 
*[[proto-punk]]<ref name="Pitchfork"/>
| length     = 42:14
| label      = [[Brain Records|Brain]], [[United Artists Records|United Artists]]
| producer   = [[Conny Plank]], [[Neu!]]
| prev_title = [[Neu! (album)|Neu!]]
| prev_year  = 1972
| next_title = [[Neu! '75]]
| next_year  = 1975
| misc       = {{Extra chronology
 | artist     = [[Klaus Dinger]]
 | type       = studio
 | prev_title = [[Neu! (album)|Neu!]]
 | prev_year  = 1972
 | title      = Neu! 2
 | year       = 1973
 | next_title = [[Neu! '75]]
 | next_year  = 1975
}}
  {{Singles
 | name        = Neu! 2
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = [[Super/Neuschnee]]
 | single1date = 1972
}}
}}
{{Album reviews
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="AM">{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/neu%21-2-mw0000004469 |title=Neu! 2 |website=AllMusic |last=Jurek |first=Thom |access-date=16 August 2016}}</ref>
|rev2 = [[The Austin Chronicle]]
|rev2score = {{Rating|4|4}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2001-07-13/82355/ |last=Chamy |first=Michael |date=13 July 2001 |access-date=16 August 2016 |title=Neu!, Neu! 2, and Neu! 75 (Astralwerks) |website=[[The Austin Chronicle]]}}</ref>
|rev3 = [[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]
|rev3score = 7.5/10<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5757-neu-2/ |title=Neu! 2 review |last=Sirota |first=Brent S. |date=5 June 2001 |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |access-date=16 August 2016}}</ref>
|rev4 = [[PopMatters]]
|rev4score = positive<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.popmatters.com/review/neu-2/ |title=Neu!: Neu! 2 |website=[[PopMatters]] |last=Taylor |first=Nicholas |date=28 May 2001 |access-date=16 August 2016}}</ref>
|rev5 = [[Q (magazine)|Q]]
|rev5score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Neu! 2 review |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]] |date=July 2001 |page=136 |quote="In addition to inventing the motorik beat... Neu! also invented the remix album.... these are completed tracks combined with a strategic hand on the turntable..."}}</ref>
|rev6 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
|rev6score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/neu/albums/album/183955/review/5943428/neu_2 |title=Neu! - Neu! / Neu! 75 - Astralwerks (2001) |magazine=Rolling Stone |last=Blashill |first=Pat |date=5 July 2001 |access-date=16 August 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002032748/https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/neu/albums/album/183955/review/5943428/neu_2 |archive-date=2 October 2007}}</ref>
|rev7 = ''[[Martin C. Strong]]''
|rev7score = (8/10)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strong |first1=Martin C. |title=The Great Rock Discography |date=2004 |publisher=Canongate |location=New York |page=1072 |ol=18807297M}}</ref>
}}

'''''Neu! 2''''' is the second studio album by the [[krautrock]] band [[Neu!]]. It was recorded in January 1973 and mixed in February 1973, both at Windrose-Dumont-Time Studios in [[Hamburg]], [[West Germany]], and released in 1973 by [[Brain Records]]. It was reissued by [[Astralwerks]] in the US and by [[Grönland Records|Grönland]] in the UK and Europe on 29 May 2001.

Critic [[Paul Morley]] included it in his list of the "5 x 100 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2003.{{CN|date=December 2023}}

== Overview ==
This album further focused the classic Neu! krautrock sound,<ref name="AM"/> with the 11-minute "Für Immer" in particular being the archetypal example of their style -- a forward-driving vamping, propelled by [[Klaus Dinger]]'s drumming and [[Michael Rother]]'s layered guitar with its fluid lines and [[Drone (music)|droning]] harmonic structure. ''[[Pitchfork Media|Pitchfork]]'' described the album as featuring a [[proto-punk]] sound,<ref name="Pitchfork">{{cite web |last=Sirota |first=Brent S. |title=Neu! '75 review |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5756-neu-75/ |website=Pitchfork |accessdate=16 August 2016 |date=5 June 2001 |quote="...the radical proto-punk of their second album..."}}</ref> while ''[[Fact (UK magazine)|Fact]]'' labeled it "[[wiktionary:spartan#English|spartan]] [[Psychedelic rock|psych-rock]] set to power-driven drum tracks."<ref name="FACT">{{cite web |title= Krautrock figurehead Klaus Dinger's final album to get posthumous release |date= 15 March 2013 |website=[[Fact (UK magazine)|Fact]] |url=http://www.factmag.com/2013/03/15/krautrock-figurehead-klaus-dingers-final-album-to-get-posthumous-release/ |accessdate= 20 July 2016}}</ref>

Side 2 of the record caused consternation at the time. Neu! had quite simply run out of money to finish recording the album, so the second side consists entirely of their previously released single "[[Super/Neuschnee|Neuschnee/Super]]", manipulated at various playback speeds on a record player, or mangled in a cassette recorder. Critics at the time dismissed this as a cheap gimmick and a rip-off. While it was indeed an [[Experimental music|experiment]] born of desperation and necessity, it was entirely in keeping with Neu!'s [[pop art]] aesthetics, taking a "ready-made" sound object and re-presenting it with a series of stylized manipulations, and also quite in keeping with the way Neu!'s music deconstructed and pared down the form of [[rock music]]. Dinger subsequently pointed to side 2 as being a prototype of the now ubiquitous multiple [[Remix|remixes]] which typically accompany any [[Pop music|pop]] single release.

==Legacy==
Ben Sisario of ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the album along with the band's other early albums as "landmarks of [[Rock music in Germany|German]] [[experimental rock]]," also referred to by journalists as krautrock.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |last1=Sisario |first1=Ben |title=Klaus Dinger, Drummer of Influential German Beat, Dies at 61 |work=The New York Times |date=4 April 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/arts/music/04dinger.html |accessdate=25 January 2020}}</ref>

"Super 16" appears in the films ''[[Master of the Flying Guillotine]]'' and ''[[Kill Bill]]''.

== Track listing ==
{{track listing
| all_writing     = [[Klaus Dinger]] and [[Michael Rother]]
| headline        = Side one

| title1          = Für Immer 
| note1           = "Forever"
| length1         = 11:17
| title2          = Spitzenqualität 
| note2           = "Top Quality"
| length2         = 3:35
| title3          = Gedenkminute (für A + K) 
| note3           = "Minute's Silence (For A + K)"
| length3         = 2:06
| title4          = Lila Engel
| note4           = "Lilac Angel"
| length4         = 4:37
}}
{{track listing
| headline        = Side two

| title5          = Neuschnee 78 
| note5           = "Fresh Snow 78"
| length5         = 2:32
| title6          = Super 16
| length6         = 3:39
| title7          = Neuschnee 
| note7           = "Fresh Snow"
| length7         = 4:07
| title8          = Cassetto
| note8           = "Cassette"
| length8         = 1:48
| title9          = Super 78
| length9         = 1:36
| title10         = Hallo Excentrico! 
| note10          = "Hello Excentrico!"
| length10        = 3:44
| title11         = Super
| length11        = 3:11 }}

== Personnel ==
;Neu!
* [[Michael Rother]]&nbsp;– guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, [[zither]], percussion, electronics, cassette recorder
* [[Klaus Dinger]]&nbsp;– [[Koto (instrument)|koto]] ("Japanese banjo"), 11-string guitar, drums, percussion, [[Farfisa]] electronic piano, vocals, electronics, record player

;Additional personnel
* [[Conny Plank|Konrad "Conny" Plank]]&nbsp;– producer, engineer
* Hans Lampe&nbsp;– engineer

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Neu}}
{{Klaus Dinger}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1973 albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Conny Plank]]
[[Category:Neu! albums]]