Neu! 4

'Neu! 4' is the final studio album to date by Krautrock band Neu!.

It was recorded and mixed between October 1985 and April 1986 at Grundfunk Studio, Düsseldorf, Germany, Dinerland-Lilienthal Studio, Düsseldorf, Germany, and Michael Rother Studio, Forst, Germany. This was the first time Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger had entered a studio together since 1975. However the sessions were not completed and the planned album was abandoned.

During the 1990s the first three Neu! albums were available on CD on Germanofon Records, a dubious label allegedly based in Luxembourg who specialized in unauthorized and illegal reissues (bootlegs) of otherwise unavailable Krautrock albums. Germanofon managed to get a number of their releases, including the three Neu! albums, into mainstream distribution. According to Michael Rother's account Dinger released Neu! 4 "in an act of despair, so he says" in late 1995 as a response to the bootlegs, which Dinger rails against in the liner notes. Neu! 4 was issued by the Japanese label Captain Trip Records, without Rother's input, knowledge, or consent. He only learned what had happened in a telegram congratulating him on the release of the album. Rother, writing in March of 2007, described this experience as "a rather painful disaster between Klaus Dinger and myself".

The release of Neu! 4 exacerbated the disagreements between Rother and Dinger, which prevented an official CD release of the three classic Neu! albums until 2001. The 2000 agreement between Rother and Dinger which led to the CD releases on Astralwerks in the U.S. and Grönland Records in the UK called for Neu! 4 to be recalled and it has been out of print since then.

Despite Michael Rother's continued objection to Klaus Dinger's original decision to release Neu! 4 and his oft stated opinion "that [Neu! 4]isn't a legal/real NEU! album", Rother has no objection to fans buying the CD second hand and has left open the possibility that Neu! 4 might be reissued legally with his consent in the future. Rother and Dinger did attempt to negotiate such a release after the official reissue of the first three albums. In March, 2007 Rother termed the failure to reach such an agreement "unfortunate". He has also written that a future release of some Neu! 4 material plus additional material from the 1985-86 sessions may be forthcoming if he and Dinger can work out the remaining issues.

Track listing

 * 1) "Nazionale" - 3:11
 * 2) "Crazy" - 3:15
 * 3) "Flying Dutchman" - 3:56
 * 4) "Schöne Welle (Nice Wave)" - 4:30
 * 5) "Wave Naturelle" - 5:37
 * 6) "Good Life (Random-Rough)" - 3:51
 * 7) "'86 Commercial Trash" - 3:18
 * 8) "Fly Dutch II" - 5:06
 * 9) "Dänzing" - 5:08
 * 10) "Quick Wave Machinelle" - 3:46
 * 11) "Bush-Drum - 3:10
 * 12) "La Bomba (Stop Apartheid World-Wide!)" - 5:59
 * 13) "Good Life" - 3:42
 * 14) "Elanoizan" - 3:24

Personnel

 * Michael Rother - Fairlight, synthesizer, guitar, bass, voice, programs
 * Klaus Dinger - Voice, guitar, OB8, mix, drums, percussion, programs
 * Gigi - Drums on "Fly Dutch II" and "Good Life"
 * Konrad - Bass on "Fly Dutch II" and "Good Life"
 * Jochen - Voice on "La Bomba"
 * Brigit - Voice on "La Bomba"
 * Michael Crund - Engineer.