Album: NEU! Neu! '86, (Grönland)

Compiled by Michael Rother from material previously released without his knowledge by Klaus Dinger on a Japanese label in 1995, the primary interest in Neu! '86 is as a measure of the fractious relations between the pair, whose divergent interests could no longer be reconciled by the time they re-formed Neu! for the third time to record these riffs.

It's not entirely worthless – "Wave Mother" is bathed in wistful melody, "Euphoria" offers a poppier take on the ethereal synth tones favoured on Rother's solo albums, and "Crazy" is a welcome return to "Hero" territory; but most of the album either retraces their chugging heyday in a ragged fashion, or attempts an uneasy rapprochement with 1980s electropop, with typical sonic trickery added (birdsong, bells, drop-outs, studio effects). Primarily for completists.

DOWNLOAD THIS Wave Mother; Euphoria; Crazy