The greatest beats of the 70s (according to Brian Eno): Neu! vs. James Brown vs. Fela Kuti

i'm afraid james brown walks away with this too...

cannot possibly pick between fela and jb

well ok. there would be no Fela without JB. So JB.

Yeah I love Neu! but the other two are in a different universe.

don't know...I have albums by all 3 and I have not given in depth listens to any of them yet...

tho my James Brown CD is a MOJO comp that has mebbe three JB songs on it...

still JB may win...That "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" track lambasted me by how much it sounded like Capt. Beefheart.

You've only heard three James Brown songs?

no that's not what i meant...

i don't think

I refuse to vote: This is fucking impossible decision. Worse than the VU/S3/JAMC/Hawkwind poll, even.

Is anyone really going to vote for NEU?

Racists.

that 4/4 motorik chugga-chug is on par with the "funky drummer" for being innovative, influential, awesome etc. IMO

Is anyone really going to vote for NEU?

You bet.

JB over Neu! by a smidge.

you all seem to be forgetting something:
bohannon.

Eno forgot Babatunde Olatunji.

been listening to Zomibe lately...that is really good stuff.

Still undecided but might have to go with Neu bcz...

punk rock Neu = The Clean

punk rock Kuti = Liquid Liquid

Love both of these bands but the Clean is my favourite band of all time, and Liquid Liquid just plain isn't.

What does punk rock James Brown = ?

Zombie obv., not Zomibe

well ok. there would be no Fela without JB. So JB.

tempted to vote for fela but this^^^

also i've spent hundreds more hours listening to JB than Fela

The Clean is a punk-rock version of Neu!?

I absolutely loooove the Clean but that is way off-base. Neu! were actually pretty punk rock when it comes down to it, so were JB and Fela in certain respects (raw, brutal, lots of energy).

I hate punk rock though, and I love me some tape loops. NEU!!!!!!

JB, of course.

I went with my heart (Fela) over my...booty, I guess. (JB)

JB by 100 electoral votes, at least

The Clean is a punk-rock version of Neu!?

I thought this was something that was determined already in the Neu Classic or Dud thread, the way that both of them are anchored by that ol' motorik beat. Of course Neu! were pretty punk rock, but at bottom they were a prog band, with those 8+ minute opuses without any hooks...

The Clean were similar but managed to steer that beat into childish pop with loud guitars (or alternately, '96 Tears'-style organ, itself very punkish). I mean they were as psychedelic as punk got, but set them side by side with any Krautrock band (or even the VU) and they come off not unlike the Ramones (though the Clean are like a million times better than the Ramones imho)

nobody's gonna touch the punk-roc James Brown question?

I like the Dingers better as La Dusseldorf and I don't think I have ever really connected with James Brown but Fela Kuti on the other hand is a giant for me. I could listen to Open and Close for all time.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I hate James Brown and dislike Neu! so it has to be Fela Kuti then. :)

Punk rock JB = James Chance.

(Or, to get kind of meta, PE)

How is Joy Division not like 1,000 times closer to being a 'punk rock Neu!'? The Clean liked to be repetitive when they found the right melody, but I really could only see the Clean being close to Neu! within the context of their peers in the NZ Indie Pop scene. Shouldn't we be discussing no wave or industrial when we think of the the post-krautrock motorik lineage? Or, y'know, house music?

So you're saying that the student cannot be greater than the teacher?

the student teachers had their moments too

tony allen's drumming is a heavenly funk pillow and i have yet to hear any jb that's as amazing as shuffering and shmiling, how the pieces all interlock and the percussion is this river that stays the same but changes all the time and looks pretty. the funk is subtler. the solos grew on me, they kind of just go around and around. plus i think fela has the lyrical edge over jb, but that's probably just a matter of topical preference.

i haven't heard enough of either, but i have heard enough of neu!, whom i also like.

Incredible Bongo Band "Bongo Rock" reissue on Halloween

fela might not have existed before jb but that doesnt necessarily make him automatically better. i prefer fela.

without, not before.

snares, hi-hats, bass drums > bongos, but i got no time for any of that shit

Has Eno ever said much about Neu?

"Not many people bought their album, but those that did all started their own Stereolab"

i think it was bowie who said [the thread title] about neu!? but maybe it was eno. we should all of course wish for the latter. and anyway you can hear it on station to station.

But it was Harmonia they namechecked?

why is this moving toward a lot of german bullshit that i've heard and away from a lot of fela that you haven't heard?

What makes you think I haven't heard as much Fela as you?

oh sorry i missed that, because you are Tom D.?

Punk rock JB = James Chance.

thank you! i think i knew that!

Matt that quote is always attributed to Eno as far as I know.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Haha well I guess they were all great.

wait.
did someone actually suggest that Joy Divison were a "punk rock neu"???

go to hell and don't come back until you can make a sound aesthetic judgment thanks.

waow that was close!!!

oh sure just split the vote like that.
one crafty english teacher did this to us in high school. a closeted poetry nerd ran for class president and she encouraged 4 stars from the football team to run against him. fucking genius.

in this example, who is the closeted poetry kid? Neu?

Nas.

JB was ROBBED! Damn my eyes - if I'd only seen this poll in time, I could've at least made it a tie.

I mean, chrissakes: Thread title says beats, as in plural. Didn't Neu! have basically ONE functional beat (as opposed to FUNKtional beat) that they used forever and ever?

The title sez beats cuz there are three of them. Each one has one beat (at least according to Eno's original statement.)

lame

Hah I actually like the result.

neu! is definitely my least favorite out of the three, but probably a lot more influential than fela. the only music that i can think of that really tries to incorporate some afrobeat ideas (besides full-on afrobeat bands obv.) is like tortoise and the dude from blur.

Everyone knows the motorik beat, but what exactly is the James Brown "beat"? Funky Drummer? Which song?
Same with Fela. I'm a big fan of both, especially Fela, but there is no singular "beat" tied to Fela or JB, is there? It's more just a consistent feel that changes from song to song.

to be fair, I think it would be possible to argue that Joy Division = punk rock Eno-era Bowie,

(which mark s aptly pointed out, sounded absolutely nothing like Neu!)

the only music that i can think of that really tries to incorporate some afrobeat ideas (besides full-on afrobeat bands obv.) is like tortoise and the dude from blur.

actually, i remember hearing that kuti was liquid liquid's main influence, so...

^I might've been actually way off on that...

I don't remember what I voted for, but I would def. vote Fela now...even though I've been listening only to Neu! 2 for the last week...that's a cool fucking record!

(Geir voted for Fela LOL)

Geir OTM

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