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

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Cuz that James Brown/Sabbath poll is going to be such a landslide

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Neu! 17
James Brown! 16
Fela! 15


Alex in SF, Friday, 17 October 2008 23:37 (seventeen years ago)

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

santa fe springs eternal (get bent), Friday, 17 October 2008 23:38 (seventeen years ago)

cannot possibly pick between fela and jb

Granny Dainger, Friday, 17 October 2008 23:39 (seventeen years ago)

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

Granny Dainger, Friday, 17 October 2008 23:39 (seventeen years ago)

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

Alex in SF, Friday, 17 October 2008 23:40 (seventeen years ago)

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.

Cannabis Zed Omega (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 17 October 2008 23:49 (seventeen years ago)

You've only heard three James Brown songs?

Alex in SF, Friday, 17 October 2008 23:51 (seventeen years ago)

no that's not what i meant...

Cannabis Zed Omega (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 17 October 2008 23:53 (seventeen years ago)

i don't think

Cannabis Zed Omega (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 17 October 2008 23:54 (seventeen years ago)

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

Pillbox, Saturday, 18 October 2008 00:27 (seventeen years ago)

Is anyone really going to vote for NEU?

Tyrone Quattlebaum (Hurting 2), Saturday, 18 October 2008 03:09 (seventeen years ago)

Racists.

ian, Saturday, 18 October 2008 03:12 (seventeen years ago)

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

Pillbox, Saturday, 18 October 2008 03:18 (seventeen years ago)

Is anyone really going to vote for NEU?

You bet.

ilxor, Saturday, 18 October 2008 03:21 (seventeen years ago)

JB over Neu! by a smidge.

Telephone thing, Saturday, 18 October 2008 03:42 (seventeen years ago)

you all seem to be forgetting something:
bohannon.

ian, Saturday, 18 October 2008 03:55 (seventeen years ago)

Eno forgot Babatunde Olatunji.

inhibitionist, Saturday, 18 October 2008 09:33 (seventeen years ago)

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 = ?

goofus vs. gallant (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 29 October 2008 01:24 (seventeen years ago)

Zombie obv., not Zomibe

goofus vs. gallant (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 29 October 2008 01:25 (seventeen years ago)

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

tempted to vote for fela but this^^^

Jordan, Wednesday, 29 October 2008 01:32 (seventeen years ago)

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

Jordan, Wednesday, 29 October 2008 01:32 (seventeen years ago)

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!!!!!!

psychgawsple, Wednesday, 29 October 2008 01:55 (seventeen years ago)

JB, of course.

If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Wednesday, 29 October 2008 02:15 (seventeen years ago)

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

Rock Hardy, Wednesday, 29 October 2008 02:17 (seventeen years ago)

JB by 100 electoral votes, at least

Mozarella sticks. Think about it. (kenan), Wednesday, 29 October 2008 02:18 (seventeen years ago)

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?

goofus vs. gallant (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 29 October 2008 10:21 (seventeen years ago)

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.

something less awful (Ed), Wednesday, 29 October 2008 10:26 (seventeen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Thursday, 30 October 2008 00:01 (seventeen years ago)

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

Geir Hongro, Thursday, 30 October 2008 00:41 (seventeen years ago)

Punk rock JB = James Chance.

(Or, to get kind of meta, PE)

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 30 October 2008 00:58 (seventeen years ago)

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?

psychgawsple, Thursday, 30 October 2008 01:40 (seventeen years ago)

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

factcheckr, Thursday, 30 October 2008 02:26 (seventeen years ago)

the student teachers had their moments too

dude, ALLLLL lighthouses are haunted. (PappaWheelie V), Thursday, 30 October 2008 03:06 (seventeen years ago)

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.

Matt P, Thursday, 30 October 2008 03:11 (seventeen years ago)

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

Matt P, Thursday, 30 October 2008 03:13 (seventeen years ago)

Incredible Bongo Band "Bongo Rock" reissue on Halloween

TOMBOT, Thursday, 30 October 2008 03:21 (seventeen years ago)

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

titchyschneiderMk2, Thursday, 30 October 2008 08:53 (seventeen years ago)

without, not before.

titchyschneiderMk2, Thursday, 30 October 2008 08:53 (seventeen years ago)

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

Matt P, Thursday, 30 October 2008 10:10 (seventeen years ago)

Has Eno ever said much about Neu?

Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 30 October 2008 10:17 (seventeen years ago)

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

Mark G, Thursday, 30 October 2008 10:23 (seventeen years ago)

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.

Matt P, Thursday, 30 October 2008 10:30 (seventeen years ago)

But it was Harmonia they namechecked?

Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 30 October 2008 10:31 (seventeen years ago)

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?

Matt P, Thursday, 30 October 2008 10:36 (seventeen years ago)

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

Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Thursday, 30 October 2008 10:40 (seventeen years ago)

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

Matt P, Thursday, 30 October 2008 11:17 (seventeen years ago)

Punk rock JB = James Chance.

thank you! i think i knew that!

goofus vs. gallant (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 30 October 2008 13:37 (seventeen years ago)

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

Alex in SF, Thursday, 30 October 2008 13:41 (seventeen years ago)

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

System, Friday, 31 October 2008 00:01 (seventeen years ago)

Haha well I guess they were all great.

Alex in SF, Friday, 31 October 2008 00:11 (seventeen years ago)

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.

ian, Friday, 31 October 2008 01:25 (seventeen years ago)

waow that was close!!!

goofus vs. gallant (Drugs A. Money), Friday, 31 October 2008 01:32 (seventeen years ago)

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.

sanskrit, Friday, 31 October 2008 02:52 (seventeen years ago)

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

ian, Friday, 31 October 2008 03:03 (seventeen years ago)

Nas.

Mark G, Friday, 31 October 2008 07:28 (seventeen years ago)

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?

Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 31 October 2008 08:26 (seventeen years ago)

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

Alex in SF, Friday, 31 October 2008 17:31 (seventeen years ago)

lame

Jordan, Friday, 31 October 2008 17:36 (seventeen years ago)

Hah I actually like the result.

Alex in SF, Friday, 31 October 2008 17:37 (seventeen years ago)

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.

Jordan, Friday, 31 October 2008 18:40 (seventeen years ago)

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.

z "R" s (Z S), Saturday, 1 November 2008 17:12 (seventeen years ago)

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!)

^ban with extreme prejudice (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 5 November 2008 20:37 (seventeen years ago)

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...

^ban with extreme prejudice (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 5 November 2008 20:38 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

^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)

EGGS ARE RAPE! YOU DISGUST ME! (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 27 May 2010 17:52 (fifteen years ago)

Geir OTM

dud rock (crüt), Thursday, 27 May 2010 17:54 (fifteen years ago)

right

EGGS ARE RAPE! YOU DISGUST ME! (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 27 May 2010 17:56 (fifteen years ago)


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