Album Notes

"FAR AND AWAY THE MOST LISTENABLE RECORDING FROM THE PREMIERE NOISIESTS. ALMOST AS RIVETING AS SEEING THEM IN PERSON." ROCKPOOL

"NO ONE MAKES A MIGHTIER OR MORE EXHILARATING NOISE THAN GERMANY'S EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN. THEIR MUSIC WITH IT'S HYPNOTIC PERCUSSIVE RIFFS AND SONIC SQUALLS, HAS REAL FORM & SUBSTANCE. NONE OF THE NEUBAUTEN STUDIO RECORDS HAS QUITE MANAGED TO CAPTURE IT'S OVERWHELMING LIVE SOUND. THIS ALBUM ADDRESSES THAT PROBLEM." Kurt Loder- Liner Notes
AMG Review:
This is a first-time CD issue of live material from Einsturzende Neubaten's early '80s European concerts. This entire recording was performed prior to their U.S. debut in 1984. The presentation is effective in capturing their organized chaos. Not only their effect on industrial music, but their premonitions in applying ambient and world music voices can be heard here. Surprisingly compositional and collectively whole,...I can think of no other Neubaten recordings that are as listenable or that show the group's potential as clearly as this one. A darkly beautiful, orchestrated collision of deep rhythms and debris are pressed into service as music. Included are original and updated liner notes... - Tom Schulte

"THEIR TOUCH REACHES AS FAR AS THE CURRENT MUSICAL EXPLOSION - ELECTRONICA. CALL IT TECHNO, AMBIENT, TRIP-HOP. BUT THIS GROUPS FINGERPRINTS ARE DETECTED ON RECORDS SUCH THE LIKES AS TRICKY & THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS." -KATHY NIZZARI/1997

"AFTER ALL THEY ARE A LIVE BAND. FORTUNATELY ROIR CASSETTES HAVE COME OUT WITH A LIVE TAPE.... IT SUCCEEDS IN CAPTURING THE REAL FEELING BETTER THAN IT WOULD FROM STUDIO TRACKS. IT TENDS TO CAPTIVATE AND DRAW YOU IN." -ALTERNATIVE PRESS

"THE NEUBAUTENS, DESPITE THEMSELVES, HAVE BECOME QUITE MUSICAL. A REMARKABLY RIOTOUS RHYTHM ENERGY FROM A METALLIC TONESCAPE." -NME

"FOR LIVE MATERIAL THE CASSETTE-ONLY "2 X 4" IS AN ADMIRABLE ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE THE MOOD OF E/N ON STAGE. RECORDED THROUGHOUT EUROPE BETWEEN 1980-1983 IT LEAVES MORE SPACE IN THE SOUNDS WHICH MAKES THE SHOCK EFFECTS THAT MUCH MORE SHOCKING." -TROUSER PRESS GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE MUSIC

"THEY ORIGINALLY BECAME NOTORIOUS VIA THEIR LIVE SHOWS, SO ROIR HAD THE GOOD SENSE TO RELEASE THIS LIVE TAPE, FROM CONCERTS IN HOLLAND, BELGIUM AND GERMANY. MUSICALLY AND ARTISTICALLY SUCCESSFUL." -MUSIC CONNECTION

"MOST OF THIS BANDS NOISE REPUTATION IS DOCUMENTED AND VERIFIED ON THIS TAPE. MELODIOUS INDUSTRIAL MEANDERINGS THAT ARE PLEASANT AND AWAKENING. ANOTHER HISTORIC ROIR DOCUMENT." - AL (FLIPSIDE)