during the 1990s, the first three neu! albums were available on cd on germanafon 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 the previous album, "neu! 4" "in an act of despair, so he says" in late 1995 as a response to the bootlegs without rother's input, knowledge or consent. rother, writing in march 2007, described this experience as "a rather painful disaster between klaus dinger and myself".