Konrad Plank is to Krautrock what Phil Spector is to pop music, an inventive producer and collaborator with credits that range from the endlessly influential rock records that came from Germany in the '70s to obscure and not-so-obscure post-punk/new wave records of the late '70s and early '80s. Having cut his teeth working for Marlene Dietrich, it wasn't until his production for Kraftwerk's early records that he began to significantly raise his status. And by producing, engineering, and mediating the recording of Neu's three legendary LPs in the '70s (he was essentially the unofficial third member), Plank cemented his status as one of the most significant studio rats in experimental rock, operating his own studio in Cologne and proceeding to record German bands like Grobschnitt, Guru Guru, Kraan, and the Scorpions, in addition to later non-German acts like Ultravox, Devo, Killing Joke, and Eurythmics. Plank, who also worked with Dieter Moebius on a couple of early '80s recordings billed as Moebius Plank, passed away in the late '80s. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi