''Silver Cloud'' is the debut single by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

band

La Düsseldorf La Düsseldorf was a German band formed by the former member of Neu!, multi-instrumentalist Klaus Dinger, his brother Thomas Dinger, and Hans Lampe. La Düsseldorf released a string of successful albums (with sales totaling over a million) durin ...

, released in advance of their eponymous debut album. The single peaked at number 2 on the German music charts and made La Düsseldorf famous. Unusually for a high-charting single, "Silver Cloud" is entirely instrumental (although the B-side "La Düsseldorf" is not). The single continues to be popular, and was re-released on CD in 2008.

Background & Success

Following the release of ''

Neu! '75 ''Neu! 75'' is the third studio album by German krautrock band Neu!, released in February 1975 on Brain Records. It was recorded and mixed at Conny Plank's studio between December 1974 and January 1975. The album was officially reissued on CD on 29 ...

'' in 1975,

Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...

disbanded, and

Klaus Dinger Klaus Dinger (24 March 1946 – 21 March 2008) was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock band Neu!. He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of New wave music, new wave group La Düsse ...

began writing music for a La Düsseldorf album. La Düsseldorf had been founded the previous year during Neu!'s 1973-4 hiatus, and both Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe had featured on ''Neu! '75'' playing drums. Nevertheless, Klaus initially had difficulty composing material for the new album, finally entering

Conny Plank Konrad "Conny" Plank (3 May 1940 – 5 December 1987) was a German record producer and musician. He is known for his innovative work as a sound engineer and producer in Germany's krautrock and kosmische music scene in the 1970s. Plank was involv ...

's studio in September 1975. After sessions were completed in December of that year, "Silver Cloud" was selected as the album's lead single. It quickly rose through the charts, making Thomas, Klaus and Hans overnight celebrities, particularly in their home city of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, where the band logo was spray-painted on the streets by fans and Thomas became a fashion icon.

Releases & track listings

In Germany the single was released by

Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...

on 7" vinyl. In 2008 Bureau B re-released the single on CD. The track listing on both releases was as follows— All tracks composed by Klaus Dinger. # "Silver Cloud" - 3:38 # "La Düsseldorf" - 2:34 In

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, Teldec's parent company

Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television producer, founded in Berlin in 1903 as a joint venture between Siemens & Halske and the ''AEG (German company), Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ("General electricity company"). Prior to ...

released a promotional single ''Düsseldorf'', which did not feature "Silver Cloud" but "Düsseldorf", another song from La Düsseldorf's debut album— All tracks composed by Klaus Dinger. # "Düsseldorf Part 1" - 4:00 # "Düsseldorf Part 2" - 3:27

Personnel

La Düsseldorf * Klaus Dinger - guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, vocals * Thomas Dinger - drums, percussion, vocals * Hans Lampe - electronics, keyboards, percussion, synthesizer other musicians * Harald Konietzko - bass {{La Düsseldorf 1976 songs Songs written by Klaus Dinger