advertisement


Essential Kraftwerk

Was at a family party in the 1970s when one of my cousins put on Autobhan. Didn’t go down well but I was fascinated. Despite this my first album was probably The Mix. Worked backwards and see no reason to go beyond Computer World. All downhill after that.

Seen them live twice. If you’ve not then you must. Clearly the band and the innovation is gone but as an all enveloping experience it’s excellent.
 
Around 1984 I got my first Kraftwerk CD - Autobahn...

My first LP had been an Autobahn Vertigo LP bought secondhand circa 1977 from Oadby library for 50p.

I bought a TDK metal tape and recorded my 1984 CD (Philips CD 104) at an obscenely high level.

My 6th form college refectory had a half decent system of Nad 3020, Aiwa cassette deck and AR speakers.

Because the Autobahn tape was recorded so much louder than anything else it literally stopped the room...

...people choked on their cheese and onion cobs.

...the lads playing pool suddenly miss cued.

The Asian hip hop crew wanted to record all my Kraftwerk records.
 
My first LP had been an Autobahn Vertigo LP bought secondhand circa 1977 from Oadby library for 50p.

Mine was a library copy too! Can’t remember which library, but bought whilst I was at school so it would only have been a couple of years old. I’ve since replaced it, but I’m still looking for a better copy of this one. The weakest by far in my collection.
 
Mine was a library copy too! Can’t remember which library, but bought whilst I was at school so it would only have been a couple of years old. I’ve since replaced it, but I’m still looking for a better copy of this one. The weakest by far in my collection.

Oadby (where I found my Vertigo copy of Autobahn) was a fairly posh but very small outlying district of Leicester.

Oadby was the birthplace of John Deacon (Queen) and also Phil Oakey (Human League).
 
Mine was a library copy too! Can’t remember which library, but bought whilst I was at school so it would only have been a couple of years old. I’ve since replaced it, but I’m still looking for a better copy of this one. The weakest by far in my collection.

My late 70s UK pressing is quite thin, but the W German Phillips is very good. I'd recommend that.
 
So views on the 3D vinyl boxset editions? I recently picked one up and yes they've monkeyed around with some of the beats and so on and there's some dance/ techno wig outs here and there, but overall the quality and dynamics are just great. That bass on Die Roboter!
 
So views on the 3D vinyl boxset editions?

I’ve got the CD box and feel it is the least significant item in their whole catalogue. It’s not terrible, but I view it as pretty pointless. I’ve no idea what it is for other than a way to resell the same albums yet again. One can maybe argue they’ve improved Electric Cafe a bit, but it is a bit of a stretch to buy a whole box for that.

For Kraftwerk’s ‘revisionism of the core catalogue’ phase my favourite by far is Minimum Maximum. That really is a great live album and I often dig it out (I have both the vinyl and CD/DVD boxes). It has more than enough of the post-The Mix techno reworking without the need to meddle with everything. It has some real atmosphere too. Maybe surprisingly one of the great live albums.
 
For Kraftwerk’s ‘revisionism of the core catalogue’ phase my favourite by far is Minimum Maximum. That really is a great live album and I often dig it out (I have both the vinyl and CD/DVD boxes). It has more than enough of the post-The Mix techno reworking without the need to meddle with everything. It has some real atmosphere too. Maybe surprisingly one of the great live albums.

I saw them play in London as part of the tour Minimum Maximum was made from. An incredible gig, the sound was immense and crystal pure. It was very psychedelic. They are a great live band, despite not being in any way traditional performers.
 
I love Kraftwerk, but to argue that they have been more important, musically, than the Beatles, doesn't hold up to scrutiny. The Beatles' influence didn't end in 1970 as Tony suggests, and it still part of the musical and cultural world we live in. Everyone, with an interest in popular music, knows the Beatles, in one form or another. Their sales alone tell that story. And whilst Kraftwerk has influenced generations of musicians in the UK, I think they are seen somewhat differently in their own country.
 
I’ve got the CD box and feel it is the least significant item in their whole catalogue. It’s not terrible, but I view it as pretty pointless. I’ve no idea what it is for other than a way to resell the same albums yet again.

This. The only way I can rationalize it is to think of it as the 'live album' from the 'album a night' concerts they ran.

One can maybe argue they’ve improved Electric Cafe a bit, but it is a bit of a stretch to buy a whole box for that.

"Electric Cafe" was fine as it was, but I guess haters gonna hate. ;)
 
"Electric Cafe" was fine as it was, but I guess haters gonna hate. ;)

I’m just not convinced by it. It was the point they stopped innovating and started following to my mind. There’s nothing there that hadn’t already been done way better years before by ZTT, The Art Of Noise, Thomas Dolby, Martin Rushant and a whole world of hip-hop etc. It actually sounded dated on release, which is amazing given their legacy and the knock the ball way out of the park perfection of Computer World. For me their later regrouping for Tour de France Soundtracks stands up a lot better and that one is a really nice album even though it fitted right in with the electronica of the time rather than breaking new ground.

I get the impression Kraftwerk themselves fully understood Electric Cafe was poor hence the hugely delayed release and endless attempts to knock it into shape. It is not entirely devoid of interest, but it is a huge shame that one is in print and the first three exponentially more interesting and significant Philips/Vertigo albums have been erased from history.
 
I love Kraftwerk, but to argue that they have been more important, musically, than the Beatles, doesn't hold up to scrutiny. The Beatles' influence didn't end in 1970 as Tony suggests, and it still part of the musical and cultural world we live in. Everyone, with an interest in popular music, knows the Beatles, in one form or another. Their sales alone tell that story. And whilst Kraftwerk has influenced generations of musicians in the UK, I think they are seen somewhat differently in their own country.

The difference is Kraftwerk were seminal innovators whereas The Beatles were simply part of a continuum, albeit a very significant part.
 
What did they invent?

Apart from the concept album, the idea of being a recording band only, the notion of using the studio as another instrument (and a huge amount of corollary here), the music video, adding lyrics to their albums, performing in stadiums, the idea that hit record did not have to be less than 3 and half minutes long and having their own self contained record label I have no idea :D
 
The Beatles reinvented popular three times in seven years.

Not seeing it. They started out playing US rock ‘n’ roll and blues covers, wrote a lot of very good pop songs, they then became very influenced by the psychedelic thing happening in the USA and repackaged that with pip sensibilities. Later they went to a performance of Skockhausen’s Hymnen and wrote their finest work, Revolution No. 9.

Obviously I’m understating their considerable creativity and the sheer quality of song writing. There is no denying Lennon & McCartney a seriously good ear and could churn exceptionally high quality pop music out by the yard, but other than arguably breaking through a corporate barrier early on and moving pop music into the creative arena other forms (folk, jazz, blues etc) had enjoyed forever where artists write their own content rather than just being an X-Factor-grade puppet for a management company I’m struggling to see much lasting influence beyond say Oasis and the music-hall bits of Queen, both of which are best avoided IMHO.

I’d argue the first track on the first Neu! album actually had more lasting influence than the Beatles, let alone Kraftwerk who’s legacy is literally everywhere in current pop, dance, electronica, hip-hop, rap, film music, advertising etc etc. I can’t imagine what modern music would be without Kraftwerk.

PS Not knocking The Beatles. I just honestly feel their legacy is strangely rooted to their timeframe. It just didn’t translate forward the way say the first VU album, Neu!, Radio Activity, TEE, Man Machine, or Computer World have.
 
I’ll dig in even deeper and attempt to argue the exponentially less interesting Rolling Stones have had far more lasting influence than The Beatles as reheated white blues-rock is still all over the place in this century!

(ducks, covers)
 


advertisement


Back
Top