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Kraftwerk - Where to start?

Think I may have “dodgy” copies of the pre-Autobahn albums. They sound amazing but NO WAY would I encourage you to get them. I only discovered them from Autobahn onwards so would suggest gradually doing that. The early ones for me are “interesting“ rather than essential.
 
I'd agree with those who suggest The Mix as a starter, it's a superb compilation, from there buy everything else.
 
As much as I love Autobahn, the first album is essential as much of what comes later in a purely electronic form is there in a mix of acoustic and electronic instruments.
 
smegger68 said:
If you want a good sampler, then 'The Mix' double album is a good intro to their most famous tracks. You can decide from what you like as to what studio albums to follow up with.
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But as its name suggests, The Mix gives you homogenised remixes of the original tracks.
 
fwiw the original UK release of The Mix on cd sounds fantastic to my ears.
Same goes for the 'target' cd of Computer World.
 
I have a few, but this is best sq for me; Radio-Activity, 1975, Capitol, U.S recording. Bought this as a filler when importing a few years back.

Bloss
 
I picked up a copy of Exceller 8 LP on holiday recently (vertigo space ship pattern) Its a nice compilation of the early stuff up to Autobahn, with an edited version of the Autobahn track.
And there is a video on you tube of a very early Kraftwerk using a real drummer. They sound VERY different then. Also worth a look is the video of the Model where they appear live (sic) on a german pop show. They hardly move on stage but it is so cool it chills me to the bone. For me they can do no wrong ever.
 
madmike said:
I picked up a copy of Exceller 8 LP on holiday recently (vertigo space ship pattern) Its a nice compilation of the early stuff up to Autobahn, with an edited version of the Autobahn track.
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That's the single version. AFAICT, it never had a release on CD.

madmike said:
And there is a video on you tube of a very early Kraftwerk using a real drummer. They sound VERY different then.
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That's Klaus Dinger. At some point, Ralf Hutter left Kraftwerk, leaving Klaus and Florian Schneider-Esleben to carry on. They brought in Michael Rother on guitar and there's a few vids on Youtube of that lineup: 'Von den Blauen Bock' (aka 'Ruckstoss Gondolero'), 'Koln II' and 'Kakteen, Wüste, Sonne'. There is also the epically heavy Bremen Radio 71 set. They did record about 30 minutes of music but Ralf rejoined and Rother / Dinger went off to record as Neu! When Ralf rejoined they recorded the second Kraftwerk album which was very patchy but did see them moving away from a 'rock' idiom and using electronic rhythms for the first time. There is a very good video of them live in Paris from '73 (also Klaus Schulze, TD and Guru Guru were filmed) but it seems to have vanished. Next stop on the way to Autobahn saw them recruit Wolfgang Flur (who had been in the Spirits of Sound with Rother) after cutting 'Ralf and Florian'. This video is a version of 'Tanzmusik' from that album but you can begin to hear elements of that first instrumental section of 'Autobahn' forming.

 
If you can find a copy, I would recommend the 'Radioactivity' CD45 that came out at the time of 'The Mix' because it has William Orbit's remix of the track which is far superior to the one on the album.

 
Apologies to everyone for starting the thread and not coming back to it until now.

Since I had 2 days off work, I started to explore most of the recommendations in this thread and I think I will start with the following, or at least this is what I like the most at the moment, in the following order: Computer World, The Man-Machine, Trans-Europe Express, Autobahn and Radio-Activity (mostly due to the title song - at the moment).

Locally I have some of these from the 2009 remasters, so any word on the sound quality for these remasters? Other option is amazon.co.uk , but I would like to avoid shipping/importing if it's not a must, and I haven't checked which remasters are from amazon.

I don't know at the moment the prices for the original issues, but I presume it will be a costly affair.

Also, what is the general opinion regarding the 3-D catalogue? There is one box set available, which although is a bit pricey, can be a possibility.What I don't like is that these are live recording with different takes as I understand (?) , and the example from Radioactivity (song) that I heard sounded a bit too much in the low end (maybe compressed) - totally different from the original version that I heard.

So, if I can't have the original issues, what would be the "next best thing", SQ wise?

Regarding some of the "Best of or Mix" recommendations, I would like to go for the complete albums if possible, just a personal preference.But if there is a good reason why to go for some of them, why not.
 
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My experience of the 2009 remasters: CD bad, vinyl good. I found that the hyped bass and volume of the CDs masked much of the delicate detail and atmosphere of the original recordings. That's less of an issue with the vinyl that I've heard, which just comes across as a touch more meaty. As much as I enjoy the 3-D box set, I wouldn't go there first. Get to know the originals first. Same goes for The Mix: it's a lot of fun but could give the wrong impression.
 
igor_xxxx said:
Regarding some of the "Best of or Mix" recommendations, I would like to go for the complete albums if possible, just a personal preference.But if there is a good reason why to go for some of them, why not.
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Most of the versions on 'The Mix' are different to those on the original albums. They were studio recordings of the live set from 91.
 
What types of stuff from Kraftwerk do you like? The slower stuff? The more dancy? There are genres with genres for most of their stuff. That’s why they are viewed with such reverence.

I got the lot, but actually like The Mix and TDF Soundtracks. Both of these on vinyl are excellent imv.
 
I have found this thread very useful, thanks everyone.

Always fancied trying Kraftwerk but afraid to chuck good money away. I have put a toe in the water and bought a DVD of Minimum Maximum for a tenner plus postage. It has stereo and 5.1 mixes so should be interesting if nothing else.

The £175 asking price for the same album on used vinyl is perhaps just a step too far for experimenting with something new:)

Jim
 
^^^ Minimum Maximum is a superb set, if you like it you can buy the back catalogue with confidence!
 

This exhibit in Second Life was made by a friend who does the behind scenes electronics for them. These are not cgi animations but scripted virtual objects, objects whose actions controled by small programs inside them. WHen they were at the Power Station Tate he showed me all the stuff that goes into a performance and the 3d projector, now thats a bit of sci fi
 
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