Worth it for the old live performances of Pocket Calculator and The Robots
― paolo, Saturday, 31 January 2015 09:44 (nine years ago) link
And Coldplay can do one
― paolo, Saturday, 31 January 2015 09:52 (nine years ago) link
haha i came on ilm specifically to see what yers thought of this doc, i had a feeling it'd be judged to be lousy. weird though; the recent BBC Abba and Kate docs were great IMO.
― piscesx, Saturday, 31 January 2015 10:08 (nine years ago) link
No they weren't - its the usual 'isn't pop great' dreck filled with talking heads who would've hated the stuff at the time it was released.
Burn these museums.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 31 January 2015 10:26 (nine years ago) link
Can't wait for UK Garage Britannia tho'.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 31 January 2015 10:29 (nine years ago) link
the way it started with the tate gallery person listing a few random high profile artist pals who might be partial to a bit of the old kraftwerk and/or wanted to blag tickets off her was just ugh
― let me be your fan taytay (NickB), Saturday, 31 January 2015 10:48 (nine years ago) link
mark s' review of the Tate show.
http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2013/02/kraftwerk-tate-modern-turbine-hall-13-2-2013/
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 31 January 2015 10:58 (nine years ago) link
But yeah Nick these ppl disgust me.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 31 January 2015 10:59 (nine years ago) link
Derrick May was beautiful, most of the rest of it was the usual supertrite cobblers, just stick up all the concert footage you've got and stfu imo
― No Orchids for Ms. Blonde-ish (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 31 January 2015 11:03 (nine years ago) link
http://youtu.be/JHhBfx0ILkY?t=38m17s
this performance is fantastic too, hadn't seen it before and was worth ignoring the blathering heads for
― No Orchids for Ms. Blonde-ish (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 31 January 2015 11:06 (nine years ago) link
lol yeah - blew the whole they are robots and don't interact.
I mean its mostly true but that was great. thx for posting it.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 31 January 2015 11:09 (nine years ago) link
fucking Coldplay barely even deserve a mention in an hour long Kraftwerk documentary, let alone 2 minutes
― PaulTMA, Saturday, 31 January 2015 18:55 (nine years ago) link
Argh, now it's jumped back to them again! What the fuck
― PaulTMA, Saturday, 31 January 2015 18:59 (nine years ago) link
ah dammit, had been looking forward to watching the entire German documentary NV posted when I had an hour to spare, but it has been mercilessly yanked from youtube already
― club mate martyr (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 23:12 (nine years ago) link
:(
― languagelessness (mattresslessness), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 23:16 (nine years ago) link
it was just a dub of the one shown on BBC4 i think, don't know if there were different talking heads
― No Orchids for Ms. Blonde-ish (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 23:25 (nine years ago) link
ohh ok
I would hope there would be less Coldplay in the German version but probably no such luck
― club mate martyr (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 23:33 (nine years ago) link
i only looked for that "rocking out" bit, don't know if there was a German Paul Morley or what
― No Orchids for Ms. Blonde-ish (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 23:36 (nine years ago) link
Klaus Mehrlig or something
― No Orchids for Ms. Blonde-ish (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 4 February 2015 23:37 (nine years ago) link
That documentary would be quite a good intro for people who know nothing about Kraftwerk tbf
― paolo, Thursday, 5 February 2015 09:02 (nine years ago) link
Also I just got Electric Cafe and it sucks :(
― paolo, Thursday, 5 February 2015 09:04 (nine years ago) link
OK it's not a complete disaster but compared to their other albums it isn't very good at all
― paolo, Thursday, 5 February 2015 09:05 (nine years ago) link
stick with it
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 5 February 2015 10:27 (nine years ago) link
I've been sticking with it since 1986 and it still sucks.
― anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Thursday, 5 February 2015 13:30 (nine years ago) link
Too bad for you. IMO it's the album that benefited the most from the remastering job. "Boing" and "Musique" are pretty massive on the new edition.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 5 February 2015 14:33 (nine years ago) link
a few weeks ago i succumbed to the urge and tracked down a copy of each remastered edition.and yeah, EC/TP does sound really good now.that said, i have the original vinyl, and have always had a soft spot for this album.goes nicely alongside the other digital/sample/vocal cut up album of the era - zoolook by jean-michel jarre
― mark e, Thursday, 5 February 2015 14:48 (nine years ago) link
those remasters are excellent. glad someone brought up Zoolook - IMO it's a better album but between that and Electric Cafe, I really wish there was more of this stuff. that kind of surreal digital sampling was pretty cool!
― Abstinence Hawk (frogbs), Thursday, 5 February 2015 15:03 (nine years ago) link
excellent balcony-cam footage for gear trainspotters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b16s210t0pk#t=698
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 5 February 2015 18:41 (nine years ago) link
It changes all the time, but right now my favourite is Trans Europa Express.
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 00:59 (eight years ago) link
I could make a case for any of them except Kraftwerk 2 and *shudders* Electric Cafe. (I'm ignoring the general existence of The Mix.)
My favourite Kraftwerk album is typically "whichever Kraftwerk album I am listening to right now".
I mean, in terms of "most typical" if I'm trying to turn a new person onto Kraftwerk (I've got our Punk Receptionist at work into Can, but she's balking at Kraftwerk so far) I'll tell them to start with Man Machine. But favourite? I don't know!
At the moment I'm really into the transitional period, Ralf und Florian -> Autobahn -> Radioactivity specifically because it's so unformalised and the gel hasn't quite set yet. I could watch the video for antenna all day long. (I sometimes wonder if I love them or just their iconography, but I'm a sucker for oscilloscopes.)
― Suggest Autobahn (Branwell with an N), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 04:19 (eight years ago) link
I have loved that double album debut, I got it in 1975 (long story), and Autobahn too (that was earlier), I know R&F and Radioa quite well..
I got the big box a few years ago for a daft price thanks to a mistake by Amazon but I've not unshrinkwrapped it yet as the albums are all on Spotify, ..
I think the best way of approaching it is to bite the bullet and play them in reverse chron order. What I have heard of Electric Cafe is that its not so bad, the I guess its because I remember the girls singing along to boom-chakk back in the day.
Did anyone else want the KraftNeu or the Kohoutek single?
― Mark G, Tuesday, 18 August 2015 06:32 (eight years ago) link
I first heard the majority of Kraftwerk through 'The Mix', so sometimes those original versions can sound a bit flat and lo-fi to me, even if the Mix's versions are pretty terrible. My problem with Kraftwerk, iconic and important that they were, is that sometimes their tracks go on just a tad too long. Like, for me listening to Autobahn can feel a bit like something I have to subject myself to out of self-improvement; like reading Moby Dick or something. It's not that I don't enjoy it, but it can feel like a bit of a slog after just a few minutes.
The only one I can't say that about is Radioactivity which is such a great understated record. Computer World works well too, as a pop album.
― 9 days from now a.k.a next weekend. (dog latin), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link
That Minimum-Maximum live disc is pretty much my go-to; for some reason the pumped-up, bass-boosted sound works for me there in a way that it doesn't on The Mix, even though the arrangements are basically the same
― frogbs, Tuesday, 18 August 2015 15:37 (eight years ago) link
The live MinMax performance lives on my pad.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 18 August 2015 15:47 (eight years ago) link
I went to Edinburgh a few years ago, and there was a street performer with his face painted silver dancing to 'Techno Pop', does anyone know if he was a regular feature?
― authentic plastic rat (soref), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 15:48 (eight years ago) link
My problem with Kraftwerk, iconic and important that they were, is that sometimes their tracks go on just a tad too long. Like, for me listening to Autobahn can feel a bit like something I have to subject myself to out of self-improvement; like reading Moby Dick or something. It's not that I don't enjoy it, but it can feel like a bit of a slog after just a few minutes.
Autobahn for me is best listened to horizontal with the headphones on... I love the way that the replicate the traffic on the synths during the middle section, it's almost like you can hear the cars creeping up behind you and zooming past.
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 17:48 (eight years ago) link
If you think 22 minutes of your life is too long to sacrifice for a masterpiece like Autobahn, then seriously. You do not not deserve Kraftwerk.
― Suggest Autobahn (Branwell with an N), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 18:12 (eight years ago) link
the best time I ever had listening to autobahn was on the motorway, in fact. it works really really well with cars overtaking and changing lines in time with the synthy whooshes and whirrs
― 9 days from now a.k.a next weekend. (dog latin), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 18:21 (eight years ago) link
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when they were recording these albums, just to see how they worked up a track from beginning to end and went through the process of finding the relevant sounds and what the general vibe and interaction between the band members was like. I could imagine them hitting upon that throbbing, pulsing bassline to 'Spacelab' and getting quite excited about it.
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 18:41 (eight years ago) link
Did I ever tell you that my music teacher played "Autobahn" in its entirety in a music lesson one day? On a record player, that is! I don't have any real memory about it, other than it got played, no-one paid any attention in music lessons in the school I went to and none of the teachers expected you to tbh.
― Stupidityness (Tom D.), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 18:45 (eight years ago) link
Just read another old thread where everyone’s talking about how much the Tour de France stuff sucks and I just want to say the Tour de France stuff might be my favorite Kraftwerk material, on the studio recordings and on the live collections. God I love it.
― afriendlypioneer, Friday, 12 October 2018 01:35 (five years ago) link
Aero dynamik!
tour de france sdtrk is in my top 4 or 5 kraftwerk albums, its so beautiful
― 21st savagery fox (m bison), Friday, 12 October 2018 02:31 (five years ago) link
The original 'Tour de France' is fantastic, but Tour de France Soundtracks is a bit of a slog for me. I very rarely listen to it, and when I do I wanna put on Trans-Europe Express or The Man Machine instead.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Friday, 12 October 2018 06:32 (five years ago) link
yeah Turrican otm, TdfS is tired in the extreme – not a patch on their 70s stuff.
― the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Friday, 12 October 2018 07:06 (five years ago) link
It’s remarkable how they managed to do virtually the same live tour for 20+ years and with songs from 40+ years and still make it look cool.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 12 October 2018 07:11 (five years ago) link
Yeah - they really managed to make the most of what they have.
On Tour de France Soundtracks - I was kinda disappointed when it came out but it rapidly grew on me . The melodies are maybe not as memorable as on their classic stuff but the sound-design is amazing. Hearing that stuff live on the Minimum/Maximum tour was revelatory. It's all good
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 12 October 2018 10:49 (five years ago) link
https://www.discogs.com/Kraftwerk-Kraftwerk-2/release/215702?ev=rr
https://www.discogs.com/Kraftwerk-Kraftwerk-1/release/215693?ev=rr
You might like these then - Vertigo in Italy issued these two albums, basically each side has redux versions of one of the first four Kraftwerk albums. I can imagine Ralf/Florian having a fit ...
― Mark G, Friday, 12 October 2018 11:09 (five years ago) link
While I'm here:
Have you ever seen a less-likely appearance by Kraftwerk on any various artists album, ever?
https://www.discogs.com/sell/item/346250424
"Various Artists - "Be My Boogie Woogie Baby" - Featuring Winchester Cathedral by the New Vaudeville band, "I was Kaiser Bill's Batman", "Mouldy Old Dough", and "Autobahn"
mmmmm
― Mark G, Friday, 12 October 2018 11:21 (five years ago) link
Vitamin is a jam though, sounds beautiful played live too.
― MaresNest, Friday, 12 October 2018 11:29 (five years ago) link