― ☪, Monday, 30 April 2007 10:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish, Monday, 30 April 2007 12:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― JW, Monday, 30 April 2007 12:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tom D., Monday, 30 April 2007 13:30 (seventeen years ago) link
Did anyone go out and buy any kraftwerk after reading this thread? no, but i listened to "the man-machine".
― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 30 April 2007 16:39 (seventeen years ago) link
― funny farm, Monday, 30 April 2007 22:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― grimly fiendish, Monday, 30 April 2007 22:50 (seventeen years ago) link
i change my answer: radio-activity.
― poortheatre, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 13:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Weird that so few like Autobahn.
― Mark Rich@rdson, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 13:27 (sixteen years ago) link
This is where I drop my usual complaint about the absence of remasters.
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 13:47 (sixteen years ago) link
coming soon
― blueski, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 13:51 (sixteen years ago) link
i can see it now on Amazon.com - 'buy 'The Catalogue' box set with 'Chinese Democracy' for only £22.47 (save £8.14)'
― blueski, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 13:52 (sixteen years ago) link
and everybody gets a free Crystal Pepsi if they appear in 2008!!
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 14:03 (sixteen years ago) link
crystal pepsi makes an excellent bike chain cleaner/lubricant, as it happens
― blueski, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 14:04 (sixteen years ago) link
it's actually the most listened to track of their Last.FM profile, which is unexpected, considering its length.
the first, like, eight seconds of 'antenna' are so incredible.
― poortheatre, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 21:26 (sixteen years ago) link
"Autobahn", to most people, is mainly about the title track and the first side. The second side is a bit unsatisfactory, even though "Morgenspaziergang" has some funny attempts to create nature sounds with synths and the last "Kometenmelodie" is actually a funny little tune.
But "The Man Machine" is the one, really.
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 22:29 (sixteen years ago) link
XP: You sure the last.fm version isn't the shorter single edit?
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 22:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Is this one of the few ILM album polls in which every choice got at least one vote?
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 22:46 (sixteen years ago) link
exactly what i was thinking just now
― stephen, Thursday, 3 April 2008 01:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Geir, it sort of baffles me that you like Kraftwerk. Where do they fit into your criteria?!
― jonathan - stl, Thursday, 3 April 2008 01:16 (sixteen years ago) link
robot solidarity
― m bison, Thursday, 3 April 2008 03:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Well, they are very melodic. Except maybe for 'Numbers'. I wonder if Geir likes that one.
― moley, Thursday, 3 April 2008 03:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I love side 2 of Autobahn. Lots of melody, including two inspired by comets.
― Mark Rich@rdson, Thursday, 3 April 2008 04:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Has anybody heard 2 Live Crew's classic "Drop The Bomb" with the dope Trans Europe Express sample? I've been meaning to flip that with the original for ages now.
― Rob Threezy, Thursday, 3 April 2008 04:26 (sixteen years ago) link
-- jonathan - stl, Thursday, 3 April 2008 01:16 (4 hours ago) Link
srsly? they are very melodic!
― elan, Thursday, 3 April 2008 06:11 (sixteen years ago) link
oops, i didn't read moley
― elan, Thursday, 3 April 2008 06:12 (sixteen years ago) link
so baffled by the decision to play one of the four us tour dates in the suburban "club" in my dear STPL/MPLS hometown, but i'm not complaining
― John Justen, Thursday, 3 April 2008 06:16 (sixteen years ago) link
Geir, it sort of baffles me that you like Kraftwerk.
Well, they use lots of synths. And only very occasionally are they non-melodic. It's not like I am a fan of pre-"Autubahn"-Kraftwerk, mind you.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 3 April 2008 08:58 (sixteen years ago) link
I would have seen you as more of a Trans Europe Express guy, Geir.
― baaderonixx, Thursday, 3 April 2008 09:03 (sixteen years ago) link
"Metal On Metal" is hardly my kind of thing.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 3 April 2008 12:49 (sixteen years ago) link
but "Franz Schubert" must be
― baaderonixx, Thursday, 3 April 2008 13:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Isn't "Franz Schubert" mainly just a reprise of "Europe Endless"? I like "Europe Endless", but "The Man Machine" is closer to 80s synthpop stylistically.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 3 April 2008 22:03 (sixteen years ago) link
i like the first two albums, but i can't understand someone who would choose either as their favorite compared to any of the others
― poortheatre, Thursday, 3 April 2008 22:39 (sixteen years ago) link
I'd be interested to hear the three supporters of Electric Cafe explain their choice. To me, that's the indefensible choice. The Mix amazingly manages to sound very dated in its efforts to modernize their older songs, but as it functions as an introduction to Kraftwerk for many people (and then sucks so bad that said people never manage to move onto their original material - almost happened to me), I could see why someone could vote for it. The first three albums (1, 2 and R&F) are all brilliant in their own way as well. Actually, I've been listening to 1 and 2 more than any of the others recently.
But Electric Cafe?
― Z S, Thursday, 3 April 2008 22:49 (sixteen years ago) link
I love the telephone song
― baaderonixx, Thursday, 3 April 2008 23:06 (sixteen years ago) link
i love that demo version of Technopop thats floating around on the internets - the arpeggio bit at the end is classic Kraftwerk and the exactly the sort of thing thats missing from Electric Cafe.
― zappi, Friday, 4 April 2008 00:50 (sixteen years ago) link
I love that demo. It sounds more like their mid-seventies stuff than Computer World, it's got their new equipment but they also took their Orchestron back out of the closet so it sounds just as much like 'Radioactivity', and then that arpeggio at the end might as well be from Man Machine
I hope the original 1984 version of the album turns up someday
― Milton Parker, Friday, 4 April 2008 01:55 (sixteen years ago) link
Vako Orchestron Optical Disc Playback Sampler aka Pea Hix plays KW demos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXJJ2Ek4bmQ&feature=related
'Radioactivity' & Popul Vuh's 'Aguirre' = Orchestron choir wins over Mellotron choir
― Milton Parker, Friday, 4 April 2008 02:06 (sixteen years ago) link
i think the mix still sounds dope, possibly because those versions are still generally the ones they do on their recent live DVD that my son is obsessed with watching.
― pipecock, Friday, 4 April 2008 02:16 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't get Trans Europe Express. Don't know why, it just sounds a bit long and slow and boring. It makes me think of a train that got stuck in a siding rather than a whizzy fast thing.
― the next grozart, Friday, 4 April 2008 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link
"I don't get Trans Europe Express. Don't know why, it just sounds a bit long and slow and boring.
-- the next grozart"
i <3 ILM.
― pipecock, Friday, 4 April 2008 15:07 (sixteen years ago) link
I regret saying Computer World way upthread. The only reason I said that was because "Computer Love" was my favourite song of theirs. But I think "Electric Cafe" is their best album. Maybe you just had to be there to hear what that sounded like when it came out, I dunno. But "The Telephone Call" is the second best Kraftwerk song I think.
― Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Saturday, 12 April 2008 10:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I bought "Electric Cafe" on the day of release and I was disappointed with it then - it already sounded dated. As I've said elsewhere, it just sounded like they were paging through presets on their DX7. Side one was such a let down, but side two was far better. "The Telephone Call" is a superb song though.
― Rob M v2, Saturday, 12 April 2008 12:55 (sixteen years ago) link
"Telephone Call" would be more universally regarded as one of Kraftwerk's finest if it weren't for the drumbeat. The sounds used for the BD/SD combo just don't work. They sounds lazy, along with the rhythm itself. Everything floating above the beat is awesome though, I'll give you that.
― Z S, Saturday, 12 April 2008 15:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Surprised Computer World ranked so highly here. Always found this album a bit...silly? Relatively speaking, of course.
Anyone heard the vinyl reissues? I saw them at the shop today and had to stop myself from buying them all. I'll almost definitely go back and buy TMM and TEE. They also had Autobahn and Radio-Activity, both of which I like / don't love. But the reissues look might fine so I still sorta want them all.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 03:28 (nine years ago) link
I know what you mean about CW. I didn't rate it as highly as TMM or TEE on first hearing and like you I thought stuff like "by pressing down a special key it plays a little melody" wasn't really worthy of them. But it's grown on me a lot b/c it's probably their shiniest and most melodic effort, not to mention how visionary it is. I still wouldn't rate it above TMM but when I saw the Catalogue run last year I pounced on tickets for the CW evening.
― anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 10:31 (nine years ago) link
Computer Love has one of their best melodies though.
Radioactivity is by far my favourite of the Kraftwerk albums.
― diss strychnine (dog latin), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 10:42 (nine years ago) link
I thought stuff like "by pressing down a special key it plays a little melody" wasn't really worthy of them
"Turn the dial with your handTill you find the shortwave band"
― A trumpet growing in a garden (Tom D.), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 12:23 (nine years ago) link
"We now switch the radio on, out of the speaker it rings out..We're driving down the motorway!"
― Mark G, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 12:25 (nine years ago) link
Also CW is the album where Karl Bartos really comes into his own as a tunesmith, most of the melodies on that album are his. There was some discussion of this matter on the "favourite member of Kraftwerk" thread, it seems to me that Bartos' departure had a lot to do w/the project stalling after Electric Café
― anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Tuesday, 27 January 2015 12:57 (nine years ago) link