Advantages: Classic Minimatist Soundscapes Disadvantages: Not as Comercial as Subsiquent Releases
Trans Europe Express was released in 1977 and was the first album to feature what most refer to the classic 4 piece line up of founder members Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider augmented by percussionists Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flur. The next ten or so years would be considered a golden age for the band by many fans.
The album explores themes of travel and change within post war Europe and is a more demanding listen than their subsequent releases, ... ...journey through the countryside and Trans Europe Express is more of a journey through Europe's Industrial landscape with sinister overtones. The most obvious single from this is the rather sinister and possibly quite pervy "Showroom Dummies" which was an obvious precursor to "The Model".
One of the original intentions behind Kraftwerk's music was to create something that was uniquely German and not copy American and British groups. In following ...
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Advantages: Very different, some nice songs on there Disadvantages: Might be a bit too wierd for some, last two tracks were a bit weak
This album is quite unique in its style. The music is mainly electronic with some weird singing and some unusual angles to approach music to.
It might sound bizarre, but it is a good album.
It's an eleven track album and many of the songs have a strange feel about them. For example, "The Captain" starts off with a feedback type noise that makes a slow, varying tune for a couple of minutes before anything else really comes in. Some tracks really ... ...is no drum beat.
They are very fond of unusual singing and unusual lyrics and really seem to like their use of the multi-tap delay effect which can sound really bad, but these are masters of the effect.
Highlights of the album include Neverland (on of my favourites), We Share Our Mother's Health and Marble House. All amazing songs. I wasn't so keen on the end of the album, the last two tracks were a bit of a let-down for me, but perhaps thats just ...
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Advantages: 1st Album To Feature The Electronic Quartet Disadvantages: Hollow Sound, Experemental Nature Of The Peices
Radio-Activity was the first Kraftwerk Album to feature what most folk regard as the definitive line up. The electronic quartet comprised of Ralph Hutter and Florian Schneider augmented by percussionists Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flur. The album title is a truly dreadful play on words, as the album was about Radio and Radioactivity, it does suggest some dark Teutonic humor exists in start contrast to their public personas.
As well as being the first ... ...also the first where all the instruments used were synthetic. This sent them in the direction of minimalist technological soundscapes that they would traverse for the rest of their careers. The title track shows this direction with a synthetic bass pulse controlling the mood and rhythm whilst eerie synths flesh out the rest of the song. The completely deadpan vocal adds a sense of foreboding to the song. On their recent European tour this song was ...
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