Tour De France Soundtracks - Kraftwerk

A hit song without an album, this was prized vinyl for many years (Warner Bros. 20146-0 A), until EMI smartly rereleased it on compact disc in 1999 with a little multimedia built in, whose centerpiece was a basic video for "Tour de France," assembled from old film footage of the aforementioned cross-country bicycle race. Fueled by heavy breathing, clicking bicycle spokes, and precise electronic syncopation, this single had all the elements of a breakdancers' ...
...Asian melody line, punched by bass guitar pops, keyboard stabs, and ethereal string samples, suggesting the expansiveness of the French countryside and rolling hills, without ever forgetting that the race is in progress. The lyrics here (sung in French) are atypically human, giving an added warmth that other Kraftwerk songs have dismissed in the past in their endless pursuit of pure mechanization. Due to the subject matter, it's an appropriate choice ...

philnewall 11.08.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Tour De France Soundtracks - Kraftwerk

...3 different new versions of Tour de France, a superb mixture of Trance and European techno, which sets the mood for the rest of the album with each song paying reference to another aspect of cycling. Throughout the album you are drawn in to the whole sound and as ever Kraftwerk appear to have yet again mastered the art of making electronic music that causes an emotional response, true genius if you ask me. The use of a vocoder for all the vocals ...
...of the original version of Tour De France which was released on the 80th anniversary of the tour when they had two electronic percussionists and you are brought back to what this band once were. You once again hear the complex rhythms that they used to create, and this counter pointed against the minimal arrangements of the synths. This is what they excelled at making perfect pop tunes which despite being on the surface souless had increadable depth, ...

Champ666 11.03.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Tour De France Soundtracks - Kraftwerk