With Kraftwerk now rumoured to be far more fascinated by bicycles than keyboards, it's ... more
perhaps not surprising thatTour De France Soundtracksis the group's first album for 12 years. Continuing to explore the theme of movement, men and machines that spaw...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
With Kraftwerk now rumoured to be far more fascinated by bicycles than keyboards, it's ... more
perhaps not surprising that Tour De France Soundtracks is the group's first album for 12 years. Continuing to explore the theme of movement, men and machines that spawned the marvellous Autobahn, Trans-Europe Express and 1983's landmark single "Tour De France", Soundtracks is basically an expanded version of the latter, right down to the cover art. Having inspired house, trance and techno, it seems fair that Kraftwerk should borrow something in return. Commencing with three segueing versions of the title track, Soundtracks opens with a fine 15-minute dose of tranquil minimalist trance before seamlessly gliding through various sonic soundscapes with a metronome-like rhythm. Mellifluous keyboard lines evoke the sense of motion while melodies weave and swirl. "Elektro Kardiogramm" goes as far as containing heartbeat and breathing effects while "Vitamin", the album's peak, could be described as the Pyrenean stage with its deep grooves and dizzying synth hooks. The sound of groundbreakers building bridges, Tour De France Soundtracks may not prove as hugely influential as Kraftwerk's early music, but it is nevertheless a winning return. --Christopher Barrett
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
With Kraftwerk now rumoured to be far more fascinated by bicycles than keyboards, it's ... more
perhaps not surprising thatTour De France Soundtracksis the group's first album for 12 years. Continuing to explore the theme of movement, men and machines that spawned the marvellousAutobahn,Trans-Europe Expressand 1983's landmark single "Tour De France",Soundtracksis basically an expanded version of the latter, right down to the cover art.Having inspired house, trance and techno, it seems fair that Kraftwerk should borrow something in return. Commencing with three segueing versions of the title track,Soundtracksopens with a fine 15-minute dose of tranquil minimalist trance before seamlessly gliding through various sonic soundscapes with a metronome-like rhythm. Mellifluous keyboard lines evoke the sense of motion while melodies weave and swirl. "Elektro Kardiogramm" goes as far as containing heartbeat and breathing effects while "Vitamin", the album's peak, could be described as the Pyrenean stage with its deep grooves and dizzying synth hooks. The sound of groundbreakers building bridges,Tour De France Soundtracksmay not prove as hugely influential as Kraftwerk's early music, but it is nevertheless a winning return.--Christopher Barrett
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
With Kraftwerk now rumoured to be far more fascinated by bicycles than keyboards, it's ... more
perhaps not surprising thatTour De France Soundtracksis the group's first album for 12 years. Continuing to explore the theme of movement, men and machines that spawned the marvellousAutobahn,Trans-Europe Expressand 1983's landmark single "Tour De France",Soundtracksis basically an expanded version of the latter, right down to the cover art.Having inspired house, trance and techno, it seems fair that Kraftwerk should borrow something in return. Commencing with three segueing versions of the title track,Soundtracksopens with a fine 15-minute dose of tranquil minimalist trance before seamlessly gliding through various sonic soundscapes with a metronome-like rhythm. Mellifluous keyboard lines evoke the sense of motion while melodies weave and swirl. "Elektro Kardiogramm" goes as far as containing heartbeat and breathing effects while "Vitamin", the album's peak, could be described as the Pyrenean stage with its deep grooves and dizzying synth hooks. The sound of groundbreakers building bridges,Tour De France Soundtracksmay not prove as hugely influential as Kraftwerk's early music, but it is nevertheless a winning return.--Christopher Barrett
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: a great hit from a great band Disadvantages: none man
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 "TourdeFrance," 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' paradise. Dreamy harp trills shimmered in response to an almost 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 ...
Advantages: Great atmospheric work Disadvantages: what they were once capible off
This is Kraftwerk?s first album since 1986?s Electric Café, released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the famous bike race of the same name. The lethargic work rate has been in part responsible for the disappearance of the two electronic percussionists Wolfgang Flur and Karl Bartos and the as a result their influence on the music is obvious more of that later.
Since their inception Kraftwerk have been obsessed with the merger of Man and Machine, and this album is fitting tribute to that concept, what purer merger between man and machine is there than cycling.
The album starts off with a prologue then 3 different new versions of TourdeFrance, 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 ...
Advantages: Good that it is on Disadvantages: Bad that it did not have more coverage and at better times
The coverage on TV of the TourDeFrance, probably the most prestigious cycling event in the world, has this year been appalling.
Channel 4 have been covering it, not that you would know. Some days it is on at 5.30pm, a great time for people who work or have families and then other days it has not been on till after midnight, some days at 4.00am. I know most of us have got videos but why on earth cant we have it on at a sensible time in the evening? We have ended up with a weeks worth on video.
Why is it that TV schedules can be altered for tennis, football, cricket, snooker basically anything but not cycling? Arent we meant to be promoting cycling in the UK instead of cars? Surely more coverage of this would help.
I also have noticed that unless I have missed them on TV there have been hardly any reports on the days Tour ...
![Catalogue, The [Remastered] - Kraftwerk](/images/icons/no_pic_generic_S.gif){kind=icon}
![Ministry Of Sound Anthems (1991-2008) [Digipak] - Various Artists](http://imagesa.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/406/prod_small-6791406.jpg)
![Gatecrasher's Club Anthems 1993-2009 [Digipak] - Various Artists](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/861/prod_small-7337861.jpg)
![Catalogue, The [Remastered] - Kraftwerk](http://imagesa.ciao.com/iuk/images/icons/no_pic_generic_S.gif){kind=icon}
