Kraftwerk Remasters...

According to Lauren Laverne, last night, they are coming out next week!

(Did you see the interview on the Manchester Festival prog?)

With Ralf, I assume? Hutter that is, not Little.

Well, it was Miranda Sawyer w/ Robot, with voice piped in, so it may well have been Syd Little...

box set 28th September supposedly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catalogue

so it may well have been Syd Little...

Or Syd Hutter

A friend of mine just shelled out €200 for the promo box set on discogs. doh.

I heard that EMI were getting in touch with anyone who bought the promo box on ebay and were demanding it back. Anyone know if that's true or just a nasty rumour?

Not that I have a box sadly.

A friend of mine just shelled out €200 for the promo box set on discogs. doh.

― anagram, Thursday, 9 July 2009 11:27 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I considered doing this, grabbing the files, then re-selling it.

Glad I didn't now.

(In any case, the first two albums be my favs anyroad)

yes!!!!!!!!!

The Mix and no Ralf und Florian? (Oh, I see the first three may form a separate box later. But anyway, who wants to listen to The Mix if they've got the originals to hand?)

Might buy the German versh, assuming there is one. I have most of the English versions on CD already and have been kind of wishing they were the German ones. The internet is good for providing that sort of thing, of course, but real copies would be nice.

Oh, I see the first three may form a separate box later

Ralf doesn't consider the first three albums worth remastering, or reissuing

Remind me again what the point of The Mix was?

I think it gave them something to do, and some product to sell and promote, in between proper albums

They didn't want to do a standard "greatest hits" because that would imply that the group was finished.

Andit does have "Dentaku", "Abzug", and a very different version (new lyrics and vocal) of "Radioactivity".

The new version of Radioactivity was terrible, though. :-(

Yes, as was "Computer Love", but I liked the condensed version of "Autobahn"!

The problem I had with the original was that it was a bit too slow. The new version was faster but OTOH it was like listening to a politician make a u-turn "No no no, I always meant STOP radioactivity! Those publicity photos where we were at that nuclear power station? A simple mistake!"

I think they were a bit too subtle the first time round, so had to bludgeon you over the head with it in the new version

mmm, actually I also don't like the smug way Ralf sings "it's in the air for you and me". Yes we got it the first time, dry German sense of humour etc etc...

Come on, it's quite funny for a German!

I think The Mix was also an opportunity for them to digitize their music - which they would then use for their live shows.

I was just confused by the condensed version of Autobahn. Like kind of snapping to attention and realising you're at home, and the last thing you remember was leaving the office and the entire commute was done on such autopilot that you've forgotten all of it.

Ralf (from an actual interview): "We all wear the same size so we can swap clothes very easily. Except Karl has bigger shoes." (all four members burst out in uproarious laughter)

I hated The Mix when I first heard it, but I've really come to love the new versions of "The Robots" and "Computer Love" as new entities, while still loving the old ones. Took me a long time, though.

Still haven't changed my stance on Cab V's reimaginings on the Western Works remake album.

I like Teh Mix.

Especially the Robots, but also Radioactivity for sure. That said, I like the William Orbit Radioactivity that was on one of the singles at the time. Some of the mixes don't do a lot, but in the grand scheme of remix albums that came out in 1990, it's a pretty good one, I mean, better than the Cure's one and there was a Talk Talk one too, I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SBxs9vQpVU

Actually, I remember liking this, but I'm not sure I do now.

Well, Neil Young finally got his boxset out, so this could happen.

way back in high school the mix was my young naive(r) self's intro to kraftwerk so i can't really knock it. i really like the version of "computer love" on it.

^Me too, and after listening to it a few times I decided that Kraftwerk sucked and didn't listen to them again until several years later. Oops!

I don't know any details about these remasters, but it'd be really cool if they included both the English and German versions on each CD, space permitting.

not sure whether this has already been posted and whether this is actually an original interview, but Ralf talks about the remasters and about Florian leaving the band:
http://news.planetorigo.com/article.php?poarticle_id=503&s=PIZ1Qqx6n79JveoP&

oh and here's a review of the Catalogue, seems legit: http://lifeonplanetme.blogspot.com/2009/08/kraftwerk-catalogue.html

The original interview is this one.

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/kraft.jpg

Aaaah, excitement!! How much will they be???

amazon france has it at 100 EUR

guhhhhhhhh no no no, i want/demand less than $100

FUUUUCK $143.99!!! This must have just been posted in the last 12 hours http://www.amazon.com/Catalogue-Kraftwerk/dp/B002LCOQTG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1251776731&sr=8-1

This is selling, at a discount, for $18 an album ($20 retail!!!) for zero bonus tracks. Is this for real?

"& this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping"

yeah this is pretty steep, esp. for CDs I already have.

ah but they're remastered you see. plus, they come in those cute cardboard repro LP sleeves.

I know, I know. No point denying that at some stage I will give in.

I put K's 1 and 2 on one CDR (excluded "Atem", because, hey, it's just some breathing, and I'm sure it was a joke at TangDream's expense anyway, and it means it fits on one disc then)...

.. and why do they disown these? Ruckzeug was their one 'hey guys, this is our first hit in waiting" track, they goddam named their studio "KlingKlang" after the first track on K2, and plenty of "R&F" sounds good right now!

I like a lot of R&F, some bits of K1 and could do without K2

That "Exceller 8" compilation was funny.

Lots of those tracks, brutally edited.

Just when I work up a little bit of sympathy for the record businesses woes they come up with 150 bucks for an 8 cd box with no new material and £200+ for the 12 CD Beatles mono remasters and my sympathy suddenly ebbs away.

150 USD really hurts. here' some more info from Amazon:

The first ever complete remastering of Kraftwerk's 8 classic studio albums, covering all their releases on the Capitol, Warner Brothers and Astralwerks labels: Autobahn, Radio-Activity, Trans Europe Express, The Man Machine, Computer World, Techno Pop, The Mix, Tour De France.

In 2009 Kraftwerk have upgraded their Kling Klang masters with the latest studio technology and these eight magnificent recordings still sound like nothing else in the history of music. Kraftwerk are unique, pristine, profound and beautiful. Decades may pass, but their streamlined synthetic symphonies stand outside time, as fresh as tomorrow, transcendent and sublime.

The 12" x 12" box set features all 8 albums, exclusively created just for this box set in mini-LP style album packaging complete with inner sleeves. Restored and newly expanded artwork is presented in the form of 8 large format 12 to 20 page booklets, housed inside a rigid board slipcase portfolio.

Do they sound exactly the same as the remastered catalogue promo that was released (leaked?), oh, about half a decade ago?

yeah I don't think there's any differences from that

There ought to be; the whole reason those promos never released production stage was that the remastering job was so bad (no-noised to death)

89 EUR on amazon france - I'm in!

€85 on amazon.de just trumps the French.

and yes, that will presumably be the German versions... but they're the ones to have, right?

"In 2009 Kraftwerk have upgraded their Kling Klang masters with the latest studio technology"

This makes me kind of nervous that they've also gone "oh, these 70s analogue things don't sound as nice as our 2000s midi setup, we'll rerecord that bit", but it is just remasters, right?

I reckon the German ones are the ones to have, but also I already have the previous CD issues of the English-language ones, so re-buying the English ones doesn't seem too appealing.

haha - yeah re-recording the whole thing is totally like them. Maybe that's why it's taken so long to get these things out

Everything's been sung by new vocalist Fraulein Gaga.

I would congratulate them forever if they did that.

Die Gaga-Maschine

To get back on the german/english thing - I'm tempted to get the DE version but I guess I would miss out on all the liner notes and stuff. OTOH, doesn't sound like KW to include any.

big piece in this month's Mojo and the cover cd includes a remastered The Robots.

anyone's read that mojo interview - I'd love to read it but can't bring myself to buying the mag

So not re-recordings then?

Obviously must be new remasters. Apparently the previous remasters sounded crap because, well, the remastering process had removed the "drums" from a lot of their 70s work.

new remasters.
different to the promos from years ago.
released via mute with different cover artwork for some of the albums.

New cover artwork is always a bad idea, but probably worth investing in anyways.

so did anyone get this already? I'm waiting to hear whether the albums have liner notes and stuff before deciding whether to get the english or german version of the boxset

There's supposed to be a comprehensive book in there, according to the interview.

that's not the impression i got - he said there was enough material for a book but not that it'd be in the box (although why the box is 6 weeks after the cds i don't know)

wikipedia says "The CD Box Set contains 8 x CDs in mini-vinyl card wallet packaging, plus individual large-format booklets." and the last image on this seems to back this up (on the left there):

http://www.kraftwerk.com/info/de/CD/katalog.html

unless those are the vinyl... hard to tell from a line drawing.

http://sharebee.com/fd471106

= 8 seconds from The Robots @ 320 kbps from The Mix (2004 promo remaster leak)
followed by the same 8 seconds from the 2009 remaster.

It's not just louder.

PLEASE SOMEONE HURRY UP AND POLL THEM ALL. BEST AND WORST. WE NEED TO KNOW.

They were supposed to be out this monday?

HMV just priced up the old EMI versions to full price!

don't like the 'new' TEE cover half as much as the 'old' one

I want Der Katalog but am annoyed at the 6 week gap between its release and that of the single disc remasters :-(
Anyone heard any of them?

Arrived today apparently, but I won't be in work until Friday to hear them. :-(

weren't in hmv yesterday, either the new versions or any of the old versions. amazon has them down as the 12th now.

Amazon Germany says "Der Katalog" is released 30th October. Amazon UK says "The Catalogue" is out 16th November. So a long wait yet....

Aye, the UK boxset is delayed until 16th November as Amazon says, put back due to packaging issues. The individual album remasters are out this coming Monday in the UK though, so wouldn't be on sale in HMVs yet.

all the print adverts said the 5th...

followed by the same 8 seconds from the 2009 remaster

Well, for a start, there's >20kHz content in the 2009 remaster and not in the 2004 version, which probably means the 2004 version was encoded to MP3 at a lower bitrate (this sample may be 320k but somewhere along the way the 2004 version was less, which muddies the water somewhat). If you're going to post eight seconds of audio on the web, why not a WAV or AIFF? But, yeah, I would say...not just louder.

True. I never even considered uncompressed :-( and you're probably right about the transcode as well. Just trying to provide a way to compare the two without actually having the the source, I guess.

No sign of the preordered box set in my mailbox either, btw. *taps table*

The box set is scheduled for 16th November in the UK. It was delayed a good few weeks ago and put back to the new date.

In the Mojo interview, Ralf says remasters of the first 3 albums are coming... who knows when but at least he's talking about it

Yeah I thought that was the most exciting bit of the interview! I mentioned it in another KW thread.

Ah, I felt sure somebody would have mentioned it somewhere!

Cool, I thought they'd pretty much disowned those ones?

They had but maybe Ralf's getting nostalgic in his old age

Whatever the reason ($$'s, nostalgia, a change of heart), it's good news.

I reckon now Florian's gone, Ralf is "Right!"

Could be, I always imagined Ralf to be the difficult one, but it might have been Florian, Michael Rother describes him as "spiky"

Those new covers are just cardboard slipcover things. The real artwork is underneath.

A ha haaa, mr discovery man!

They are in the shops now. Just have to decide which ones to get, since like everyone else, I've got them all already in various vinyl/cd/german combinations. My pal bought Radioactivity today so I got a look.

Yes, everything, I can't decide what to do. I have TEE, for example, on vinyl and (German) cassette. Tempting though it is, I wonder if it's going to be worth all the expense.

Three of the remasters apparently won't show up in Norwegian shops for some time, but I ordered them from my Sweden based online shop and apparently they are already on their way, so....

Anyway, I have gotten hold of "Autobahn", "Trans Europe Express" and "The Man Machine" and they sound great.
Have they even remastered the German language versions? If not, that has to suck for those purists who only accept listening to Kraftwerk in German....

to say nothing of the Germans themselves!

Yes, the German versions have been remastered as well. There is "Der Katalog" and "The Catalogue". I'm a fan of Kraftwerk in German.

I'm tempted by the box. Not least since it works out at €10 per CD, whereas individually they are selling for about €18 at my local shop. All my Kraftwerk is on very old vinyl, already second-hand and scratched when I bought it a long time ago. But the LPs have also been re-released, which is also tempting.

ugh i hate this reissue business! i already have at least 2 vinyl versions of most of these (english and german)... now what?!

Kinda glad I only own Autobahn on scratchy old vinyl. Looking forward to getting these.

anyone in a position to discuss (or post links to scans of) the new CD booklets / liners / photos

No liner notes. Just images of cover artwork from the period.

I did buy the box (stereo) of The Beatles, but have no plan to invest in the box this time. I feel no need to rebuy "Tour De France" and I feel no need to own "The Mix" at all.

It's one of those things which demostrates the elevated marketing level that the Beatles operates on. Their marketing angle was all about the boxsets. With Kraftwerk I get the feeling that the box is secondary. It's out there because some people will want or expect it but most folks will be glad to be able to (finally) purchase reasonably priced, decently remasters of KW albums without particularly needing every album wrapped up in a dumb box.

are those albums even in the box or is this just Geir being as otm as ever?

It's also the fact that those Beatles albums were all from the 60s (and 1970) and needed remasters. The 70s Kraftwerk ones do too, and maybe the 80s ones, but the box also includes a couple of more recent works that obviously doesn't need to be reissued at all.

xpost. Yeah, they are in the boxset. 8 albums from Autobahn through Tour de France Soundtracks.

....and I totally agree that Tour de France does not warrant a remaster. I'm sure it was just done in order that the boxset has a sense of completeness to it.

huh, that does seem a bit pointless - since they're leaving out the first three, would make more sense to just collect the "classic lineup" material. and the first batch of now-unreleased remasters would have been done at the same time as TDF originally came out!

(xpost)

Obviously the first three should have been there instead, yes. I am not sure if I feel any need to own those either (they aren't really Kraftwerk in the electronica/synthpop sense and krautrock leaves me generally cold), but it would make considerably more sense. Plus, only the fact that those three albums have been largely unavailable on CD for years.

"Ralph and Florian" is a close relation to "Autobahn", and has more tunes (less faffing around like "MorningWalk" and "Midnight"), so I would recommend that one to anyone.

K2 has along track like Autobahn (the track) but without context, and more um.. avantness...

"Morning Walk" is NOT faffing about! German language versions of the albums have sometimes (subtly) different mixes, unless my ears deceive me, which they very well might.

Yeah, that bit in "Das Model" where some leering voice goes "Sekt? KORRECT!" and other such bits, nowhere in the English version..

"Ralph and Florian" is a close relation to "Autobahn", and has more tunes (less faffing around like "MorningWalk" and "Midnight"), so I would recommend that one to anyone.

But, the core question is, is it 100% synth based like "Autobahn" is?

But "Autobahn" isn't 100% synth based - it's got flute, guitar and even violin on it

Flute, yes, and a bit of violin (and a car motor anyway ;) ). But guitar?

There's guitar on the title track and "Morgenpaziergang"!

Modifying the question slightly, yes it's as synth based as "Autobahn" is.

First three are all wonderful records and it makes me sad to see them disowned.

Oh yeah, it's just how to approach them...

I mean. K1 is my favourite amongst them, but those who like A onwards... etc.

good to know about lack of liner notes. Ordering Der Katalog as we speak

Annoyed - just found out the other day that Computer World, Electric Cafe and The Mix aren't going to be available for separate purchase - the remasters will only be in the box set. Of course I, like an idiot, started buying them onesy-twosy when the first four came out as individual remasters. Now I have to buy the box anyhow. Goddammit.

The cynic in me suspects that Astralwerks released the first four as individual releases several weeks in advance of the box for PRECISELY this reason...get the suckers like me who never bothered to ask when the Warner titles would be re-released.

there is some licensing issue. I think they're released separately as imports though.

The "licensing issue" is "Warners realized that Computer World is one of their profitable back catalogue items and refused to hand that income potential over to Astralwerks", I'm guessing.

it'll get reissued sooner or later, i'm guessing

you can buy it off amazon.co.uk for just a little more than a US version would have cost you anyway

First three are all wonderful records and it makes me sad to see them disowned

They haven't been disowned, Hutter has said he is working on them and they will come out again.

I own "Computer World" and "Techno Pop" ("Electric Cafe") as remastered individual releases now, so obviously they could be bought separately.

Also got "Radioactivity", which IMO is the one album that benefits the most from the remastering of all. It had some annoying noise back then, probably from limitations of the modular Moogs used. The radio noises and drums are still present (of course), but not the other and more annoying noises. So "Radioactivity" really sounds new and fresh now.

so obviously they could be bought separately.

― akm, Monday, 26 October 2009 13:02 (8 hours ago)

My bellyaching here may only be applicable to the North American market. Buying spiffy imports from Europe may make the whole process only marginally less expensive than just buying the whole box, I'm guessing.

The box was supposed to be out this Friday (30th) here in Germany. But now been put back a week to 6th Nov. Gah..

two days to go... just listening to my crackly old Man Machine LP. Soon to be replaced by a shiny new Menschmaschine CD. Look forward to getting the German editions of some of these.

I wonder where Kraftwerk stand on the vinyl vs. CD question?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uNnqPFJzL._SS400_.jpg

so ... these new remasters really sound good? Was listening to my old copy of Man Machine and thinking it sounded fine ...

Well they do sound great, it seems. I'm mostly interested in this cos my Kraftwerk LPs are old and crackly, I fancy getting the German versions and this box works out at only €10 per CD, as opposed to almost €20 if I were to buy them individually. Three excuses to shell out for another shiny box-set...

The mailman just delivered Der Katalog! Es ist bulky. Solid as a pavement tile. Nice 12"x12" artwork booklets, of which especially those belonging to the first albums (ie Emile Schult's work) are awesome. Naive, yet powerful.

Bah - delayed again in Canada from the looks of it. EMI has been absolutely frigging TERRIBLE with anything like this, this year.

TEE turned up this afternoon. is the showroom dummies the first time they play at not being human?

also, the hyphen between trans and europe seems to be missing. is on the original release (though perhaps not on the german cover). isn't anywhere on the new version.

Yes, delayed here in Germany too. Supposed to be in stores from 06.11.09, but still no sign of it. Amazon Germany simply says "deliverable in 4 to 6 weeks".

Very strange.

Found the box at retail today...so obviously there are SOME copies out there.

Just got mine ... I hadn't read that it was 12x12 so when the huge box arrived I thought they'd sent vinyl by mistake.

Same - I almost passed up the one I saw at retail because I thought it was vinyl...I think the thing they're showing at Amazon looks more rectangular so we expecting that!

12x12 for CDs?!

It would have been nice if they had made a cd available of all of the alternate versions that got released on singles.

12x12 for CDs?!

It's the 12x12 booklets on heavy stock that come with the box, one for every record. The CDs themselves are in little cardboard slipcases. The presentation is really nice but it's weird to have a massive box set that contains no liner notes! That said the music is so great that I'm happy to have the box even though it contains very little besides the original albums.

(And 'Computer World..2' is now 'Computer World 2'. That always bugged me.)

It would have been nice if they had made a cd available of all of the alternate versions that got released on singles.

I guess they don't consider those direct from the godhead/canon or something. I get the impression that they're preserving themselves in amber in this box now that Florian's gone.

I don't really have anything to say that's useful about the remastering other than that it sounds beautiful. I couldn't compare it to the 2004 versions, I'll leave that to somebody else.

Frustrating that the original TDF isn't anywhere in the box.

It's the last track on TDF (previously titled Tour de France Soundtracks) in the box, unless you're looking for another version. It was the last track on Soundtracks as well when it came out in 03.

Really?? Did not realize that!

When will this go below $100

I preordered on AZN for $100 ... let me see what it's retailing for now there ... yeah, you can pick it up for around $120. Cheaper than buying all the reissues separately I think.

It's the last track on TDF (previously titled Tour de France Soundtracks) in the box, unless you're looking for another version. It was the last track on Soundtracks as well when it came out in 03.

Uh, no, actually. The track you're referring to follows the arrangement and sound palette of the original quite closely, but is unquestionably a totally re-recorded version.

I asked at a couple of shops here and they say they can't get hold of this. They've ordered copies, but nothing forthcoming.

anyone with the box _and_ one of the individually available remasters, care to compare the 12x12 album packaging booklets with the ones that come with the individual CDs?

as in, is there ANY additional material or is it just big? I'm really teetering on getting this box

EMI has been absolutely frigging TERRIBLE with anything like this, this year.

Well, in the case of The Beatles remasters, they said 090909 already at an early stage, and 090909 it was.

It's the last track on TDF (previously titled Tour de France Soundtracks) in the box, unless you're looking for another version. It was the last track on Soundtracks as well when it came out in 03.

― Brakhage, Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:40 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

that's a re-recorded version, not the original 1983/4 track. string pads, snare drum, harp & lead melody patch all slightly, pointlessly different. I like the original track much, much better.

ok broke down & bought the Radioactivity remaster by itself. pretty astounding to hear the inital geiger countdown & the news interlude happen with digital silence between each sound. but definitely keeping my original CD copy, because I also always kind of liked the analog tape hiss hum in the background, I even thought they'd played to it intentionally

Geir, if they had messed up the Beatles release date there would have been absolutely NO hope for them surviving the year.

I'm thinking about stuff that sits below the Beatles in terms of importance, like the Depeche Mode deluxe, Pet Shop Boys limited ed, the Kraftwerk box. (Note these may be on different labels outside North America so I'm only speaking for Canada and/or US arm of EMI here.)

Mind you, Universal has been bad with their deluxe editions too - it took a couple of extra weeks to get hands on the Unforgettable Fire deluxe edition so maybe this is industry-wide.

Uh, no, actually. The track you're referring to follows the arrangement and sound palette of the original quite closely, but is unquestionably a totally re-recorded version.

Ah, gotcha.

as in, is there ANY additional material or is it just big?

It's just big - but since I wanted all the albums anyway, I thought I might as well just get them all at once in a big package.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UayZuhASAw

Unboxing The Catalogue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgyPwJT17wE

zero interest in the box set because i keep moving house/country so it's more trouble than it's worth, but pretty happy to be in munich when this came out. picking up each album on itunes as the mood strikes. today i am kicking it to radio-activity and brooding over munich from the top floor of my building.

As I've just said elsewhere: Radio-Activity is 6'41" of sheer perfection that still, after all these years, stops me dead in my tracks.

It's the album where I'm really noticing the least difference with the remastering, too. Not surprised: you can't really improve on perfection, can you?

Radioactivity is 6'41" of perfection. Radio-Activity is 37'45" ; )

Ha, you beautiful pedant, caek! You are absolutely right and I hang my head in shame.

I win again! : )

removing that hiss seems like a major alteration to me.

Compared to the re-tooled, all-powerful new Computer World, though, it's a minor tweak!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/arts/music/06kraftwerk.html

Kraftwerk interview/article in Sunday NY Times by writer Mike Rubin.

“Fun plus dinky doesn’t make funky no matter who’s dancing to what program,” Robert Christgau wrote of “Computer World” in The Village Voice. “Funk has blood in it.”

>:O
>:O
>:O

I meant to look up how he's rated other Kraftwerk releases.

Fun plus dinky does make funky, are you kidding me

Fundky.

Din.

just received Der Katalog. Wow
Honestly, if anyone is still debating whether to get the box, this is so great. Opening this felt just like unwrapping as a kid the coolest toy ever under the xmas tree

Best price I've seen (for US customers) is at deepdiscount.com - $105 and free shipping. Just FYI.

plz Computer Santa, bring me Der Katalog

I just received Der Katalog (bought from Amazon.de). I agree 100% with Spiny Doughboy. My colleagues called me a complete geek as I expressed my admiration for the artwork (and, unfortunately, had to explain to the young 'us who Kraftwerk are).

(and, unfortunately, had to explain to the young 'uns who Kraftwerk are) - that's better

the young US

Pardon my laziness if this has been discussed elsewhere, but are the German versions any different soundwise? (apart from the obvious)

I'm interested in this as well. I'm pretty sure there were instrumental differences in the original albums but I forget what and where.

I'm thinking about stuff that sits below the Beatles in terms of importance, like the Depeche Mode deluxe, Pet Shop Boys limited ed, the Kraftwerk box. (Note these may be on different labels outside North America so I'm only speaking for Canada and/or US arm of EMI here.)

Mind you, Universal has been bad with their deluxe editions too - it took a couple of extra weeks to get hands on the Unforgettable Fire deluxe edition so maybe this is industry-wide.

At least they do actually reissue their catalogue, unlike Warner, who still have nothing to offer but 80s masters by most of their biggest acts.

Most of the Warner stuff I really like has been pushed out via Rhino here so I have no real complaints about their reissue strategy in North America, really. Though yeah, had been hoping for deluxe reissues of the Kraftwerk albums on Warners in the same style as the Cure/Depeche reissues...probably not necessary any more really.

Warners have still yet to reissue Prince's back catalogue. Also, Madonna's first three albums have been reissued, and sound terrific, but "Like a Prayer" could have needed a remaster job too.

Also Joni Mitchell, some of those CDs distort and allsorts, it's shocking.

I always kinda had a soft spot for Electric Café but I now find it pretty amazing in its remastered format

I never liked it much; am reassessing that opinion now.

What do people here think of Tour de France Soundtracks? It's the one Kraftwerk LP I don't own.

it's a different kind of brilliant. well worth getting.

I never liked it much. Not really reassessing that opinion now, either.

It's a bit too clinical for me: there are fleeting moments of beauty, but I don't listen to Kraftwerk to be impressed by their craft; I listen because, most of the time, they move me to the very centre of my heart. TdFS never really has.

Mind you: my second-least-favourite Kraftwerk album is probably The Man Machine, which I think is hellishly over-rated, so I'm happy to admit I'm maybe something of an outlier here :)

TdF is a grower and what appeals to me on it are the clinical textures, so might not be everybody'scup of tea

So is this puppy coming out on vinyl as well?

Not the box, just the individual albums.

That's too bad. An 8LP heavy vinyl box set with the extended packaging would have been quite something.

Since I can't afford the box right now, I was hoping to start picking these up individually, but it appears I can't complete the set, from wiki:

Because of licensing issues, the albums Computer World, Techno Pop and The Mix are only available in the USA as part of The Catalogue boxed set.

Anybody know what these "issues" are? I'm not too bummed about not being able to get The Mix (already have a CD of that, which afaik, was still readily available as of last year) but the other two bum me out.

Well, those three were the three on Warner in North America at least, so the licensing issues boil down to "we're still making money off these in our back catalogue, so you can't have them, Astralwerks!". I'm guessing.

You can just order them from amazon.co.uk, though.

Computer World sounds utterly amazing. It's a revelation to hear actual bass on that album

Wait -- is Electric Cafe being re-branded as Techno Pop?

Yes, and it has an extra track ("House Phone," which is the B-side to "The Telephone Call").

My little brother love all things German and dark wave and synthy and yet has never heard a Kraftwerk album so i went to the store to get him Radioactivity for xmas. I picked up an 'old' vinyl issue cos i have it and it sounds great. Plus i looked at the artwork on the new one and i like the stark black-and-white photography far better!

(all that new art is just the slipcases, the cd art is how it always was, minus logos etc which have been removed)

What do people here think of Tour de France Soundtracks? It's the one Kraftwerk LP I don't own.

It's OK, but not brilliant. I see no need to rebuy it for the "remaster" though, as I doubt much has changed in sound technology since 2003.

To whoever said Side 2 of Autobahn was their favourite..

You are right!

I never liked it much , but hearing it now, I'm sure they have fixed a couple of things about it, notably CM1 as it always sounded a bit out-of-tune on the original LP.

Possibly the best have ever sounded..

Trans Europe Express for me tho. Brilliant album.

godwaful loudness war remasters, computer world and radio-activity are fucking ruined on this box. stick to the 2004 version FLACs which you can DL from torrent world

^awful

http://5-against-4.blogspot.com/2009/11/kraftwerk-remastered-retrospective.html <--this is fascinating. Album-by-album breakdown of the original, 2004, and 2009 remasters.

Seeing as I've A) been waiting for this since 2004 and B) have more graduation gift money than I know what to do with, I've decided to go ahead and purchase my first (and possibly only) box set. It's only like $98 on Amazon; has anyone seen it cheaper elsewhere?

Dunno, check ebay as always.

I doubt it though, it's not the sort of thing someone buys and goes "oh noe"

Checked ebay... (nope, £129 is the price there)

I have to say, $98 is wayyy cheaper than I've ever seen.

Yeah, here too. (Belgium)

£68 on amazon.co.uk, was £62 at one point, then went out of stock, but are now back.

individual cds were approaching £12 each (TDF and RA still are) but the others have come down slightly. TEE is a bargain at £7.

£68.97 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK

Blimey!

yeah, $98 seems reasonable. still selling at €85 on Amazon Germany.

I'm ordering this and the deluxe ed of "The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" and two Wii games, and the best part is it's totally covered by the money I made selling all the textbooks my roommate left when he moved out our apartment.

Hahah.

This is what is commonly referred to as a "win-win situation."

Just came in the mail yesterday, and OMG SO FUCKING EXCITING!!! This thing is so gorgeous. I have never listened to Radio-Activity before; "Airwaves" is so so good. Reminds me of Beach Boys/gospel music.

Stevie, your enthusiasm has prompted me to buy this as well. Thanks for the motivation I needed.

Good to hear. I am in the minority which thinks that Radio-Activity is secretly Kraftwerk's best album.

You and crut both. I also can't stop listening to "Transistor" and am sort of weirded out by how ahead of its time "Antenna" is sounding

will someone pleeze buy this for me. can i do one of these chip in things like yesterday? :)

It's only like 98 from amazon, quick just charge it and deal with it later!!

can i tell my wife you said it was ok?

this is indeed a beautiful thing and probably the best gift package ever. shame I dont have any friends who'd think of getting me something like this

anyone tried the Kraftwerk iPhone app?
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=423962784&mt=8&u1=web&affId=1860684#

tempting but pricey

Yeah, looks good visually but the app per se is not very impressive. inudge has more options and sounds:

http://inudge.net/index.en.html

I'm probably a sucker because I bought it the second I saw it. In the end I'm underwhelmed by it - if it was more like Bloom I'd be happier probably but this just seems to be various similar electronic burbling that you can tune or tempo-adjust. If I was a huge fan of the sounds at the end of, say, "Home Computer", I'd probably be more into this but as it is I'm not really sure what to do with it.

Computer World sounds utterly amazing. It's a revelation to hear actual bass on that album

Bass for sure but otherwise I was pretty appalled by what had been done to this when it came out. Boomy and pumping (not in a good way) and lacking detail.

I have a mid 90s CD of Computerwelt (which I prefer to Computer World) and it is indeed lacking in proper low end and kind of toppy. There's also a tape slow down at the end of Computer Liebe, this doesn't bother me but you've got to wonder about the lack of attention to detail that allowed this.

But - I also have the original German vinyl and it's another world altogether. Exciting, crisp, warm and the right amount of bass. Definitely a case where the record is better.

I have a mid 90s CD of Computerwelt (which I prefer to Computer World) and it is indeed lacking in proper low end and kind of toppy. There's also a tape slow down at the end of Computer Liebe, this doesn't bother me but you've got to wonder about the lack of attention to detail that allowed this.

Pretty sure that's what I've got as well.

... the tape slow down rings a bell.

These are being reissued again and I'm not sure I need to re-buy these (on colored vinyl no less) but I find I am often powerless to resist such things

www.strandedrecords.com/collections/kraftwerk?mc_cid=4243d16329&mc_eid=0f24ac7b12

strandedrecords.com

I haven't clicked yet but just based on this ... $30 an LP?

I seem to recall from Steve Hoffman forums that these are exactly the same as the last vinyl copies, just colored.

https://tstoaddicts.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/malibu-stacy-with-hat.png