Kraftwerk

i'm not sure about neu! playing on the early stuff - i'm thinking that they might've done some stuff on the first album, but i'm fairly sure the second is just ralf and florian. there is definitely guitar on kraftwerk 2, though, so maybe i've got that backwards. there are a couple of bootlegs floating around and one of them features the kraftwerk/neu lineup in rough fidelity (including a track from the pre-kraftwerk organisation lineup, which you can actually see on the "krautrock" video tape that's floating around).

(I have good sounding copies of these albums on CD that I bought in a store, not even knowing they were officially unavailable.)

the line up on the first one is ralf hutter, florian schnider, andreas hohmann, and klaus dinger (neu!)

obviously "Ralf and Florian" is just ralf and florian.

radioactivity is great, i didnt know people didnt like that one

as for the early things, there's an awfull lot of flute on them which may sway you one way or another. all of these hippy bands just LOVED a flute. it's rampant on the first Kluster album too.

not can, but tangerine dream's "electronic meditation" would probably be a fairish comparison, in the freer parts. "ruckzuck" is definitely great - it was actually used as the theme for a pop-science for kids program here in the US ("newton's apple") and has a bouncy little groove. if you like neu! and "electronic meditation," yes, you need to hear the first two kraftwerks.

Exactly. I'm glad someone else figured out how to say this (although I do like some floaty flute).

http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=261722&-session=rt1:438A746B11c01034E0mnI17C685B

Replace "[" and "]" with ""

This is my most "advanced" html trick.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7813200.stm

:(

The boy Schnieder done good but he has to hang up his boots sometime

I've been disappointed by how accessible they've been over the past few years. Maybe this will restore a little mystery.

But Florian was the weirdo mystery element in the group

And now he's not even in it! It's like SUPER MYSTERIOUS!

This at the bottom of the BBC page...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45301000/jpg/_45301645_cones2_126.jpg
Cones hotline
The lasting legacy of John Major's much ridiculed plan

what would Florian do?

Hopefully jam with Michael Rother and Jaki L., but probably not. :(

Every time I play the opening minute or two of "Europe Endless" I'm kinda convinced there's no better start to a song -- an album, ANYTHING -- out there. It's such a perfectly realized and precise arrangement, and *then* the beats arrive.

co-sign!

Europa Endlos should be the anthem of the EU.

Every time I play the opening minute or two of "Europe Endless" I'm kinda convinced there's no better start to a song -- an album, ANYTHING -- out there. It's such a perfectly realized and precise arrangement, and *then* the beats arrive.

For me, that moment is the keyboard interlude the third time or so it's repeated. For one, I just love the sound of the saw wave and the little modulation accents Ralf plays. But on that iteration, Ralf knocks it up a register — and it just takes off. Easily my favorite Kraftwerk moment, period.

Folks have probably already seen this, but just in case:

http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3212&Itemid=26

Remasters of Autobahn, Radio-Activity, Trans Europe Express), The Man Machine, Computer World, Techno Pop, The Mix, and Tour De France. Available individually or as a box set, in which case they come in those horrible little "mini LP sleeve" packages people seem to like for some reason.

On October 5 Kraftwerk will release 12345678: The Catalogue, a CD box set collecting eight of their classic studio albums. Newly remastered versions of the albums will also be available individually on CD, vinyl and download.

- 8 x individual CDs presented in special slipcases featuring newly expanded artwork, including many previously unseen images all of which have been reproduced to the highest technical standards.

- CD Box Set containing 8 x CDs in ‘mini-vinyl’ card wallet packaging, plus individual large format booklets.

- 8 x individual heavyweight vinyl LPs with large format booklets.

- Digital downloads.

Any reason to buy these for those of us who own all the albums on CD already? Sounds like extra packaging but nothing in the way of new/unreleased music... not really into those types of reissues.

Remastered sound?

Oh my god, I'm listening to the original '83 version of "Tour de France" right now and am FLIPPING OUT

for the first time

Remastered sound?

The remastering will be the selling point for me. The CDs that we've been listening to for the last twenty years leave a lot to be desired.

will "Techno Pop" be mythical lost album or just "Electric Cafe" with original title?

wikipedia says it's just electric cafe with the original title

ralf and florian is nice, summery, kind of hawaiian

-- this explains why i like that lp so much!

Techno Pop was basically a failed album that had the best parts remixed into Electric Cafe. I doubt it will ever seen the light of day and I am not too upset about it. It would be neat to hear out of curiosity, but I doubt they have eight Tour de France style joints sitting in the can waiting to be heard.

That being said, I can only imagine what they have in their archives. I would love to hear the demos for songs that didn't make the cut for their studio albums. They will never be heard while Hutter is alive, but it will be interesting to see how his estate handles the music.

It will also be interesting to see who is credited on the box set. I wonder if Schneider will have his name removed like Bartos and Flur.

.. and Conny Plank...

1983 demo version of 'Techno Pop' is utterly different than album version, almost a 70's retrench with the Orchestron vocal choir playing the chord sequence, I like it better than the album version

& there were three new tunes on the 98 tour than remain unreleased, I can see why but I'd still love a studio version of the one that sounds like their take on Basic Channel

word! is that demo vers floating around somewhere reachable?
the live versions I've heard of the "Techno Pop" stuff is pretty great ... hard-hitting, muscular stuff

Ewan Pearson (Ewan Pearson)

thank you for this, I knew the name sounded familiar...

Ah, you’re partial to his arts

Echo..

^ That Neon Lights cover is rather lovely and would have sounded excellent at ALFOSes I'm sure.

new kraftwerk dropped lads:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5FvNOnZtP0dQKZbDQ1uhGy?si=eOOM4BwmQCueKyK6Wm_5HA

What's at the link?

This is really just a playlist of remixes that were previously released. Nothing new about it.

yes

karl bartos solo material is just as good except his rock release!

honestly p stoked the Orbital remix is finally on spotify

I was all "Oh Oh.... oh."

Never mind, I have enough copies of the Vertigo albums...

was thinking it would be funny to do a "Bohemian Rhapsody" style biopic of Jean-Michel Jarre. the only scene I have nailed down is Jarre buying Autobahn and hearing "Kometenmelodie 2" for the first time. his mind instantly rockets through the cosmos, like in the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. you keep seeing him make the faces from the Vince McMahon gif. he wakes up drenched in sweat, comes downstairs and says "Dad...I don't want to take piano lessons anymore"

Would watch!

I had a dream about Kraftwerk last night. they did a show in Madison (?) and the setlist was:

Ruckzuck
Neon Lights
Supper's Ready
Electric Cafe - with 5 cats in wireframe suits. 4 of them ran away, the other one flopped on its belly and everyone said "awww"

then the curtains closed and I grabbed a beer out of a vending machine (?) which came with a shot of Fireball for 27 dollars. I used my wife's credit card.

the curtains lifted and some guy comes out and says "sorry ze robot is broken, we cannot play, Auf Wiedersehen." and everyone stood up and booed and threw pretzels

sorry, had to write this down somewhere

amazing, tyvm

hoping your wife is cool with the beer expenditure, otherwise it's Computerliebe from here on

4 of them ran away, the other one flopped on its belly and everyone said "awww"

I will retrofit this onto the Kraftwerk canon or die trying

Supper's Ready is the key element here

Excellent.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53751889788_7cfbc324d6_h.jpg

We went to the Disney Hall show on Trans Europe Express night. Unbelievably... powerful? The acoustics there are stellar to start - an ideal match for the relative purity (tidy low end, all frequencies given a chance to solo) of how Kraftwerk sound now. Too bad about the fixed seats, needed dancing.

One does not dance to Kraftwerk.

wrong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZR9SA5pOg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOcf9Uq6EjQ

lmao "Sprockets" was my first exposure to this sort of German thing and I knew as soon as I discovered what exactly they were referencing there it was gonna be something I loved

And even Kraftwerk danced for at least one tour (1981):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopXKac2R3E

They were still dancing when I saw them in 1991.

If you were wondering what Ralf & co were doing, here's a side view looking down of the 28 May show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gaWmS5qzns

I heard this for the first time in DC the other day. American covers of Kraftwerk are so interesting to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpKm2P53hgo

not just any american cover, but go-go! this is rad.

if you think the go-go version is good, let me show you the forró version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StoIMfJCac0

or a brega version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXK-3hnEcV4

101 Kraftwerk Covers!

Artists who have never recorded a cover?

Depends on whether you're calling 'Tour de France' a cover of the opening section of Paul Hindemith's “Sonata for Flute and Piano” (“Heiter Bewegt”).

Oh, good one!

The flute riff in “Ruckzuck” is swiped from a piece by Schoenberg, I think the chamber symphony.

No wait the Schoenberg’s in “Trans Europe Express”

Anyway you can tell how they both went to conservatory.

... as did Karl Bartos!

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/auctions/the-florian-schneider-collection

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0iWzbFavBI

Worth checking out for the version of Airwaves alone!

does anyone know anything about the Endless Happiness label? seems to be a Russian bootleg operation that has recently "released" the first 3 KW albums & Tone Float, but somehow they are getting their stuff quite widely listed including Discogs, which is usually very anti bootleg.

my local shop has gotten KW 1 & 2 in, he says they seemed like legit reissues to him but he doesn't know KW's history with those albums. I'm guessing he just saw them on Discogs too and assumed.

fwiw they're genuinely pretty good for boots, highly doubt I'd find an original that sounded as good as these. maybe the era of all these hard-to-find German records falling to 4 Men With Beards is finally over

listed as "unofficial" by Discogs but still for sale, and yeah the reviews seem uniformly positive

I wouldn’t trust releases from Russia as being authorized

update: I checked that Endless Happiness label out and sprung for a copy of Clube Da Esquina, it sounds absolutely fantastic