Autobahn - C/D

I want to know the illustator's intentions behind NOT including a driver behind the wheel of the Mercedes on the sleeve. Was this deliberate?

- John Foxx

[sings it to himself]

[slaps forehead]

I've had that album since 1975 and I never realised that before. Shit!

Kometenmelodie 1 is the only dud on this for me.

Anyway, unutterably classic, probably my favourite of theirs. The keyboard sounds on Autobahn are the warmest, most enveloping and...I dunno, "friendly" sounding on record.

Does the fact that a piece of music was obviously recorded with equipment that is now outdated have any bearing whatsoever on its artistic merit?

(The answer to this question, in case you're not sure, is "absolutely not").

To sum up : side 1 sounds more dated than side 2 in the year 2004. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Regardless, I like side 2 better.

Indeed, almost as funny as seeing a dullard attempt to say something interesting or insightful for once in his life.

How in gods name do you write a 22 minute track and keep in interesting the entire time? How do you write motifs that keep people's attention through that kind of duration of time? I mean Kraftwerk slam-dunked the concept of making audio portraits with Autobahn. When you listen to that track you don't think of the programming, the writing, the performances... You think of a beautful spring day in a well designed german automobile elegantly travelling through the german countryside. You can see the hills and roadsigns, you climb and decend through a winding valley.

They did not do this with a bunch of obvious lyrics that bash you over the head with intention. I don't need to know every last detail about the Autobahn, they just give you enough to let your imagination run. They kept the musique concrete elements to a bare minimum. They did it was a bunch of VCO's and some good processing. The genuis of that track is that you are in that environment when you listen and you can *feel* the tension and release, the graceful beauty of the land, the push/pull of the disconnection between the driver and the land when you deal in the scale of long distance automobile travel.

So yeah, I am not going to freak out and yell and you and tell you that you are fucking up, but yeah that record packs serious heat and maybe it is not your fault that you don't have innate perverse krautrock tendencies. My favorite records for walking with headphones at night last fall were 2nd Annual Report by TG and Radio-Activity.

And people already know exactly what I think about The Mix, so I am going to keep my mouth shut about that most unspeakably distasteful act of musical necrophilia that Ralph and Florian had the audacity to call a remix album.

You think of a beautful spring day in a well designed german automobile elegantly travelling through the german countryside. You can see the hills and roadsigns, you climb and decend through a winding valley.

...the listener is the one who should take his/her place behind the wheel of the Mercedes.

Major Headlines for 1974
Nixon Rejects Ervin Subpoena
Heirs Patty Hearst Is Kidnapped By Symbionese Liberation Army
House votes 410-4 To Investigate The President
Solzenitsyn Is Deported From Russia
Grand Jury Indicts presidential Aids Halderman, Erlichman, Colson
India Announces It Has A-bomb
Juan Peron Dies Wife Isabel Takes Over
Nixon Resigns…Ford Sworn In As President
Ford Gives Nixon Absolute Pardon
In The News
55 mile-per hour speed limit is inacted
OPEC oil embargo ends
Nixon agrees to pay 432,000 in back taxes
Nelson Rockefeller is appointed Vice President as Ford becomes President
Died, Jack Benny, Dizzy Dean, Duke Ellington,Chet Huntley, Ed Sullivan
Muhammad Ali using "Rope a Dope" knocks out George Foreman in 8 th
The "String" Bikini is in fashion (Webmaster's note: Yesssss!)
Because of gasoline shortage, daylight savings time is observed all year to save fuel
Lt. William Calley convicted of his part in My Lai massacre is paroled
1974 Movies

The Sting was number one at the box office while The Godfather, Part II won Best Picture at the Oscars. Other notable movies of the year include:
A Woman Under the Influence
Airport 1975
Blazing Saddles
Chinatown
Earthquake
Harry and Tonto
Herbie Rides Again
Lenny
Magnum Force
Murder on the Orient Express
The Night Porter
Papillon
The Parallax View
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
The Towering Inferno

x-post strongo

God invented Kraftwerk because he loves us and wants us to be happy.

i shall play autobahn again later today, perhaps it will move up from being my 6th favourite kraftwerk lp

side two doesn't do it for me -- it always sounded too simplisticly joyful, like "Ode to Joy" (or whatever it's called, like some horrible feelgood christian classical work)

so yes, the disco-esque workouts on "Man Machine" sound too joyous too for the same reasons, but with "Robots", "Model" etc. it's still a balanced record, whereas "Radioactivity" just has a beaut. late-night psych thing that's more spooky, more convincing or "shortwave" -- i first heard "Man Machine" when i was ten so i can't help feel it has a certain deliberate childish naivety -- and i wasn't allowed to drive at that age so maybe that's why i've just thought "Autobahn" was cool /my fave for 25 years -- haven't got sick of it in 25 years, which makes it pretty unique for me

however, despite everybody digging "Trans-Europe Express" it's the odd one out for me -- too monochromatic and too obviously an attempted re-hash of "Autobahn", so something of a derailing for me cf: the '80s computer stuff was so OTM for the feeling you got from computers at that time (incl. what passed for "graphics" back then)

so having grown up with all the more well known records and having never got sick of "Autobahn" in all this time i consider it (the track) their best avant/pop hybrid and given its concept/ theme (with theme as idea, vocals often something from the pop world so lacking in most electronic music from that time) one of the most natural and convincing uses of the inevitable sound of electonic music of the '70s and '80s (along with "Another Green World" -- electronics with thematically consistent non-cloying warmth)

(so, divorcing the material from its time, suddenly re-hitching Kraftwerk to then-fashionable ideas in electronic music from other people and being a best-of cash-in, obv. "The Mix" completely sucks)

Kraftwerk have been so careful to avoid radioactivity-like critical backlashs that ever since then i think they've been too cautious, even if they were always acknowledging how precious they'd become with more humour. Any band that needs concepts for every musical expression whilst providing such limited output (over such a long career-ist time) is fair game for serious criticism. So I would give them 50% superlative/ 50% dross as a rating of their material, "Autobahn" and onwards,
so for me they're an a-sides band.

it's because you are british. that's just sort of the cross you have to bear. being british and all.

This touches on a really interesting point, George, one which I lazily attempted to allude to with my remarks above about TEE being the DJ Spooky-endorsed tokenist "lookie KW are the fathers of all this stuff!" choice. Not that I don't love that record -- if you can't tell, KW are among my very favorite groups -- but if there's one thing I *don't* think about when I listen to KW, it's how much they influenced later acts. What gets me off about KW is not so much their sound, but their extremely unique voice, the emotional nuances of their work, which seem to have few parallels in pop or art music. This is what lets me down about The Mix; it rides on the presumption that the most interesting aspect of KW's body of work is its sonic innovation -- "The Godfathers of Techno jump back in the game they helped create," usw. Yes, The Mix is "fun" (and even fun!), and KW can't help but let their unique voice into the tracks, but it's ultimately a disappointment in that KW seemed to buy into the narrow role assigned to them by the authors and self-proclaimed experts of the History of Electronic Music. KW to me is less about the cold machine-like grind of "Metal on Metal" and more about the desperation and openendedness of the contrapuntal synth helix at the center of "The Hall of Mirrors"; less about the technoid proto-electro of "The Robots" and more about the goofy but deadly pop of "The Model." But ultimately KW are all of these things and more, and that's what makes them fascinating to me. My frustration is probably a futile response to what is an inevitable result of constructing a history; things get assiged roles and functions, become part of a smoothly flowing timeline, a causal chain, but at the expense of their nuances and complexities, the things that endear them to individuals rather than link them to movements.

...but but but george, it ends with a beautiful beat-less track dedicated to.... Franz Schubert!!!!!!!!! Not exactly the actions expected of the "Godfathers of Techno" (tho who really gives a monkey's fuck if Kraftwerk were or were no the Godfathers of This, the Forefathers of That or the Wicked Stepfathers of the Other).

great example of er one way of looking at kw, which is that they recycle melodic ideas. 'trans-europe'(track) re-hases some noises from (i think it's from) "R&F" but re-hashes the melodic hook of 'robots', even if it only uses two out of the three chords from that song, for example.

which brings me back to what Clarke said (et al) :
what lets me down about The Mix; it rides on the presumption that the most interesting aspect of KW's body of work is its sonic innovation

Well i think the mix is kw once again pludering old stock into an overall "new concept" area again -- ie who better to provide a mix down continuous kw groove, what better dj etc., than the creators (curators, ha ha) themselves (presumably having themselves re-created many of them on stage semi-live-sequenced at hundreds of gigs. They would know wouldn't they how to pace a kw selection).
The "concept area" is getting in and artifying an otherwise industry-standard basic greatest hits, supposedly artistically re-casting these oh so seminal pieces and that industry practise within yet into the then "new" or even "revolutionary" practise of a paced and beat-mixed dance floor dj-style presentation. As a concept, i can prefer it to standard best-of collections, but only just. The biggest dissapointment was the hatchet job on 'autobahn' itself -- it struck me as a deliberate act of sabotage in the interests of the concept of a mix-down being inherently flawed or alternatively as another tease version of the music, just like the original single that allowed them to make it big in the first place -- either way sending you running back to the original recording in tears.
(as pretenders to the dance-floor saviours into which they paint themselves here, the result for me is 'the mix' as yet more kraftwerk vapourware)

There is something tedious to kw's own ideas about itself as pioneers, i agree, but the i have other problems with kw in general, which are
1) the recycling of musical ideas + the paucity of album time from this band in the first place = a band with _very_ _few_ musical ideas of any consequence
2) compare the timbres from the machines kw were using right throughout the '70s (the golden age of analogue synth timbre variety) with timbres other bands german and other were getting and even with the more swithced-on-synth-like impressionism of the first two j.m jarre albums, and from where i'm sitting there's a consistent much more limited kw sound, or worse, simply satisfaction with bland timbres, just like a rock band using the same guitar sound for a decade.

Well it leaves me thinking kw were dullards musically, in both harmony and timbre. It leaves me thinking kw created a unique musique concrete concept pop art jam or a different order with 'autobahn', a track that they have not been able to follow up, a one-hit-band situation. That they persisted is testament to ralph and florian's ambitious idea of some place in the continuum of both german art composition and pop music. The talent (imo) beyond 'autobahn' is for conceptual marketing and packaging (often re-packaging), from the fashionable times of "the concept album" as artistic statement. 'autobahn' as itself a successful concept art piece is a sterling exception -- following it up with forced concepts and musical redundancy shows how something very good can be a hard act to follow.
Good on them for the track, but what they followed up with has always dissapointed me and seemed obvious evidence of marginal talent, ie half-baked pop music + conceptual dressings = careerist non-artists.

however, stuck as i was with the lp for so many years, i just never made it through those 2 "sound of joy" disco-euphoria pieces on side 2 so often, so the idea, a german version of 'the town and the country' never hit me

it's fair to say that probably not much else sounded like those tracks in 1972 (eg hardly 'space-rock), and i believe they were on to something on the strength of the title track anyway, but the musical merit of side two is hard to argue i think once you remove
1) conceptual wrappings
and
2) the timbres used, which were new for 1972, but surely still another example of a band using then novel tech. for their edge, another rock band norm i see no reason distinguishing kw from

ie side 2 is something i've put on for many years and then had to promptly take off, not because kw were copied and vindicated later, but because i've been tring to like side 2 since 1976, and yet it's bald simple-mindedness musically, it's just too boring

(ok so i didn't often make it to the end of side 2, but when i did, i could only digest the music as sickly sweet musak type easy listening music
But, is it so hard to see kw/capitol hedging their bets by putting Moog-ish muzak on side 2, since simple Moog was so big back then that it's presence gives the album 'crossover' appeal, a-g trip thinking man side 1, cocktail party music side 2 ?)

and yet there's consensus here that Can's 'sacrilege' was garbage.

Calling it 'sacrilege' seems heavily ironically pompous, which is just the way 'the mix' struck me a few years earlier. Both comeback or 'reminder about back-catalog' efforts from bands wishing to stamp some 'canonisation' of their own on their efforts (and I think it's safe to reach that conclusion before even actually considering the merits of the respective bands' music, by simply viewing the packaging concepts).

Dear "Autobahn" (song):

I think that you are maybe the best song of all time, and I might be in love with you. I am so, so grateful for your motorik transformation 17 minutes in. Please never get old or overplayed.

Three days ago, I found an original German edition on Phillips records. So, I downloaded it off HMV online, 49p for the long version. It's exactly the same length as a drive to Windsor from Reading. (Alice was transfixed!) Having listened to K1 (lp) for a long time, I'd forgotten that Autobahn was the first time they pulled *everything* together 100%.

I always thought Oasis should have covered the single edit. Just for Liam to sing "die sonne sheinet! zun glitzer shallll1!!!"

Alice was transfixed

cool! start 'em young with junior kraftwerk.

haven't listened to this album in yonks; for some reason i always reach elsewhere for a kraftwerk fix. hmm.

(also: listening to it EVERY SINGLE DAY for about a year when i was 14 might have caused some deep, instinctive reaction.)

Well, the same here. It was a combo of getting the album cheap and seeing as it was a VFM d/l.

What's the one on "The (re)Mix" like? Worth hearing? Better? different?

It's about half as long and is a bit dancier, and it's not as sparse. Also does away with motorik bit at end. Nowhere near as good, but OK in its own respect and def worth hearing.

See, this is how I hear the long version now!

1. Into. Driving off, and getting onto the motorway.
2. Settling down. Main chorus.
3. Happy, singy bit. Sun shining, not too much traffic, go as fast as you need.
4. Chorus bit again. Maybe breaking out a coffee with a spare hand.
5. The motorik bit. Night time. Raining. Spray. Oncoming headlights. Oh no! Concentrate! Wind down a window!
6. Put the radio on! Ah but it's still too easy to numb out!
7. AH! We're here. And so to bed.
8. Oh no! but we still have motion senses. Can't sleep. Too much coffee.
9. Eventually crash (out).

fun fun fun on the autobahn

t-this is what I thought they were saying for the longest time

i think the homophonicity was a kinda partly deliberate Beach Boys echo?

Never mind all that (except for my nine-parts breakdown, forgot I did that I like it)..

The quad mix.

How do I get this? Beyond buying the eight-track cartridge and a player and extracting.. I'm thinking a DVD or some such.

I recall seeing a 4.0 transcoded file on torrent sites a long while ago when I was looking for the Quad mix of Hissing of Summer Lawns.

Which helps you none, of course.

This guy had it in 2014 on the 'freebies' part of his site, might still be there but you have to sign up to his blog thing to get it.

https://dreamingspiresquadarchive.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/kraftwerk-autobahn/

I might well do that, thanks.

Damn, he closed the freebies folder two days ago.

Oh shit :(

The search goes on...

Still available on t0rrent sitez.

Yeah, but.