Kraftwerk - K4 POLL

my kind of poll

it was nice of Big O to post the mp3s online but I liked the original Seidr boot cover better than the ridiculous thing they threw together. they also get the lineup information wrong, Hutter was not in the group for this show

original cover complete with Black Sabbath reference

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/Sprad/R-1038134-1186885855.jpg

whoops. yeah, that's a much better looking cover

wtf with the blonde girl on traffic cone

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0e1r6xNeW7dvD/610x.jpg

oh man yeah this album. total Sabbath. first track gets my vote.

That guitar riff of "Ruckzuck" is one for the ages, so that.

Florian as Bono/The Fly

if you like 'K4' you should keep an eye out for the other Seidr bootleg 'Kraftwerk !/2' featuring the four full length German television appearences 1970-71 (which are also all on youtube). their title makes perfect sense as it all really does follow on from their first album, unfortunately the title is very google-unfriendly

Schneider / Rother / Dinger - Köln II (4:16)
Schneider / Rother / Dinger - Ruckstoss-Gondoliere (11:19)
Schneider / Hutter / Dinger - Ruckzuck (5:32)
Organization - Ruckzuck (8:25)

I have a different version of this bootleg again, which I was unable to find details of online when I stumbled across it last year. I'll dig it out later and try again.

Classic moment:

KRAFT - WERK!! (clap clap clap) KRAFT - WERK!! (clap clap clap) KRAFT - WERK!! (clap clap clap) KRAFT - WERK!! (clap clap clap)

So that's what they used that traffic cone for.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Anyone vote K1 K3 or K4?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

oo.

It was always gonna be between those 2

Not heard this in years, so thanks, Mark G!

Torn between "This ROX0RS!!!!" and "Florian? Shredding? Does not compute!"

http://www.kraftwerk.moxo.cz/images/fotogalerie/1970-1974/florian.jpg

This is not how you are supposed to play that instrument, Flori.

fred frith begs to differ

Thing is, it's obvious from photos of Klingklang that he had an actual lap steel on which he was adequately competent so I don't know why he's doing that to his poor guitar.

But apparently he used to play electric violin the same way, lay it flat across his lap and fiddle with it (refrains from any jokes) and that sounds fantastic on this.

I suppose it's just kind of endearing that he's so useless at guitar when he's so virtuoso at everything else.

I guess its Ralf on guitar on Autobahn, given that its Florian on flute.

There is multi-tracking on the recordings! (It's interesting to watch the live videos, though, because it strips out the multi-tracking so you can see/hear exactly what's flute and what's organ - a couple of times I was surprised! e.g. I thought a certain feedback interlude on Vom Himmel Hoch was definitely flute, but live, you can see it's organ.)

My impression was that when they resorted to stringed things, Ralf did the bass. (There is an adorable picture of him playing bass I'm sure you've suffered through on Twitter.)

Also, I don't have the books with me, but apparently Conny Plank did so much on Autobahn that if the guitar is more adequate than our boys could provide, it might well be him. (Please do not sue me for repeating something I read in books.) Everyone involved seems to have quite different memories of everything between 1968 and 1974. (Myself, I really like the "At one point, there were 2 Kraftwerks, one in Aachen and one in Düsseldorf" theory the best. Though it sounds so spurious, and probably only added after the fact to provide continuity that Ralf was in the band all along, when all documentary evidence indicates that he wasn't.)

Was listening yesterday to the Frankfurt 1974 concert that surfaced the other year, sound quality is excellent as it was an FM radio broadcast and the playing is super laid back and heroiny. What makes it interesting though is that this concert is from the short period when Klaus Röder was in the lineup playing violin and guitar, works great especially during Tanzmusik & Kohoutek.

Oh my god, I'm only 5 minutes in, but this is like the missing link between kosmische Ralf und Florian and motorik Autobahn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-UjskUGf-s

There's also a 1971 recording with Eberhard Kranemann on cello worth looking for.

Xpost they don't move much, do they?

apparently Conny Plank did so much on Autobahn that if the guitar is more adequate than our boys could provide, it might well be him. (Please do not sue me for repeating something I read in books.)

Could be, guitar is pretty simple on that album though, Klaus Roeder (who he?) is actually credited with violin and guitar... violin consisting of a few haunted house noises on "Mitternacht" afaict.

http://33.media.tumblr.com/29ba0be73e1ad5831c42712960d23c77/tumblr_nj0nao4fqg1so28u7o1_500.gif

But music is movement!

(Yes Ok, now be quiet Ralf.)

The version of Ruckzuck on that 1974 tape is my favourite Ruckzuck yet. (All Ruckzucks are my favourite, but that is more favourite than others.)

I love that Frankfurt 1974 recording. I wish there were more people here I could gab with about those groovy Klaus Roeder solo albums -- more on the academic / electro-acoustic side of things, but he really mastered what FM synthesis was good at very early on, there are pieces from the late 70's that sound more like what Asmus Tietchens got up to 10 years later.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/220621-Klaus-R%C3%B6der

His website has free mp3's of everything he's ever done (although unfortunately untagged, so I had to add album graphics & id3 tags manually to reconstruct his four released albums). My favorite two pieces of his are 'Mr. Frankenstein's Babies' and the 'Potpourri' but I've kept everything from his site on my phone for the last two years.

this is the good music

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/Sprad/Roeder_zpsu9h0zx1a.jpeg

Nice, I had no idea he had ever done anything outwith Kraftwerk.