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)

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