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What's your favourite Kraftwerk album?

Started by kalowski, November 10, 2021, 09:49:25 PM

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pigamus


McChesney Duntz

Quote from: Inspector Norse on November 11, 2021, 12:59:58 PM
TEE or TMM are the ones that most readily spring to mind for me. I was just yesterday sitting and figuring out their BIG HIT 'The Model' on guitar and it was surprisingly fun to play on a real instrument and not one of those new-fangled electronic things the 75-year-old German kids have these days.

Some weedy boys from Chicago found this out 35 years ago...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT-hHc9x_2c




mobias

My favourite is The Mix. Its not their best obviously but its my favourite. The Mix version of Computer Love is is just fucking awesome.

sutin

I probably play The Mix the most often. He's just the best blast of Kraftwerk when you're in the mood.


hamfist

Quote from: PaulTMA on November 11, 2021, 10:24:49 AM
No one's said Radio-Activity yet, so I will and cos it's the best 'un

Another vote for Radioaktivität

Love the glitchy geiger-y shortwavey sounds, and as a kid I was fascinated and horrified by nuclear stuff

An tSaoi

Trans Europa Express, which is the German version.

Wir sind Schaufensterpuppen!
Wir sind Schaufensterpuppen!

M-CORP

That brings up an equally good question...

English versions or German version? Or does it matter to you?

(I'm more familiar with the English versions, but there were a couple of songs that didn't translate very well - Computerwelt for example, and I do prefer Der Telefon Anruf, German lyrics give 'The Telephone Call' a strangely folkier feel.)

An tSaoi

I would have to say Die Besten der Kraftwerks.

I prefer the German versions, because frankly some of the lyrics are so basic they're silly. I don't speak German, so it sounds better.

buttgammon

Quote from: An tSaoi on November 16, 2021, 08:44:08 AM
I would have to say Die Besten der Kraftwerks.

I prefer the German versions, because frankly some of the lyrics are so basic they're silly. I don't speak German, so it sounds better.

Yes, that's pretty much my feeling too. It's also the reason why I prefer the Mix version of 'Radioaktivität' to the original.

Mr_Simnock


mobias

Quote from: Mr_Simnock on November 16, 2021, 05:19:06 PM
Ralf und Florian

I love this early footage of them live. Some good comments underneath it. My favourite is 'I know this is a seminal moment in the birth of electronic music but it sounds like R2D2 suffering a stroke'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWUiLJnEYJI&t=63s

Johnny Yesno

On the subject of covers, Uwe Schmidt aka AtomTM (and numerous other project names) did an album of Latin American-style Kraftwerk covers:





https://nn-audio.bandcamp.com/album/el-baile-alem-n or https://atomtm.bandcamp.com/album/se-or-coconut-el-baile-alem-n

I particularly like:

The Man Machine (Baklàn): https://nn-audio.bandcamp.com/track/the-man-machine

Showroom Dummies (Cha-Cha-Cha): https://nn-audio.bandcamp.com/track/showroom-dummies

I like that the band on the cover is fake, with a wireframe representation of the cover art on the inside. I like that AtomTM is a German living in Chile doing uncanny valley Latin American renditions of German electronic music. And I like the fact that despite the likelihood of this only sounding good on paper, it actually works really well and serves to hightlight what great songwriters Kraftwerk were.

Pauline Walnuts

And this classic cover V/A album I spent ages looking for,


M-CORP

That 'Spacelab' cover is a masterclass in how to turn a song into something completely different. Love the weightless feeling, particularly as the vocals come in at the climax. Thanks for sharing that.

Powerplant did a few Kraftwerk covers with a string quartet - in fact the whole album is worth checking out as it features a wonderful rendition of Steve Reich's 'Electric Counterpoint'. This is prob my favourite:

Greg Torso

Quote from: M-CORP on November 15, 2021, 09:50:19 PMEnglish versions or German version? Or does it matter to you?

I like the Japanese version of Pocket Calculator


kalowski

Quote from: PaulTMA on November 11, 2021, 10:24:49 AMNo one's said Radio-Activity yet, so I will and cos it's the best 'un
It is very good. I'm having a listen to it right now (German version) and it's lovely. I hadn't even spotted I'd bought the German version so that was a nice surprise.

PaulTMA

Quote from: kalowski on November 23, 2021, 09:38:12 PMIt is very good. I'm having a listen to it right now (German version) and it's lovely. I hadn't even spotted I'd bought the German version so that was a nice surprise.

It's the long string of music concrete/radio noise stuff in the middle that I like the best.  Would take an entire album of it.

greenman

Quote from: kalowski on November 11, 2021, 06:43:31 AMI like that early stuff, especially the track Ruckzuck off the first album, but you are right, it's not a patch on the stuff after 1973. I think there's a bit of novelty value in hearing a slightly more analogue Kraftwerk

When they stuck to Motorik I think they pulled it off very well, maybe not quite as well as Neu but definately good enough to be worth a listen. Its the more ambient noise stuff from that era I never felt was very interesting, nothing close to similar tracks on Neu's debut.

phantom_power

Didn't they have Klaus Dinger on their first album, which probably helped with the Motorik thing

greenman

Quote from: phantom_power on November 25, 2021, 07:38:34 PMDidn't they have Klaus Dinger on their first album, which probably helped with the Motorik thing

Yeah although I'm not sure on that track, Kling Klang on the second album is actually my favorite early Kraftwerk, maybe a bit of an influence on the speed shifts of Neu's second album?

kalowski

Anyway, today it's Trans Europe Express. What a record!

kalowski

Quote from: kalowski on November 27, 2021, 06:29:00 PMAnyway, today it's Trans Europe Express. What a record!
And today it is Computer World.
What a record!