Kraftwerk - The Catalogue

[Herr Tubthumper]

Inspired by the news that the new U2 album has hints of Kraftwerk and the fact they havejust announced a series of catalogue shows in Amsterdam what is your favourite album? I'll go for Man Machine with a heavy nod to Trans Europe Express for it's huge influence in the worlds of both hip-hop and techno.

Poll to follow

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Kraftwerk were the first band I ever saw play live. Brighton centre when I was about 14, so '76 or thereabouts. My brother took me. I fell asleep.

 

[Superphil]

€64 for the Amsterdam shows, seems good value when you consider UK show prices, wonder how hard getting tickets will be like.

 

[Machiavelli]

The four consecutive albums, starting with Radioactivity are their best and there's nothing in between them, but you're not allowing me to go for all four, so I'll plump for Radioactivity purely for the reason that they performed this to me at Tate Modern. Which was nice.

 

[HantsSeagull]

great tracks on all of them but have gone for computer world cos computer love is my fave

 

[Trufflehound]

€64 for the Amsterdam shows, seems good value when you consider UK show prices, wonder how hard getting tickets will be like.

I have priority booking for all 8 shows...

Not sure I can afford it mind.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

€64 for the Amsterdam shows, seems good value when you consider UK show prices, wonder how hard getting tickets will be like.

I managed to see Man Machine in their hometown of Dusseldorf. I made sure I was ready at the specified time, with Google Translate up and running, and managed to bag two tickets quite easily.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I have priority booking for all 8 shows...

Not sure I can afford it mind.

Out of interest how did you get this?

 

[Trufflehound]

Out of interest how did you get this?

Saw them in Eindhoven last October. Tickets sold through the same agency.

 

[KLUNK]

Man Machine all day long

 

[Mellotron]

Obvious answer perhaps but has to be The Man Machine.

 

[LargeHadronZugzwang]

Way back in '81 saw them at Dome and Brixton subsequently, got to be one of the best bands live if not THE best. As for U2 they'd have to pay me to see them, that goes for their new album.

Got to be Man Machine, although do like them all.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Saw them in Eindhoven last October. Tickets sold through the same agency.

Ah yes. I remember now. They played in a space ship right?

 

[Trufflehound]

Ah yes. I remember now. They played in a space ship right?

That's the one.

Great location for them. They adapted the 3D video backdrop to opening song 'Spacelab' to show it/us orbiting the Earth.

 

[brakespear]

'Radio-Activity', especially 'Ohm Sweet Ohm'.

 

[Godstar]

Trans Europe Express for me - with some of the crap that was around in '78 to put TEE on & hear Europe Endless was nothing short of mind-blowing to a 13yr old.

 

[Was not Was]

It's RadioActivity for me. But ... just because they've rewritten history doesn't mean we have to. The three albums before what they deem their catalogue (Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2 and Ralf Und Florian) have some good stuff on them. Ruckzuck is one of my favourite tracks.

I recently came across a recording of their first ever live performance on German telly. Great stuff if you like that sort of thing, though a very different spectacle to what you'll see if you get tickets for Amsterdam!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9R6bqcBPfc

 

[The Lemming Stomper]

Trans Europe Express for me - with some of the crap that was around in '78 to put TEE on & hear Europe Endless was nothing short of mind-blowing to a 13yr old.

This....Europe Endless is the most sublime electronic toon I've ever heard

 

[Weststander]

Way back in '81 saw them at Dome and Brixton subsequently, got to be one of the best bands live if not THE best. As for U2 they'd have to pay me to see them, that goes for their new album.

Got to be Man Machine, although do like them all.

I saw that Dome gig too. Not their best era to me.
BBC2 or BBC4 just a couple of years ago showed a recent concert by them in front of a colossal crowd in somewhere like Hamburg. They were brilliant, and not snobby about playing all their hits ... they played the lot.


Albums - I chose Autobahn as I have always loved Autobahn and Kometenmelodie 2. Autobahn cropped up last night as background music to part of a BBC new documentary about motorway workers ... I recognised it straight away ... so original in its era and it still is now.

 

[Mr Icicle Boots]

Trans Europe Express for me - with some of the crap that was around in '78 to put TEE on & hear Europe Endless was nothing short of mind-blowing to a 13yr old.

And it's another 'Yes' from me. Similarly, i was 15 back then and whilst seriously into the punk/ new wave scene this album was the guilty secret hidden away at the back of my record collection. After a hard days 'gobbing', listening to Europe Endless and drinking homebrew was bliss.