Autobahn

Autobahn by the German experimental group Kraftwerk was a breakthrough album that began decades of electronic music. You can trace or blame Kraftwerk for rock genres like Eurotrance, dance, techno, hip-hop and house etc. Even Disco owes a debt to the drum machine beat of Kraftwerk.When I read the list of new albums being entered in the Grammy Hall of Fame, I decided to listen to all of them again. Records from Bob Dylan, Sex Pistols and Lou Reed Plus More Inducted Into The Grammy Hall of Fame.It's been a fun ride and no less so than listening to the still quirky LP Autobahn.Back in 1974, I didn't pay much attention when the single "Autobahn" made it to the Billboard charts. I was still in my Southern California rock and the nth Bob Dylan phase. I was living on a farm on Prince Edward Island pretty much gone back to the land. Nothing could be further from my mind than techno instrumental rock.Little did I realize how this type of electronic music would spread. When I got the CD before Christmas 2014 it was like truly weird to be back in the 70's and feel that vibe.Unlike most rock and roll which is derived from the 1950's fusion of blues, country and gospel AKA Elvis the Pelvis, Kraftwerk were making music grounded in European classical music melted into rock and roll. On "Autobahn" the band was still incorporating organic instruments like flute, guitar, piano and organ long with the multiple synthesizers, vocoder, electronic drums and other electronics.The LP version of the cut Autobahn is actually 22 minutes long, not 4 minutes like the single. The song is a modal tone poem much like early 20th Century classical music that left the 19th century melodies and lyricism of classical music in the dust. The vocals are simple lyrics played through a vocoder describing the joys of driving on the Autobahn, Germany's high-speed highway. The car door opens and closes, the motor starts, the horn toots and off we go on a 22 minute ride.Autobahn "capture(s) the feeling of driving on the Autobahn: from travelling through the landscape, the high-speed concentration on the fast lane, to tuning the car radio and the monotony of a long trip. It describes the A 555 from Köln to Bonn--the first Autobahn ever." WikipediaIf you can get off on music, you will get off on "Autobahn". Melodies are repeated, changed, morphed and unless you speak German you have to let yourself go with the beat and the music. By the time the song stops and the journey is over, my head and heart got a major workout pumping way above normal. The whole album is the rock secular equivalent of John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.Thankfully the album takes you down after that. The last song ends with daybreak and the sound of birds waking up. We are at peace with the new day with the feeling of Debussy's "Afternoon of a Faun"."Autobahn" was the 4th album by Kraftwerk and their most completely conceptualized and executed. It was thematic and laid the foundation for other theme LPs that followed like Tour De France Autobahnand Radio-Activity.The four members of the band - Ralf Hutter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flur, and Klaus Roder - were so innovative they literally created things we take for granted like the drum machine. Their drum machine experiments included one version that was light activated by the movement of the musician. That idea failed and they reverted to the system we use today of drum triggers and electronic beats.The band is still touring. There is a great retrospective article in The Guardian you might enjoy. Why Kraftwerk are still the world's most influential band.What's even more amazing is that Kraftwerk more or less kept to themselves, not answering the phone even. They did not engage in wild rock and roll antics. They just worked on their art at the self-designed Kling Klang Studio in Dusseldorf, Germany.A lot of rock and roll artists pan electronic drums and beats but they are the way of most popular music. It's rumored that the Texas blues group ZZ Top experimented with electronic drums and drum machines in the early 80's but refused to admit it due to the back lash from fans and other musicians.Available fromThe album was remastered in 2009 and sounds excellent. Autobahn - Amazon.com, Amazon.ca in Canada and Amazon.co.uk. I got my copy from Amazon.co.uk in the UK since it cost 1/3rd the price.

I’ve always liked this album, had the LP when I was younger, played it to death.

One can not praise this album enough. The production alone is years ahead of its time. Herr Konrad Plank,(who incidentally went on to produce the equally excellent "Vienna" by Ultravox), must have really been at the pinnacle of his production career with his understanding of the musical instruments that Kraftwerk created in the literal sense.The title track itself is a collage of sounds which constantly changes pace, making the listener believe that they are really on a car journey. I would have to disagree slightly with J.P Oley only in so far as I don't believe you need to be "monging out with yer mate" to enjoy what is indeed a tour de force in electronica.Let us not overlook the foresight of Herr Hutter and Herr Schneider, both of whom are obviously visionaries and futurists who seemingly should have been born in the next millenia. They are certainly the electronica version of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Philip K. Dick et al. Messrs Hutter and Schneider are of course telling a story but in a different medium to the written word.I could discuss and analyse the positives of this album for hours. There are no negatives. However, why listen to me critique this masterpiece when you could be experiencing the journey that is "AUTOBAHN". SHEER BRILLIANCE!!!

I'm not reviewing the music itself, just the product. The LP is a substantial weight and the sound is as good as I've heard from vinyl, with minimal surface noise. Nevertheless, considering this is a premium edition and, presumably, one aimed at the "audiophile" market there's no shortage of annoying clicks and pops that keep going through several rotations. I've had better for similar money. One might assume that the price you pay here relates more to the recording and packaging, which are both superb, than to careful handling received by the disc after pressing. A similar experience with other Kraftwerk titles in the series leads me to doubt whether there'd be anything to gain in seeking a replacement. Ah well, nothing that conversion to MP3 and some judicious click removal couldn't solve... just for music on-the-go, you understand!

I was a teenage kid when I first heard the edited single version of 'Autobahn' in 1975. That's 1975. Just to re-iterate, 1975 - when only rich rock stars knews what a Moog was, let alone what to do with one. This album was so far ahead of its time, it's untrue.The years have gone by and I've only become more fascinated by Autobahn. Taken literally, it's a trip down a German motorway rendered with analogue synthesisers. It could have become a camp museum piece, but the spacey, classically-influenced arrangement and wonderful invention have rendered it a classic. There's just something about it that never seems to date.Kraftwerk would later continue the themes of retro-futurism that they touched upon here, but I don't think they were ever more experimental or more musical. In the bass pulse of the title track, you can hear any number of future music forms. But then in what used to be side two, you can also hear equally sparse invention with a flute. Yes, that's the most influential of electronic bands ever ... with a flute.I absolutely love this record. It somehow manages to be challenging and comforting at the same time. Like meeting an old acquaintance on friends reunited and finding that they were more fun than ever.

Had album back in the day glad I brought it again