Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk (1970) Unofficial CD Release, 1994

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Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk (1970) Unofficial CD Release, 1994

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What might have been simply seen as an agreeable enough debut album has since become something of a notorious legend because Kraftwerk, or more accurately the core Hütter/Schneider duo at the heart of the band, simply refuses to acknowledge its existence any more. What's clearly missing from Kraftwerk is the predominance of clipped keyboard melodies that later versions of the band would make their own. Instead, Kraftwerk is an exploratory art rock album with psych roots first and foremost, with Conny Plank's brilliant co-production and engineering skills as important as the band performances. Still, Hütter and Schneider play organ and "electric percussion" – Hütter's work on the former can especially be appreciated with the extended opening drone moan of the all-over-the-place "Stratovarius" combined with Schneider's eerie violin work. But it's a different kind of combination and exploration, with the key pop sugar (and vocal work) of later years absent in favor of sudden jump cuts of musique concrète noise and circular jamming as prone to sprawl as it is to tight focus.

Review by Ned Raggett, Allmusic.com

I really enjoy listening to this CD, from beginning to end. Even tho they list 4 songs, it sounds like many songs, within each title. Perhaps what happens on this CD, is sonata forms, being stretched, and distorted, as KRAFTWERK experiments towards their own unique and super influencial sound. The CD's electronica is typical for the Berlin scene of 1970. Its not very different than "Pink Period" Tangerine Dream, Kluster, or the first Klaus Schulze LPs. What I think makes this CD so special, is the way they just sort of start a song, fade it out, fade back in playing it faster, fade out, fade back in with the song so fast, that VSO (Tape speed manipulation) must be the only explanation, and then fade out, only to fade up a last time, with raging versions at hyperspeed, of the original theme. This happens during RUCKZUCK for instance. In fact, many of the songs use fade ins and outs, and "SILENCE" as musical devices. In that sense, it suggests the classical, experimental music of Stockhausen, and Ligeti, with some Fluxus influence to boot. Other songs, like the quietly beautiful MEGAHERZ, where silence and drones push the listening experience into the deeply meditative. For those KRAFTWERK fans that only know AUTOBAHN, or THE MODEL (from Mensch Maschine), be adviced the motorik dance grooves, and dead pan vocals, were not developed at this stage. ALtho the use of a "REAL" drummer is much bantered about with this CD, the drummer is only used on two songs, from what i hear. So, what is this work aiming for? First off, very quiet, meditative places, where electronic drones and shimmering sounds dominate. The POWERPLANT (English translation of their name) is not generating proto new wave dance grooves. Instead, it's a powerplant generating a 60 Herz hum, random beeps and black outs, and an eiry dead calm. Sometimes you wonder if they are painting a soundscape of WWII, and the WIRKSHAFTWUNDER that followed it. It's a powerplant that empowers the spirit, and mind, more than the body and soul. Later KRAFTWERK LPs delved into body and soul, with their motorik dance music, clever lyrics, and robotic stage presence. In many ways, this is perhaps the most EXPERIMENTAL Krautrock album made, as far as minimalism and sonic manipulation goes. Had Ralf and Florian only explored the territory they did on their first 3 LPs, they STILL would have been considered groundbreaking pioneers of the electronic music scene. However, they built on all they developed by 1974, then added their rythym section and lyrics, to become the KRAFTWERK that wrote the book on NEW WAVE Electronic sound. They pushed into international stardom, and influenced so many musicians and trends, that the ripples are still felt from their heyday. I would suggest this CD to anyone, who enjoys minimalist and experimental electronica, and trance inducing drones. KRAFTWERK 1 is KRAUTROCK at its embryonic finest.

Review by W.T.Hoffman, Amazon.com

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Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk (1970) Unofficial CD Release, 1994

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Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk (1970) Unofficial CD Release, 1994

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Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk (1970) Unofficial CD Release, 1994

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