I suppose one can see these entire tracks as a drive or stroll through nature, factories and through the highways of that time. But for the synth music and the experimentalism, one can see this album, “Autobahn” as a starting point for the band, who were looking forward to a new and exciting direction musically. And wanting to break away from their past albums and aiming for the future. “Autobahn” is an album that is worth checking out and I recommend it!
Click here to purchase Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” on Amazon
BAND: Kraftwerk
ALBUM: Autobahn
DURATION: 5 Songs (43 Minutes)
RELEASE DATE: November 1974 / Remaster was released in 2009
1 Autobahn
2 Kometenmelodie 1
3 Kometenmelodie 2
4 Mitternacht
5 Morgenspaziergang
For many people, they may have heard of the German band known as Kraftwerk.
For many, they have seen videos on YouTube and how many synth bands or some electronic or industrial band was inspired by Kraftwerk.
The band was formed by Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider in 1970, both were part of a project experimental krautrock band called Organisation and released an album titled “Tone Float” in 1969.
For the most part, Kraftwerk are no doubt pioneers for electronic music. They have been doing in it way back in the early ’70s as part of West Germany’s experimental krautrock scene (artists who blended psychedelic rock, avant-garde compositions, electronic music and other sources) and while considered as legends, they have not had many releases.
In fact, many music fans have hoped that the band would release a new album or new song but the band’s last original album was back in 2003, while a live album titled “3-D The Catalogue” was released in 2017 and a remix album titled “remixes” in 2020.
And probably, a true reunion will be unlikely due to the death of Florian Schneider, who passed away on April 21, 2020 at the age of 73 due to cancer.
While there are other members of the group who contribute, such as Fritz Hilpert, Henning Schmitz and Falk Grieffenhagen, there have been numerous musicians who have come and gone in the past several decades.
But for me, I absolutely love the music of Kraftwerk. As a person who created my own electronic music when I was younger through my young adulthood, my first foray into Kraftwerk’s music was through their song “Tour de France”, which I always thought was their song utilized in the 1984 hit movie, “Breakin'” to find out that was just a cover of a Kraftwerk song.
Needless to say, my passion for electronic music became stronger, with songs such as their 1978 hit song “The Model”. But as I have gotten older, I have decided to collect their albums and enjoy them. Especially when I’m at work, I like to have some background music on and play some Kraftwerk or even on drives. As I think in my mind, how certain sounds was created back in the day.
But one of their experimental albums that I enjoy is their 1973 album “Autobahn”. In Germany, the federal controlled-access highway systems are known as Autobahn and the band which included Krlaus Roder on guitar and flute and Wolfgang Flur on percussion, would feature the band recording music that reflected a trip emulating the sounds of the vehicle.
And for those looking for the tracklisting may wonder why a five track-album may be a little expensive, while “Autobahn” features a total of five tracks, track one, which is the title track alone is 22:47 long.
The album was released with not much fanfare upon its initial release back in 1974. For music critics today, it is looked at as a major turningpoint for the band.
While the band were known for its krautrock music, by 1974, the band wanted to move away from the sounds of their first three albums and would employ the latest in music technology at the time and that was utilizing a Minimoog and EMS Synthi AKS for “Autobahn”.
“Autobahn” and even its third track “Kometenmelodie 2” are songs that sounds like something that would come out from an ’80s new wave band, but this song was made in 1974.
While “Kometenmelodie 2″and “Mitternacht” sound like experimental track utilizing various sounds, “Morgenspaziergang” is more of a song that sounds like I would experiment with on my Korg Electribes back in the day, while you have a combination of synth music and the flute.
It’s important to note that Kraftwerk used alternative covers for their album releases. So, this one uses a more minimalistic design versus the cars on the highway that was featured on the 1974 album.
So, I suppose one can see these entire tracks as a drive or stroll through nature, factories and through the highways of that time. But for the synth music and the experimentalism, one can see this album, “Autobahn” as a starting point for the band, who were looking forward to a new and exciting direction musically. And wanting to break away from their past albums and aiming for the future.
“Autobahn” is an album that is worth checking out and I recommend it!
