Autobahn (album)
Autobahn | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | November 1974 | |||
Studio |
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Genre |
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Length | 42:27[1] | |||
Language | German | |||
Label | Philips | |||
Producer | ||||
Kraftwerk chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
Singles from Autobahn | ||||
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Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German
Most of the album is taken up by the 22-minute "Autobahn", featuring lyrics by Schneider, Hütter, and Schult. The song was inspired by the group's joy of driving on Germany's autobahns, and recorded music that reflected a trip emulating the sounds of a vehicle. The album's release in West Germany saw little press attention. "Autobahn" was released as a single and received airplay at a Chicago radio station, leading it to spread across the United States. In 1975, the song became an international hit and Kraftwerk's first release of their music in the US. "Autobahn"'s success led to the band touring the United States with new member Karl Bartos, who replaced Röder, followed by a tour of the United Kingdom.
Initial reception to Autobahn was mixed; it received negative reviews from
Background and production
Prior to the release of Autobahn,
In early 1974, like their German contemporaries, Kraftwerk purchased a
Music
In the book Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop, Carsten Brocker said with Autobahn, Kraftwerk completed the transition from their earlier style of experimental
Hütter repeatedly described Kraftwerk's music as Industrielle Volksmusik (lit. 'industrial folk music'), specifically referencing a modern version of German regional musical traditions rather than the industrial music sound of groups like Throbbing Gristle.[16] In Britain, electronic music was popularly known as "Doctor Who music", referencing the pioneering electronic soundtrack to the television series.[17] Hütter stated in 1975 Kraftwerk got the idea for the album by driving on the autobahn, stating it was an "exciting experience that makes you run through a huge variety of feelings. We tried to convey through music what it felt like."[18] Flür later described "Autobahn" as a journey from Düsseldorf to Hamburg, and said the route included musical pieces such as the industrial sounds of the Ruhr valley, the conveyor belts of the mining towns such as Bottrop and Castrop-Rauxel, and the rural Münster region, which is symbolized by the flute in the song.[19] Other sounds of road travel are heard throughout the song; according to Hütter, the group included "car sounds, horns, basic melodies and tuning motors. Adjusting the suspension and tyre pressure, rolling on the asphalt, that gliding sound—phhhwwtphhhwwt—when the wheels go onto those painted stripes. It's sound poetry, and also very dynamic."[18]
"Autobahn" was co-written by Schult, whom Hütter asked to write some lyrics.
In the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Stephen Dalton called Autobahn "...a landmark in avant-garde pop minimalism".[26]
Release
Autobahn was released in Germany in November 1974[27] by Philips Records as the third of the group's three-album deal with the label.[28] The album was released in the United States in January 1975, and the group's first album to be released in the US.[29] Autobahn charted in the US for 22 weeks on Billboard's Top LPs and Tapes chart and peaked at number 5 on 3 May 1975.[30] In the UK, the album was released by Phonogram with a blue-and-white motorway logo rather than Schult's painted cover.[23] The UK cover became the default sleeve on later reissues.[23] Autobahn was digitally remastered for released on CD, LP and cassette in 1985.[28] In 2009, Kraftwerk remastered and released eight of their albums, including Autobahn, as part of a compilation called The Catalogue.[31]
A
Tour
At the end of 1974, Kraftwerk had a short tour in West Germany; where the group remained a quartet, retaining Wolfgang Flür and hiring
During the tour, the material consisted mostly of music from Autobahn and some of their earlier material. The group had difficulties with their initial road crew, who were fired and replaced during the American tour.
Reception
Contemporaneous reviews
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
The Village Voice | C+[42] |
According to Kraftwerk biographer Uwe Schütte, on its initial release in Germany, Autobahn was generally ignored by the mainstream German music press.[43] The group invited members of the German rock press to drive with them and played "Autobahn" from the car's speakers.[44] Schult recalled the general response from these journalists was an emphatic "So what!"[44] The only major publication that covered the album was the November 1974 issue of German magazine Sounds, in which reviewer Hans-Joachim Krüger called the album "varied, and above all entertaining jaunt which particularly impresses listeners wearing headphones".[43][45] In a review of a later Kraftwerk album, a reviewer credited as "N.N." said of Autobahn, "[S]omething like that doesn't even deserve to be released".[46][45] Flür said of the album's initial critical reception; "In Germany, artists are often not well regarded unless they've scored great achievements abroad" and "Our success in the US finally brought good headlines in the German newspapers".[23]
In 2013, Jude Rogers of The Observer called some English-language responses to the album xenophobic.[33] Rogers cited examples such as Barry Miles' live review of the band that was titled "This is what your fathers fought to save you from", and an interview between Hütter and Lester Bangs in which Bangs asked if Kraftwerk were "the final solution" for music.[33] When the NME printed Bangs' interview, a photograph of the group was superimposed over an image of a Nuremberg rally.[33] Among contemporaneous reviews, John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone gave the album a negative review, finding it not as good as the music of Wendy Carlos, who "hasn't been in the Top Ten in months and months".[47] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau gave the album a C+ rating, comparing it with the music of Mike Oldfield but said it was made "for unmitigated simpletons, sort of, and yet in my mitigated way I don't entirely disapprove".[42]
Bill Provick of the
Retrospective reviews
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Drowned in Sound | 9/10[25] |
The Irish Times | [52] |
Mojo | [53] |
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide | [54] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10[55] |
Uncut | [56] |
In 1985, Simon Witter wrote in the NME Autobahn is not as strong as Kraftwerk's four subsequent albums but that it has "enormous historical significance".[2] Witter said; "In the glam era of glitter and guitars, Kraftwerk were four besuited squares playing keyboards", and that the group was "Mentally and sonically decades ahead of their contemporaries", noting their unique rhythms, textures and melodies.[2] Simon Reynolds wrote in the Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995); "Esoterics will claim they prefer the first three albums: they're excellent, but truthfully Autobahn is when Kraftwerk's muzak-of-the-sphere starts to matter".[57] Reynolds said the title track "sounds like a pastoral symphony, even as it hymns the exhilaration of cruising down the freeway".[57]
David Cavanagh gave the 2009 remaster of Autobahn a five-star rating in Uncut, saying the title track is its main attraction and called the tracks "freckled with warmth: sunny vocal harmonies ("...mit Glitzerstrahl"), a carefree flute solo (Schneider) and clever modulations (denoting gear-changes) to break the tension", Cavanagh called the remastering of the album a fiasco, and said it is worse than the compact discs previously released by EMI.[56] Mat Snow wrote in Mojo the album is a "pop landmark" and a "blueprint for their entire enterprise".[53] Tom Ewing of Pitchfork commented positively on the album in their review of The Catalogue, noting tracks on the album are a showcase for Kraftwerk's "gift for simple, wistful melodies" but said the themes explored on the album were done better on Trans-Europe Express.[58] Other later album reviews, such as a four-star rating from The Irish Times and a three-and-a-half star rating in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, were generally positive with no specific details on Autobahn [54] Christgau upgraded his initial ranking of C+ for Autobahn to a B−.[42]
Legacy
Kraftwerk later signed with EMI to establish the Kling Klang company.
In his review of Sequencer (1976) by
According to
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
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2. | "Kometenmelodie 1" ("Comet Melody 1") | 5:44 |
3. | "Kometenmelodie 2" ("Comet Melody 2") | 6:20 |
4. | "Mitternacht" ("Midnight") | 4:40 |
5. | "Morgenspaziergang" ("Morning Walk") | 4:00 |
Total length: | 42:27 |
Credits
Credits adapted from the original album label.[71]
Kraftwerk
- Ralf Hütter – vocals, electronics, music, concept, production
- Florian Schneider – vocals, electronics, music, concept, production
- Wolfgang Flür – percussion
- Klaus Röder – violin, guitar
Additional personal
- Konrad Plank – engineer
- Emil Schult – Cover painting
- Barbara Niemoller – photography
The 1985 re-release added:[72]
- Klaus Röder – electric violin on "Mitternacht"
The 2009 remaster contained further changes and additions:[73]
- Ralf Hütter – voice, electronics, synthesizer, organ, piano, guitar, electronic drums, artwork reconstruction.
- Florian Schneider – voice, vocoder, electronics, synthesizer, flute, electronic drums
- Wolfgang Flür – electronic drums on "Kometenmelodie 1–2"
- Klaus Röder – electric violin on "Mitternacht"
- Johann Zambryski – artwork reconstruction
Charts
Weekly charts
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Certifications
Year-end charts
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References
- ^ a b Erlewine.
- ^ a b c Witter 1985.
- ^ a b c Schütte 2020, p. 42.
- ^ a b c d e f g Van Matre 1975.
- ^ Schütte 2020, p. 60.
- ^ Hooker 1975.
- ^ Dallas 1975.
- ^ Bussy 2004, p. 52.
- ^ McNiece 2021.
- ^ Bussy 2004, p. 54.
- ^ a b c Bussy 2004, p. 56.
- ^ Bussy 2004, p. 57.
- ^ a b Brocker 2011, p. 103.
- ^ a b c d Brocker 2011, p. 104.
- ^ Brocker 2011, p. 105.
- ^ Schütte 2017, p. 86.
- ^ Thompson 1995, p. 19.
- ^ a b c Dalton 2004.
- ^ Schütte 2020, p. 55.
- ^ Bussy 2004, p. 55-56.
- ^ a b Barton 1975.
- ^ Witter 1991.
- ^ a b c d e Dalton 2016a, p. 4.
- ^ Dalton 2016b.
- ^ a b Power 2009.
- ^ Dalton, Stephen (2005). "Kraftwerk - Autobahn". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 318.
- ^ Schütte 2020, p. 63.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bussy 2004, p. 69.
- ^ Hunt 1975, p. 66.
- ^ "Kraftwerk". Billboard. Archived from the original on 29 January 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ Breihan 2009.
- ^ Bussy 2004, p. 61.
- ^ a b c d Rogers 2013.
- ^ Hunt 1975, p. 67.
- ^ a b Hooker 1976.
- ^ a b Bussy 2004, p. 63.
- ^ Bussy 2004, p. 64.
- ^ a b Bussy 2004, p. 65.
- ^ Schütte 2020, p. 72.
- ^ a b Bussy 2004, p. 66.
- ^ Bussy 2004, p. 67.
- ^ a b c Christgau 1975.
- ^ a b Schütte 2020, p. 64.
- ^ a b Bussy 2004, p. 58.
- ^ a b Schütte 2020, p. 298.
- ^ Schütte 2020, p. 65.
- ^ Mendelsohn 1975.
- ^ a b Provick 1975.
- ^ Deane 1975.
- ^ Barker 1975.
- ^ Robins 1975.
- ^ Clayton-Lea 2009.
- ^ a b Snow 2009.
- ^ a b Coleman & Randall 2004, pp. 468–69.
- ^ Reynolds 1995, p. 215.
- ^ a b Cavanagh.
- ^ a b Reynolds 1995, p. 216.
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- ^ Calder 1977.
- ISBN 978-1-906002-08-4. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
- ^ Larsen 2014.
- ^ Autobahn (Vinyl sticker). Mercury Records. 1974. SRM-1-1154.
- ^ Autobahn (Album back cover). Mercury Records. 1974. SRM-1-1154.
- ^ Autobahn (Vinyl side B label). EMI-Parlophone. 1985. AUTO 1/EJ 24 0070 1B.
- ^ Autobahn (Booklet notes). Mute Records. 2009. CDSTUMM303.
- ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 3949a". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
- ^ GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
- ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Kraftwerk – Autobahn" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Kraftwerk – Autobahn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ "Kraftwerk Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Kraftwerk – Autobahn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Kraftwerk – Autobahn". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
- ^ "French album certifications – Kraftwerk – Autobahn" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 25 February 2024. Select KRAFTWERK and click OK.
- ^ "British album certifications – Kraftwerk – Autobahn". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
- ^ "RPM Top 100 of 1975 – December 27, 1975" (PDF).
- GfK Entertainment. Archivedfrom the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
- ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1975". Billboard. Archived from the original on 10 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
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- Brocker, Carsten (2011). "5. Kraftwerk: Technology and Composition". In Albiez, Sean; Pattie, David (eds.). Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop. Translated by Patterson, Michael. Continuum International. ISBN 978-1-4411-6507-7.
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