I bought Autobahn in 1975 on LP ... loved it, and, by the time Trans-Europe Express was released in 1977 I was already DJing, not that I had much chance to play any Kraftwerk as a DJ until a couple of years later when the times were changing in Britain and the New Romantic movement was coming in. The Man Machine was the album that I was able to play tracks from quite often and, of course, went back to Trans-Europe Express for Showroom Dummies (Die Schaufensterpuppen in German, Les Mannequins en Francais - I played them all, to be different)... the UK eventually caught up with me and the other progressive DJs who were playing Kraftwerk in 1981 when The Model (from The Man Machine) finally became a hit. Ironically it was a B-side to a new 1981 track Computer World but radio was playing The Model (I was, of course, playing Das Model - red vinyl German version!)... The Man Machine finally started selling and was quite a hit album in late 1981/1982... Around 1980 I had the honour of announcing Kraftwerk to the stage at te Top Rank, Birmingham, when I was resident DJ there - it was the first tour that they used robots on stage... quite amazing... of course, these days, every DJ, producer, hip-hop artist says Kraftwerk were an influence... I was THERE! And thats the convoluted reason, I enjoyed seeing this little video pop up yesterday - Kraftwerk live - Spacelab - from The Man Machine. When (if at all) did YOU get into Kraftwerk? Whats YOUR favourite track? Mine, by the way, is the whole album of Trans-Europe Express - no-stop, all the way through, the way it has to be heard! electronicsound.co.uk/kraftwerk-berlin/
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 23:57:37 +0000