COMPUTER WORLD [AKA: COMPUTERWELT]

"Computer World (Computerwelt)" is the 8th full-length studio album by German experimental electronic pop/rock act Kraftwerk. The album was released through Kling Klang/EMI/Warner Bros. in May 1981. The group´s last two albums "Trans-Europe Express (Trans-Europa Express) (1977)" and "The Man-Machine (Die Mensch-Maschine) (1978)" impressed me greatly and I find them both excellent electronic pop albums. With "Computer World (Computerwelt)", Kraftwerk enters the eighties and take full advantage of the new electronic devices available at that point.

The music is electronic pop with repetitive and at times hypnotic trance like electronic beats, simple and memorable synth motifs and processed robotic vocals. The themes are not as memorable as on the two excellent predecessors though and upon initial listens I found myself to be a bit disappointed by "Computer World (Computerwelt)". I´ve grown to appreciate it a bit more after repeated listens but to my ears it doesn´t reach the heights of "Trans-Europe Express (Trans-Europa Express) (1977)" or "The Man-Machine (Die Mensch-Maschine) (1978)". It´s a fairly short album with a playing time of 34:32 minutes distributed over 7 tracks. My major complaint about the album is probably the sound which is not at all as edgy as the sound on the two predecessors. "Computer World (Computerwelt)" features a more "soft" sound production and it´s like the tracks pass by without leaving much of an impact. My attention occasionally wanders and the music becomes pleasant background music instead of music I´m paying real attention to.

While "Computer World (Computerwelt)" doesn´t appeal as much to me as it´s two predecessors do, it´s still a pretty good and pleasant electronic pop album deserving a 3 (60%) star rating. As a new listener I would start with the two predecessors though.