MINIMUM MAXIMUM

In the early 70s Kraftwerk made some dense electronic records full of lengthy ambient cuts like Stratovarious and Autobahn, and that has led some observers to link them with the path travelled by Tangerine Dream. I have to say though, that while I can grasp Tangerine Dream's sparse, albeit multi-layered textures, Kraftwerk's music has always been monotous, robotic and synthetic to me. In fact, I find this lot to be the very antithesis of progressive music.

Culled from a series of concerts recorded between March and June, 2004, this double album sees the quartet (really just two sods called Ralf and Florian and hired help) trot out their "greatest hits". This stuff is singularly unappealing, and even the most familiar moments like Tour De France, The Model, a truncated version of Autobahn and the Vangelis-like Radioactivity remind me that Kraftwerk were at best, purveyors of mediocre synth-pop (forget my favourites Ultravox and OMD, I even prefer Falco and Pet Shop Boys to this!). As for the rest of the 22 agonizing cuts, most like The Man-Machine and Music Non-Stop are less memorable, one-dimensional, overlong synth tunes, while the odd track like Planets Of Visions is actually nightclub music that probably needs somebody like Sophie Ellis-Bextor singing on it!

Even the flawless sound quality is a drawback, because one expects some degree of spontaniety in a live performance, not this computerized stuff. I cannot imagine that this sort of rubbish would appeal to any one seeking out progressive music of any description. The only good thing about the hour-plus that I wasted listening to Minimum-Maximum is that it made me appreciate "real" musicians that much more. If I come off as sounding disrespectful here, it's probably because I mean to be. ... 6% on the MPV scale