KRAFTWERK

KRAFTWERK's debut is one of groundbreaking albums in the beginning of the Krautrock scene. It was released in the same year as TANGERINE DREAM's "Electronic Meditation" for example. This album has some interesting instrumentation including a lot of acoustic instruments which were later abandoned for more electronic sound. This album has very experimental minimalistic music and avant-guarde sound explorations. This can be also said for their next album but later they transformed into pop electronica. Some parts of "Kraftwerk" contain too much gnashing sounds that can drive your neighbours crazy. There are also some less wild and more spaced-out parts for example in "Megaherz" - the standout track IMO. Conclusion: This album is very experimental and not recommended for the faint-hearted. This is maybe not as pleasant listening as their later albums but from a prog point of view this one is a krautrock classic!

Now, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw Kraftwerk's radio-activity album has been "what the hell is it doing here!!!" and then I realized how much I love this one... Well, I still don't believe Kraftwerk's music fits into "krautrock" category, apart from the first two albums, but this one is one of them; right? anyway, after tangerine dream, no group surprises me... Yet, Kraftwerk is the other one of the two electronic music giants (which could be completed into a trilogy with Klaus Schulze) so it deserves a place in progarchives. But I believe its subgenre should have been space experimental... No need to add much to the prevous reviewers... Experimental, avant-garde, some minimalizm, and fully mind-blowing tracks! And I agree with progman, wish they could preserve the sound they caught with this one; anyway, isn't prog all about "progressing forward"??? They still have something to check out later on. And; if you have the chance ABSOLUTELY get the "Organization" album "Tone Float" (I got all of them in a Russia originated MP3 disc!) Check out the introductory writing to Kraftwerk... Experimental and krautrock lovers will not regret; still, I don't think this will pleaase conventional prog- lovers... Since most early Tangerine Dream albums are considered as masterpieces, I believe this one has no less gems than them; essential.

Kraftwerk is known for being at the heart of Krautrock especially the electronic part of it and they are everybit as important as Guru Guru , Can , Tangerine Dream, Early Popol Vuh, Neu!/La Dusseldorf. However if you are likely to remember them as electonic pop , this first album will indeed surprise as there are no Synths at all and the music here is full of "normal" instruments. Ruckzuck even starts out with a flute! As you might now guess , we are nor really in Autobahn territory , but this music is still severly hard to grasp fully!

Klaus Dinger of Neu! also contributes drums on this album. This album is the direct result of Ralf and Florian having constructed their KlingKlang soundstudios at home and they bare heavily experimenting.

I should really give this album its fourth star as it is essential for anyone loving experimental Krautrock (I am one of those ) but somehow this album never got IMHO to a cult status with me! Least I can say is that I am a minority!

You can take something that's totally monotous, dress it up with conceptual packaging, call it minimalist and (apparently) even call it progressive. But if it doesn't challenge you, doesn't grow on you and gives you no enjoyment whatsoever, you eventually need to walk away.

So it was with Kraftwerk, the brainchild of Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider. I knew they were famed for the synth pop themes of Tour De France and The Model, but I took it at face value when I was assured that Kraftwerk had once been a progressive rock band, even if it was with a strong "electronic" element. After all, many great 70s bands had travelled that route. That this record also featured future Neu! star Klaus Dinger made it doubly enticing. Or so I thought.

I tucked into this debut album and soon found that almost everything about Kraftwerk repels me. The repetitive thump of most of Ruchzuck, the 12 minute sound-effect laden fade-in, fade-out discordant Stratovarius, which thankfully adopts a hypnotic structure halfway through (yes Kraut-rock is the word I'm looking for!). The space station freak outs that kick off the frequently inaudible Megaherz. Von Himmel Hoch was Stratovarius all over again, except the percussion is punchier. Overall, though, this was one of the most ardous albums I've ever had to endure.

Listen to me go on. Perhaps I should just try and find something nice to say about this album. Hmmm. Oh yeah, the playful flutes at the very beginning of Ruchzuck were decent and I also thought that the keyboard swells on the seventh minute of Megaherz weren't entirely repugnant. I even thought I heard a real organ for a moment during the latter piece.

But really, the best thing I can say about Kraftwerk's debut album is that it made me appreciate my previous favourite target Can a little more. I hasten to remind you that I have a strange relationship with Kraut-rock, cos I really love Amon Düül II, quite like Faust and intensely dislike some others! Apparently these guys went on to make a 22 minute piece about the tedium of driving on German highways the next year (the title track of 1974's Autobahn). But this is torture enough for me.

I can see how someone might call this sort of thing "art." But to my ears, this is not even music. 8% on the MPV scale

The frequent comparisons to Can are about the closest you're going to get to any similar sounding music. Kraftwerk define their own space with every album - and yet, with the debut, there is something deeply rooted in 1970s rock, despite the apparent synth overload.

This is not full-blown electronica, as in actual fact, there are no synths - but the mix of organ and electronically effected acoustic/electric instruments makes for a very pleasing and retrospective texture.

"Ruckzuck" takes a minimalistic approach, and grows small textural ideas - this is not the type of Progressive Rock that blares "I'm Brilliant - Stand In AWE", but the type that draws you into a very intimate zone - a personal, unfolding voyage into inner and outer space simultaneously.

The trick is to try to follow all of the individual lines at once - it's nearly impossible. Following individual lines defeats the objectives of the music, and would fool the casual listener into believing that this is somehow simple or even nonsensical. It is actually a band that is tightly integrated with a common vision of the direction of the music - bordering slightly on the insane.

This is clearly evidenced in "Stratovarius", which begins with a sequence of ever- straining dischords, reminiscent of an orchestra tuning up. Eastern flavours creep in, and then someone walks off... once that oddity has passed, pizzicato madness starts to set in, but settles into a groove quite quickly, underpinned by detuned bass and a really cool drum beat that twists and turns, assisting the music in its build-up in a section that clearly has its roots in Krautrock/psychedelia.

The pizzicato returns around 7:30, marking out what appears to be a 3rd section to the piece. Indeed, this feels more like a new piece in the same style rather than the continuation of the existing piece - but that doesn't matter too much, as the style is given some continuity with violin flavours in the texture - I'm assuming that this is what "Stratovarius" is referring to; the use of violin and doctored violin sounds as textural leitmotif that goes beyond the original sound of the instrument.

A 4th section begins unmistakably with the use of a mournful bowed violin sound - whether it's acoustic or electronic is somewhat obfuscated by the clever overlays, but it's a great build-up that superficially may seem repetitive, but Kraftwerk have a great handle on minimalism and understand where to tweak the sounds to provide maximum dramatic growth.

"Megaherz" follows, and again, the dry Kraftwerk humour shows through, beginning with deep, throbbing bass sounds (in the herz arena, but lots in terms of ambient quantity...). This is gradually layered with dissonant washes of what appear to be synth in a wonderfully atmospheric way, that makes me feel as if I'm staring down some kind of electronic hole in the space-time continuum... This drops away to a gentle and pastoral flavoured section, beautifully floaty, with the occasional dischord to counterbalance any saccharine in the sweetness of the surrounding textures. Shimmering metallic sounds indicate the gentle growth of the piece, providing a kind of alarm to new possibilities. Time seems to stand still.

This piece is a perfect example of how ambient music can be written, with attention paid to the character of the music, and instrumental decoration kept to a minimum - virtuosity is provided in the treatment of the instrumental textures, some of which are processed through various effects, others of which are effects produced by different methods of playing the instruments.

"Vom Himmel Hoch" rounds off the album nicely - another near-perfect composition for what it is. There are moments in here that remind me very strongly of the more "floaty" parts of "Dark Side of the Moon" - almost as if Pink Floyd lifted the sections from around 3:00...

The Krautrock "freakout" that follows shows a fabulously creative set of imaginations at work, with sounds that are disturbing and edgy, and reminiscent of the tape collages of Karlheinz Stockhausen, and the easy yet disturbed groove that brings the piece to a close is strongly predictive of the Ozric Tentacles.

It's quite apparent that the engineering and effects processing is just as important to the success of this album as a coherent and very progressive work of art as the playing of the band itself, which is another thing that this album has in common with "DSOTM".

As a summary, an absolutely fabulous work of art - I would say stunning for a debut, but that wouldn't be strictly true, as Hutter and Schnieder released an album called "Tone Float" under the name of Organisation. This is a decidedly more exploratory affair, with none of the hallmarks of a band having mastered its sound that "Kraftwerk" shows. A real Power Station of ideas and highly recommended.

I'd like to say that it's a masterpiece, because it is.

I think the thing that stops me from saying that it's a masterpiece of Prog Rock is because the Rock aspects are often incidental - although on this album they are natually stronger than on any other that Kraftwerk ever produced thanks to the presence of instruments that are largely acoustic, 2 real drummers and a drum-machine builder (Schnieder).

However, the thrust is towards electronic music and bears many similarities with the ways in which the electronic composers of the 1940s built their music... which is an extraodinarily progressive way of thinking - although understandable, given that both Florian and Schnieder were classical music students at Dusseldof university and would have been given maximum exposure to this radical form of music - hence the natural comparisons with Can.

None of which is a convincing argument as to why this album should not be considered a masterpiece of Prog Rock.

So I'll just have to fall back to that old chestnut, opinion.

"Kraftwerk" is an absolute masterpiece - a fantastic album of brilliantly concieved, flawlessly executed and perfectly produced progressive music which, if it's not there already, is seriously missing from your prog collection. But it's not a masterpiece of Prog rock because I say so.

And I'm sure your ears will agree. :o)

Yes the blueprint album for the later on electronic pop music they would later develop on in the later part of Kraftwerk's career. This is the debut self titled album from Kraftwerk released in the winter of 1970 and bands like Can and Tangerine Dream were already in the game but were Kraftwerk ready???

Even better there is no Synthesizers so sorry later fans of Kraftwerk there is a shock in store for you as this is strictly Krautrock.

Ruckzuck has lovely flute intro but that organ riff is not the best thing to listen to throught the first few minutes, with little change also doesn't help, but all of a sudden there is this drone with a stampeed of percussions and organ beeps fizzing around the speakers (yes the stereo sound), then goes back to that organ riff which I hate but the song anyway, strange but true, a trick happens if your a first time listeners a 5 second pause may assume the end but the song kicks in faster until it suddenly finishes a minute or so later. Stratovarious has a really head cracking organ solo with dark concequences, but will cool down 3 minutes later with cool drumming and percussion fusion, the guitar then kicks in later on unfortunately my least favourite track the mellow organ and flute structure is lovely but the start will depress you.

Megahertz has a cool hypnotic pulsating intro like a space generator sound and then takes a while to get into the beautiful harmonic sounds of the organ and flute with builds up emotion, for me this is a personnal favourite and the flute work of Scneider Eslebben is tremendous, the flute is more important than any synthesizer, you should have taken that into consideration Florian.

Vom Himmel Hoch is the cool closer here and trust me you will love this one very upbeat and funky, also a humourous track about yes you guessed it aeroplanes in the sky battling out each other (maybe it represent the World War II, that's my guess anyway!)

In all a great Krautrock album and a brave attempt to to fully indulgent solos of this nature, a must for Krautrockers out there, two real drummer, Scneider and Hutter playing real instruments, what more could you want, my sleeve notes say Ralf Hutter plays tubon what is that Bass Guitar or something??, my final result and verdict 90%

Extra Comments: A blueprint for space rock and tecno music, don't expect electronica on this album you won't find it here, try Radioactivity or ComputerWorld if that is your bag, if that isn't this is your alternative!!

I never thought Kraftwerk were krautrock in their beginning! The best warning I can give you is that, if you don't like the krautrock band Can, then you probably won't like this record either! The music here has almost no melody, and the emotions possibly brought are only found in the mellow part of "MegaHertz"!

"Ruckzuk" starts pretty well with flutes a la Jethro Tull, curiously reminding a bit the Under Wraps album. Unfortunately, it is too experimental, hypnotic and repetitive. The second part is VERY krautrock influenced, as reveals the psychedelic echoed drums & percussions- oriented music. The "Stratovarius" intro is one of the worst prog moment ever recorded: a series of insipid, insane & irritating keyboards laments; the rhythmic part is reminiscent of the band Neu! The couples of passages where rhythmic acceleration occurs are interesting. The best parts of this album are the gently floating organ & peaceful flutes/woodwind instrument bits on "MegaHertz": it reminds me a bit Jade Warrior and Jethro Tull; it is however partly destroyed by the bizarre frying noise. The artificial war planes & bombing emulations on "Von Himmel Hoch" are borderline childish and silly. The loaded passage on "Von Himmel Hoch" between 8:00 and 9:30 is another strong point of this record. The keyboards conversation is funny but Tomita can do it so much better!

I must admit the guys are structured and disciplined. For 1970, this was very original. Globally, I slightly prefer it to the Can's Tago Mago album, because it is better structured and there are more memorable passages: that's why I can add half of a star to the rating.

Rating: 2.5 stars

I like it, I like the minimalistic melodies, repetitive delays, phasing effects... I understand this is not appealing to some people. But this is certainly music and therefore art. And a good one at that. For the brave and daring listeners with electronic avan-garde tendencies. If you listen carefully, you will find a LOT of good melodies, and some - surprise surprise -obvious rock elements. And classical. Is this noise? Hell no! It's not only about phase shifting and dissonant flutes. It's about the structures and stories.

I won't say much about Kraftwerk's debut. It's more minimalistic than my review! But at the same time its 40 minutes of MUSIC contain more daring ideas than some band's entire catalogues.

KRAFTWERK are mostly known for their pioneering, rather stark and industrial approach to programmed electronica, complete with catchy melodies and rhythms, which have been sampled countless times by countless bands since, but their origins are firmly tied in with the highly experimental music which came out of Germany during the late 60's/early 70's, affectionately known as 'Krautrock'. The music on this album very much suits its, rather primitive, flourescent orange 'Workman's Hat' cover-art. Inside the gate-fold shows a photograph of a strange, huge electronic generator, possibly forecasting the obsession the members would have with electricity, and what they could create with it, musically. This, their debut self-titled release from 1970, features 4 lengthy pieces, 2 on each side of the record. 'Kraftwerk' is really the collective name of Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider-Esleben, with help from various musicians, here Andreas Hohmann and Klaus Dinger man the drum-kits, reputedly Hohmann on the 1st side, Dinger on the 2nd. After working with Ralf and Florian, Dinger would join forces with another Kraftwerk helper Michael Rother and form another Kraut band called NEU! The instrumentation utilised on this recording is simply - Drums, Organ, Tubon (?), Flutes, Violin and Electric Percussion (I'm sure I can hear a Bass-Guitar at times, though it's not credited). 'Ruckzuck' (7.47) opens with Flutes, and their trademark repetitive rhythms kick in full- force. Florian's flute playing is stuttered (stoccatto?) and breathy, and his melodies are a treat. It gets relentless toward the middle, where the tune speeds up and stops dead in its tracks, crushing Organ chords pounding their way through the speakers, like a Giant taking footsteps. The piece then accelerates into a jam, grinding organ all the way backed with phased drums and odd electronic treatments. The original melody returns and, after a false ending, ends abruptly. Hats off to Conny Plank, Producer/engineer extraordinaire, for bringing out a most wonderful result from the band. 'Stratovarius' (12.10) opens with scorching Organ-work, constantly being detuned, wavering in pitch and sounding quite demented, hallucinogenic and quite effective. After a while, percussion noises interrupt and a pizzicato violin melody triggers off a slow, lagging jam, again with overdriven, distorted Organs and strange noises. Another manic, ascending build-up crashes into chaos, and gives way to more jamming, with manipulated Flute squelches and quivering Organ. 'Megaherz' (9.30) is the most beautiful and tranquil piece on the record. It's a highly atmospheric piece with lots of 'space'. The meandering Flauting, the floating Organ lines (recalling PINK FLOYD, surprisingly enough) makes for a most mind-blowing listening experience. 'Vom Himmel Hoch' (10.12) summarises the whole album - a relentless piece featuring similar traits as displayed in previous tracks with some aggressive sounds, and superb Drumming. I urge all adventurous Prog-Heads to plunge head-first into this Kraftwerk - no showroom dummies for now. MASTERPIECE status.

4.5 stars. Well once again I need to thank Tom Ozric for convincing me to get into the early KRAFTWERK records. I've said before that the Electronic genre is not one of my favourites, but this debut from them as well as Ralf and Florian's earlier album "Tone Flote" with the band ORGANISATION are both essential Krautrock gems. I even like this one better than the ORGANISATION recording. I just remember a friend of mine in high school playing the "Autobaun" record a lot and I did not like it at all, which also kept me from checking out any of KRAFTWERK's other records until now.

"Ruckzuck" has this catchy groove to it not unlike CAN. Flute is prominant throughout. The tempo picks up 2 1/2 minutes in. There is a brief calm after 3 minutes before the groove is back but a little rawer this time. The sound fades in and out as the tempo shifts the rest of the way. "Statovarius" opens with spacey and eerie sounds before it gets a little strange and experimental 3 1/2 minutes in. A flury of drums a minute later followed by scraping violin sounds and a melody 5 minutes in. This is dark and oh so good. The tempo picks up until you think it's going to explode. This happens again with those screeching violin sounds that build to a climax. It's spacey 10 minutes in before once again the drums and violin sounds speed up before this time ending abruptly to end the song.

"Megaherz" is experimental as it changes from one climate to the next before settling in with a light and spacey soundscape. The flute and organ 7 minutes in are cool. "Von Himmel Hoch" features electronic sounds that expand and receed. It sounds like 3 explosions between the 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 minute marks. Pulsing sounds and drums 4 minutes in are speeding up. Nice. The drums are great 5 minutes in. Weird noises before 7 minutes. We start to get a beat a minute later as the drummer puts on a show once again. It ends with an explosion.

Hey they're still playing drums, flute, organ, keys and violin at this point, it may be an experimental way mind you, but this is Krautrock.

Reflecting another facet of the band ...

Kraftwerk play Coachella April 26. The chances of them performing Ruckzuck there are slimmer than Dick Cheney winning the Nobel Peace Prize (found somewhere at an unknown blog)

This is the first KRAFTWERK album despite the fact that Ralf Hütter und Florian Schneider had produced 'Tone Float' before under the moniker ORGANISATION with the special intention to capture the british market. Now it's confusing that KRAFTWERK's official website discography starts with 'Autobahn' first which manifests the turn away to another style and exclusively electronically produced music. For some reasons the former albums actually are ignored by the band. But there's really no need to conceal them I would say - they should be proud on the contrary. Digital reissues were known only from illegal sellers like Germanofon for example but whilst writing this review I detected a reissue of the british Sounds Of The Universe label combining the first two KRAFTWERK albums which looks like to be a legalized one.

This debut is spiked with a lot of uncommon sound effects and expresses an avantgarde attitude. It sounds ahead of its time and is produced by ... engineering pioneer Conny Plank of course. Anyhow - it surprisingly entered the german LP charts. Ruckzuck developed to an often demanded song in subculture discotheques and additionally the minimalistic main theme was used as the title melody for a longtime political magazine on german television. Looking at the line-up first you might expect an emphasis on drum instruments. But 'Tone Float' is much more percussion drenched. On the other hand Klaus Dinger is with the band now who later formed NEU! and continued to follow the kraut paths. He appears with a repetitive monotonous drum playing preferably to hear on Ruckzuck which has a very special drive also caused by the staccato flute played by Florian Schneider. The weird middle section of the song is mostly ignored but an excellent example for more sophisticated improvised krautrock. This song was celebrated as a prefered part of their live performances (ditto for the late ORGANISATION gigs) - often with a very experimental approach and anything but monotonous.

Another reason which makes this album unique is the use of a tubon by Hütter. This special portable organ might represent the transition from traditional organ to the new synthesizer era and is responsible for several unusual tones sometimes sounding near to guitar, bass or saxophone. Stratovarius follows as a good example for that with a scary organ start-up detached by crazy Stockhausen alike and psychedelic grooving parts - finally ending into a furious finale. Except the drums and some decent violin and flute contributions thîs must be completely realized by the tubon - fascinating!

The song title Megaherz anticipates the subsequent KRAFTWERK intention to express the relationship of humans and machines within their music - appearing as a more spaced out interpretation - atmospheric, relaxed, with lack of percussion. Vom Himmel Hoch is the title of a german Christmas song and seems to be symbolically used as an appeal against the war - supported by effects sounding like aircrafts attacking with bombs. An intensive drum and organ duel with some jazzy moments is dominating this song further on.

I recommend to open up for KRAFTWERK's avantgarde approach and to take enough time for some rounds. It differs to the later times when they decided to take the 'Autobahn'. Fans who like their newer electronic style reflecting a pop appeal might be confused and disappointed listening to this. On the other hand it's a must have for prog fans who want to discover and collect early german experimental output.

I discovered ''Kraftwerk'' when I was sixteen. In '75, it was almost impossible to escape the massive airplay of ''Radioactivity'' and the least that I can say is that I quite liked it.

I was curious enough to dig backwards in their catalogue (but no further than ''Autobahn'') and I would follow them up to ''The Man Machine''. Although I liked some tracks from this band, I have been a devoted follower. Still, lots a years later, I entered their early catalogue of which this album is the first one as the ''Kraftwerk'' entity.

Even if the mechanical beats are not yet present on this work, the repetitive approach of the music is already inherent to this work (''Retreat''). The experimental ''Stratovarius'' can't really move either, but to be honest; I have never been into this type of music. I was actually not aware that ''Kraftwerk'' did play this type of music until recently.

To my ears, there is a short portion of ''Stratovarius'' that sounds to music (an upbeat but short middle part) but most of it consists of noises put together. This is how I feel. It is amazing though how these four guys who are using conventional instruments are able to screw it up so intensively.

A track as ''Megaherz'' holds some Tangerine Dream texture in its initial phase, but it is invaded by weird sounds every now and then. Too bad, since it would have been a fine spacey moment otherwise. It is a very atmospheric track and my fave here.

To be complete, I have to confess that most of ''From the High Skies'' is pretty indigestible: so you get the picture.

When I listened to this album, I could only be pleased that they changed their style later on; at least they sounded funny, even if they didn't look like this.

Two stars.

This is the only record by Kraftwerk I own at the moment, but it's really a brilliant record with very much groovey, floating and avant-garde pieces.

I really like the intro of 'Retreat (Ruckzuck)' and the main minimalistic melody with nice flute lines and a few avant-garde parts.

The second piece is a very avant-garde piece with somethings which sounds like a very long drawer, which make a very noisy sound whilst opening them.

The masterpiece of the record is in my opinion 'Megaherz'. The long bizarre minimal chords and ambient flute-playing on this piece just blew me away.

'From the High Skies (Von Himmel Hoch)' strarts of with something that sounds like an alarm. There are also some planes flying over and they are crashing down with explosions at the ends. The drums is really brilliant here and the electronics are like strange fun.

The cover of the album is a very brilliant minimalistic pop-art cover, with a very clear hint to Andy Warhol's cover design for Velvet Undergrounds album 'The Velvet Underground & Nico'.

Excellent recording, worth four stars.

"Kraftwerk" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by German krautrock/electronic music act Kraftwerk. The album was released through Philips in November 1970. Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider had been part of the pre-Kraftwerk act Organisation that released the experiemental krautrock album "Tone Float" in 1969 and then disbanded. The two musicians joined forces with drummers Klaus Dinger (later of Neu!) and Andreas Hohmann and became Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk is mostly known for their later electronic music releases but their early albums are mostly in experimental krautrock territory.

The music on the album is in the repetitive krautrock style with driving beats and a psychadelic instrumental approach but there are also many ambient experimental sound parts on the album. Keyboards, flutes, violin and woodwinds are a part of the instrumentation in addition to the percussive assault. The album opens very strong with the excellent "Retreat (Ruckzuck)" which to my ears is THE highlight of the album. It´s a great krautrock track with repetitive beats and some cool flute playing. After "Retreat (Ruckzuck)" the gas slowly leaves the ballon though. Already on the second track "Stratovarius" noisy ambient experimentation takes over and the experimental parts which provided "Retreat (Ruckzuck)" with an adventurous twist, are on "Stratovarius" a real challenge to get through (the middle section of the song is pretty great though). The remaining two tracks "Megaherz" and "From the High Skies (Von Himmel Hoch)" feature ambient and noisy experimental parts too and while that has always been a dominant part of krautrock, it´s a bit more avant garde/experimental here than on more easily digestable contemporary krautrock releases.

The sound production is of a very high quality considering the fact that this album was released in 1970. Producer Conny Plank is not without reason referred to as a legend by many. Upon conclusion "Kraftwerk" is an interesting debut album and fans of the more experimental and ambient part of the krautrock genre will probably enjoy this one greatly. For those of us who prefer a bit more structure, not as much improvised experimentation and more memorable songwriting, this is not really the place to start listening to either krautrock nor to Kraftwerk in general. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

The first Kraftwerk album proper proves to be a highly experimental and frequently frustrating effort, which finds the group's trademark electronic sound tempered by an avant-garde, early Tangerine Dream-style acid-krautrock approach that leaves little room for the engaging melodies that would make later albums such as 'Autobahn' and 'The Man Machine' international breakthrough hits. At this stage of their burgeoning career at least, group founders Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider seem unsure of which musical direction they should be heading, but there are shreds of interest to be found amongst the four long, unwieldy pieces that make up this self-titled affair, with the compressed flute percussion of 'Ruckzuck' pointing funkily towards the bands commercial future. 'Ruckzuck' apart, however, 'Kraftwerk 1' is one for the electronic fans who enjoy the likes of Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, early Cluster and Brian Eno. To recap then: All very interesting - but it's a lot of hard work. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2010

After the demise of Organisation, Ralf and Florian teamed up with drummer Andreas Hohmann to re-form under the new band name Kraftwerk. Hohmann didn't prove to be a very reliable band-member and since he was too busy with his own band Ibliss, Klaus Dinger stepped in for him. During this era also guitarist Michael Rother made live appearances with Kraftwerk. He would take Klaus Dinger with him to form Neu! in the next year.

This background shows how strongly Kraftwerk was tied in with the Krautrock scene before they changed into an entirely different but equally ground-breaking electronic direction. On this debut, the band presents themselves as a cutting-edge avant-rock act, and in just 4 tracks they lay down the groundwork of the more experimental side of Krautrock, serving as a source of inspiration for avant-Kraut bands like Neu!, Faust and Can (on their avant albums Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi).

Ruckzuck is probably the most accessible track. As with Neu, a steady pulsating groove drives things forward, while flutes, violin and experimental noise build layers of sound around it. My favorite track would be Stratovarius. The dark brooding pace, heavily treated violin sounds and rhythmical guitar strumming create a cosmic sound that must also have inspired early Tangerine Dream. The opening part before the drums join is magical. A little Kraut masterpiece this is.

More cosmic Kraut follows on Megahertz, with its droning organs and dissonant flutes this could have found its way on Tangerine Dream's Atem. It beats the Tangs though. Von Himmel Hoch is the most chaotic piece, a combination of sound effects, noise, free improvisation and ecstatic drumming. It's hard to describe how they manage to make this all work but it does. For me at least.

This is not your easy-listening Agitation Free type of Kraut, but a band that was a disconcertingly experimental and creative force. An essential Krautrock album and a challenging but rewarding musical experience. Don't go in if you need your music to come with melody and clear-cut structures. 4.5 stars for sure and ask me again in 20 more years.

I must begin by saying that the music here is very experimental and the genre has never been a personal favourite of mine. Fans of early Tangerine Dream or Can should like this first Kraftwerk release. The most listenable track for me is the opener "Ruckzuck" which is driven by a powerful flute riff, along with electric violin, guitar and organ. The instruments were also manipulated through a converter to add some different effects. There is a dramatic change of tempo and a psychedelic middle section, with an even faster reprise of the opening theme to end the piece.

"Stratovarius" has a scary organ intro. I find the heavy drone sound a litte painful and not at all pleasing to the ear. After around five minutes of screeching, there's a looser succession of mainly guitar and drum based jams. The drumming on the album provides the work with a krautrock edge. (One of the drummers on this record was Klaus Dinger who would soon form Neu!). The third track "Megaherz", has a meditative middle section with a duet between Schneider's flute and H�¼tter's keyboards. This is the softest part of the album and the most beautiful. The piece closes with some wave-like crescendos, ending the tranquility.

The final track "Vom Himmel Hoch" has more disturbing drones and sonic interruptions before a very coarse rock groove emerges that quickens in tempo for an explosive finale. The sounds here are mostly an aquired taste. I much prefer the later Kraftwerk's more minimalistic approach. I do admire the group's technical abilities and the work here is also expressive in many ways, but I'd describe it as uneasy listening. To be honest, I find it too unmelodic and repetitive. Don't get me wrong, it isn't bad. There are many listeners that appreciate this stuff more. The album cover was an influence of Andy Warhol and the then contemporary Pop Art movement. In all, there are some interesting moments on this record but it's more for fans of very experimental electronic and early krautrock music. 2 stars.

This self-titled debut from the first real incarnation of Kraftwerk out of the ashes of Organisation is more of the krautrock style that dominated Tone Float, except this album shows further experimentation. The music on this album sounds closest to a mixture of Amon Duul II, Sun Ra, and Neu!

Kraftwerk's electronic music is iconic and is what they are famous for, but their krautrock material is of very high quality. I'd rank this up top with Electric Free Sound by Gila and the best Can music, and it's really a shame that the early Kraftwerk albums are on a slight level of obscurity outside of this progressive rock community.

I'd have to say the stand out tracks on this album are the last two, "Megaherz" and "Von Himmel Hoch", which are basically bizarre kosmische sonic experiments for keyboard and manipulated guitar. Not exactly anything with a clear beat to follow, but it is fantastic for fans of the avant- garde scene.

Highly recommended obscure krautrock by future progressive robo-electro pop kings.

Kraftwerk's debut shows an interesting middle ground between the organic sound of Organisation (whose sole album slipped out only a handful of months before the new band set to work recording this one) and the crisp electronic vibe they would eventually hit upon later in their career. Possibly the best song on the album is Ruckzuck, which exemplifies this transitional nature well - over a processed organ line which sounds about 10 years ahead of its time for 1970, Schneider lays down flute passages whilst the rhythm section plays backing. The hint of electronic structures to come creeping into the already somewhat nostalgic tones of psychedelia pretty much sums up the album. Closing track Von Himmel Hoch includes a strange gushing, steaming sound towards the end that makes me think of the sort of industrial sounds which would inspire the Industrial scene in decades to come.

A good start, though Kraftwerk would achieve more striking and enduring results in albums to come. It's definitely interesting to listen to, but I wouldn't call it essential by any means.

Next to TANGERINE DREAM's "Electronic Meditation" this has to be the most unlikely debut album from any band on the road to global synth-rock superstardom. But today that same implausibility is a large part of its cult appeal: the chance to hear Ralf and Florian before their cybernetic face-lift, playing grungy experimental Krautrock not far removed from what their ex-bandmates would soon be doing in NEU!

Maybe calling the album 'experimental' is granting the band too much credit, however. Like other young German musicians, Ralf Hütter would later pay lip service to the Krautrock myth of Stunde Null: the belief that after World War II his generation rebuilt a new musical identity from the rubble up, without any English or American influences (not entirely true, but that's a discussion for elsewhere). Early Kraftwerk came closer than most to that ideal, but in 1971 they weren't exactly cutting any innovative musical edges yet.

In fact, depending on how broadly you define the word there might not be much real music on this disc at all, and what little there is lacks the thematic focus of later Kraftwerk hits. The band's only nod to musical development was limited at the time to arbitrary tempo changes and random buzz-bomb sound effects, with the occasional ambient detour ("Megaherz"). The signature rhythm of "Ruckzuck" and the brief jam in the latter half of "Stratovarius" are as groovy as this music ever gets, played in a style described (affectionately) by Julian Cope as "so tight-assed you want to prise it apart with a hammer."

Clearly this was a band in need of direction. And yet there's still something compelling about their first recorded effort, from the bright pop-art logo to the primitive blitzkrieg of "Von Himmel Hoch". But as much as I'd like to upgrade it the album doesn't really deserve more than three stars: there was better, farther reaching, and more influential Krautrock being made elsewhere at the same time.

Kraftwerk is the self-titled debut studio album from electronic innovators Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk's first two albums are very different beasts compared to their innovations and the creation of electronic music with albums like Autobahn, being much more in line with the experimental rock music of many other German bands of the Krautrock scene. What is Krautrock? Read on fellow music fans!

At the beginning of the decade of the 70's, the time of many new musical developments, the Krautrock movement in Germany was especially busy. Krautrock wasn't so much a genre, as it was a group of musicians expanding the boundaries of rock music. Can combined tribal rhythms, psychedelic twists, and a rough proto-punk sound. Neu! essentially jammed with hard rock riffs and droning dissonance. Tangerine Dream, another early electronic group, took psychedelic rock and basically left out the rock leading to ambient music. Kraftwerk, before going on to be pioneers of electronic music, were on the similar jamming path as Neu!. This is unsurprising as Neu! was formed a year after this debut by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother, who were both part of Kraftwerk before leaving to form the aforementioned band. The former playing drums on the final song on the album.

As soon as the opening flute of "Ruckzuck" enters your ears, you'll hear how much of a far-cry this is from Kraftwerk's later material. This opening doesn't last for long though, as the song quickly gaining a repetitive riff with the flute sliding into the background. The song slowly increases speed before the random jamming begins. The next song, "Stratovarius", relies more on noise to disrupt your ears. However, unlike noise "music" of today, Kraftwerk remembers that they still should write a song. Once you get past the five minutes of noise, there's some great guitar riffs and soloing to be found here. "Megaherz" is unfortunately nothing but drone and noise, with no substance to make it interesting in anyway. Fortunately, the album ends on a high note with "Von Himmel Hoch" which certainly surrounds you with a wall of sound. The English translation of the title, "From the Sky Above", is very fitting as there are sounds of bombs going off combined with chaotic drums and droning riffs.

This entirely instrumental album may bear no resemblance to the Kraftwerk we all know and love, but it's still a pretty good album for what it is. Sometimes the noise and drone can get too much, and "Megaherz" is utterly pointless, but despite this it does have enough interesting bits to keep it interesting. If you want to hear electronic music, skip to Ralf and Florian or Autobahn. However, if you like noisy Krautrock jamming, this is probably right up your alley.

One of the most successful early innovators of Germany's electronic music scene, KRAFTWERK went on to international success with its unique adaptations of the world of progressive electronic sounds to the ear wormy realms of catchy pop music. Self-described as robot-pop, this pioneering force led and founded by the duo Ralf Hütter and Florian Scheider has become legendary for its string of crafty synthpop based electronica that found them at the top of the world from 1974 to 1981. While the band's first taste of success began with the 1974 album "Autobahn," KRAFTWERK's origins go back a bit further originating in the world of Krautrock with the short-lived act Organisation which released a sole album titled "Tone Float" in 1970. Existing from only 1969-70, Organisation was amongst the first on the fledgling scene of Germany's unique brand of trippy psychedelic rock called Krautrock which deemphasized the catchy pop and blues aspects in favor of more lysergic freeform excursions into bizarre soundscapes as well as taking the acid rock ethos of the 60s and infusing it with a more progressively complex style of rock music.

While these early albums have been virtually abandoned by the band in the modern day, before KRAFTWERK became an international sensation, these guys released three earlier albums that were unlike the ones that came after. These three albums basically picked up the torch from the experimental rock techniques laid down in Organisation and unfolded them even further. During this four year period between the band's formation in 1970 and the international breakthrough in 74, KRAFTWERK was essentially Hütter and Schneider exploring bizarre musical improvisations that delivered the classic Krautish kosmische effect in which the early years of Krautrock were so heavily steeped. Throughout this era the duo worked with a rotating lineup of several musicians that included guitarist Michael Rother and drummer Klaus Dinger who both quit the band to form Neu!, another pioneer of electronic music development from the Düsseldorf scene. The first album to emerge from this period was the 1970 self-titled release which emerged only three months after "Tone Float" appeared. This debut found Conny Plank tagging along after his work with Organisation to provide all the extra touches which propelled the album into a higher realm of quality control that the duo itself was not ready to tackle.

The greatest revelation about this debut release from KRAFTWERK is in how utterly innovative this album was for so many who passed through as guest musicians. As one of the pioneering Krautrock acts, album #1 was fairly advanced for 1970 with many bands still tangibly connected to the heavy psych 60s. A totally guitar-free affair, Schneider handled the flute, violin and electric percussion while Hütter on the other hand delivered some of the most outlandish synthesizer and organ performances of the early Kraut years. Only two guests appeared on this debut: drummer Andreas Hohman on the first two tracks and future Neu! drummer Klaus Dinger on the grand finale. Augmented by the production prowess of Conny Plank, this self-titled debut excelled at taking the listener to the most tripped out lysergic soundscapes that had yet evolved in the nascent world of Krautrock. The album roughly falls into two distinct categories. The first offered hints of the future world of KRAFTWERK on the opening track "Ruckzuck" as well as some final moments of the closing "Vom Himmel Hoch." That style alternated with the highly improvised space freakery of the middle section that swallows up the lion's share of playing time.

It seems that it wasn't Neu! at all that first developed the distinct motorik style that would make that act famous. It instead appears that the first track on this album "Ruckzuck" displayed the fledgling motorik style that drummer Klaus Dinger would adopt and make a career out of with future Kraftwerk member and second half of Neu!, Michael Rother. This track is an odd mix of that motorik rhythmic drive as presented on the opening track of Neu!'s debut release only hybridized with the world of kosmische psychedelic freakery with trippy flute runs and off-kilter progressive rock time signature deviations. Add the fuzzy psychedelic organ accompaniments and the spaced out electronic embellishments and you've entered Krautrock paradise however rhythmically speaking this is the style Neu! picked up and ran away with.

The second track "Stratovarius" contrasts greatly and rather offers an escapist's paradise into strange psychotropic soundscapes that showcase exotic uses of the organ and synthesizers and a freeform floating effect that ultimately breaks into a percussion sequence offering a steady rock drumbeat that also offers a bit of the motorik style similar to what the opening track is primarily based on. This track though morphs in and out of rock territory and improvisational freakery complete with a serious freakout of an ending that culminates into a haunting processed violin performance. "Megaherz" follows with a "Saucerful Of Secrets" pilgrimage to planet lysergia via rumbling atmospheric keyboards while free floating through a turbulent storm and maniacal organ thrashing before calmly drifting aimlessly for a few moments. This lengthy unaccompanied organ run is probably the weakest part of the album but eventually a flute joins in and the track ebbs and flows with outbursts of electronic freakery. The closing "Vom Himmel Hoch" slowly oozes into electronic existence and pulsates in and out while incrementally accruing electronic overdubs. For much of the track is sort of sounds like an airplane flying towards followed by a detonated bomb explosion and then repeating but ultimately ends in a percussive frenzy that returns to the motorik rhythms while the organ and synths go bat[&*!#] crazy.

For anyone expecting anything remotely similar to the works from "Autobahn" on, this will come as a major shock. This earliest KRAFTWERK release is about as out there as you can get for freeform psychedelic mind[%*!#]ery. This can definitely be described as extremely avant-garde, exceedingly experimental and very much detached difficult listening music far removed from anything remotely resembling commercially viable music in the mainstream. This on the other hand is musical freedom in its most unadulterated form. Ralph and Florian had a knack for crafting bizarre sonic soundscapes that alternated with percussive-heavy outbursts of the motorik side of the Krautrock universe and if you're open minded and receptive to some of the farthest out there musical trips possible then you might actually enjoy this. Personally i adore this earliest KRAFTWERK oddity as it exhibits a monstrous gleeful disregard for all musical these non-conventionalities and which deliver a wild ride through a never-ending series of bizarre soundscapes which offer the occasional respite through a more rhythmic delivery system. Sure Ralph and Florian have utterly written off their first three albums of KRAFTWERK but i'm a fan of both sides of the fence. This album scratches that extreme avant-garde itch whereas the later synthpop robot vocoder albums satisfy me on a totally different level. Either way, KRAFTWERK was one of the true musical innovators from the very beginning.

So Kraftwerk's prog credentials definitely extend to their earliest period, when the band composed of Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider-Esleben, and producer Conny Plank was experimenting with sounds, structures and effects, resulting in them releasing some of the earliest and most important krautrock albums, preceded only by Can's 'Monster Movie' and Amon Düül II's 'Phallus Dei'. Kraftwerk's 1970 self-title debut album was released in November through Philips Records, and has remained one of the unusual entries of the German electronic mavericks' discography, completely unrelated to their later works and featuring for the most part a very repetitive, drone-like, and experimental sound, with a lot of jamming, memorable grooves, and free form circular washes of noise, all elements of the respective movement as the band had gradually become a part of the local art scene.

Opening up the album is the iconic piece 'Ruckzuck', a template krautrock compositions that has gone on to become one of the more recognizable early recordings of the band, the patterns of snare-heavy drums and punctuating flutes (played by Florian) provide for a fine patchwork of sounds that could occasionally be seen as an anticipation of the techno genre, with its repetitive textures and cold atmosphere. Second track 'Stratovarius' is wild and effective, opening up with a gloomy organ sequence followed by a collage of effects and dissonant sounds. As the drums kick in, the composition takes on a more recognizable form, until it dissolves into a frantic conundrum of sounds and shrieks of wah-wah guitars. We then have a piece with more ambient qualities - 'Megaherz', an interesting piece could be seen as Kraftwerk's "sound design" experiment. The fourth and final track on the album is the most improvisational of them all, a chaotic and disorienting piece that is difficult to appreciate, while containing some fascinating sounds. Of course, this album is far from perfect, as it is sonically challenging and experimental, which is why it is a fascinating piece of music, but it remains a great krautrock album that places Kraftwerk among the earliest and most significant bands of the movement.