KOHOUTEK - KOMETENMELODIE

Kraftwerk's first single is noteworthy for several reasons, beginning with the unlikely fact that two erstwhile Krautrockers like Ralf and Florian were contemplating the singles market in the first place: a rare commercial move in counterculture Germany. Their debut 45 predated the epiphany of the "Autobahn" LP by almost a year, but clearly anticipated the more popular electronic grooves of future albums, albeit in a primitive lo-fi vernacular far removed from their later Man-Machine avatars.

Collectors will appreciate the value of the artifact itself (7" vinyl! Never officially digitized!); fans will be surprised by how far it departs from the more familiar album version. The same melody on the "Autobahn" revision would become an almost majestic synth-rock boogie-woogie stomp. But the earlier recording, named after the much-hyped comet discovered the same year, reverses the arrangement of tempos: the B-Side is the slower movement here, and was closer aligned with older currents of Kosmische Rock than its long-playing cousin.

The A-Side of the single is rinky-dink kid's stuff by comparison, but years ahead of its time. In just a few bouncy minutes it plants one of the first seeds for the British techno-pop invasion a decade later: Depeche Mode, OMD, the Silicon Teens, you name 'em. Not too shabby an accomplishment for a pair of young bourgeois rebels from suburban Düsseldorf, still searching for a musical style to call their own.