NEON LIGHTS

What used to be little more than a cool novelty is now a collector's treasure: a 12-inch single of the 1978 Kraftwerk favorite "Neon Lights"...pressed on luminous, glow-in-the-dark vinyl! Yes, simply hold the disc near any light source (careful, even the heat from a low-watt incandescent bulb might cause it to warp), drop the stylus into the groove..."and in the dark of night, the city's filled with light."

How brilliant an idea is that?

It was an irresistible match of form to function, although the concept now is just another casualty of the digital revolution. For those of you with no memory of analog music, try to imagine the milky green, radioactive glow of the disc as it undulates around your turntable at 45 rpm, with the warm metallic ambience of Ralf and Florian's synthetic melodies wafting over you in the darkness...kind of hard to accomplish in a compact disc console or MP3 player, but that's progress.

The B-side features "The Model" (another fan favorite from "The Man Machine" album) and an abbreviated version of 1977's "Trans-Europe Express": all of them certified kling-klang classics from Kraftwerk's golden age, in a now extinct format from vinyl music's golden (or in this case an opaque, pale green) age.