MINIMUM MAXIMUM

Well having never been particularly warm to Kraftwerk's oeuvre in general past the first two albums, I always had shunned their concerts especially in the light of their strong influence on New Wave groups that I hated so much in the early 80's. So I waited and waited for a chance to see concert film footage, certainly not being appealed (Burt rather appalled) by their videoclips of the time. Now that this DVD finally hit the shelves of my library, I finally was able to give them a shot. And let's face it, I was certainly not surprised or even deceived (since I did not expect much from them) and actually got exactly what I expected: a bunch of pre-New Wave electro-pop with extreme minimalism.

So this double DVD is a full concert of their better-known material from their later 70's album through the earlier 80's. Crazy that in the first decade of the millennium, this group would go through painstakingly throughout the motions of this soulless electro pop where everything is already pre-recorded and whatever is not is rather uninteresting. I guess their public is the one that grew in their teens and pre-teens with this simplistic debilitating and decadent music. And the ultra sophisticated and futuristic looks of the time look plainly dated, outdated and a bit fascist, to dare say it. Actually the set list start rather well with a track from their best album Man-Machine, but the quality quickly drops as each new track is unable to catch whatever excitement there might have been in those albums at the time of release. All of those "classics" TDF, Radioactivity, Autobahn, Trans Euro Express are played without much distinction and visually speaking if it was not for the video mumbo-jumbo playing behind them, you'd swear that this was still the same track and would fall asleep. I do not think I ever used the FFWD button as much on an album DVD or CD.

Clearly most of those "hits" are played with cold technicality and complete lack of emotion. You might want to answer me that this was precisely what Kraftwerk was about, but in this case, I am sure that the concerts of their prime held much more energy and served some kind of purpose. But in the case of this DVD, only nostalgia on the part of the fans and probably financial reasons got this "monster" brought back to life. It is not usual to talk of dinosaur when talking of electro-pop groups, but I think that here these guys are probably as dead and as useful as a Fortran programming card. Can't believe the public (my generation really) can still buy such hollow and shallow music; and pay good money to see such an anti-thesis of intelligent music. But then again is this not what Kraftwerk were all about?

Musique.... Non Stop... Visual Feast... Non Stop

Kraftwerk's "Minimum: Maximum" is a bonafide no holds barred excursion into progressive electronica music with a live edge. The band pour out ambience and percussive electro pulses on every track. The entire set list encompasses the Kraftwerk history from early years to recent treasures. The band stand at their consoles like showroom dummies twiddling knobs and moving mouses to create the visual and aural experience. They could be playing Space Invaders or surfing the internet for all we know as we are never allowed to see the inner sanctum of their monitors, however it is apparent that the members of

Kraftwerk are working overtime on their computer consoles to produce the ultimate Kraftwerk show and what a show it is. It begins with the incredible techno trance of the 'The Man Machine' with retro graphic visuals. The no frills approach to the visuals suits the retro atmosphere. Instead of using CGI or hyper graphics the visuals are essentially simplistic forms of cars, bikes, trains, signs and symbols.

'Planet of Visions' is a highlight and features weird footage of buildings and blocks. Occasionally there are interesting film clips such as the amusing black and white fashion footage of 'The Model', a very funny, and decidedly satiric black and white film clip, showing old fashioned footage of models and strange women in high fashion garments from the late 50s.

However, for the most part, it is all retro symbolism similar to the stark album covers. This is effective and suits the futurist techno sounds created. The images are memorable screened on a massive triple cinema screen behind the shadowy members. The crowd are in darkness throughout and occasionally we see a cell phone filming the action, and why not, it is a visual treat. 'Vitamin' features flowing pills cascading down, 'Radioactivity' is the Mix version with Chernobyl warnings, and 'Autobahn' is a scaled down 9 minute version with cars swooping past. 'Neon Lights' is well sung and has neon signs raining down.

'Trans Europe Express' is excellent with atmospheric click clacking effects and footage of the TEE thrashing down the railways; an indelible image. So ends DVD 1.

The second part focuses primarily on the latter years of Kraftwerk, especially 'Computer World'. It begins with the underwhelming Numbers that looks good as a visual treat. Three more tracks from this album follows and all are executed with skill and mathematical precision. 'Pocket Calculator' is the Japanese inspired Dentaku Mix version and as a result quite a compelling track. The techno loops and percussive vibrations are wonderful and ineffaceable once they enter the conscious.

The band depart momentarily and are replaced by lookalike robots to sing the new 'unimproved', in my opinion, version of 'The Robots'. It is quirky the way the robots move and they do look like the band members. This gets a strong audience reception and then the band re-emerge in new outfits that glow like green neon skeletal robots. This is extremely effective visually and the tracks sung include 'Elektro Kardiogram' and 'Aero Dynamik' from 'Tour de France'.

There is thankfully only one track from 'Electric Cafe' but it is a great way of closing down the show. 'Musique Non Stop' continues for a while and each band member leaves in turn and the music becomes more minimalist until finally the last band member vacates to a roar of applause and it is all over.

The DVD is a great live experience that makes you feel as though you have actually seen Kraftwerk live. The sound quality is A1 with DTS surround capabilities. The visuals are crystal clear. The special features include an MTV appearance in the electro outfits playing 'Aero Dynamik'. The light show is incredible on this clip and well worth a look. Other features are the interactive menu reminding me of their website visuals and the packaging of white cardboard fold out DVD cover is appealing. All in all this is the best record of the band as a live unit and as such is an absolutely essential purchase for Kraftwerk freaks worldwide.

5 solid stars as it is the best record of these progenitors of progressive electronic.

If this is the future of concerts music, we should stop hiring humans to play those instruments, because we can just program our music and let the machines do the rest. Oh, yes we still have to push a few buttons... And to give a good impression to the audience, we still need some animations to go along with the music. Let's say that if you have heard many times "the guys were static on stage", you haven't seen anything yet here. So what's the point of looking at this concert? It's a way of testing your home theater to hear the impressive display of the surround sound blasting your rears speakers with special effects and keyboards sounds. Oh, yes there is the music, cold, repetitive, poppy, the perfect robot music! I wonder at times if these guys were human, they seem to talk. I am sure that they are making a parody of robotic music where we can't be sure that the music here has been created by humans... Did I forgot to say that that we have here in 2 hours of music great compositions by one of the most influential bands of that genre.4 robots!