Die Menschmaschine
music — Germany — 1978

8.5
Once I used to think that Kraftwerk was a strange phenomena in the world of popular music that had close to no analogues. I used to think that "Radioactivity" was probably the best album ever made. Later on I discovered that Kraftwerk wasn`t the only band experimenting with different sounds in the 1970s and I somehow lost interest in the bands work. So today I decided - why not listen to "The Man Machine" (the German version)? So I did. And I found out that this album not only contains some of the most famous compositions Kraftwerk ever wrote but that it`s maybe the most flawless electronic album I`ve heard in my life. It opens with "Die Roboter" - a true classic despite the wrong intonation in the Russian verse. Then we switch to "Spacelab" - a simplistic song that`s perfect as a soundtrack for driving at night. "Metropolis" is surprsingly good for a song that I didn`t know from a greatest hits compilation. And then comes "Das Model" - although I still prefer the English vocals for it, it`s even better than the Robots in its electronic coolness. The long and complex "Neonlicht" is probably the best long suite in Kraftwerk`s catalogue - it way better than the boring "Tour de France". And the closing "Die Mensch -Maschine" reminds me of the opening of the Kraftwerk concert in Riga with all the "Maschine Maschine Maschine" stuff. I may not be a great fan of electronic music but I certainly know good electronic music when I see it.
2006-02-16
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