| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Kraftwerk is the debut studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in Germany in 1970, and produced by Konrad "Conny" Plank.
Recording
After the commercial failure of Tone Float, Organisation were dropped by RCA Records while Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider signed a new deal with Philips and named their new project Kraftwerk. To begin work, the duo rented an empty workshop in an industrial era near a railway station in Düsseldorf, which would eventually become Kling Klang Studio.[2]
The album was recorded from July to September 1970[3] and was produced by colleague Conny Plank, who shared the credit with Hütter and Schneider.[2] They were also joined by two drummers during the recording of the album: Andreas Hohmann and Klaus Dinger.[4] Hohmann played on "Ruckzuck"[4][2] and "Stratovarius",[2] while Dinger played on "Vom Himmel Hoch".[5] The other instrumentation features Hütter on bass, as well as both Hammond and Tubon electric organs, the latter made by Swedish factory Joh Mustad AB in 1966,[6][7] while Schneider plays the flute.[6]
The song "Ruckzuck" is driven by a motorik groove[2] and powerful multi-dubbed flute riff.[8] Hütter plays a piano line on a modified Hammond organ, and many instruments on the album were manipulated by a pitch-to-voltage converter, which converts sound into voltage that powers a synthesizer.[9] Jason Anderson of Uncut noted that "Stratovarius" features no synthesizers and begins as an "ominous cloud of electronic noise" that evolves into an "acid rock jam".[2] "Megaherz" is a more subdued track and the only one on the album to feature no drums.[2] Anderson describes "Vom Himmel Hoch" as a "doomy soundscape" that serves as an "aural simulation of a bombing raid", ending in an apocalyptic explosion.[2] The track has slight pitch curves that emulate the Doppler effect.[7]
Release and promotion
Kraftwerk was released in November 1970.[10] The album cover features a drawing of a fluorescent-coloured traffic cone,[5] inspired by the works of Andy Warhol and the pop art movement.[2]
In early 1971, Hütter left the group to study architecture in Aachen,[11] leaving Schneider, drummer Dinger and newcomer guitarist Michael Rother.[12] The three-member Kraftwerk lineup of Schneider, Dinger and Rother made an appearance on Radio Bremen,[13] and also on the TV shows Beat-Club and Okidoki.[14] After this, Dinger and Rother left to form the band Neu!, with Hütter rejoining Schneider to continue Kraftwerk[11] and both parties recording under the mentoring of Conny Plank.[citation needed]
No material from this album has been performed in the band's live set since the Autobahn tour of 1975.[9] In later interviews, Schneider referred to the first three Kraftwerk albums as "archaeology", and while they have never been reissued, unauthorized releases have been widely available.[2] In 2007, Kraftwerk hinted that the album might finally see a remastered CD release after the Der Katalog boxed set.[15] Vinyl releases of the first two albums were scheduled for Record Store Day 2020 but were ultimately cancelled.[11]
"Ruckzuck" was used as the theme song for the PBS show Newton's Apple in the United States.[16] However, its use was unauthorized and the program later substituted a cover version of the song.[9]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider-Esleben.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ruckzuck" | 7:47 |
| 2. | "Stratovarius" | 12:10 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Megaherz" | 9:30 |
| 2. | "Vom Himmel Hoch" | 10:12 |
| Total length: | 39:39 | |
Personnel
Credited adapted from LP liner notes,[17] except where otherwise noted.
Kraftwerk
- Ralf Hütter – organ, Tubon
- Florian Schneider-Esleben – flute, violin, electric percussion
- Andreas Hohmann – drums ("Ruckzuck",[4] "Stratovarius"[2])
- Klaus Dinger – drums ("Vom Himmel Hoch"[5])
Technical
- Conrad Plank – producer, engineer
- Klaus Löhmer – assistant
- Ralf Hütter – cover
- Bernhard Becher – photo
- Hilla Becher – photo
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart (1971) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18] | 30 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1971) | Position |
|---|---|
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] | 27 |
References
- ^ Ragget, Ned. Kraftwerk at AllMusic. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Anderson, Jason (April 2023). "02_Kraftwerk". Uncut - The Ultimate Music Guide - Kraftwerk. pp. 8–11.
- ^ Koch, Albert (2005). Kraftwerk (in German). Hannibal. p. 58. ISBN 978-3-85445-213-3.
- ^ a b c Stubbs, David (5 August 2014). Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany. Faber & Faber. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-571-28334-7. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ a b c Esch 2016, p. 22.
- ^ a b Albiez, Sean; Pattie, David (1 January 2011). Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop. A&C Black. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-4411-9136-6. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ a b Smolko, Tim; Smolko, Joanna (11 May 2021). Atomic Tunes: The Cold War in American and British Popular Music. Indiana University Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-253-05618-4. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ Adelt, Ulrich (30 August 2016). Krautrock: German Music in the Seventies. University of Michigan Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-472-05319-3. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ a b c Lamb, Benjamin (14 June 2023). "Retrospective: 53 years of Kraftwerk's Kraftwerk". Mixdown. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
- ^ Schütte, Uwe (27 February 2020). Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany. Penguin UK. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-241-32055-6. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ a b c Williamson, Nigel (April 2023). "03_Kraftwerk 2". Uncut - The Ultimate Music Guide - Kraftwerk. p. 18.
- ^ Thompson, Dave (1 August 2021). I Feel Love: Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, and How They Reinvented Music. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-4930-4981-3. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- ^ Esch 2016, p. 29.
- ^ Esch 2016, p. 32.
- ^ Witter, Simon (2006). "Dummy Magazine - Ralf Hütter - Spring 2006". Dummy. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ Keeley, Matt (6 May 2020). "R.I.P. Florian Schneider: 5 Best Kraftwerk Songs to Honor the Co-Founder of the Influential Electronic Group". Newsweek. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
- ^ Kraftwerk (1972). Kraftwerk (LP liner notes). Germany: Philips Records. 6305 058.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Kraftwerk – Kraftwerk" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
- ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1971. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
Bibliography
- Esch, Rudi (26 August 2016). Electri_City: The Düsseldorf School of Electronic Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-78323-776-0. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
External links
- Kraftwerk official – Free Listening Archived 7 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine on SoundCloud
- Kraftwerk at Discogs (list of releases)
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