50 years of powerplant

[mudshark]

"Autobahn" is 50 years young this month (as a hit, the album was released November 1974). This morning there was an Autobahn topic on a radio program named "Day Six" (Canadian, but for some reason broadcasted every week on the Houstonian NPR, which is fine by me, and I plan my trip to the shops just so that I can listen to some of it). They talked about the influence the song had on particular artists and musical genres in general. Paul Humphries (OMD) confessed to first hearing the 2:33 single version while having a shower, and getting instantly infatuated, convinced that this was the Future of Music, and determined to start creating music in a similar style. Was he wrong? Probably not. At the time the musos were listening to all that clever prog by KC, ELP Yes etc., and all of a sudden step in a trio of Germans which basically takes a feather out of the caps of the likes of Terry Riley and Philip Glass and create a hit single with it!. It was the premise of hip-, trance, techno, house and what-have-you.

I wanted to write more but I've got to light up the BBQ before it gets dark. Gonna cook up some St. Louis-style ribs for the flock. I won't partake. I don't eat pork, but I seem to be able to make it taste good. Interested in your views, boys and girls!

[Nervous Ned]

Hmmm ... I'm not so sure about this. I bought the Autobahn single when it was a hit in the UK and don't remember any talk in the music press anout Kraftwerk being the future of music at the time. In fact the only reports I remember reading were little better than scathing. The NME Encyclopedia of rock (1978) for instance dismissed them as little more than an aberration. Contemporaneous reviews for The Man Machine were also less than positive.
Wasn’t it only with the release of Computer World and the extensive tour that followed, that their fortunes commercially and critically changed?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[C]

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Notwithstanding a brilliant album from a seminally robust band

My most played album of their's

Certainly in my top 3 - possibly numero uno





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