Kraftwerk: Kraftwerk 1 (1971)
I generally don’t consider myself a fan of Kraftwerk, at least not the electronic pop albums they released from the mid 1970s to the 1980s. I admit they were largely influencial, for good or for bad, the electronic pop and new wave of the early 1980s (you wouldn’t have the likes of Gary Numan, Human League, etc. or even that band Trio that did the “Da Da Da” song you used to hear on Volkswagen commercials back around 1997 if it weren’t for Kraftwerk). But they did release three albums prior to Autobahn (four, if you include an album they released in 1970 called Tone Float when they were known as Organisation) and in my opinion, they are much more interesting, although much more difficult to get in to.
1971’s Kraftwerk 1 is not only their best pre-Autobahn effort, I really do think this is their very best album ever. Unlike their later efforts, this is an entirely instrumental effort, and there are four long cuts. At that time, it was basically Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider (a version of the early, pre-Autobahn edition of Kraftwerk briefly featured future members of another important Krautrock band, Neu). Also interesting is the fact synthesizers aren’t even present (the closest thing here is a sound generator). You’ll be really surprised indeed to hear real drums, guitar, organ, and flute! The album opens up with “Ruckzack”, which I was completely flattered, because that was the exact song featured on the science TV series Newton’s Apple (that is, until the 1990s, when the producers decided to replace the Kraftwerk original with a cover version, then drop the song altogether). Mainly the song is more or less in the minimalist vein, with a bunch of percussion in the middle part.
The next song, “Stratovarius” is very much like you expect from early ’70 Krautrock. It starts off with some really creepy sounding organ. After a big, the band starts jamming with some great guitar work. I am rather shocked how psychedelic this sounds (particularly the guitar). The end part features violin, hence the name “Stratovarius”. The bizareness doesn’t end there. “Megaherz” is almost Pink Floyd-like, especially the use of organ. Most of the piece is rather atmospheric, with flute dominating as well (it’s also intersting to know that Florian Schneider uses a bass flute on this album, which is rarely used in music, as well as your more typical higher pitched flutes).
The final piece, “Von Himmel Hoch” sounds mainly like airraid sirens and airplanes crashing. All these sounds produced on sound generators. It’s one really spooky piece. This album is so unlike albums like Trans-Europe Express, The Man Machine, Computer World, etc., it’s almost like a complete different band. Kraftwerk 1 really took me by surprise and I highly recommend this to Krautrock fans, even to those who think their music is little else than soulless electronic pop with lyrics on robots and computers, since this album is nothing like that. Great stuff that all Krautrock fans should have.