Artist: Kraftwerk
Title: Tour De France
Label: Mute
Genre: Electronic
Bitrate: 192kbit av.
Time: 00:55:55
Size: 82.10 mb
Rip Date: 2009-11-13
Str Date: 2009-00-00
01. Prologue 0:31
02. Tour De France (╔tape 1) 4:27
03. Tour De France (╔tape 2) 6:41
04. Tour De France (╔tape 3) 3:56
05. Chrono 3:20
06. Vitamin 8:09
07. AΘro Dynamik 5:04
08. Titanium 3:21
09. Elektro Kardiogramm 5:16
10. La Forme 8:41
11. RΘgΘneration 1:17
12. Tour De France 5:12
Release Notes:
Following the Computer World tour, the largest and longest that
Kraftwerk had ever embarked on, the band discussed the matter of
exercise. Having noticed how close associate Emil Schult seemed to have
the most energy out of all of them, they adopted two habits he had
recently taken up: vegetarianism and cycling.
Along with music, cycling can be seen as the second great love of Ralf
HⁿtterÆs life. The bandÆs leader and now, following Florian SchneiderÆs
departure in 2008, sole remaining original member, itÆs said by some
that the intensity of his love for and addiction to cycling is at least
in part the reason for the massive slowdown in KraftwerkÆs output
post-1981. Hⁿtter took to cycling every day, encouraged the rest of the
group to start doing the same and enrolled them with a Dⁿsseldorf cycle
club where they adopted the nickname æRadsportgruppe SchneiderÆ (æThe
Schneider Cyclist ClubÆ) and wore a uniform of black pro-cycling wear.
Allegedly they chose the colour of their outfits to match the night,
when is when they worked in the studio, and the coffee they drank vast
quantities of while talking about music.
Hⁿtter had always been the sports-lover of the group, attending
football matches and playing golf. Given the stress he places in
interviews on Kraftwerk being interested primarily in daily life, it
seemed natural that sport would at some point prove an attractive theme
to write about, although other members of the band were less convinced
of its conceptual suitability. Tempting as it may be to daydream about
a golf-themed Kraftwerk album, though, cycling at once seems a natural
fit; as Hⁿtter remarked to Pascal Bussy in 1991: ôIt is the man
machine.ö
Originally intended to be a track on KraftwerkÆs ill-starred Techno Pop
LP, 'Tour de France' was released as a single in June 1983. As things
turned out it would be another 20 years before it featured on an album,
Tour de France Soundtracks, the title of which has now been shrunk to
Tour de France. A sleek, oiled rush of sound, Tour de France is the
first Kraftwerk album since 1981Æs Computer World in which music and
lyrics work in tandem as part of a defined, unified construct.
Reaping the benefits of this focus, the opening quartet of æTour de
France ╔tape 1Æ, æ...╔tape 2Æ, æ...╔tape 3Æ and æChronoÆ, rank as a
junior partner to the epic journeys of æAutobahnÆ and æTrans-Europe
ExpressÆ. A liquid techno pulse that surges forth and recedes like a
peloton, this suite's central spine is a cyclical derailleur hiss that
flows on through 18 minutes of atmospheric metamorphoses, and marks yet
another of those moments of immersive trance for which many would have
been justified in thinking, by the time 2003 rolled around, Kraftwerk
had lost the knack.
Typically Kraftwerkian in its focus on an element of daily life that
would be considered beneath the attentions of most songwriters, the
descending filtered clangs and shimmering synth detailing of æVitaminÆ
house a slow-motion paean to, well, vitamins. The acid-flecked drive
and starlit pads of æAΘro DynamikÆ, meanwhile, see the band dip a wing
simultaneously in the direction of both the Berlin and Detroit techno
variants which they played such a large part in creating. Seemingly
referencing the serious cycling accident Hⁿtter suffered in the Alps in
1983, æElektro KardiogrammÆ begins with a heartbeat and a similar
respiratory sample to that which opens the original æTour de FranceÆ.
Fascinatingly, it contains some discordant organ-style playing embedded
deep in the mix that seems to hark back to the improvisatory passages
of 'Autobahn'. Utilising a delicate, tightly-sprung breakbeat and
minimalist melody line to develop its powerfully claustrophobic feel,
'Elektro Kardiogramm' also underlines the priority Tour de France
awards the 'track' in favour of the 'song', and perhaps suggests the
reason for the 'soundtracks' suffix in the original title.
Slipstreaming one behind the other, the tracks Tour de France comprises
are wonderfully self-assured pieces of work. Even as the album slows
into the somewhat meandering bleep-laden territory of Ralf Hⁿtter solo
composition æLa FormeÆ its litany of cyclistsÆ buzzwords û _
æPreparation/Musculation/Concentration/ Et, conditionÆ_ û exerts a
Zen-like aura that proves absorbing.
The album closes with the original æTour de FranceÆ, its arrival
foreshadowed by a minor-key interpolation of its bright, skeletal
melody into æLa FormeÆs brief coda, æRegenerationÆ. Without this it
might have felt thoughtlessly tacked on, and it could still be argued
that it makes a less suitable concluding track than might have been
hoped for. Nevertheless, it remains a winning piece of musique concrΦte
pop, a spinning bike chain and ragged breaths underpinning HⁿtterÆs
pre-robot vocals listing the raceÆs famous stages and infamous climbs.
A valuable addition to KraftwerkÆs oeuvre, Tour de France allows the
hope that there might still be one more great album to emanate from the
recently relocated Kling Klang studio. Ralf Hⁿtter has suggested that
new material might be forthcoming in 2010, but long-time observers will
know that holding oneÆs breath isnÆt advisable. Desirable as such a
thought is, were we never to hear another note from Kraftwerk weÆd
still have had as much from them as from any musicians in the modern
era. In particular the trilogy of Trans-Europe Express, The Man-Machine
and Computer World hold their place in the musical landscape that they
did so much to shape, their sublime fusion of human emotion and machine
functionality as endlessly evocative and influential as asserted by
Hⁿtter in an interview he gave Keyboards magazine in 1992:
ôKraftwerk is permanent. Durability is a central concept in art. Our
sounds and programmes are immortal. Thanks to the computer someone else
will be able to continue what we are doing...ö
sire@hush.ai