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New Kraftwerk "Tour de France Soundtracks" not too shabby!
I guess I was really expecting to be disappointed by the first new Kraftwerk album in -- oh, my god! -- 17 years. And initially, I was: the first five cuts are basically the same title track reworked for 18+ minutes. Much like the single-only release of "Expo 2000," the first five tracks left me with the feeling that Kraftwerk was merely cloning itself (and you know what happens when you make a copy of a copy of a copy). Even the cover artwork has been cloned (from the original 1983 "Tour de France" 12" single)!
But it was great to see the album kick into high gear with "Vitamin." From Track 6 on, Tour de France Soundtracks sounds like the new album we've been waiting for. Of course, you can still point to particular songs and hear echoes of past Kraftwerk albums. "Elektro Kardiogramm" instantly brings to mind "The Robots"; "Aero Dynamik" tends to invoke the "Computerworld" era. But these are just nods to the past, not what I was talking about with "Expo 2000" (which, by the way, is not included on this release) and the first five tracks of Tour de France Soundtracks.
The album runs for nearly 56 minutes. There are 12 cuts in all, but that's a bit of a cheat. As mentioned, the first five tracks are really one long version of "Tour de France." So too is "Titanium" a continuation of "Aero Dynamik." All but two of the cuts ("La Forme" and "Regeneration") qualify as dance cuts. The final track is a reworked version of the original "Tour de France" 1983 song.
I'd have really raved about Tour de France Soundtracks had it not been for the lame title cuts. But the rest of the album is something I really, really enjoy. Good thing, too -- especially if it takes another 17 years for a new Kraftwerk album!
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