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Kraftwerk - Tour de France Soundtracks Audio CD

A fair review of the Kraftwerk "Tour de France Soundtracks" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Kraftwerk reviews here, or go back to the Kraftwerk tabs.

Kraftwerk Band: Kraftwerk
Title: Tour de France Soundtracks
Rating:
Release Date: 2003-08-19
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Prologue 2: Tour De France 03 - Etape 1 3: Tour De France 03 - Version 2 4: Tour De France 03 - Etape 3 5: Chrono 6: Vitamin 7: Aero Dynamik 8: Titanium 9: Elektrokardiogramm 10: La Forme 11: Regeneration 12: Tour De France

Tour de France Soundtracks
The cover is very similair to their cover for the 1983 cover for the single Tour De France. Tour de France Soundtracks being Kraftwerk's 2003 release and their 10th studio was also their first album with new music since 1986. The album is not one of their best albums. I prefer Man Machine and Electric Cafe before this one. However, that does not mean that I do not like it. The book is one gigantic ode to the bicycle and racing. This is the last album to include Florian Schneider whom left the group 2008 and now Ralf Hutter is the only original member left of the group. For the Kraftwerk fan this is a record that should not be missed. Allmusic, Drowned in Sound and Uncut all gave the album favorable reviews. 4/5.


Tour De France Review
Thanks for sending this item as I was looking for the version from the Breakin 2 soundtrack.


Running or working out, nothing beats this album
There's a mechanical feeling (of course, it's KW) to this album, and it almost makes me feel as if I myself am a machine going through the paces. Any time I run or work out, I let this album play from beginning to end. . . a cog in a larger machine, or a lab subject. As strange as that sounds, try it and you'll see what I mean.

The album should be enjoyed in sequence. Just put it on and let it play. The way the tracks flow into each other is amazing. The entire Tour de France Soundtrack is great, but "Etape 2" is my favorite. .


Kraftwerk Are Now Average
I must admit that I didn't expect to hear this album. Another basically worthy but less than stellar Kraftwerk album. It's appearance shocked me and like on The Mix, they [unwisely] re-do a classic number [weaker]. In what has come to be a familiar Kraftwerk gaffe, their obsession with long suites of music that dominate an album [good: Autobahn, Trans Europe Express, bad: Electric Cafe, Tour De France Soundtracks] also rears its ugly head here. Here, TDF is overblown into a rather forgettable suite but there are some gems in the remaining album. "Vitamin," "Aero Dymanik," and the playful "Elektro Kardiogramm" manage to make it worth some of your time. But 40% of this album is a straight loss. Since they put out the classic TDF tracks as a single some years ago, the reason to have these inferior, padded compostions is nil. Please, Kraftwerk, on the next album [in 2018*] please just cobble some good songs together without some overriding theme [Man-Machine]. The thematic obsessions have worked against you as much as for you and I for one, would like to see that modus operandi shown the door.

* don't laugh.


Cuts #5 and #12 are my favorite.
There are 12 cuts in all, with about 60 minutes of synthopop music. This disc comes with a 20-page booklet containing track titles and times, photographs of cyclists, graphics, and engineering diagrams. What this means is that if you don't care for one or two of the cuts, it will be easy for you eventually to find one that you do like. In particular, I like cut #5 (Chrono; 3 minutes 19 seconds) and cut #12 (Tour de France; 5 minutes and 10 seconds).

Chrono features a shivvering type musical motif. The sound effects on Chrono sometimes remind me of a subway, shaking and rattling, and disappearing into a tunnel. Chrono also contains human voices, that is, the same deep-throated frog-like voices of the type used in Kraftwerk's 1981 Computer World album.

Tour de France is the same as the version issued on vinyl, some years back, which features a harp and heavy breathing sounds. There is one difference though. The vinyl version also has bicycle gear sounds, but the present version on the compact disc omits the bicycle gear sounds.

Cut #6, Vitamin (8 minutes and 9 seconds) is also interesting, in that it it employs a metallic boinging sound throughout. The metallic boinging sound, which is sharp and boingy, contrasts nicely with the softer organ sound that is also used in the piece. The organ plays a soft fluttering motif. Also present is the more typical bell-like synthesizer sound used in most of Kraftwerk's pieces. A normal sounding human voice provides a recitative at various points in Vitamin.

If any criticism can be provided, it is that Kraftwerk seems not to make much use of different time signatures. There are always the four bars of a repeated theme, or 16 bars of a repeated theme, so common in synthopop and techno music. In my opinion, the failure to make use of any but the most primitive rhythms and time signatures is the curse of synthopop and techno music. This is a is a curse that has lasted for decades.


You can see a complete list of all Kraftwerk discography, or go back to the Kraftwerk tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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