Kraftwerk - Minimum Maximum
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Music CD Cover
Artist: KraftwerkEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-06-07
Music Label: Astralwerks / EMI
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- The Man-Machine
- Planet Of Visions
- Tour De France Etape 1
- Chrono
- Tour De France Etape 2
- Vitamin
- Tour De France
- Autobahn
- The Model
- Neon Lights
- Radioactivity
- Trans Europe Express
- Metal On Metal
- Numbers
- Computer World
- Home Computer
- Pocket Calculator
- Dentaku
- The Robots
- Elektro Kardiogramm
- Aero Dynamik
- Music Non Stop
Free Music Notes for Minimum Maximum
Free Music Review: Kraftwerk's defining Music brought beautifully up to date....!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Kraftwerk have always been something of a reclusive artist. Instead preferring to avoid the irritations of having to conform to press releases, interviews or general promotion of their albums. (in most cases carefully prepared photo shoots, and pre-written statements are generally handed to the music press, before any albums release, as the band, rarely give interviews). And coupled with the fact that, over the years, the band's album workrate, has...not so much ground to a halt, but suffered. But any new material is met with anticipated glee. (Last album: 2003's "Tour de France Soundtracks" containing a mixture of retooled or remixed work). So the decision to take 2004's World tour, using the ensuring material as from the Live performances and releasing it as a pseudo-unofficial:"Greatest Hits" album, was a strange choice for sure.
The tracks collected here, are from the various cities around the world that the World Tour encompassed. (Moscow, Warsaw, Budapest, San Francisco, London, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, etc), and although these performances are live, crowd noise has been kept to a minimum, with any crowd appreciation relegated to the beginning or end of tracks. This is a incredibly useful approach for those that routinely feel that crowd noise spoils the performances on live recordings. In fact there is the slight suspicion that these recordings may have had a little bit of studio engineering applied to them, as the recordings are pin sharp, with little interference, glitches or incorrect sound levels on all of the material/tracks. Whether this can be taken as a not wholly 'Live' recording is a subject for debate, but everyone will agree that a great deal of care and attention, has been taken over the recording of the material here. (and seeing as Kraftwerk, were always 'Perfectionists', this comes as no surprise).
What will come as a surprise, to those hearing this album for the very first time, is the fact that the material played here, isn't merely the retro-sounding, detached, cerebral and clinically perfect music that we all know as familiar. Instead Kraftwerk have taken every track, and not so much 'Remixed' it, but think more of each track being either 'Retooled', 'Updated', 'Modernised'. Because each track has been modernised, and brought up to date, with a more contemporary sound, and undoubtedly uses far more advanced studio equipment, than the original recordings, which would in someways, now sound a little bit antiquated. So although every track sounds as you'd expect it to sound, they all have a far more 'refurbished' sound, and where as the previous sound may have been more akin to cheap Casio keyboard/Synth sounds, it now sounds a little less Retro, (although they remain resolutely faithful, to the originals), and have merely been performed on more expensive, richer sounding equipment. So favourites such as: "Trans Europe Express", "Tour De France", "The Model", "Radioactivity", "Computer World", "The Robots"...bristle with a slightly more sophisticated cool, and where previously the music was limited by the ability of the studio recording techinicalitys of the Mid-70's, and Kraftwerks actual vision for the music, possibly limited by the technical ability of the equipment....it now sounds more fleshed out, hypnotic, and more refined, and possibly even more muscular sounding. The effect, is astonishing, with arguably music that was era-defining to begin with, now having a slightly new twist, and now sounds more glorified, and less sparse than the originals. Kraftwerk are also very careful to maintain the integrity of the originals, so nothing sounds out of place or added merely for effect. With a great deal of care and consideration of the originals, left perfectly intact, just newer sounding and more energised. Although they are definitely NOT replacements for the originals, they serve as extremely well-judged accompaniments to the stunning originals.
As is the way with the usually evasive Kraftwerk, a normally produced 'Best of', wouldn't have sufficed. Instead what we get is a (studio enhanced??) Live album, recorded in around various different cities, that contains all the fans favourites, which have been modernised and engineered to mirror the originals, but with the limitations of the original studio equipment, no longer an obstacle. That now makes the tracks sound very 'Familiar', but almost 'New' sounding. And this will cause of debate amongst purists. Some will quite rightly argue that what made the originals so brilliant was their 'simplicity', and Sparse, clinical robotic sounds, and should have been left in their untouched glory, if this is a supposed to be a (unofficial) 'Best of' of their work. And there will be those that argue that Kraftwerk have always strived towards technological perfection, and the 'Retouching' of their back catalogue is merely in keeping with the constant evolution of their music, and these 'updated' versions of their tracks, sound absolutely fantastic, and most fans will have the original albums in their collection anyway. It's two very valid arguments and if pushed for a decision, I'd have to say that I probably fall into the latter camp, as the sound is so beautifully arranged & sequenced, that I truly can find little fault with the fidelity of the recordings. Irrespective of where you stand on this issue, it has to been made clear that anyone with a fondness for Kraftwerk (Die-hard fan, Causal, or otherwise), needs to immediately pick up this exceptional/essential double CD live recording of one of electronic music original forefathers.
Minimum Maximum Poster
The Godfathers of Glitch and the Kings of Kling-Klang come out of seclusion with a double live CD culled from various concerts on their 2004 tour. Minimum-Maximum is essentially a greatest-hits album with an audience applauding and occasionally shouting. Without them, of course, you'd never know the album was live, since Kraftwerk is the band that put the programming in pop music. Not much has changed with them since the 1980s. They're still wired to the same sonic circuitry as on Electric Café in 1986, sculpting glistening electro-soundscapes that pulse but never quite groove. And they still sing in that flat, German-accented English and French with Speak and Spell electro-voices. But rather than sound dated, this has a timeless charm, especially since Kraftwerk are among the few Kraut rock groups with a sense of humor. With only two studio albums in the last 20 years, you have to give them credit for not caving in to current electronica and techno trends--Kraftwerk remain resolutely electronic. Even their samples sound synthesized. But also give them credit for some of the most relentlessly glistening electronic music ever crafted, and a sound that remains surprisingly pure. All the hits are here, from "Autobahn" to "Tour de France," but nicely buffed to a high chrome finish. --John DilibertoAlternative Rock Music CDs
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