Kraftwerk - 'The Robots'
Repeat Prescriptions....The Top 100 Classic Albums Of All Time that you keep coming back to!
Like doing a university course as a mature student, I am returning to my musical education and filling in the gaps. I intend to revisit The 100 Best Albums Of All Time (see them all here) as recommended by Q Magazine back when the poll was last done in 2006. Some I will know and love, some I will have skimmed and some I will not even have given time of day. This will all change when I listen to every album in full as it was intended, from 100 to 1, and choose my favourite song from each.
I always put Kraftwerk down as only big in the 80s but they've been around since 1970! This album from 1978 must have been up there in the ground breaking Electro stakes with Georgio Moroder. It was a pretty short and sweet listen with only 6 songs but definitely some good moments. My favourites of course being The Model with it's excellently simple German accented lyrics, Neon Lights and The Robots. I don't know how long I could listen to this sort of electro for though, it can get a little repetitive. It's strange to me that this album being 36 (!!) years old, still sounds as it intended to; fresh and totally mindbogglingly futuristic.
The Robots is a fantastic track which I knew before but it really does stand out on this album. It's got a slow intro but when it gets into it's stride, it really is a piece of electro genius. I remember when my nephew was a bit younger, he was 'into Robots' for a time and Flycasual told me he had played this for him. I can just see his young imagination being captured by this song and being totally blown away, much like everyone when they first heard it! The higher pitched keyboard vs the lower pitched one is almost like a tiny robot talking with a massive one. The beauty of songs with few lyrics is it allows your mind to wander, as obviously mine did! I'd say it'll certainly be worth listening to Kraftwerk's Greatest Hits for sure.
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