Kraftwerk - The Man-Machine

At the heart of Kraftwerk's artistic aesthetic is the relationship between Man and Machine, a topic that they pursue with quiet, concentrated efficiency throughout this LP. The arresting imagery that dominates "Die Mensch Maschine" is inspired by El Lissitsky (he's even namechecked on the sleeve), one of the prime graphic proponents of the Constructivist artistic movement that emerged from Russia during an artistic upheaval that dominated Europe in the 1910's. Whilst influenced no doubt by the Italian Futurist movement, and in particular Russolo, the Constructivists had a romantic aspect to them that truly believed in a utopian marriage of man and machine in harmony. With the upheaval of the Russian Revolution, this short-lived flowering of truly original artistic styles offered hope, but was predictably crushed by Stalin.

The futurist/romanticist axis (Russolo and fellow futurists detested the likes of Wagner) is dominant throughout "Die Mensch Maschine". This is Kraftwerk celebrating the 1920's and the dream of machinery and industry offering the hope of hauling humanity out of the apocalpyse of the Great War, but at the same time recognising that dystopia was just around the corner with "Metropolis" and "The Robots".

One of Kraftwerk's greatest achievements, as in all great art, was to be ambigious, and to let the listener interpret their work themselves. So in this case the lyrics remain steadfastly basic, not making any clear definitive statement. Interestingly enough, some quarters of the media tried to label the band "fascistic" for appearing on the cover with red shirts, but they were completely missing the point. Fascists wore black shirts. Kraftwerk were looking to the east, towards Russia.

Like all Kraftwerk's LPs, listening in hindsight often makes certain songs all the more romantic, as they cherish something that has been lost; for T.E.E there's "Europe Endless", Computer World's "Pocket Calculator" and for this LP "Spacelab". Written in 1978, with Skylab a very recent memory, this seems now a romantic ideal that has long gone.

Something prevents me from saying this is their best work - it was more impressionistic at the time than "T.E.E" and gave rise to a whole slew of bands who missed the point entirely about Kraftwerk, but it is their most distinctive LP - encapsulating their ethos, style and musical agenda with a flair that very few artists have ever matched.

It's hard for me to really effectively "review" this album, because I could never listen beyond "We Are The Robots". Did you know Kraftwerk actually made a video for it? Yeah, watch as much VH1 Classic as I do and you'll learn these things. There were a LOT of videos that the monolithically corporate-controlled MTV casually never played for us back in the days. I could list dozens of them but obviously it's not relevant anyway. Well, one - because it's as techno as techno could get in 1976, and that's Pink Floyd's "Welcome To The Machine". That video put chills down my spine! OK, but anyway - I just haven't progressed beyond "We Are The Robots". I saw the video first and found the record after I saw the video. The rest of the album is good, too, but it's track #1 that has me all abuzz. Very memorable melody and quite robotic beats as is usual with Kraftwerk. I should seek out the single if there is one. But despite many reviews over the 25 years stating that Kraftwerk's ONLY good release was "Autobahn", I'm here to tell you that is BULLSHIT! FUCK them jackasses! Kraftwerk's only blatantly commercial success was "Autobahn". Much of their other stuff is just as good and just as much fun to listen to and learn from. They were the original Gods of techno. The O.G.s, baby!