Kraftwerk – Computerwelt

Terrific album, and super influential. Used to listen to this constantly while BBSing back in 1981. A must for any collection.

I have a sealed copy of the 2009 remaster version (Parlophone). Is there any way finf out year of pressing without breaking the seal?

Who knew? There was a mini "synth" put out by Mattel toys for kids to cash in on the bee gees success. It was called the bee gees rhythm machine. No, seriously. Apparently THIS is what Ralf used on pocket calculator. He painted it black and took it on tour and it's what you see him handing out into the audience in the promo video for calculator so they can " jam" along on the song with the band!...this is a youtube link about the bee gees rhythm machine..https://youtu.be/Jn8mxHfY4vM

Absolute electronic masterpiece! Still hard to believe this was conceived & recorded on 1981 technology, but here I am still listening in amazement. Waaaay ahead of it's time and as relevant as Sgt. Pepper's. (maybe moreso)

The fact that this album changed the landscape of hip-hop upon it's release, and ended up being the blueprint for Techno, House, Electro and even POP, makes this a landmark album, that belongs in everyone's collection.

Aldo Marin (Cutting Records):
“ This, to me, is the album that changed the Hip Hop and Dance World forever. I believe that without this album, there would be no 'Planet Rock', 'Al-Naafiysh (The Soul), 'Hip Hop Be Bop', 'Clear' and maybe even Cutting Records.”

There's a noticeable sound gap in any album version of "Computer Love", it is a 4 seconds EQ change in the left channel happening around the 0.55s count. This fault, most probably been due to a tape issue during the "english" mixdown session, is not mentioned in any of the many books and sources referring to the seminal Kraftwerk work. Also note that the album mix is different from both the 7'' and the 12'' single versions.

It is difficult to calculate Kraftwerk's influence on contemporary music. In the DNA of contemporary music, there are many traits of influence of the four german boys. Just as there are many traits of James Brown. Over the past 30/40 years, a number of artists and musical genres have emerged from the german 'men's machine': Detroit Techno, Electro, Acid House, Miami Bass, EBM, New Beat; from Juan Atkins to Afrika Bambaataa; from Dynamix II to Coldplay.

Electronic music, in a way, always punctuated a vision of the future, conceived by musicians with a sensitivity and unique perception, capable of capturing the vibrations of a possible future and expressing them through music."Computer World' is, in fact, a timeless, futuristic record that saw the world in the following decades, with computers measuring the needs of humans.

Technological advances allowed the sound of this record to be cleaner, clearer than any previous Kraftwerk record. However, before the internet, people exchanged emails, it sounded strange an album entirely dedicated to the computer. Therefore, like all great novelty, this record took time to be properly absorbed by the public.

Some tracks deserve attention and among them the track "Computer Love", the most incredible melody of Lp. Some say that the English versions of the Kraftwerk end up losing the refinement of the german original. Aesthetic preferences aside, one thing is certain: this track has a fascinating, melancholic, human melody that brought a new freshness to the sound of the analog electronics at that moment

Perhaps the most trac of the record is "Numbers". If not the most impressive, at least musically, it was the most futuristic. With their minimalist, sequenced and heavy beats, "Numbers" lent some of their energy to serve as inspiration for many songs from various genres. And among them, the infamous hip-hop classic "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force had "Numbers" as inspiration. The legendary Afrika Bambaataa, along with producers Arthur Baker and John Robbie, drew inspiration from "Numbers" and "Trans Europe Express, by Kraftwerk, "The Mexican," by Babe Ruth, "Super Sperm" by Captain Sky among other sounds that hovered over the block parties of 70s, to create a new genre and a new musical identity for Hip-Hop: the Electro.

The construction of a musical culture is born in the pursuit of the search, the search, the diversity of records we hear. Therefore, I believe that there is, indeed, a musical culture in a considerable part of the public. But this culture needs to be encouraged, it needs to be stimulated, and here comes the importance of dee jay, the music critic, the digger; encouraging people who have access to the greatest number of records is the first step for each one to create their particular private musical imagery. Dee jays such as Grand Master Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, for example, encouraged audiences around the Bronx to access works like this through sets and their works. In short, the public that consumes only commercial material can be encouraged to listen to different, complex and thought-provoking records; just receive the right stimulus.

I read that in some countries EMI accompanied review copies with a real pocket calculator with "Kraftwerk - Computer World" printed in yellow and black at the top. Anyone have any info on this? I haven't seen any releases here with this info.

I have identical copy, but nothing stamped (or etched) in the runout...

Sorry. I really don't see it.

Compared to loads upon loads of other electronic music that was out at the same time as this album, "Computer World" sounds simplistic, regressive, even old fashioned.

Many fans like to claim that Kraftwerk and "Computer World" were so endlessly influential to electronic music but I couldn't agree less as electronic genres like disco, italo, noise, industrial, power-electronics, ndw, even detroit techno were already existing by the time this album came out and i have a hard time believing many of the artists in those genres liked, listened to or had even heard of Kraftwerk.

It's like when I was a 5 year old kid in 1989, I thought my family's Apple II E computer with the 5 1/2 inch floppy drives and green screen was hot stuff, but now that i'm older i realize that although i was the only kid i knew with a computer it had still been obsolete.

Kraftwerk sounds really amazing until you realize what else was going on in music in 1981...