I have been knee-deep in Kraftwerk for weeks now, I can’t seem to stop playing them, and this is the defining album from our boys from the fatherland. When it comes down to it this is probably my favourite Kraftwerk album, there isn’t really a weak track here.

Imagine a British band creating a concept album around the British railway network, riveting stuff. The stretch between Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St. David would be a perfect Düsseldorf stand-in, instead of meeting Iggy Pop and David Bowie perhaps they could meet Keith Chegwin and Maggie Philbin (Non-UK readers, these were 1970s/80s avant-garde artists, who were years ahead of their time).

When we were kids, well a bit older than kids, we used to sing along to Hall of Mirrors, but we changed the line, Even the greatest stars, to, Even the greatest arse (in a bad German accent). Go ahead and listen, I still hear arse, but then that’s just me. The sonic centre (OK, calm down) of this album though really is Trans Europe Express, it is an incredible track, it uses the past and sounds like the future.

Micro review; The sons (or more like the distant German cousins) of Delia Derbyshire.

Hidden gem; Franz Schubert



