I was the "1 out of 10" who managed to get a ticket for Tate Modern - I queued for three hours in a bloody cold Turbine Hall in the middle of December to get a ticket for the "Radioactivity" night - whilst I was waiting they already announced that the "Trans Europe Express", "The Man Machine" and "Computer World" nights were sold out. I found out later that on each night of the tour there were plenty of tkts available on the door - so those who decided to put on a night in the pub could have saved their efforts and headed on down!
Great reminders of easily the best visual concert I've ever seen - but to me this doc was a Ralf Hutter PR exercise. No mention at all of Organisation or the album "Tone Float" - the Kraftwerk clip that was filmed when Hutter left the band for 6 mths in '71 was absent - as was any reference to his brief departure - no mention at all of the albums "Kraftwerk", "Kraftwerk 2", "Ralf and Florian", "Radioactivity" (OK a couple of songs from it were aired) and - mercifully - "The Mix".
No comment on the fact that they have only released two albums of new studio material in 34 years (it was this in(radio)activity that caused Karl Bartos to quit in 1990) and most scandalously no word on why Florian Schneider bailed out after working with Hutter for 40 years.
Recently I played for the first time in years my boot CDS - yes - thanks Ralf - we still can't buy the CDs officially - of the pre-Autobahn albums. Much as they generate interest and there is the odd track - "Ruckzuck", "Kling Klang" - that offer glimpses of things to come - I can understand to a certain degree why Hutter distances himself from "Tone Float", "Kraftwerk" and "Kraftwerk 2". They're worthy of release but it sounds like a completely different band on the whole. It incenses me that "Ralf And Florian" is shunted aside because this was the true initiating album of the "trademark" Kraftwerk sound. In fact - the doc mentions Bowie's recording of "V-2 Schneider" and his championing of Kraftwerk - but there is an interview where he specifically mentions the "Ralf And Florian" album as a key influence on his work. The band's first single "Kohoutek -Kometenmelodie" - released just after "Ralf and Florian" and different recordings to the "Autobahn" "Kometenmelodie" tracks - is a key player in the development of their sound. I was only aware of the single's existence a couple of years ago - and of course it's never mentioned anywhere - let alone this doc. Here's that original single..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLkjZtqhPUk
|
