KRAFTWERK - ELECTRIC CAFE @ 35

 

December 16th marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Kraftwerk’s ninth studio album, Electric Café, which was issued this day in 1986. After a five year gap since their previous LP, Computer World (1981), this album would mark the end of their “classic” period and lineup of Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos, which had been consistent since 1975 following the release of their groundbreaking Autobahn LP.

Though Wolfgang was still credited as a member of the group and performed with them during their tour to support Computer World in 1981, he had not actually played on that album and would not contribute anything in the studio for Electric Café either. With the increased reliance on sequencers, his duties as percussionist became drastically reduced and, coupled with certain creative differences, he chose to make his permanent exit from the group shortly after the release of Electric Café.

Work on the album began in 1982 and one of the first songs to emerge from these sessions was Tour De France, which was originally intended to be part of the new album. After completing their last tour, Ralph had become obsessed with the idea of finding a form of exercise which fit in with the philosophies and aesthetics of the group and become an avid cyclist, even encouraging the rest of the group to take up the activity as well as become vegetarian. He was so enthusiastic about it that he campaigned to make cycling the central theme of the new album, but was ultimately unsuccessful in that effort. Instead the original concept for the album was to call it “Technicolor”, but this idea had to be abandoned because of the branding of that name, so it became “Techno Pop” for a while before being renamed to Electric Café for its initial release. However, it ended up being renamed again for its remastered CD reissue back to “Techno Pop”.

Though the album’s production began in 1982, Ralph’s obsession with cycling kept him out of the studio more and more, delaying production. This was greatly exacerbated when he was involved in a serious cycling accident, which left him in a coma for several days. A long recovery kept him out of the studio for some time. As a stop-gap, the group released Tour De France as a single and decided to keep it as a stand-alone release and not include it on the new album.

As Ralph recovered and production gradually got back on track, the group sought to develop their sound in order to keep pushing the envelope of the technology. This involved moving to progressively more digital based sound production and processing gear. Tour De France had set the stage for this with its extensive use of sampled sound effects of bicycle gears, breathing patterns and other associated noises. Even so, when it came to trying to put together the finished mixes, Ralph was not confident that they were reaching the level he had envisioned in terms of keeping the group on the cutting edge of their genre. To help them with this, they brought in the help of New York DJ/producer, François Kevorkian, who had helped with the mix on Tour De France. Aside from the move towards a more digital sound, the album also features the first and only lead vocal from Karl Bartos on The Telephone Call.

Upon the album’s initial release, it was rather limply received. The gap between Computer World and Electric Café had seriously lost the group the momentum it has gained from that previous release and Ralph was right to worry about the group not seeming cutting edge anymore as the album, despite their best efforts, still managed to feel more “of the times” than ahead of it. Critics called it dull and sales were disappointing. I remember buying it when it came out and my own initial reaction to it was a feeling that the group weren’t anticipating the future like they’d done on previous albums. I loved the opening track, Boing Boom Tschak, with its syncopated voice samples and had hoped to hear more of that throughout the album, but it all seemed like familiar territory after that and even a bit like a self-parody in some cases. Ultimately, it would be the groups last full album of new material until the release of Tour De France Soundtracks in 2003. The only other releases before then were the 1991 “best of” rebuilds for The Mix and the 1999 single, Expo 2000.

Though it is mostly considered one of Kraftwerk’s weaker albums, lacking the focused conceptual framework of classic period masterpieces like, Radio Activity, Trans Europe Express, The Man Machine and Computer World, several of its songs have become mainstays of their live performances and have proven themselves to be durable and just as melodically infectious as anything else in the upper echelons of their catalogue. The title song, Electric Café, in a slightly sped-up form, became something of a cultural meme thanks to its use by Mike Myers on SNL in the 1990s for his recurring "Sprockets” German television spoof. My own appraisal of the album has changed for the better over the years as I have grown to find more and more to love about it now that it no longer seems to feel diminished by its relationship to their earlier works. I’m more able to appreciate it on its own merits. These days, I think it has earned its place as an essential piece of the Kraftwerk puzzle among the sacred 8 of their official “Catalogue”.