Tour de France Soundtracks
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| Tour de France Soundtracks | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Kraftwerk | ||||||||||
| Released | 4 August 2003 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2003 | |||||||||
| Genre | Electronic music, Synthpop | |||||||||
| Length | 55:57 | |||||||||
| Label | Kling Klang | |||||||||
| Producer | Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Fritz Hilpert, Henning Schmitz | |||||||||
| Professional reviews | ||||||||||
| Kraftwerk chronology | ||||||||||
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Tour de France Soundtracks is the tenth and most recent studio album by the German electronic group Kraftwerk. The album was recorded for the 100th anniversary of the first Tour de France bicycle race, although it missed its original release date during the actual Tour. The cover art is similar to that of their 1983 single Tour de France. The announcement of the release caused much anticipation, as it had been 17 years since the group had put out a full album of new studio material since 1986's Electric Café.
Unusually for a Kraftwerk album it did not have separate German and international vocal mixes, but was released only in one version, sung predominantly in French — appropriate, considering the subject matter. The lyrics were co-written by Ralf Hütter and Maxime Schmitt — who had previously been manager of the Capitol label at Pathé-Marconi (part of the EMI group, the company that distributed Kraftwerk's music in France) and had been involved with the band since the mid-1970s.
It was recorded by the band in their Kling Klang studio, located in Düsseldorf, Germany; Hütter and Schneider working with Fritz Hilpert and Henning Schmitz. This four piece line-up then took the album on an extensive world tour in 2004. On the tour, they performed the music from four laptop computers running sequencing, sampling and synthesizer software, also controlling and synchronised with large video displays. In 2005, Kraftwerk released Minimum-Maximum, with separate audio and video releases featuring songs performed at various venues during the 2004 tour.
A short jingle was supplied to the television broadcaster Eurosport for use in their coverage of the 2003 Tour de France.
A newly remastered edition of the album, now called Tour de France was released by Mute Records and Astralwerks Records (in the US) on CD and digital download in October 2009, with a heavyweight vinyl edition set for release in November 2009.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
All songs written and composed by Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Fritz Hilpert, Maxime Schmitt unless noted otherwise..
| # | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prologue" | Hütter, Schneider, Hilpert | 0:31 |
| 2. | "Tour de France Étape 1" | 4:27 | |
| 3. | "Tour de France Étape 2" | 6:41 | |
| 4. | "Tour de France Étape 3" | 3:56 | |
| 5. | "Chrono" | 3:19 | |
| 6. | "Vitamin" | Hütter, Hilpert | 8:09 |
| 7. | "Aéro Dynamik" | 5:04 | |
| 8. | "Titanium" | 3:21 | |
| 9. | "Elektro Kardiogramm" | Hütter, Hilpert | 5:16 |
| 10. | "La Forme" | Hütter, Schmitt | 8:41 |
| 11. | "Régéneration" | Hütter, Schmitt | 1:16 |
| 12. | "Tour de France" | Hütter, Schneider, Schmitt, Bartos | 5:12 |
Note: The 2003 Japanese CD release of this album also contains the video of the single "Tour de France 2003" as a bonus track.
[edit] Singles
Note: all track versions on these singles are different from the album versions of the songs
- Tour de France '03 July 2003
- "Tour de France '03 (Version 1)"
- "Tour de France '03 (Version 2)"
- "Tour de France '03 (Version 3)"
- "Tour de France '03 (Long Distance Version 2)"
- Elektro Kardiogramm (Promo only) October 2003
- "Elektro Kardiogramm (Radio Mix)" — 3:25
- Aerodynamik March 2004
- "Aerodynamik (Kling Klang Radio Mix)"
- "Aerodynamik (Kling Klang Dynamix)"
- "Aerodynamik (Alex Gopher / Etienne de Crecy Dynamik Mix)"
- "Aerodynamik (François K. Aero Mix)"
- Aerodynamik + La Forme September 2007
- "Aerodynamik (Hot Chip Intelligent Design Mix)"
- "La Forme (Hot Chip King of the Mountains Mix)"
[edit] Personnel
- Ralf Hütter – vocals, software synthesizers, sequencing
- Florian Schneider – additional vocals, software synthesizers, sequencing
- Fritz Hilpert – software synthesizers, electronic percussion, sound engineer[3]
- Henning Schmitz – software synthesizers, electronic percussion
[edit] Promotional version
The promo version of the album contained a few differences in the mix to the album when finally released. These occur on the tracks "Tour de France Etape 3" and "La Forme/Regeneration."
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[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Snow, Mat (November 2009). "Gut Vibrations". Mojo (London: Bauer Media Group) (192): 110. ISSN 1351-0193.
- ^ Cavanagh, David. "Uncut Reviews: Kraftwerk - Reissues". Uncut. http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/kraftwerk/reviews/13709. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
- ^ (2009) Album notes for Tour De France (Digital Remaster) by Kraftwerk [CD]. Great Britain: Mute Records (CDSTUMM310).
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