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Autobahn (album)

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Untitled

Autobahn (German for "motorway") is an album by Kraftwerk, released in 1974. The album’s 22-minute title track was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached #25 on the US Billboard charts, charting even higher around Europe, including #11 in the UK.

Autobahn is not a completely electronic album, as violin, flute, and guitar are used along with synthesizers. The title track features both untreated and vocoded vocals; the remaining tracks are purely instrumental. Kraftwerk used a Minimoog as one of their synthesizers, which were known to cost as much as a Volkswagen at that time. Other instruments employed included the ARP Odyssey, EMS Synthi AKS and various devices of their own design and implementation, such as their famous electronic drums.

The title track is intended to capture the feeling of driving on the Autobahn; from the high-speed concentration of the fast lane, to the tuning of the car radio, to the monotony of a long trip. Autobahn is also the first of Kraftwerk’s concept albums of sorts, which they have done up to 2003.

The front cover of the original German edition was painted by Emil Schult, a long-time collaborator of Ralf and Florian, who also co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Autobahn". It was subsequently used on the cover of the 1985 re-issue. The version released in the UK on the Vetigo label in 1974 had a differently designed cover, produced by the label’s in-house marketing department.

Klaus Röder was not a member of the band for very long, and had left before the recording sessions were completed. There is some doubt about Röder’s input; the original 1974 cover credited him with "violin, guitar", whereas for the 1985 re-release he was given a credit on the vinyl B-side label only, as playing electro-geige (electro-violin) on "Mitternacht". According to Flür’s autobiography, this was an electronic instrument of his own invention; he also played it on "Autobahn", though his contributions were apparently mixed out on the finished album. In 2007, Dirk Matten, of the company Matten & Wiechers (who built custom musical sequencers for Ralf and Florian), stated on a Kraftwerk mailing list (www.kraftwerk.hu/antenna) that Hütter played all of the guitar parts himself. Matten later declined to reveal any further details supporting the claim.

Wolfgang Flür’s face was added to the group photo on the back cover of the original LP (grafted onto Emil Schult’s body) at the last minute when it was decided that he would stay as a permanent member of the band. For the 1985 digital remix album all traces of the original recording line up were removed and instead a photo from the 1975 Autobahn tour was used. It shows Hütter, Schneider and Flür with new member, percussionist Karl Bartos – who were the band members at the time of the album’s first re-release in 1985 – performing on stage.

In a rather disingenuous move, producer Conny Plank’s name was also largely removed from the first re-issue of the album, only appearing very small on the side B label of the vinyl edition and nowhere on the CD version. Plank had reputedly played a large role in developing the Kraftwerk sound, and much of the recording and all of the mixing of the work took place at his studio in Cologne.

One can hear how much Plank contributed to the sound, since Kometenmelodie had been recorded before without his input; the rare single "Kohoutek-Kometenmelodie" sounds like a demo recording compared to the album version.

Flür had played with the band since late in 1973, first appearing with them on a Berlin TV performance to promote their Ralf und Florian album. On that show, he debuted the band’s custom-built electronic percussion pads, and these feature heavily on the Autobahn album. When Flür published an autobiography in the late 1990s, legal wranglings ensued over his claim to have largely built and developed these pads himself (with electronics assistance from Schneider), cannibalising an organ beat-box for the sound generating circuits. Schneider had in fact filed a patent on the device under his own name in 1977. Again, Flür’s name was removed from the artwork of the 1985 re-issue – when the album first became available on CD – although his contribution was later confirmed by a German court decision on March 23 2001.

The 1988 CD reissue released by Elektra Records in the US and Canada restored all of the original credits inside of the liner notes, but this version of the disc soon went out of print in the mid-1990s. Currently, the album is only available as an import from EMI, which is the same as the their 1985 reissue minus the credits.

Track listing

  1. "Autobahn" ("Motorway") (Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Emil Schult) – 22:43
  2. "Kometenmelodie 1" ("Comet Melody 1") (Hütter, Schneider) – 6:26 (inspired by Comet Kohoutek)
  3. "Kometenmelodie 2" ("Comet Melody 2") (Hütter, Schneider) – 5:48
  4. "Mitternacht" ("Midnight") (Hütter, Schneider) – 3:43
  5. "Morgenspaziergang" ("Morning Walk") (Hütter, Schneider) – 4:04

Credits

Album cover variations

File:A74-D-front.jpg
The original version of the German issued cover, with artwork by Emil Schult.
File:A74-D-back.jpg
The back cover of the original German version, Flür’s head montaged into the group photo.
File:A74-E-front.jpg
The version of the cover released in Britain on the Vertigo label in 1974.
File:A84-E-back.jpg
The back cover of the 1985 re-issue, showing the Hütter-Bartos-Flür-Schneider line up.

Equipment

  • Minimoog
  • ARP (white-faced) Odyssey
  • Customized Farfisa Rhythm Unit 10
  • Vox Percussion King
  • Farfisa Professional Piano
  • EMS Synthi-A
  • Schulte Compact Phasing A
  • Mutron Biphase
  • & others

Release details

The originally released formats and later digital remix versions are shown below. These may differ from currently available versions.

Country Date Label Format Catalog
Germany November 1974 Philips Vinyl 6305 231 Motorway symbol sticker on front cover
November 1974 Philips Cassette 7105 181
June 1985 EMI-Electrola Vinyl 1C 064 2400 701 Digital remix
June 1985 EMI-Electrola Cassette 1C 064 2400 704 Digital remix
February 1986 EMI-Electrola CD CDP 564 7 46153 2 Digital remix
United Kingdom November 1974 Vertigo Vinyl 6360 620 Unique UK-only embossed cover design
May 1975 Vertigo Cassette 7149 005 UK-only cover design
July 1975 Vertigo 8-track 7710 702 UK-only cover design
June 1985 EMI-Parlophone Vinyl AUTO 1 (24 0070 1) Digital remix; catalog number was given as EMC 3405 in pre-release listings until late-1984
June 1985 EMI-Parlophone Cassette TC AUTO 1 (24 0070 4) Digital remix; catalog number was given as TC EMC 3405 in pre-release listings until late-1984
February 1986 EMI CD CDP 7 46153 2 Digital remix
United States 1975 Vertigo Vinyl VEL-2003
1975 Vertigo Cassette VCR-4-200
1975 Vertigo 8-track VC-8-2003
1985 Warner Brothers Vinyl 9 25326-1 Digital remix
1985 Warner Brothers Cassette 25326-4 Digital remix
1985 Warner Brothers CD 25326-2 Digital remix
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