Minimum-Maximum

Untitled

Minimum-Maximum is the first official live album release by Kraftwerk, released in June 2005, almost 35 years after the group gave their first live performance. It features tracks recorded on their world tour during 2004, including concerts in Warsaw, Moscow, Berlin, London, Budapest, Tallinn, Riga, Tokyo and San Francisco.

Like many of their studio albums, Minimum-Maximum was released in two different language versions: the band's native German, and English for the international market. However, of the 23 tracks on the album, only the recordings of "The Model", "Radioactivity", "Trans-Europe Express" / "Metal on Metal", "Computer World", "Pocket Calculator" and "The Robots" are actually different between the releases. The album title, an excerpt from the lyrics of the song "Elektro-Kardiogramm" (which only exists in an English-language version), is the same for both German and English versions.

In an interview for Mojo Magazine, Ralf Hütter regretted the fact that they could not include recordings from their 2004 concert in Santiago de Chile:

“We have great recordings from Santiago, Chile, but couldn’t incorporate them into Minimum-Maximum because we’d already mixed the album,” says Ralf. “The Chileans were the only audience in the world who clap in time, in perfect synchronisation.”

The album was also released as a double live concert DVD with DTS 5.1 sound on 5 December 2005.

The track "Planet of Visions", is a reworked version of the song "Expo 2000", based on a 2001 remix by Underground Resistance. In other words, the track is a remix of a remix.

The vocoder text "Sellafield 2" at the start of "Radioactivity" / "Radioaktivität" is included for the first time on the CD and DVD set. The intro vocoder text before "The Man-Machine" / "Die Mensch-Maschine" is included only on the DVD release.

Minimum-Maximum was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2006.

Track listing

International version

Disc one

1. "The Man-Machine" (Karl Bartos, Florian Schneider, Ralf Hütter) Warszawa, Sala Kongresowa – 7:55
2. "Planet of Visions" (Fritz Hilpert, Hütter, Florian Schneider) Ljubljana, Križanke – 4:45
3. "Tour de France (Étape 1)" (Hilpert, Hütter, Maxime Schmitt, Schneider) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 4:22
4. "Chrono" (Hilpert, Hütter, Schneider, Schmitt) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 1:29
5. "Tour de France (Étape 2)" (Hilpert, Hütter, Schmitt, Schneider) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 4:48
6. "Vitamin" (Hilpert, Hütter) Moscow, Lushniki – 6:41
7. "Tour de France" (Bartos, Hütter, Schmitt, Schneider) Paris, Le Grand Rex – 6:18
8. "Autobahn" (Hütter, Schneider, Emil Schult) Berlin, Tempodrom – 8:51
9. "The Model" (Bartos, Hütter, Schult) London, Brixton Academy – 3:41
10. "Neon Lights" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) London, Royal Festival Hall – 5:58

Disc two

1. "Radioactivity" (Hütter, Schneider, Schult) Warszawa, Sala Kongresowa – 7:41
2. "Trans Europe Express" (Hütter, Schult) Budapest, Sportarena – 5:01
3. "Metal on Metal" (Hütter) Budapest, Sportarena – 4:28
4. "Numbers" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) San Francisco, The Warfield – 4:27
5. "Computer World" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Moscow, Lushniki – 2:55
6. "Home Computer" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Warszawa, Sala Kongresowa – 5:55
7. "Pocket Calculator" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Moscow, Lushniki – 2:58
8. "Dentaku" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Tokyo, Shibuya Ax – 3:15
9. "The Robots" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Moscow, Lushniki – 7:23
10. "Elektro Kardiogramm" (Hilpert, Hütter) Tallinn, Exhibition Hall – 4:41
11. "Aéro Dynamik" (Hilpert, Hütter, Schneider, Schmitt) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 7:14
12. "Music Non Stop" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Moscow, Lushniki – 9:51

German version

Disc one

1. "Die Mensch-Maschine" (Karl Bartos, Florian Schneider, Ralf Hütter) Warszawa, Sala Kongresowa – 7:55
2. "Planet der Visionen" (Fritz Hilpert, Hütter, Florian Schneider) Ljubljana, Križanke – 4:45
3. "Tour de France (Étape 1)" (Hilpert, Hütter, Maxime Schmitt, Schneider) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 4:22
4. "Chrono" (Hilpert, Hütter, Schneider, Schmitt) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 1:29
5. "Tour de France (Étape 2)" (Hilpert, Hütter, Schmitt, Schneider) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 4:48
6. "Vitamin" (Hilpert, Hütter) Moscow, Lushniki – 6:41
7. "Tour de France" (Bartos, Hütter, Schmitt, Schneider) Paris, Le Grand Rex – 6:18
8. "Autobahn" (Hütter, Schneider, Emil Schult) Berlin Tempodrom – 8:51
9. "Das Modell" (Bartos, Hütter, Schult) Berlin, Tempodrom – 3:41
10. "Neonlicht" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) London, Royal Festival Hall – 5:58

Disc two

1. "Radioaktivität" (Hütter, Schneider, Schult) Tallinn, Exhibition Hall – 7:41
2. "Trans-Europa Express" (Hütter, Schult) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 3:21
3. "Abzug" (Hütter) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 1:40
4. "Metall auf Metall" (Hütter) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 4:28
5. "Nummern" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) San Francisco, The Warfield – 4:27
6. "Computerwelt" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider, Schult) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 2:55
7. "Heimcomputer" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Warszawa, Sala Kongresowa – 5:55
8. "Taschenrechner" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Berlin, Tempodrom – 2:58
9. "Dentaku" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Tokyo, Shibuya Ax – 3:15
10. "Die Roboter" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Berlin, Tempodrom – 7:23
11. "Elektro-Kardiogramm" (Hilpert, Hütter) Tallinn, Exhibition Hall – 4:41
12. "Aero Dynamik" (Hilpert, Hütter, Schneider, Schmitt) Riga, Olimpiska Hall – 7:14
13. "Music Non-Stop" (Bartos, Hütter, Schneider) Moscow, Lushniki – 9:51

In the German version of the track listing (as on The Mix album) after "Trans-Europa Express" is an extra title, "Abzug", followed by "Metal auf Metal". For the international version of the album the title "Abzug" was dropped and the music incorporated as part of "Trans-Europe Express", thus making the disc appear to be one track shorter. The original 1977 German album has these track titles in a different order, though the music is basically the same arrangement.

Notebook

Main article: Minimum-Maximum (video) § Notebook

A special edition box set entitled Notebook, comprising both the DVDs and audio CDs plus a commemorative hardback book of tour photos, was also issued, in both German and English language versions.

Personnel

• Ralf Hütter – vocals, keyboards, software synthesizers, sequencing
• Florian Schneider – additional vocals, software synthesizers, vocoders, sequencing
• Fritz Hilpert – software synthesizers, sequencing
• Henning Schmitz – software synthesizers, sequencing

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog number	Lyrics
Germany	June 6, 2005	EMI	CD	3 12046 2	German
Germany	June 6, 2005	EMI	4 x vinyl	3 11828 1	German
EU except Germany	June 6, 2005	EMI	CD	560 6112	English
EU except Germany	June 6, 2005	EMI	4 x vinyl	560 6111	English
EU except Germany	April 24, 2006	EMI	SACD	3 34996 2	English
United States	June 7, 2005	Astralwerks	CD	ASW 60611	English
Japan	August 10, 2005	EMI	CD	TOCP-66427	German
Japan	August 10, 2005	EMI	CD	TOCP-66425	English
Australasia	July 18, 2005	EMI	CD	7243 5 60616 2 0 (Australian 2 CD release)	English

See also

• Complete List of Grammy Award Nominations. Grammy.com.