Kraftwerk (Album)

Occupation

Ralf Hütter: Organ, Tubon Florian Schneider: flute, violin Klaus Dinger: Drums Andreas Hohmann: Drums

Power plant is the self-titled debut album of the Düsseldorf band Kraftwerk. It was produced by Conny Plank and released in 1970.

Genesis

Be learned as early as 1968, the two heads of Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, know at any improvisation course at the Düsseldorf Conservatory and founded together with Basil Hammoudi, Butch Hauf and Alfred Möricks the precursor of Kraftwerk, organization. The group claimed only an album like this: it was called Tone Float and appeared in the summer of 1970 with RCA Victor in the UK only. The album became available in Germany only as an import, the music was still little groundbreaking and sales very low. Shortly thereafter Hammoudi, Freq and Möricks left the band to devote himself further their studies. Hütter and Schneider were alone again and gave themselves the name of the power plant. Especially in the initial phase of the band's history by many member changes was marked. On the first album next Hütter and Schneider both drummer Klaus Dinger be heard (drums on " From Heaven High" ) and Andreas Hohmann (drums on " jiffy " and " Stratovarius ").

The recordings for the album lasted from July to September in 1970, in November it was released at Philips. Dinger and Hohmann abandoned power plant shortly after. Klaus Dinger later gained through his project New! Celebrity, Andreas Hohmann was later drummer for the jazz-rock band Ibliss.

Music style

The musical style of the album still is very different from the later Kraftwerk albums, live from the electronic sound of the synthesizer. The debut album is designed experimentally by its improvisational and partially geräuschaften character and assign the Krautrock. However, can be quite recognize quite a few elements that are also found on later Kraftwerk albums. Technically, the use of electronic percussion is interesting Florian Schneider had started early even to build rhythm machines, which were then developed continuously. Also, the first signs of the typical power plant for basic melody can be recognized.

Success

The album was only in Germany the way into the charts, it reached # 30 The great mass of the band remained unknown, but the number of their followers grew and more and more people were aware of them.

Cover

On the cover of the album, the former power station logo is seeing a traffic cone with stripes in bright orange and white. In black letters the word " plant " is written across the cover. It was made by Ralf Hütter. In 1971 was the successor of the album Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2, the same cover, with the difference that the strips do not orange, but were green, and "Kraftwerk 2 " was on the cover.

Title list

A-side

B-side

All four songs were written by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider.