Kraftwerk - Electric Cafe

The byproduct of a much anticipated, long-delayed, and ultimately scrapped album to have been called Technopop (and to have contained Kraftwerk's great dance single "Tour de France"), 1986's Electric Cafe suffers only slightly from lacking the thematic focus of previous Kraftwerk albums. Ironically, the '80s techno-pop wave had passed by band founders Florian Schneider and Ralf Hutter at this point, but their sly wit ("Boing Boom Tschak," "Telephone," "Sex Object") and melodic inventiveness still stand the test of time. Its segues virtually seamless, Electric Cafe plays like one mega-dance-mix, but with the tasteful restraint that has long been a Kraftwerk hallmark. This is club music for thinking men and women. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

Superb Music !!

Superb Condition. Excellent quality of music. Perfect packing and forwarding. Got in perfect condition. Cheers.. Recommendable to others defenitely !! October 19, 2007

Show some dignity and respect

The last Kraftwerk album of the 20th Century was looked on rather softly at the time. After all, it was almost five years since the boundary shattering "Computer World." Hip-hop was already starting to find electronic sampling as a source of inspiration, and suddenly, those ideas seemed a bit old hat. However, I have always considered the original side one of this album to be a masterwork of electronic music, on a par with Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" or even "Autobahn."

Those first three pieces, "Boing Boom Tschak," "Tecno Pop" and "Musique Non Stop," formed a perfectly building suite of the machines that make the music, building from the elemental three words to the final explanation of purpose. "Boing Boom Tschak" (pronounced 'chuck') set out everything that Kraftwerk considers musical in three simple words. The electronic percussion begins to layer underneath and "Techno Pop" is born. Finally, "synthetic electronic sounds, industrial rhythms all around" wrap it all up. It is as close to a summation of electronica as has ever been recorded, and I love "Electric Cafe" because of it.

The other half of the CD is pedestrian by comparison. Where before Kraftwerk would lay down electronically altered robot-voices, this time much of the work is sampled. "The Telephone Call" was a minor dance hit, but it seems less groundbreaking and more of the times. Same with "Sex Object," which seems like the aftermath of "Computer Love" - "you turn me on, then you forget." The CD comes to a satisfying conclusion with the title track, a chill piece. Little did we know that it was the last we would hear from them till 2006 and the "Tour de France Soundtracks." Fortunately, the art on the front may be the only thing on the album that's dated. "Electric Cafe" has really gathered luster over the years. August 13, 2007

The Best Kraftwerk Album

The album is the mix Acid House and a modern day minimalist style music. They were always ahead of their time. February 18, 2007

Dance Hall Days

It usually isn't a good sign when a band tosses a project away and detours into releasing an album.

In the case of Kraftwerk, the bulk of the Techno pop project was nixed after several years of work - though it produced a great video for the original version of Tour de France - for the dance club mix-tape, Electric Cafe.

The album was released five years after the classic Computer World & Kraftwerk's revolution within the studio that made electronics an industry standard.

I split the music into two segments, with the strongest by far Boing Boom Tschak, Techno Pop and Musique Non Stop. Though the final three cuts are interesting - The Telephone Call, Sex Object and Electric Cafe - they show a little strain in the band's cutting-edge creativity.

When released, the album was met with mostly critical reviews from fans and reviewers. But the sound surprisingly holds up well and, though not as adventurous as Computer World, it shows Kraftwerk pulsating to the rhythms of the dance floor they created years before. January 17, 2007

3'5 Stars - Good Album But Not Revolutionary

It seems like when "Electric Cafe" came out in 1986 Kraftwerk weren't as revolutionary anymore and many others had catched up on their electro music. It was 5 years after their last album "Computer World" and many things had changed, They had actually been in the studio for 5 years to come up with a new album and the expectations were enormous. There's also 3 diffrent languages versions (German, English and Spanish) of this release. Even if this album isn't bad in any way and grows on you I feel like the first 3 of the songs are too simular and actually could have been just one, they mention their respective title's (Boing Boom Tschak, Techno Pop, Music Non Stop) through the songs and have a simular structure also, however they do have diffrent melodies and the third song "Musique Non Stop" was also a hit. But apart from that we saw loads of simular albums released at the same time and the emergence of Electro and Techno music. The song "Telephone Call" which deals with telephones and dialing, is one of the best. It once proves how much you can create with computers and samples. "Sex Object" had a odd title for this album, what simularity had it with technology?. It feautures trademark robotic voices and simular strcture as the other songs, but isn't as good. Last song, the title track is a highlight. It sounds like The Neptunes and Timbaland had this as a role model when they started out. The beats are awesome but coming last it feels a little overlooked. Check this song out though, it's one of their best!. "Electric Cafe" would be the last Kraftwerk album til "Tour The France Soundtracks" in 2003. That's almost 20 years. It's not one of their best, but it isn't as bad as some experts say. The only problem was that they didn't come up with any revolutionary ideas on this album and many other musicians had done simular albums at the time. However, It's defenitely worth purchasing. Half of the 6 songs are excellent. The rest are decent but alright. If you are new to Kraftwerk don't start here though, take a look at "Trans-Europe Express" or "The Man-Machine" first. November 15, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...