Electric Café
Encyclopedia
Electric Café is the ninth studio album by the electronic group Kraftwerk
, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.
and then Techno Pop), but the project was delayed due to band member Ralf Hütter
suffering a cycling accident, and then due to concerns within the band that the production quality of the album was not sufficiently cutting-edge, necessitating much re-work. The album, mastered by Bob Ludwig
, finally saw release in 1986. It is the last Kraftwerk album to feature Wolfgang Flür
and Karl Bartos
, who subsequently left the group in 1987 and 1991, respectively.
The first side of the album is instrumental without proper singing parts, relying instead on repeated spoken phrases. The side is divided into three tracks, but they may be taken to be one long piece of three variations with recurring elements. For instance, a few bars of melody from "Musique Non-Stop" can be heard as a few bars of bass melody in "Techno Pop." The second side also contains three songs, following a somewhat more conventional pop format. The song "The Telephone Call" (German version: "Der Telefon Anruf") is notable for being the first and only Kraftwerk song to feature Karl Bartos
on lead vocals. The album closes with the title track "Electric Café", featuring French language lyrics. Even if not one of the best known Kraftwerk songs, the track gained some notoriety in the United States, when it was used slightly sped up as the theme song for "Sprockets", the German television spoof by Mike Myers
on Saturday Night Live
.
Audiences generally appeared to find the music somewhat more sterile and less engaging than that of its conceptually more cohesive predecessor, Computer World
. Compared to the band's four preceding albums, some critics have pointed to the lack of a strong and sufficiently intriguing theme to tie the Electric Café material together. Furthermore the near half-decade hiatus in the band's record releases and performance activity lost them crucial momentum in their career. Whatever the possible influence of these factors, Electric Café did not meet with any great commercial success.
The album was recorded using the world's most expensive Synclavier II and Fairlight CMI Systems ever made along with some very expensive high-end modular synthesizers.
Two singles were released from the album, "Musique Non-Stop" and "The Telephone Call
". Both were accompanied by promotional videos. Though both singles went to #1
on the Billboard dance chart
in 1987
, neither of the singles performed well in the general pop charts. However, "Musique Non-Stop" has been the closing piece of Kraftwerk's concerts ever since. In the early 1990s, a completely different version of "Musique Non-Stop" – slower and more melodic – was used extensively as a jingle on the MTV Europe
channel. Earlier, MTV Europe had already included elements from the original song and the video in the title graphics for MTV's Greatest Hits
.
The video for "Musique Non-Stop", created in 1984 and released in 1986, is notable in itself for showcasing a computer animated representation of the band. The animation, which was complex for its time, was created by Rebecca Allen
, using state-of-the-art facial animation
software developed by the Institute of Technology
in New York. The slow rate of the album's progress, combined with rapid changes in software animation, meant that Allen had to archive the animation program developed at the Institute of Technology until Hütter and Schneider were ready in 1986, to travel to New York to edit the images to the final version of "Musique Non-Stop".
Note 1: In Spain the album was released in two versions. One was the regular English/International edition, and the other a local Edicion Española version, appearing early in 1987, with Spanish-language lyrics for both "Techno Pop" and "Sex Object" (often mistakenly titled "Objeto Sexual" by discographers). The Spanish-only vinyl album was withdrawn soon afterward because of a manufacturing error—a several-second complete drop-out of sound during the final track—and has never been reissued on CD. Both versions were also available as a cassette.
Note 2: The song "Sex Object" is absent from the South Korean pressings of the album.
, unspecific regarding the precisely defined roles of contributors. The 2009 remaster credits give the following information:
Band member Wolfgang Flür is included in a subsequent general list of collaborators, but is not credited with a musical or production role in these recordings.
In 1982, Kraftwerk began work on a follow-up album to its successful and influential Computer World. This new album initially had the working title Technicolor
, but this name had to be abandoned because that title was a trademark. The proposed title was changed to Techno Pop. Bootleg recording
s of the songs "Techno Pop" and "Sex Object" that claim to be demos from these early sessions have been circulated over the years, each with a noticeably different production sound from the final album.
The initial track listing for Techno Pop was the following:
1) Techno Pop (which would have taken up side one of the LP)
2) The Telephone Call
3) Sex Object
4) Tour de France
Recordings were progressing, and one song from these sessions, "Tour de France
" was released as a single in 1983, achieving moderate commercial success. However, shortly after this, Ralf Hütter suffered a cycling accident on the Rhine Dam and apparently was unable to work with the band for a period of time.
EMI
Records announced a release date for the Techno Pop album; promotional advertisements were released, and official catalog numbers were assigned to the project. However, the band were unable to complete the project in time. Instead, Autobahn
was reissued in 1985 in a digitally re-mixed [sic
] edition that subsequently marked the album's transition to compact disc the following year. By this time, Hütter & Schneider regained the rights to the recording, after the group's original contract with Philips
Records expired.
When work did recommence on the sessions, the band were reportedly concerned that the album's production was not of a sufficiently ground-breaking quality to match its reputation as sonic innovators. The final mix of the album was completely redone from scratch at least once, with Hütter eventually travelling to New York with the master tapes to work on them with producer François Kevorkian
. The recordings were not released until 1986, by which time the title had changed again, to Electric Café. The band had decided not to include the song "Tour de France" but instead to leave it as a stand-alone single: it had already been reissued in 1984, when Kevorkian had auditioned his production skills with a largely instrumental remix of the song.
At various times, Hütter, Bartos, Flür and Schneider have each stated in interviews that there are no unreleased songs from this period, and that all of the original Technicolor / Techno Pop material was eventually reworked into what can be heard on the finished Electric Café album.
edition of Electric Café was released by EMI Records
, Mute Records
and Astralwerks Records on CD, digital download and heavyweight vinyl in October/November 2009. The release was changed back to the original title of Techno Pop. Due to licensing restrictions imposed by Warner Music Group
, this version has only been made available in the US and Canada as a part of The Catalogue
box set.
This edition is the only album in The Catalogue that has been given a bonus track: the original "The Telephone Call" was replaced by the shorter and subtly different 7-inch single mix, and as a replacement for the latter part of the original album track (which contained telephone sounds and operator voices), the remix "House Phone" was inserted.
* Remix - previously released as a 7" single in 1987.
** Previously released as the B-Side of "The Telephone Call" (German: "Der Telefon Anruf") 12" single in 1987.
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, originally released in 1986. In October 2009 it was re-released under its original working title, Techno Pop.
Background
The album is somewhat infamous for taking the band almost half a decade to produce; work is said to have begun on the album as early as 1982 (with the working titles of TechnicolorTechnicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
and then Techno Pop), but the project was delayed due to band member Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter
Ralf Hütter is the lead singer, keyboardist, and reportedly leader of the electronic-music band Kraftwerk. Since the departure of Florian Schneider in 2008, he is also the group's sole remaining founding member....
suffering a cycling accident, and then due to concerns within the band that the production quality of the album was not sufficiently cutting-edge, necessitating much re-work. The album, mastered by Bob Ludwig
Bob Ludwig
Bob Ludwig is an American mastering engineer.He is a well known and respected figure within the music industry. His name is credited on the covers of albums released across the world, and he has won numerous awards....
, finally saw release in 1986. It is the last Kraftwerk album to feature Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür
Wolfgang Flür is a German musician, best known as a member of the electronic group Kraftwerk, from 1973 to 1987, playing electronic percussion...
and Karl Bartos
Karl Bartos
Karl Bartos was, between 1975 and 1990, along with Wolfgang Flür, an electronic percussionist in the electronic-music group Kraftwerk. He was originally recruited to play on its US "Autobahn" tour...
, who subsequently left the group in 1987 and 1991, respectively.
The 1986 Electric Café album
The album was initially released in 1986 with the title Electric Café, in versions sung in English and German, as well as a limited "Edicion Española" release, featuring versions of the songs "Techno Pop" and "Sex Object" that had only Spanish lyrics. It was the first Kraftwerk LP to be created using predominantly digital musical instruments, although the finished product was still recorded onto analog master tapes.The first side of the album is instrumental without proper singing parts, relying instead on repeated spoken phrases. The side is divided into three tracks, but they may be taken to be one long piece of three variations with recurring elements. For instance, a few bars of melody from "Musique Non-Stop" can be heard as a few bars of bass melody in "Techno Pop." The second side also contains three songs, following a somewhat more conventional pop format. The song "The Telephone Call" (German version: "Der Telefon Anruf") is notable for being the first and only Kraftwerk song to feature Karl Bartos
Karl Bartos
Karl Bartos was, between 1975 and 1990, along with Wolfgang Flür, an electronic percussionist in the electronic-music group Kraftwerk. He was originally recruited to play on its US "Autobahn" tour...
on lead vocals. The album closes with the title track "Electric Café", featuring French language lyrics. Even if not one of the best known Kraftwerk songs, the track gained some notoriety in the United States, when it was used slightly sped up as the theme song for "Sprockets", the German television spoof by Mike Myers
Mike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
.
Audiences generally appeared to find the music somewhat more sterile and less engaging than that of its conceptually more cohesive predecessor, Computer World
Computer World
Computer World is the eighth studio album by the German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. Critics see this album as a peak in the career of Kraftwerk, along with Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express...
. Compared to the band's four preceding albums, some critics have pointed to the lack of a strong and sufficiently intriguing theme to tie the Electric Café material together. Furthermore the near half-decade hiatus in the band's record releases and performance activity lost them crucial momentum in their career. Whatever the possible influence of these factors, Electric Café did not meet with any great commercial success.
The album was recorded using the world's most expensive Synclavier II and Fairlight CMI Systems ever made along with some very expensive high-end modular synthesizers.
Two singles were released from the album, "Musique Non-Stop" and "The Telephone Call
The Telephone Call
"The Telephone Call" is a 1987 single by German techno group Kraftwerk, on the 1986 album Electric Café. "The Telephone Call" was number one on the dance charts for two weeks, and was the second single that Kraftwerk took to number one in four months. In the UK, the song peaked at number eighty-nine...
". Both were accompanied by promotional videos. Though both singles went to #1
Number-one dance hits of 1987 (USA)
These are the Billboard magazine Hot Dance Club Play number one hits of 1987.-See also:*1987 in music*List of number-one dance hits *List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart...
on the Billboard dance chart
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
in 1987
Number-one dance hits of 1987 (USA)
These are the Billboard magazine Hot Dance Club Play number one hits of 1987.-See also:*1987 in music*List of number-one dance hits *List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart...
, neither of the singles performed well in the general pop charts. However, "Musique Non-Stop" has been the closing piece of Kraftwerk's concerts ever since. In the early 1990s, a completely different version of "Musique Non-Stop" – slower and more melodic – was used extensively as a jingle on the MTV Europe
MTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...
channel. Earlier, MTV Europe had already included elements from the original song and the video in the title graphics for MTV's Greatest Hits
MTV's Greatest Hits
MTV's Greatest Hits was a programme that started in 1990 presented by Paul King.The main idea was to show all the greatest hits throughout 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s.The show was shown at 4pm and then repeated at 10pm CET....
.
The video for "Musique Non-Stop", created in 1984 and released in 1986, is notable in itself for showcasing a computer animated representation of the band. The animation, which was complex for its time, was created by Rebecca Allen
Rebecca Allen
Rebecca Allen is an international artist inspired by a variety of media to create work from 3-D computer graphics, animation, music videos, video games, performance works, artificial life systems, multisensory interfaces, interactive installations, virtual and mixed reality.- Biography :Allen's...
, using state-of-the-art facial animation
Facial motion capture
Facial Motion Capture is the process of electronically converting the movements of a person's face into a digital database using cameras or laser scanners. This database may then be used to produce CG computer animation for movies, games, or real-time avatars...
software developed by the Institute of Technology
Institute of technology
Institute of technology is a designation employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system...
in New York. The slow rate of the album's progress, combined with rapid changes in software animation, meant that Allen had to archive the animation program developed at the Institute of Technology until Hütter and Schneider were ready in 1986, to travel to New York to edit the images to the final version of "Musique Non-Stop".
Side one
- "Boing Boom Tschak" (Hütter, Schneider & Bartos) - 2:57
- "Techno Pop" (Hütter, Schneider, Bartos & Schult) – 7:42
- "Musique Non-Stop" (Hütter, Schneider & Bartos) – 5:45
Side two
- "Der Telefon-Anruf" (Hütter, Schneider & Bartos) – 8:03
- "Sex Objekt" (Hütter, Schneider & Bartos) – 6:51
- "Electric Café" (Hütter, Schneider, Bartos & Maxime Schmitt) – 4:20
Side two
- "The Telephone CallThe Telephone Call"The Telephone Call" is a 1987 single by German techno group Kraftwerk, on the 1986 album Electric Café. "The Telephone Call" was number one on the dance charts for two weeks, and was the second single that Kraftwerk took to number one in four months. In the UK, the song peaked at number eighty-nine...
" – 8:03 - "Sex Object" – 6:51
- "Electric Café" – 4:20
Note 1: In Spain the album was released in two versions. One was the regular English/International edition, and the other a local Edicion Española version, appearing early in 1987, with Spanish-language lyrics for both "Techno Pop" and "Sex Object" (often mistakenly titled "Objeto Sexual" by discographers). The Spanish-only vinyl album was withdrawn soon afterward because of a manufacturing error—a several-second complete drop-out of sound during the final track—and has never been reissued on CD. Both versions were also available as a cassette.
Note 2: The song "Sex Object" is absent from the South Korean pressings of the album.
Personnel
The original 1986 sleeve notes are, like those in Computer WorldComputer World
Computer World is the eighth studio album by the German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. Critics see this album as a peak in the career of Kraftwerk, along with Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express...
, unspecific regarding the precisely defined roles of contributors. The 2009 remaster credits give the following information:
- Ralf Hütter – voice, vocoder, keyboards, electronics, mix
- Florian Schneider – vocoder, speech synthesis
- Karl Bartos – electronic drums (and voice on "The Telephone Call")
- Henning Schmitz – sound engineer (Kling Klang Studio)
- Joachim Dehmann – sound engineer (Kling Klang Studio)
- Fred Maher – music data transfer (Axis Studio, NYC)
- Bill Miranda – music data transfer
- François Kevorkian – mix (Right Track, NYC)
- Ron St. Germian – mix (Right Track, NYC)
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
Band member Wolfgang Flür is included in a subsequent general list of collaborators, but is not credited with a musical or production role in these recordings.
The first, unreleased Techno Pop album
Much speculation has taken place over the years as to whether a lost Kraftwerk album (i.e. unreleased songs/recordings) exists from the four-year period between 1982 and 1986. Kraftwerk is notoriously secretive about its activities, but a fairly reliable and consistent picture can be gleaned from interviews given by the various band members.Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, but this name had to be abandoned because that title was a trademark. The proposed title was changed to Techno Pop. Bootleg recording
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
s of the songs "Techno Pop" and "Sex Object" that claim to be demos from these early sessions have been circulated over the years, each with a noticeably different production sound from the final album.
The initial track listing for Techno Pop was the following:
1) Techno Pop (which would have taken up side one of the LP)
2) The Telephone Call
3) Sex Object
4) Tour de France
Recordings were progressing, and one song from these sessions, "Tour de France
Tour de France (song)
"Tour de France" is a song by Kraftwerk. It was first issued in June 1983, peaking at #22 in the UK singles chart. It is notable for the use of sampled voices and mechanical sounds associated with cycling that were used to supplement a simple electro-percussion pattern – an approach Kraftwerk have...
" was released as a single in 1983, achieving moderate commercial success. However, shortly after this, Ralf Hütter suffered a cycling accident on the Rhine Dam and apparently was unable to work with the band for a period of time.
EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Records announced a release date for the Techno Pop album; promotional advertisements were released, and official catalog numbers were assigned to the project. However, the band were unable to complete the project in time. Instead, Autobahn
Autobahn (album)
Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...
was reissued in 1985 in a digitally re-mixed [sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
] edition that subsequently marked the album's transition to compact disc the following year. By this time, Hütter & Schneider regained the rights to the recording, after the group's original contract with Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
Records expired.
François Kevorkian
François Kevorkian, alias François K, is a French DJ of Armenian origin, remixer, producer and record label owner. Having started his career in renowned clubs such as the Paradise Garage and Studio 54, the New York City resident is widely considered as one of the forefathers of house...
. The recordings were not released until 1986, by which time the title had changed again, to Electric Café. The band had decided not to include the song "Tour de France" but instead to leave it as a stand-alone single: it had already been reissued in 1984, when Kevorkian had auditioned his production skills with a largely instrumental remix of the song.
At various times, Hütter, Bartos, Flür and Schneider have each stated in interviews that there are no unreleased songs from this period, and that all of the original Technicolor / Techno Pop material was eventually reworked into what can be heard on the finished Electric Café album.
The 2009 Techno Pop album
A newly remasteredAudio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
edition of Electric Café was released by EMI Records
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, Mute Records
Mute Records
Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...
and Astralwerks Records on CD, digital download and heavyweight vinyl in October/November 2009. The release was changed back to the original title of Techno Pop. Due to licensing restrictions imposed by Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
, this version has only been made available in the US and Canada as a part of The Catalogue
The Catalogue
The Catalogue is a boxed set comprising eight albums by Kraftwerk that were released from 1974 to 2003...
box set.
This edition is the only album in The Catalogue that has been given a bonus track: the original "The Telephone Call" was replaced by the shorter and subtly different 7-inch single mix, and as a replacement for the latter part of the original album track (which contained telephone sounds and operator voices), the remix "House Phone" was inserted.
Side two
- "Der Telefon-Anruf"* – 3:50
- "House Phone"** – 4:56
- "Sex Objekt" – 6:51
- "Electric Café" – 4:19
Side two
- "The Telephone Call"* – 3:50
- "House Phone"** – 4:56
- "Sex Object" – 6:51
- "Electric Café" – 4:19
* Remix - previously released as a 7" single in 1987.
** Previously released as the B-Side of "The Telephone Call" (German: "Der Telefon Anruf") 12" single in 1987.