Kraftwerk - Computer World
Genre: Electronic
Kraftwerk (which means "Power station") is a highly influential electronic music group from Düsseldorf, Germany. Computer World is considered by many to be one of their best albums. Its lyrics are about the dawning of the computer era of the Western world, which began to kick off with the Apple II in 1977. Interestingly, Computer World was released in the same year as the IBM PC, which was the ancestor of virtually every personal computer released.
Computer World uses quite a few unusual instruments, such as a Casio programmable calculator and a Speak & Spell. It also uses the more conventional Polymoog and Minimoog synthesizers.
Computer World
The title track, the first track, and a damn good one at that. The song sounds kinda like the song used on the intro to these tapes used in my Electronics class. Like most Kraftwerk songs, it's very catchy. The lyrics seem to list users and uses of computers. I give this song 8/10
Pocket Calculator
This is my favorite track on the album. It uses some sort of electronic toy's beeps as a sound effect. The way the vocals are sung amuses me for some reason. "I'm the operator with my pocket calculator!" The synthesizer line is great as well. This song gets 9/10
Numbers
Ugh, we were off to such a nice start, then this track comes and blindsides us. It consists of...counting in German, English, French, Spanish (or Latin or Portuguese or something; can't tell if it's "dos" or "duo") and Japanese. It also has a rather obnoxious synth line. The beat is good, though; that's the only thing I like about this song. The English count stops at 2; the song's rating stops at twice that: 4/10
Computer World 2
Take Computer World. Remove the vocals. Change the melody. Stick a modified version of Numbers' vocals on it. This is Computer World 2. Since it could be called Numbers 2, its rating is that of Numbers++: 5/10
Computer Love
The melody from this song was borrowed by Coldplay for their single "Talk." I can see why Coldplay would use it: it's a pretty good song. I don't know what else to say except that it gets 8/10
Home Computer
:speakandspell: at the beginning, followed by an even more robotic than usual bassline, and a sort of "egyptian synth" (best way I could describe it even though it doesn't really fit too well) chiming in. Between verses, a sort of "bubbling space bell" (again, a really bad description, but the best I could do) rolls around. I like this song, but it gets a bit too repetitive with too little vocals and too much looping with only subtle variations. Still, it can draw a 7.5/10
It's More Fun To Compute
Cool intro. Vocoder saying "IT'S MORE FUN TO COMPUTE." Bassline not changing. More vocoder saying the same thing. "Synth Trumpet." Stop the vocoder. Looping. More looping. Ending with a soft synth-trumpet. The end. It's better than Numbers by quite a bit, though that's not saying too much. 7/10 for you, last track.
This album is so short, especially if you ignore Dumbers (sic even though it was originally a typo) and Computer World 2. Weighing in at a lithe 40 minutes when padded with silence, Computer World is more suited for ripping to your computer and injecting into your playlist than for sequential listening--interesting, considering that ripping didn't become popular for about another 20 years after the release of this album; still, it's fitting considering the album's theme.
Genre: Electronic
Kraftwerk (which means "Power station") is a highly influential electronic music group from Düsseldorf, Germany. Computer World is considered by many to be one of their best albums. Its lyrics are about the dawning of the computer era of the Western world, which began to kick off with the Apple II in 1977. Interestingly, Computer World was released in the same year as the IBM PC, which was the ancestor of virtually every personal computer released.
Computer World uses quite a few unusual instruments, such as a Casio programmable calculator and a Speak & Spell. It also uses the more conventional Polymoog and Minimoog synthesizers.
Computer World
The title track, the first track, and a damn good one at that. The song sounds kinda like the song used on the intro to these tapes used in my Electronics class. Like most Kraftwerk songs, it's very catchy. The lyrics seem to list users and uses of computers. I give this song 8/10
Pocket Calculator
This is my favorite track on the album. It uses some sort of electronic toy's beeps as a sound effect. The way the vocals are sung amuses me for some reason. "I'm the operator with my pocket calculator!" The synthesizer line is great as well. This song gets 9/10
Numbers
Ugh, we were off to such a nice start, then this track comes and blindsides us. It consists of...counting in German, English, French, Spanish (or Latin or Portuguese or something; can't tell if it's "dos" or "duo") and Japanese. It also has a rather obnoxious synth line. The beat is good, though; that's the only thing I like about this song. The English count stops at 2; the song's rating stops at twice that: 4/10
Computer World 2
Take Computer World. Remove the vocals. Change the melody. Stick a modified version of Numbers' vocals on it. This is Computer World 2. Since it could be called Numbers 2, its rating is that of Numbers++: 5/10
Computer Love
The melody from this song was borrowed by Coldplay for their single "Talk." I can see why Coldplay would use it: it's a pretty good song. I don't know what else to say except that it gets 8/10
Home Computer
:speakandspell: at the beginning, followed by an even more robotic than usual bassline, and a sort of "egyptian synth" (best way I could describe it even though it doesn't really fit too well) chiming in. Between verses, a sort of "bubbling space bell" (again, a really bad description, but the best I could do) rolls around. I like this song, but it gets a bit too repetitive with too little vocals and too much looping with only subtle variations. Still, it can draw a 7.5/10
It's More Fun To Compute
Cool intro. Vocoder saying "IT'S MORE FUN TO COMPUTE." Bassline not changing. More vocoder saying the same thing. "Synth Trumpet." Stop the vocoder. Looping. More looping. Ending with a soft synth-trumpet. The end. It's better than Numbers by quite a bit, though that's not saying too much. 7/10 for you, last track.
This album is so short, especially if you ignore Dumbers (sic even though it was originally a typo) and Computer World 2. Weighing in at a lithe 40 minutes when padded with silence, Computer World is more suited for ripping to your computer and injecting into your playlist than for sequential listening--interesting, considering that ripping didn't become popular for about another 20 years after the release of this album; still, it's fitting considering the album's theme.