Kraftwerk - Tour De France Soundtracks Album

Good album. This is a concept album and a compilation of Songs made about the theme and topic of TOUR DE FRANCE. actually it s not a regular new studio album but a compilation they sound good... 3/5

And even THAT one is a total remake, meaning ALL tracks were new recordings.

Exept the last Track (Tour de France) all Tracks are NEW Tracks!

The 2003 album's main problem isn't the sheer plasticity of it - it is Kraftwerk's inconsistent presence in music in the last 20+ years. 1991's "The Mix" was a curious little gem of a compilation revisiting the originals, cleverly using the remix formula while at the same time leaving a nice impression a new album's been made - and although showing some of the cracks (mostly in the absence of the classic line-up), "The Mix" marked a new era for Kraftwerk.However, it practically took a whole decade for them to deliver anything remotely challenging. Starting with "Expo 2000" - initially a lazy, mere 5-second jingle they were reportedly payed a fortune to do, only to suffer a backlash from the public, feeling obliged to deliver a more proper yet lukewarm 4-track EP exploiting the Expo theme in a (tiresome) multitude of remixes that followed. Needless to say that musically, the whole of "Expo 2000" (the original version of the EP that is) sounded like one big leftover from 1986's "Electric Café". The latter itself was criticised at the time of its original release for lacking a stronger idea or concept, but it remains a damn good timeless record, as exciting and innovative now as it sounded the first time you put it on - and "Electric Café" is basically the last true "new" Kraftwerk record.While "Tour de France Soundtracks" by comparison may seem conceptually stronger on the surface, it arrived too late - also taking under consideration that the album's common theme mainly means something to a certain Ralf Hütter, many will surely start to yawn pretty quickly into it, because there is no connection with the listener in that same way Kraftwerk's classic masterpieces clicked, offering a wider emotional sound palette on "Autobahn", "Trans-Europe Express", "The Man-Machine" or "Computer-World" to name a few... Instead, the new version of Kraftwerk (literally) still relies on the group's glorious past, the elegance and decadence of it, trying to give it the new shine but the end result is turning their "less is more" philosophy into "more is less".Even the very original 1983 version re-appearing on the 2003 album is dried out of its own sweat. Musically it doesn't hurt, but let's face it, "Tour de France Soundtracks" is more of an excuse of an album, exploiting the theme of cycling (well, recycling more like) over a tedious 55 minute road trip imagined by someone stuck cycling at the gym instead.

The title track included here is NOT the OG 1983 version, it's a completely new recording of it.

Soundquality is almost like a dictaphone. The worst mixing I've ever heard, Terribly plastic sounding everything. Amatheur solutions, noises, audible software-manipulation faliures, bad mastering, bad everything apart from some songs. I don't understand how can a full DDD sound be so extremely low in quality, especially when In live, they are good? Remastering the bad master is even a joke... I'm very sorry.

So I'm aware there's a fairly complex list of edits, versions and remixes when it comes to the track "Tour de France" - with that in mind, does anyone know what the 5:09 version is on the end of the Soundtracks album? It can't be the original 12" as this is 6:47, nor the Kling Klang Analog mix [6:42]. Any help would be much appreciated!!!

It is a new Verion. Like it would have been on the Mix, if it had been there.

The people talking bad about this record are missing the point, perhaps. I think it's facinating, or maybe very fitting that the very artists that were influenced by Kraftwerk and went on to pioneer what became Detroit Techno, would in turn create a sound and style of music that would then cycle back to Kraftwerk again. This album is proof of that. I have listened to heavy doses of Detroit Techno over the years, and while I also grew up on old school Kraftwerk, this album was not one of the ones I listened to much at all. Today, the influence is obvious to me. It was Kraftwerk upgrading their sound. There is a well known (to techno fans) interview of Mad Mike Banks on Detroit Radio. In this interview he talks about meeting Kraftwerk when UR toured Europe and was playing in Germany in the early 90s. He says one of the conversations that was had, was asking them why they hadn't put out any new music. Basically he was trying to convince them that they should continue to make music, because what they did was so ahead of its time, they had plenty of time to wait for the rest of the world to catch up, and their sound was just as relevant as ever. And well, eventually we did get a new Kraftwerk album in 2003. It would only make sense that the electronic music that they influenced would in turn come back to influence them in those 17 years. This is a great album. I enjoy it just as much as their old ones, and in fact more than a few.

For those who complained that this is dull album or doesnt show anything revolutionary in sound - come on people, give it up. Music is fun generally. Revolutionary in sound passed almost 15 years ago, as theres nothing new nowadays, just a wide variation on what we all know. Subgenres mix all the way and then some journalists or artists claim the discovered something new - theres nothing more wrong than thinking that way. In fact, this album by Kraftwerk is nothing new, but just their approach in new forms that are now popular (or were when they made their TDF album). In 2017 you might ask, still sound ok ? I answer yes, even though its only deep techno/electro/electronia sound mixed with Kraftwerk. For me they noted carefully whats good in modern electronica music and used it in proper way to redefine themselves and here we have their proposition on music electronia. I kind of like it. First part of album (TDF etape 1, 2 and 3) seems like just a look on what can they do with classic tech house'y thing and retweak to their style. Although in some parts it may sound as someone else put their hands on arrange...but the rest of album is a classic KW, quite distinctive at times, but as others said not revolutionary. Again, for me its good album, it just fits my taste. But its not their best work. Easy.

Really not sure of this version I have, only clue is french version. and titles of tracks are in french.

Here is a list of why the Tour De France is an absolutely amatheur product TECHNICALWISE. I just mention the artistical-side. 1.- This is one of the worst soundquality recording I've ever heard from the electronic-genre. They made it even worse with the remastering series which is absolutely shit soundqualitywise. Just listen the Electric Café! That's an audiophile rec. This, as it is, without any remastering is worse than a cassette. With that is almost a boosted dictaphone. No deep sounds and there's no high-ends at all. It all sounds like there's nothing above 10kHz, instead of the avaliable 20kHz. But apart from it all: every single sound and minute is very cloudy, plastic and dynamicsless. Interestingly some tracks are worse than the others. Even more interestingly the single of Aero Dynamics includes the track in much better soundquality and it means that their PC stored-formula of the tracks are supposingly much better than those ones appears on the final result: on the CD. Why? 2.- The whole album is not completed. Sounds are missing, empty parts are present, lack of idea. 3.- The sound-engineering is horrible: I rarely heard such an unbalanced mix concerning some timbres and instruments. Just take the kick drum on the first parts as an example. 4.- Sonic timbres: Many of the sounds are absolutely amatheur on this CD. Kick drum, hi-hats, basses, some lines has no character and presence at all. Some ultracheap-sounds. Nearly all is a DIY job on a small household PC even in 2003. 8 Years before that, I've made all superb within my PC-softwares. So there's no real reason to sound sooo bad in 2003 in every aspect. 5.- Many of the sounds were overmanipulated on rubbish softwares. Those sounds became more dull and flat and became NOISY what is really a questionmark for me, while all the software-based soundgenerating stayed in the digital-domain. It means that even they wasn't satisfied with the result. They tweaked and experimented with them a lot. All sounds are not spontaneously bombastic and effortless but contraversary. 6.- The whole CD doesn't comply to the CD standard. The digital noise is at so high-level that the product could be ca. 8 bit in dynamics level instead of 16bit. Incredibly annoying. I calculate it on request. 7.- Personally me, I don't like the concept in all. Cycling is not worth singing about so pathetic way, let it be left to, say the Queen! 1 Song was very OK in 1983, this is an excess. The remixed TDF track lacks of something originality and the snare is bad. 8.- There's almost no a good melody-line on the whole album. Karl Bartos took that away.... For example: Vitamin and La Forme is terrible melodywise, Elektro Kardiogram is not completed. The latter's single version has a melodyline added.... was a waste.... 9.- Most of the things is missing from the Kraftwerk, what was present a few years back. I'm happy to hear the album and I LIKE it but I'm very angry about the ultra-cheap and amatheur soulutions Kraftwerk were using here. I don't debate about the artistic content but technicalwise I don't know any worse album on the planet and I'm seriously speaking. That's all about Kraftwerk's mastery and professionalism... Did they ever listened the CD???? And then the Electric Café afterwards?.......

It's a great album. Technically it sounds fine. It was clearly made more with digital tools than their more analog approaches of old. But it holds up. It sounds to me like you were greatly inspired by Kraftwerk's previous work. So it seems the POV shared in the review is maybe too close to adoration of Kraftwerk as they were known versus how they have evolved, to be objective about its artistic worth. There seems to be an overtone of fan disappointment. That the pressing is not up to previous standards is not too unusual for music releases in general, especially for this time when the format was falling out of favor, even with DJ's, before it's resurgence the last several years. Though the comments are negative for the CD format version as well, I really don't have the same issues on my set up. I can't speak for the vinyl version, but I have not found the CD version to be less quality than many CDs from that time. On the artistic side of things, I don't understand the hostility. The fact that they recreated the feeling of being on the Tour de France, including its many mechanical and environmental motifs, with pure electronics, is the point. As a subject matter, there is nothing at all trifling about a serious study of humankind's relationship to one of the earliest forms of mechanical and modern technological transportation, which began to alter our relationship to space and time. That you missed it, is not Kraftwerk's fault. I would recommend you put aside your disappointments with the pressing you have, get a better one if you can, and let it be. It's great.

Sound quality issues aside; no good melody lines on this album? Are you even listening to the same album as the other people here? They have never released anything which was so abundant in great melodies. And cycling no sport worth singing about? Nonsense, cycling is the ultimate sport.

to me this is album has the perfect sound. and the quality also

Agreed, this pressing sounds fantastic!

...with my turntable (Platine Verdier, SME 3012(modified) + Ortofon SPU) it sounds fantastic. It sounds perfect. I have many "Audiophile" records" (DCC, Classic Records, Rhino, Speakers Corner, MFSL, Japan, etc.) for example mastered by Bernie Grundman. When somebody think the "Original TDF Record" sounds like a cassette, so (in my opinion) he hears with a very bad Tape-Deck. :-)

Don't knock cycling. TdF is a brilliant sporting event so why not have an album about it. There are already plenty of albums covering the standard themes (love, loss, etc).