Kraftwerk Announce Plans to Reissue Entire Catalog
Pocket calculator still totaling sales projections despite cracked solar panels

Kraftwerk have just revealed to the Toronto-based music magazine Now that they're in the midst of an ambitious project to reissue their entire catalog-- including their first three albums, which have been available only via UK import for years. Speaking by telephone from the band's Kling Klang studios in Düsseldorf, Germany, Kraftwerk co-founder Ralf Hütter told the publication, "We've been digitally transferring all of Kraftwerk's original recordings and sound sources from our badly degrading master tapes while our engineers, Fritz [Hilpert] and Henning [Schmitz], have been working in parallel to remaster our early albums for re-release."

The band has reportedly been at work on the project for some time, and is presently wrapping work on their 1974 classic Autobahn, which is tentatively scheduled for re-release in late May or early June. Also nearing completion are their first three releases-- the 1971 debut Kraftwerk 1, 1972's follow-up Kraftwerk 2, and 1973's Ralf and Florian-- each with expanded and updated packaging. Now reports that the band has entrenched themselves in their archives in order to locate all of the original photos and graphics that accompanied the original LP releases so that they can be included in these new editions. "For the first time," Hütter says, "our recordings will be available in crisp, clear Kling Klang sound with all the fold-out covers and images our label at the time either messed up or wouldn't pay for."

Bonus tracks? But of course: "There will be some alternate mixes of tracks and some unedited versions, but unfortunately we don't have much unreleased material. We never recorded extra songs or 20 different versions of the same song. We would complete a song and then move forward, always keeping very focused on one Kling Klang project at a time."

Later albums-- including 1975's Radio Activity, 1977's Trans-Europe Express, 1978's The Man-Machine, and 1981's Computer World-- are expected to arrive either late this year or early next. Meanwhile, 1986's Electric Café</I> will be reissued under its original title, Techno Pop: "Our working title for the Electric Café</I> album was Techno Pop," Ralf says, "but after some years there was a discussion and it was decided to name the album Electric Café</I> instead, which was the album's final track." This release is not to be confused with the 1983 album of the same name which the band recorded after their 1981 Computer World tour, and never released: "For the reissue, we thought we should use the original title Techno Pop along with our original sleeve design and graphics."

There is no word yet as to which label will reissue these albums, though Rhino is the most likely bet, since the bulk of Kraftwerk's ten albums have found a home on the Rhino-affiliated Elektra Records. However, Astralwerks may be a possibility for some of these records as well, as the label has recently served as Kraftwerk's stateside home, releasing both the band's 2003 comeback, Tour de France Soundtracks and the preceding Expo 2000 EP. Astralwerks also reissued three long out-of-print albums by Kraftwerk-related 70s krautrock progenitors Neu! in 2001.

Kraftwerk: http://www.kraftwerk.com

Posted by Ryan Schreiber in on Tue: 04-27-04: 12:00 AM CDT | Digg this article | Add to del.icio.us | Permalink