Trans-Europe Express [IMPORT]

The improvement in technology, which has vital implications when you're using state of the art technology as the bedrock of your groups music, is obvious to the ear as it was to be on the following two releases up to 'Computer World'. The technological ability to produce more complex rhythms and melodies really comes together on the key title track. The full influence of Trans Europe Express really came to the fore with the sampling and 'borrowing' of parts of the record by the hip-hop electro movement in the States during the early eighties and house music thereafter.

The atmosphere of the record is interesting. The use of new technology and name checks of contemporaries such as "Iggy Pop" and "David Bowie" is contrasted by the references to a golden era of travel and an evocation of an endless European continent of palaces and classic cities. New sits comfortably with the old.

With all Kraftwerk records the melodies are very strong and the songs are loaded with hooks which will keep you humming them for days after hearing the record. 'Showroom Dummies' was released as a minor hit single after the belated success of 'The Model' in the early 80's.

The key tracks are the title track and 'Europe Endless'. This album opened the door to what was to follow in the next 10 years as electro-pop became the norm. What sets this apart is that somehow Trans Europe Express still sounds fresh and has a stlye that many of the bands to follow could never capture.

An essential purchase.

I was just a lad of eleven when my older bro brought this home. Sticking in the turntable - no CD players in '77 chaps! -it was quite unlike anything we'd ever heard, although we both had dim memories of their breakthrough hit Autobahn from two years before. Even the cover photo was intriguing, smartly dressed young men with short hair being a bit rare in music in 1977!

The tracks here are stunning: The Hall Of Mirrors stark, formidable and riveting, it was later covered by Siouxsie & The Banshees. To say this album was influential is a distinct understatement. Loads of people picked up on what Kraftwerk were doing in Dusseldorf. From Bowie and Eno in Berlin, to the embryonic Human League in Sheffield, to The Yellow Magic Orchestra in Tokyo to Gary Numan in west London and even hip-hop DJs in New York, this was the boy and it still is.

The title track was ruthlessly plagiarised to form the main riff to Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock (Kraftwerk sued him) and is a superb 'electronic blues' (a phrase suggested to them by a friend) that evokes the train journey across the continent. The band struck upon the idea of inviting journalists on board a special run of the real-life TEE, piping the album through the train's speakers and everyone getting totally dog-faced during the trip!

The album was such a winner in New York's discos it won an award. A total gem for an amazing band. Music wouldn't be the same without the inspiration of the founding fathers of modern electronic music. A classic album from a classy outfit.