Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Start of the Eighties Two Years Early!, 29 Dec 2003
Man Machine is one of those albums that must have sounded so alien in 1978 it's difficult to imagine it's impact 25 years on. Whereas Trans-Europe Express still gave a few concessions to 70's ethics, Man Machine is full on cold, hard synthesiser heaven with no room for those still hoping for a return to the sound-scapes of Autobahn. The next people to walk down this road would be John Foxx and Gary Numan but without this huge road-map to the new territory, I suspect their careers would have been delayed a few years more!The full impact of the foresight of Kraftwerk is that 'The Model' wasn't a hit until being flipped onto a single released from the following album 'Computer World' a full 3 years later! The cover of 'Man Machine' shows the members of the band looking East towards the Eastern Bloc. The record is a full on salute to the march of mechanisation, industrialisation and inter-action between man and machine(obviously!). It's one of the few masterpieces of electronic rock/pop with more melodies than an Abba record and more attitude and influence than Bowie at his best. It would take until after 'Computer World' was released (another superb record) for the rest of the music world to catch up. A top recommendation!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lasting Influence, 23 Jul 2006
Two years after presenting the review below and I'm playing this disc again. I cannot believe how much this band has influenced modern pop and "electro funk" music. Also, the fact that Kraftwerk's material from this era still wipes the floor with modern releases so obviously descended from this era.....
Kraftwerk's previous album - Trans Europe Express - was the turning point for this band I feel and the link between the dreamy (and bland?) early works and this, the first of three albums which shaped how modern "pop" music was to be in the future.
The absolute precision in the rhythms, the short tracks and the generally "clipped" delivery was, by now, poles apart from the other german "synth" artists such as Tangerine Dream, Ashra and Klaus Schulze. Yet there is real "humanity" here, suggesting much thought and care in the composition and production of the tracks. This is music to "dance" to. Indeed, once this and the follow-up, Computer World is in your collecttion I very much doubt you'll be able to sit still impassively while playing them.
Recommended without hesitation!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mechanical Soul, 30 Sep 2007
Robots Spacelab Metropolis Model Neon Lights Man Machine
Some albums open up entire vistas, suggesting not only new approaches but new musical visions. While Trans-Europe Express outlined the general approach, The Man Machine is perhaps the ultimate expression of the synthesis of man and machine that underlay Kraftwerk's approach. The voice, which was so open and optimistic in "Europe Endless" in TEE is now processed and digitised from the off, in the opener "Robots". It's a remarkable song which feels that it had to be made by someone eventually. It's both cold and mechanistic, and oddly funky and touching - I love it when they say "We are programmed just to do / Anything you want us to".
Whereas previous Kraftwerk album had featured a smidgeon of authentic instrumentation, every sound on this album is digitised. There is a sterile, cold, dispassionate splendour to the sound. On "Spacelab" this works well in evoking the cold vacuum of space, while "Neon Lights" has a wonderful (undigitised) lyric celebrating the lights of the city, and has a coda pulsing with rhythms suggesting the richness of life in the urban environment. Kraftwerk's best known song "The Model" may seem out of character with the rest of the album, being a straightforward pop song (still in the digital style) with a wry lyric on fame and celebrity, but the apparent indifference and underlying humanity fits in in with the rest of the album.
The influence of this album on modern music cannot possibly be overestimated. Electronica, synth-pop, dance music, all took their genesis from Kraftwerk. But like The Beatles, not only were Kraftwerk the first to do what they did, they were the best at it. They are the Year 0 of electronic music and this album is their finest, most completely realised vision.
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