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 Post subject: Questions About Kraftwerk CD Reissues
PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 1:29 pm 
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Location: Chapel Hill, NC
The only Kraftwerk items I have in my collection are the 2009 The Catalogue box set and the recently released blu-ray of Autobahn. I'm trying to decide if I should unload the box set and replace my favorite of their albums (the four post-Autobahn releases) with individual CDs. Does anyone know if they've ever released the English & German versions of any of these albums in one 2-CD set? Or would I have to get them separately? And can anyone recommend specific releases for the best sound quality? Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.

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 Post subject: Questions About Kraftwerk CD Reissues
PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 1:44 pm 
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I'm not a fan of the 2009 remasters onwards for three reasons:
- They're plagued with noise reduction. Computer World is especially bad, with Trans-Europe Express a close second;
- Electric Cafe was renamed Techno Pop (one of the working titles for the album), and "The Telephone Call" was shortened and the B-side "House Phone" was added, supposedly to minimize Karl Bartos' contribution to the album (Bartos sings "The Telephone Call", his only lead vocal for Kraftwerk); and
- In addition to the music revisionism, the graphic designer in me dislikes the new cover art.

I prefer the earlier CD pressings for the albums, both English and German. I think all of them are basically the same mastering, so you can't go wrong with any pressings you can find.


Last edited by Kym on Wed Mar 26, 2025 6:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Questions About Kraftwerk CD Reissues
PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 1:48 pm 
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They've never released English/German combo sets, that's a great idea.
The only German language release of theirs I have is an early Japanese pressing of Autobahn, catalogue number CP32-5609, and I think it sounds great. I have a few of the individual 2009 releases and prefer the 1980s CDs where I have both. The 1980s albums (Computer World, Electric Cafe and the Mix) that were released by Warner and Elektra can be found relatively cheaply and I find to very good.
I saw them live in Montreal a couple of weeks ago and the same was amazing. Highly recommended if they play your area.

A couple pics:
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Me looking tired and disheveled outside the venue before the show after a long day of combing used book and music stores!
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 Post subject: Questions About Kraftwerk CD Reissues
PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 2:02 pm 
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That Jason Michael robot is amazing, even more realistic than Kraftwerk's own.

Rich, if you can bear to wait, the word is that Autobahn isn't the only album that's going to be released in a Blu-ray hi-res surround edition (annually for their 50th anniversaries).

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 Post subject: Questions About Kraftwerk CD Reissues
PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2025 3:11 pm 
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Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Thanks for the feedback. It's good to know they'll be continuing the blu-ray reissues, although another 4 years or more is a lot of time to wait. I hope they'll consider putting both the English and German versions on all of those releases.

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