Kraftwerk: Tour De France (2LP, transparent blue & red vinyl) [WARNER]

Why you'll love it

This special edition splits the remastered album across one transparent blue and one transparent red LP, with picture inner sleeves and a 20-page 12" booklet. It gave Kraftwerk their first No. 1 album in Germany.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Transparent blue & red vinyl
• Remastered
• 20-page 12" booklet with lyrics
• Picture inner sleeves
• Stereo mix
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider made a record about a bicycle race and somehow it is one of the most human things in their catalogue. Tour de France Soundtracks came out in 2003 for the centenary of the race, their first album of new studio material in 17 years, and it got a remaster and a shorter title in 2009.

The sound is sleek, minimal techno, with lyrics in French, German and English co-written with Maxime Schmitt. "Prologue" and the three "Étapes" roll out like a peloton, "Vitamin" fizzes, "Aéro Dynamik" glides (Hot Chip later remixed it) and "Elektro Kardiogramm" pulses along. The album closes with a fresh recording of their 1983 single "Tour de France." It was also the last Kraftwerk studio album with Schneider. The tour that followed in 2004 ran the whole show from four laptops synced to giant video screens, and became the live set Minimum-Maximum.

The album was meant for the centenary summer and arrived a little after the riders had crossed the line, which, for a band this famously precise, counts as a photo finish.

Also at Kops: more Kraftwerk on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Kling Klang / Parlophone, a reissue of the 2003 album.