via http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/04-04/27.shtml
Kraftwerk Announce Plans to Reissue Entire Catalog
Pocket calculator still totaling sales projections despite cracked
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Ryan Schreiber reports:
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 will be reissued under its original title, Techno
Pop: "Our working title for the Electric Café album was Techno Pop,"
Ralf says, "but after some years there was a discussion and it was
decided to name the album Electric Café 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.
.: Pitchfork Review: Kraftwerk: Tour de France Soundtracks
http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/k/kraftwerk/tour-de-france-
soundtracks.shtml
.: Kraftwerk: http://www.kraftwerk.com
--
Matt MacQueen
http://SonicSunset.com