Trans-Europe Express

Trans-Europe Express
Studio album by Kraftwerk
Released	May 1977
Recorded	1976 at Kling Klang Studio, Düsseldorf, Germany
Genre	Electronic music Synthpop
Length	42:45
Label	Kling Klang EMI Capitol
Producer	Ralf Hütter Florian Schneider
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (A-) link Q October 2000 Rolling Stone #909 22/10/02
Kraftwerk chronology
Radio-Activity (1975) Trans-Europe Express (1977) The Man-Machine (1978)

Trans-Europe Express (released in German as Trans-Europa Express) is a 1977 album by German electronic band Kraftwerk.

Music

Kraftwerk's sound developed further on this release. Their music is distilled into a song format more than ever, with strong classical melodies. Much use was made of custom-built sequencing equipment, which helped Kraftwerk achieve the precise, minimalist pop sound distinctive of the album. The equipment in question, the Synthanorma-Sequenzer^[1], had previously been used in its standard form by other synthesizer musicians, such as Klaus Schulze (on his 1975 album Timewind) and Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream. Kraftwerk's, however, was a special version created specifically for them by Matten & Wiechers^[2] in conjunction with Ralf Hütter.

This enhanced "Kraftwerk-sequenzer" allowed precise control of voltages over a range of 10 octaves, eliminating the need for the time-consuming tuning of pitches; it also enabled the exact reproduction of complex or lengthy pre-determined patterns – such as the keyboard arpeggios in "Europe Endless" and "Franz Schubert" or the driving train-like rhythm of "Trans-Europe Express" – at precisely measured clock speeds, combined with the ability to easily and quickly modify them. The instrument greatly improved Kraftwerk's recreation of their music in performance, whereas previously everything would have had to be played by hand.

Combined with further developments in their electronic percussion, the soundscape is unique compared to those of their contemporaries. The string sounds of the Vako Orchestron were also used liberally, and vocal vocoding is used throughout the album. The album's opening track, "Europe Endless", is a long romantic-nostalgic paean on European culture. The idea for the album was apparently born during a lunch meeting with journalist Paul Alessandrini at the restaurant Le Train Bleu, an opulent classically-styled space situated above Paris' Gare de Lyon railway station, the terminus for trains arriving from central Europe. Alessandrini was later acknowledged on the album's inner sleeve. The title track is a fusion of electronic percussion rhythms and strong melody, tied together with a lyrical concept. The idea behind this track harks back to 1974's Autobahn, which recreated a journey on the German motorway network: "Trans-Europe Express" was intended to evoke a trip on one of the TEE rail services that were still operating at the time of its writing. The title song reached #96 in Canada.

The track "Franz Schubert" was built by Ralf Hütter using snatches of melodies by the eponymous Austrian composer.

Critical reception

This milestone Kraftwerk album has appeared on numerous reputable 'best ever' pop/rock lists, including:
#1 in Slant Magazine's 25 Greatest Electronic Albums of the 20th Century ^[3]
#253 in industry magazine Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2002)
#36 in music magazine NME's "100 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2003)
#71 in Channel 4's (UK) "The 100 Greatest Albums" (2004) ^[4]
#56 in TV network VH1's "100 Greatest Albums (of Rock & Roll) of All Time" (2001) ^[5][6]
#6 in Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of The 1970s.

The title track was included in 2008's The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present.

Track listing

English release

German release

French release

Note 1: : The track "Trans-Europe Express" segues seamlessly into "Metal on Metal", which begins with a percussive section then replays the theme of "Trans-Europe Express", making the whole a 13:32 piece. In the German edition, "Metal on Metal" was denoted as two tracks, "Abzug" being the title of the "Trans-Europa Express" theme reprise.

Note 2: : The only track differentiating the French and English releases is Showroom Dummies, which is performed in French as "Les Mannequins".|

Album cover

The colour English and monochrome German/French versions of the cover are deliberately evocative of the pre-war era, with the use of heavily retouched studio portraits in the style of film-star publicity photos; the inner sleeve of the original LP featured a photo of the group posed in a mocked-up terrace cafe scene, with a background of a mid-European landscape of mountains and lake painted by Emil Schult.

The English language album was issued in a full colour cover, whereas the German album was issued in a monochrome cover with front and back cover images swapped around. The French release had the German style cover design, but with English typography. The French album has never been reissued on CD.

The German album cover featuring the photo used on the reverse of the English cover.

Version of the vinyl album released in France; German photo, English typography.

Inner sleeve photocollage by Emil Schult; it was also included as a poster with the German LP.

Personnel

• Ralf Hütter - electronics, voice.
• Florian Schneider - electronics, voice.
• Karl Bartos - electronic percussion.
• Wolfgang Flür - electronic percussion.

Equipment

• Eventide FL-201 Instant Flanger
• Matten & Wiechers^[7] Synthorama Sequenzer
• Moog Minimoog
• ARP Odyssey
• Vako Orchestron
• Moog Polymoog
• Custom-built electronic drum pads

Release details

The original releases of each format are shown below. These may differ from currently available versions.

Other utilization

• The melody of the song, "Trans-Europe Express", and the percussion from "Numbers", taken from the Computer World album, were used as the basis for the song "Planet Rock", recorded and released by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force in 1982.^[8] Kraftwerk were originally uncredited as authors for the song, which led to a successful lawsuit brought on by the group against Bambaataa and Tommy Boy Records. It is claimed by many that "Planet Rock" elevated hip hop music to the next level, and was the genesis of electro music^[9][10].

• The opening melody of "Trans-Europe Express" also forms the basis of the song "Zugaga" by Death in Vegas, taken from their album, Satan's Circus.

• The song "The Hall of Mirrors" has been covered by the Slovenian synthpop band Silence on their album Vain: a Tribute to a Ghost.

References