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The Kling-Klang studio, often called the "electronic garden" by the members of the group, is the main engine of the Kraftwerk sound machine. Kling-Klang (kling-klang is the german word for sound), however, functions as both stage and studio. It has evolved into a large, yet very modular piece of equipment; it is so portable that they bring the whole thing on tour, "We only leave the walls in Duesseldorf." It also has the capability to both edit/produce music on the fly during concerts as well act as the recording studio for sampling/mixing/etc. When one speaks of 'playing the studio,' Kling-Klang is really the epitome of this idea--not only has Kraftwerk mastered the behind-the-scenes studio-recording techniques, but they truly do 'play the studio' when they operate the machinery of Kling-Klang during a live-performance. "...like the captain of a spaceship," remarked Huetter. Kling-Klang forms one for each member of the group.
Although Kling-Klang has been continually evolving up to this day in the digital world, much of its equipment is still analog, explains Huetter. Digital technology hasn't necessarily replaced all of their old analog equipment, although it is often preferred when sampling sounds. Kling-Klang, because of its incredible modularity, is adaptable for both types of equipment. Either way, to Kraftwerk, it is still sound, says Huetter, "we have always had a fascination for sound."
Another central component of Kling-Klang is it's vast array of visual equipment. Videoscreens flash and information during concerts, adding another level of depth to the Kraftwerk experience.
And of course there are the Robots
This track had two vidoes made; one in 1977 by Kraftwerk and a different one in 1982. The hilarious 1977 video has the band trying to live out the lyrics of the song as showroom dummies. It also features real mannequins; not the later Kraftwerk dummies, but bald headed ones, set up behind Kraftwerk's instruments to give the impression they are playing. At one point it shows the band members superimposed onto the mannequins, - comming to life, before walking into a nightclub. Along the walls are the neon strip lights in red and blue. At this point it shows all four members dancing. Florian is giving his hands a really good shake around while Karl is to be seen doing a robotic dance; all seem to enjoy their dancing.
'The Robots', shot in Kling Klang, carries on where the sleeve to the album left off. Each member is dressed in red shirt/black ties (with LEDs fitted) get up and are seen wearing make-up and lipstick and miming to the track; Karl and Wolfgang not very well, while playing their instruments to the music, while Ralf and Florian are singing the lyrics. The beauty of this film is that it takes you into a couple of rooms in Kling Klang studio. About half way through the track it has each 'real' members walking past a wall impersonating the dummies, then entering a studio and operating a mixing desk console, acting like robots. The video ends with each 'real' members face givng a side profile and being pulled away to reveal the corresponding dummies lookalike face...
Kraftwerk did also some TV appearances with "The Robots" in 1978: in Germany (01.04.1978, "Rockpop"), France, Italy and maybe also in Spain.
This unusual video doesn't actually show any of the band playing any of their instruments. Instead, it shows the band having a photo/filming session, which they are clearly enjoying. Constantly, you are able to see images of company names which are in neon lights...
The promotional video for this was shot live, performing with the mini- insruments and dressed in black. The film is put into slow motion and tinted yellow, very heavily, in some places. The film does play at normal speed too though and shows Ralf giving the stage some serious dance steps. It's a shame that the music is the studio recording and not the live version as this spols it and gives the impression that Kraftwerk are bad at miming! Kraftwerk started their world tour of 1981 in Florence 1981/05/19. They had a week of publicity work between this gig and their next one, in Rome, 1981/05/25. Kraftwerk appeared on two Italian programmes; 'Che si beve stasera' and 'Disco ring'. On both occasions they performed 'Pocket calculator'. Except - it was in Italian! 'Minicalcolatore'. The track was the familiar studio recording of the song, but with Ralf sining in Italian. In these appearances, Kraftwerk are dressed in the familiar black outfits and mime to the song with their mini-instruments. Although the members stand in the normal Ralf/Karl/Wolfgang/Florian order for the 'Che si beve stasera' appearance, they are spaced quite far apart, so the camera shows only one member at a time for a lote of the clip.
As far as I know of, there was never a video for 'Computer love'. When 'The model' was re-issued, there were several different versions of the promo video. The most common one is known (to UK fans anyway) as 'the 'Top of the pops' one', as this was shown on that programme for their only week at number one in the UK charts. Most of the video is shot live, primarily during 'Neon lights', as portions of the video for this song can be seen on the video screens behind the group. Definetely one of the best of the promo video's as there is some good shots of the band playing their instruments. As mentioned earlier, most of the video is of the band playing live - the reminder features the black and white archive fashion show footage of the glamorous models, which is what the band use, to this day, when the song is performed live. Periodically shown on MTV, chiefly on their 'Greatest hist' programme.
A programme called 'Music box' showed another video for 'The model'. This one is just a mish-mash of past Kraftwerk video's, mainly the 1977 video of 'Showroom dummies'. The are also snippets of the 1978 video for 'The Robots' shown, as well as from the 'Pocket calculator' clip.
'Die Mensch Maschine' is the name of a programme shot for German TV. It features good shots of Kraftwerk playing live (in Wien, November 1982). Unusual is the fact that the band are dressed in the Man-Machine outfit - red shirts, black ties. Not only does it show excellent footage, from several angles, but also have closeups their equipment, in particular Ralf's three keyboards. The live portions show Kraftwerk playing 'Numbers', 'Computer World', 'Pocket Calculator', 'The Robots' (complete with the mannequins) and 'Home Computer'. All tracks are badly edited, which lets the show down. There is also an interview with Ralf Hütter througout, which is said to have been shot in Kling Klang studio, whilst on tour - that is why the room is empty - as the studio is on tour! As well as this, there is also clips shown for 'Radioactivity', 'Showroom Dummies', 'Trans-Europe Express' - 'Europe Endless'.
This clip was made at a TV appearance at the "Na Sowas" Show, 82-03-29. It features the members in a straight role, all playing a keyboard - even Wolfgang. Behind the group is a large screen which mainly shows images of models posing for cameras. Once this fades, to reveal the band, you are then able to see good close-ups of each one in the band, plus one shot going down the row, noticing what each member is playing. At the end of the clip there is a shot of the four members while on the screen behind is displayed the four silhouettes as found on the labels of the 'Man Machine' LP.
Two video's appear to have been made for this track originally. The first, and lesser known of the two, shows Kraftwerk themselves, dressed in black cycling gear, riding around on bicycles, shot in colour. It appears that this version is quite scarce and it accompanied early versions of the more common black and white version.
This promo video marked the reappearance of Kraftwerk, this time in robot format. The video was shot in London, and features the four members as robots (including robots of the new members, Fernando and Fritz). The video is directed by Ralf and Florian and shows the robots performing their robotic dance to the music, with the lyrics displayed in the background too. Every so often the 'cartoon' version of the robot, as seen on the inner sleeves of 'The Mix' is also seen, in animated form. There are two versions of this video - the English language version and the German language version, which naturally features the German lyrics instead.
An excellent clip this, apparently (so the rumour goes) then only show that Kraftwerk agreed to 'appear' on. It appears to be a family TV, quiz show programme! Kraftwerk themselves (including Fernando) appear as the musical interlude, each member to be seen sitting behind a computer keyboard, with a TV monitor higher up above it. Each of these screens shows a different immage - one of the screens shows the promo video to the song (clips of which are shown as part of this performance), the word ROBOTER, the animated 'cartoon' robot visual and finally what the studio camera is filming.
This unique piece of footage basically shows Kraftwerk programming the four robots via their computer keyboards to a recording of 'Die Roboter'. This is a must for any visual collector of Kraftwerk as it features excellent close-ups of the band and robots.
At the Brixton Academy (20.7.91), a team of reporters were there, filming the concert. During that afternoon an interview with Ralf Hütter was also recorded.
This was the first programme to report on Kraftwerk's tour. The feature, 'Roboter', begins with Kraftwerk performing 'Rückstoss Gondolero' from 1972, (se above). Next, it is to Brixton Academy, with Kraftwerk performing 'Numbers' live. There is also more excellent video footage including close-ups of the band performing 'Numbers' and 'The Robots' live. Also shown is a clip of the interview with Ralf's robot, his real voice dubbed over the top, answering the questions. There are also clips from the video's for 'Musique Non Stop', the cycling 'Tour De France', 'Trans Europe Express' and 'The Robots'. The film also shows very rare pictures of Kraftwerk through the years, including in Kling Klang and the 1981 tour. The programme also features a film session on a rooftop, with Fritz and Fernando programming the Ralf robot, with Ralf and Florian on the sidelines. The opnly apect which lets this film down is the video at the end, which is 'Die Roboter', but the lyrics are sung in English - this is badly edited together. '
Shown on a Thursday evening in Britain, this appearance on "Tomorrow's World" shows the robots 'performing' and the presenter explaining about the natural progression of the band to make the robots.
As Kraftwerk were on their European tour when the single was released, a video was not made by Kraftwerk themselves. So, a 'compilation' video was made instead by EMI. This video is made up of bits and pieces from the video's for 'Musique Non Stop', 'The Telephone call' and 'The Robots'. Because of this, it shows footage of Karl and Wolfgang who had of course departed the band by this time. The video is poorly put together and features no new material.
The song performed is called 'Rüstoss Gondolero' and is not to be found on any of their LP's. (According to the recently published 'Man, Machine and Music' book, this performance has been released as part of a laserdisc called'Frontiers of progressive Rock' No. 7, released in Japan only. (Laserdisc/ Pioneer SM048-3227)).
There were at least three video's made for this track plus an added 'inside' film. The main one has to be what is commonly known as the 'Rock 'n' Roll Years' clip. This features Kraftwerk for about two minutes, performing 'Autobahn' during a soundcheck. This was originally shown on 'Tomorrow's world' and it was recently shown again on the 'Sounds of the 70's' series on BBC2 in the UK.
It shows the group as they always performed live. For example, Florian and Ralf are both wearing grey coloured suits while the two percussionists are clothed in darker coloured suites. The equipment is very interesting as around them are the strip lights which are now something of a trademark with Kraftwerk live performances. Ralf has two keyboards, Florian has one, with a mixing console on top of it and to his left is his electronic flute. Karl and Wolfgang are also in action and you get a good view of their instruments too.
There was a cartoon version of 'Autobahn' made. This was drawn by Rodger Mainwood. An inside documentary was made of how the futuristic cartoon was made for British television and Tomorrow's world screened a programme on it. But it had nothing to do with Kraftwerk - so why did he do it? Good question... It may have been the case that Phonogram needed a video to capitalise on the unexpected chart entry of the single in 1975. The film features a spaceman travelling through space, meeting and seing lots of creatures and mingling with objects and tunnels (e.g. getting caught up in bottles and bubbles). He seems to end up travelling nowhere really, but the best bit is during the middle, where the creatures are acting like cars and this poor worm has to dodge them... The video is fourteen minutes long but the song has a bad edit. This is made up by the animation.
There was also a video which features a motorway with traffic running along it. It was made for an TV interview.
Shot in the Kling Klang studio in the same set-up as used for the 'Autobahn' video and 'The Robots' promo, once again with the strip lights surrounding them. Ralf plays one keyboard, Wolfgang and Karl percussion and Florian at his mixing console and beside him, for some reason, is his 'electronic flute'. The photo of the band used on the inner sleeve of the 'Radioactivity' lp was taken at the same time as this video. The give-away is Ralf and his 'alsatian' tie. The weirdest thing about this video is that the 'morse-code' section of the track is actually performed on a morse-code keypad with hands going up and down.
The second an less inspiring video is one of a space-ship on a video game flying through a cave shooting space-ships down while in the background of the picture are nuclear reactors, aircraft explosions and the path of destruction that nuclear explosions cause. Also of note is a short film for 'The voice of energy'. This being a film showing an overhead view of a nuclear reactor and tubes of radioactive material being loaded into pods.
Filmed in black and white. The video features all four members, smartly dressed, some portions on location at Düsseldorf Station and others of the four seated in a railway carriage, enjoying the journey. Many stills are also used in the video and some of these you will be familiar with due to their use as promotional pics and on the sleeve of various singles. Also in the video is a model of the futuristic looking Schienenzeppelin" train. It travels through a model cityscape, with recognisable New York buildings strangely enough, and ends up going through a tunnel. German television linked this video to one for 'Europe Endless', which for some bizarre reason has lots of images of weapons of massdestruction; rockets and missiles, with inevitable explosions - weird.
ftp.uwp.edu, in the directory
/pub/music/artists/k/kraftwerk/. Unfortunately access is
limited to 50 users, so you may have trouble connecting. This directory
can also be reached via the World-Wide Web at
http://archive.uwp.edu/pub/music/artists/k/kraftwerk/. Digests from
Volume 3 onwards can be accessed from
ftp://ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/kraftwerk/archive/. There is a
partial mirror of the ftp.uwp.edu archive at peace.wit.com, in the
directory
/uwp/music/artists/k/kraftwerk/, but this does not include past
digests.
Anders Wilhelm http://www.cs.umu.se/~dvlawm/kraftwerk/. Some of the other
pages about Kraftwerk on the World-Wide Web are listed at
http://sun1.bham.ac.uk/busbykg/kraftwerk.html.
A Kraftwerk and Elektric Music convention takes place every so often in the UK (digests 1.003, 1.028, 2.536 and 2.568) and there is also a Kraftwerk fanzine, Aktivität, which is highly regarded by Kraftwerk fans (digests 1.010, 1.028, 1.140, 2.024).
For a book on Kraftwerk, read Pascal Bussy's Kraftwerk: Man, Machine and Music (digests 1.110 and 1.118). This book contains many suppositions and a few minor errors (digests 2.481 and 2.656), but it is nevertheless recommended as essential reading for the Kraftwerk enthusiast. An interview with Bussy appeared in Aktivität magazine and was reprinted in digests 2.012 and 3.013.
A German edition of the book was published in 1995, under the title Kraftwerk - Synthesizer, Sounds und Samples - die ungewöhnliche Karriere einer deutschen Band. The style of this edition has been criticised (digest 2.480) but it does contain an update to the English-language edition by way of a (very incomplete) Elektric Music discography. The photographs are the same as in the English version, but the front cover of the German edition uses a photograph from Kraftwerk's appearance from 1982 on the German television programmeNa Sowas.
Ex-member Wolfgang Flür stated in a 1995 interview with Aktivität magazine that he was writing a book about Kraftwerk entitled Under One Pillow with the Robots, but this has not appeared as yet.
<101460.571@compuserve.com>)
Remember to enclose a stamped addressed envelope (SAE) if writing to
enquire from within the UK, and an International Reply Coupon (IRC) from
elsewhere.
Aktivität is available within Germany from:-
G. PoeckerPlease write first before sending any form of payment. Remember to enclose an SAE when enquiring.
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