Mojo Magazine, September 2003, p. 101
by David Buckley
Coffee-slurping cyclists make dignified comeback record.
Who said a German joke was no laughing matter? Only Kraftwerk would have try
wry wit to 'rush release' a CD 17 years after their last album of new
material, Electric Café, and in any case too late for this year's Tour De
France. First the bad news: Tour De France Soundtracks is not the same class
as Trans Europe Express, The Man Machine or Computer World, a trio of albums
that shaped the contours of mmodern music. After an uncertain start,
however, where the Duesseldorfers appear to short-change us with some mildly
rehashed melodies, there are four trademark Kraftwerkian moments: the droll
Vitamin and Elecktro Kardiogramm, the blistering Aero Dynamik, and the
beautiful La Forme. A brilliantly revamped Tour De France closes the 'fun'.
No huge amounts of new ground broken then (the Kraftwerk sound has been
subtly updated with ambient shadings), but even a mediocre Kraftwerk album
is still a work of near-genius.
(four stars out of five)
Jan
