From a Dutch newspaper:
"Painful Slip
As exciting this summer's Tour de France was, just as boring the Kraftwerk's comeback record is. Last time we heard of them was when the made the official Hannover Expo 2000 jingle, raking in 100.000 Deutschmark for every 4 seconds of music. "Tour de France Soundtracks" is at last the final completion of the album built around the 1983 Tour de France single, which is at the same time the closing track and highlight of the record. Therefore we can deny the preoccupation that the rest of the album isn't nice because of the outdated sound. The 1983 single just sounds outdated as well, though particularly sparkling, cheerful and inspired. Those are the qualities that survive, the rest of the music lacks those qualities. Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter (both 56) are doing forced attempts to mix trance (Étape 2) and extended lounge-sounds with their familiar robotvoices and synthesizer structures. Predictability only. With this record Kraftwerk painfully slips just like fellow countryman Jan Ullrich did just before reaching Paris. This because they couldn't cope with the electronic styles that wouldn't have been there without them. The once so futuristic electro-pioneers suddenly have become plain dance-mortals. They shouldn't have taken their chances."
Uhmmmmm........ Did the author really listen to the album??? Didi