Autobahn (album)

Untitled

Autobahn (German for "motorway") is an album by Kraftwerk, released in 1974. The album’s 22-minute title track was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached #25 on the US Billboard charts, charting even higher around Europe, including #11 in the UK. This commercial success came after the band had released three highly experimental and purely instrumental albums.

Autobahn is not a completely electronic album, as violin, flute, and guitar are used along with synthesizers. The title track features both untreated and vocoded vocals; the remaining tracks are purely instrumental. Kraftwerk used a Minimoog as one of their synthesizers, which were known to cost as much as a Volkswagen at that time. Other instruments employed included the ARP Odyssey, EMS Synthi AKS and various devices of their own design and implementation, such as their famous electronic drums.

The title track is intended to capture the feeling of driving on the Autobahn; from the high-speed concentration of the fast lane, to the tuning of the car radio, to the monotony of a long trip. Autobahn is also the first of Kraftwerk’s concept albums of sorts, which they have done up to 2003.

The front cover of the original German edition was painted by Emil Schult, a long-time collaborator of Ralf and Florian, who also co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Autobahn". The version released in the UK on the Vertigo label in 1974 had a differently designed cover, produced by the label’s in-house marketing department.

Klaus Röder was not a member of the band for very long, and had left before the recording sessions were completed. Wolfgang Flür’s face was added to the group photo on the back cover of the original LP (grafted onto Emil Schult’s body) at the last minute when it was decided that he would stay as a permanent member of the band.

Plank had reputedly played a large role in developing the Kraftwerk sound, and much of the recording and all of the mixing of the work took place at his studio in Cologne. Plank's contribution to the sound was evident in comparing the album version of "Kometenmelodie" with the rare demo-quality single "Kohoutek-Kometenmelodie", recorded without his input.

Flür had played with the band since late in 1973, first appearing with them on a Berlin TV performance to promote their Ralf und Florian album. On that show, he debuted the band’s custom-built electronic percussion pads, and these feature heavily on the Autobahn album.

Track listing

1. "Autobahn" ("Motorway") (Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Emil Schult) – 22:42
2. "Kometenmelodie 1" ("Comet Melody 1") (Hütter, Schneider) – 6:26 (inspired by Comet Kohoutek)
3. "Kometenmelodie 2" ("Comet Melody 2") (Hütter, Schneider) – 5:48
4. "Mitternacht" ("Midnight") (Hütter, Schneider) – 3:43
5. "Morgenspaziergang" ("Morning Walk") (Hütter, Schneider) – 4:04

Credits

• Ralf Hütter – vocals, keyboards and synthesizers.
• Florian Schneider-Esleben – vocals, keyboards and synthesizers.
• Klaus Roeder – guitar, electric violin.
• Wolfgang Flür – electronic percussion.
• Konrad "Conny" Plank – record producer.
• Emil Schult – cover design.

Various editions and issues regarding album credits

The original, first pressing of Autobahn was released by Philips Records and Vertigo Records for the world outside of Germany in 1974.

• Official South Korean pressings of the album have the black Mercedes-Benz removed from the front cover.

• The album was first reissued in the US and Canada by Mercury Records in 1975.

• Hütter and Schneider regained the rights to the album after the group's original contract with Philips had expired.

• In 1985, the album was reissued for the second time as a "digital remix" edition for compact disc, in addition to cassette and vinyl.

The musical content of this version is the same as the original version. These versions were released by EMI, Parlophone Records in some regions, and Warner Bros. Records for the United States and Canada.

• For the 1985 reissue, all traces of the original recording line up were removed and instead, a retouched photo from the 1975 Autobahn tour was used. It shows Hütter, Schneider and Flür with new member, percussionist Karl Bartos – who were the band members at the time of the album’s first re-release in 1985 – performing on stage.

• Producer Conny Plank’s name was largely removed from the 1985 reissue of the album, only appearing very small on the side B label of the vinyl edition and nowhere on the CD version.

• There has been some doubt about Klaus Röder’s input; the original 1974 cover credited him with "violin, guitar", whereas for the 1985 re-release he was given a credit on the vinyl B-side label only, as playing electro-geige (electro-violin) on "Mitternacht". According to Flür’s autobiography, this was an electronic instrument of his own invention; he also played it on "Autobahn", though his contributions were apparently mixed out on the finished album.

• In 1988, the album was reissued for the third time by Elektra Records for the US and Canada. This version restored all of album's original credits inside of the liner notes, but this edition of the disc soon went out of print in the mid-1990s.

• The only edition currently in print is the compact disc edition released by EMI Records. This version is only available as an import in North America.

• When Wolfgang Flür published his autobiography, Ich war ein Roboter (English edition: I Was A Robot), legal wranglings ensued over his claim to have largely built and developed the group's electronic drums himself (with electronics assistance from Schneider), cannibalising an organ beat-box for the sound generating circuits. Schneider had in fact filed a patent on the device under his own name in 1977. Again, Flür’s name was removed from the artwork of the 1985 re-issue – when the album first became available on CD – although his contribution was later confirmed by a German court decision on March 23 2001.

• In 2007, Dirk Matten, of the company Matten & Wiechers (who built custom musical sequencers for Ralf and Florian), stated on a Kraftwerk mailing list (www.kraftwerk.hu/antenna) that Hütter played all of the guitar parts on the album himself. Matten later declined to reveal any further details supporting the claim.

Album cover variations

File:A74-D-front.jpg The original version of the German issued cover, with artwork by Emil Schult.

File:A74-D-back.jpg The back cover of the original German version, Flür’s head montaged into the group photo.

File:A74-E-front.jpg The version of the cover released in Britain on the Vertigo label in 1974.

File:A84-E-back.jpg The back cover of the 1985 re-issue, showing the Hütter-Bartos-Flür-Schneider line up.

Equipment

• Minimoog
• ARP (white-faced) Odyssey
• Customized Farfisa Rhythm Unit 10
• Vox Percussion King
• Farfisa Professional Piano
• EMS Synthi-A
• Schulte Compact Phasing A
• Mutron Biphase
• & others

Release details

The originally released formats are shown below. These may differ from currently available versions.

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Germany	November 1974	Philips	Vinyl	6305 231	Motorway symbol sticker on front cover
	November 1974	Philips	Cassette	7105 181
	June 1985	EMI-Electrola	Vinyl	1C 064 2400 701
	June 1985	EMI-Electrola	Cassette	1C 064 2400 704
	February 1986	EMI-Electrola	CD	CDP 564 7 46153 2
United Kingdom	November 1974	Vertigo	Vinyl	6360 620	Unique UK-only embossed cover design
	May 1975	Vertigo	Cassette	7149 005	UK-only cover design
	July 1975	Vertigo	8-track	7710 702	UK-only cover design
	June 1985	EMI-Parlophone	Vinyl	AUTO 1 (24 0070 1)	Catalog number was given as EMC 3405 in pre-release listings until late-1984
	June 1985	EMI-Parlophone	Cassette	TC AUTO 1 (24 0070 4)	Catalog number was given as TC EMC 3405 in pre-release listings until late-1984
	February 1986	EMI	CD	CDP 7 46153 2
United States	1975	Vertigo	Vinyl	VEL-2003
	1975	Vertigo	Cassette	VCR-4-200
	1975	Vertigo	8-track	VC-8-2003
	1985	Warner Bros.	Vinyl	9 25326-1
	1985	Warner Bros.	Cassette	25326-4
	1985	Warner Bros.	CD	25326-2