Radio-Activity

For other uses of "Radio activity" and "radioactivity", see Radioactive (disambiguation).

Radio-Activity is a 1975 concept album by Kraftwerk. It was also released under the German name of Radio-Aktivität. Unlike Kraftwerk's later albums, which featured language-specific lyrics, only the titles differ between the English and German editions.

The hyphenated album title displays Kraftwerk's typical deadpan humour, being a pun on the twin themes of the songs, half being about radioactivity and the other half about activity on the radio. More word plays are evident in the track listing: the cleverly titled "Ohm Sweet Ohm", and "Radio Stars", which as a title could refer to pop stars, but upon listening is revealed to be about quasars and pulsars.

This was the first Kraftwerk album to be entirely self-produced by Hütter & Schneider in their Kling Klang studio, and the first one to be performed by the "classic" Hütter/Schneider/Bartos/Flür line-up. All the music was written by Hütter/Schneider, with Emil Schult collaborating on lyrics. Schult also designed the artwork – a modified illustration of a late-1930s Deutscher Kleinempfänger vintage radio.

It was the first Kraftwerk album to feature use of the distinctive Vako Orchestron keyboard (choir, string and organ sounds), which the group had purchased on their recent US Autobahn tour. The band's custom-built electronic percussion also featured heavily in the sound, and extensive use was made of the vocoder. The usual synthesizers were present (including Minimoog and ARP Odyssey), and Ralf's Farfisa electronic piano made a return on "Transistor". For the first time the group did not use flute, violin or guitars.

By 1975, Hütter and Schneider's previous publishing deals with Capriccio Music andStar Musik Studio of Hamburg) had expired. The compositions on Radio-Activity were published by their own newly set up Kling Klang Verlag music publishing company, giving them greater financial control over the use of songwriting output. Also, the album was the first to bear the fruit of Kling Klang as an established vanity label under the group's new licensing deal with EMI.

The title track Radioactivity was released as a single, and became a hit in France after it was used as the theme to a popular music show. The song was later remixed by Kraftwerk for their 1991 album The Mix. It was further remixed, for subsequent single release, by William Orbit and François Kevorkian.

Track listing

(English release titles / German release titles)

Side one

"Geiger Counter" / "Geigerzähler" – 1:05
"Radioactivity" / "Radioaktivität" – 6:44
"Radioland" / "Radioland" – 5:50
"Airwaves" / "Ätherwellen" – 4:53
"Intermission" / "Sendepause" – 0:37
"News" / "Nachrichten" – 1:31

Side two

"The Voice of Energy" / "Die Stimme der Energie" – 0:55
"Antenna" / "Antenne" – 3:47
"Radio Stars" / "Radio Sterne" – 3:35
"Uranium" / "Uran" – 1:24
"Transistor" / "Transistor" – 2:15
"Ohm sweet Ohm" / "Ohm sweet Ohm" – 5:39

1, 5, 6, 10, 11 (the instrumental tracks) written by Hütter/Schneider
2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12 written by Hütter/Schneider/Schult

Equipment

Roland RE-201 Space Echo
ARP Odyssey
Moog Minimoog
Farfisa Rhythm Unit 10
EMS Synthi A
Oscilloscope
Vako Orchestron

Credits

Ralf Hütter – vocals, keyboards and synthesizers.
Florian Schneider – vocals, keyboards and synthesizers.
Karl Bartos – electronic percussion.
Wolfgang Flür – electronic percussion.
Peter Bollig – technical engineer.
Walter Quintus – sound engineer.
Robert Franke – photography.
Emil Schult – graphic design.

Release details

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

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Germany	December 1975	EMI-Electrola	Vinyl	1C 062 82 087	With insert sheet of 'Radio-Aktivität' stickers
	December 1975	EMI-Electrola	Cassette	1C 244 82087
	February 1986	EMI-Electrola	CD	CDP 564 7 46132 2
United Kingdom	December 1975	Capitol	Vinyl	E-ST 11457
	December 1975	Capitol	Cassette	TC E-ST 11457
	1976	Capitol	8-track	8X-E-ST 11457
	June 1987	EMI	CD	CDP 7 46474 2
United States	January 1976	Capitol	Vinyl	ST-11457	With insert sheet of 'Radio-Activity' stickers
	1985	Capitol	Cassette	C2 46474
	1976	Capitol	8-track	8XT 11457
	1985	Capitol	CD	CDP 7 46473