Ralf and Florian

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Ralf and Florian
Kraftwerk studio album

Publication
(s)

1973

Label (s) Philips

Genre (s)

Krautrock , electronic music

Title (number)

6th

running time

37:41 min.

chronology
Kraftwerk 2
(1971) 		Ralf and Florian Motorway
(1974)

Ralf and Florian was the band Kraftwerk's third studio album . It was released in October of 1973 in Germany and France under the Philips - label . In the UK it was released in January 1974 under the Vertigo label. In August 1975 it was released in the United States under the Vertigo label . It has also appeared under the names Ralf and Florian and Ralf & Florian .

Emergence

The album was recorded between May and July 1973 in the then renamed Kling-Klang-Studio by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider . For the sound equipment was Conny Plank responsible. The cover design was done by Emil Schult . The record was accompanied by a large poster designed by Emil Schult. The photo on the cover was taken by Robert Franck.

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It was Kraftwerk's first album to use synthesizers . The music then became more electronic than on the previous albums. The song Electric Roulette already sounds like a modern electro-pop song . Tone mountains and sounds of home are more of a calm interplay between the Minimoog and the flute . In Kristallo you can hear a Farfisa electronic piano. "Ananas Symphonie" is the first song in which vocoder - votes were used. Otherwise the songs on this album are instrumental.

This album disappeared from the market in the 1980s and was never re-released on CD. The Kraftwerk musicians later distanced themselves from the music from the early phase of the band - so no album from before 1974 was included in the catalog . Since 1994 there have been various black copies and bootlegs of these albums from record companies such as Germanofon and Crown Records. It reached number 160 on the US Billboard Albums Chart.

Track list

A side

  1. Electric roulette 4:19
  2. Clay Mountains 2:50
  3. Crystallo 6:18
  4. Homeland Sounds 3:45

B side

  1. Dance music 6:34
  2. Pineapple Symphony 13:55

reception

In a comprehensive essay on Kraftwerk's music, Philipp Schmidt comes to the conclusion that “Ralf and Florian” can be seen as a “transition” in which the band “has reached a turning point both musically and in terms of the group's concept”. was. Compared to the previous albums, there is “a softer, gentler atmosphere” and the sound is much clearer. The band's image has also changed in such a way that Kraftwerk “no longer looked like musicians, but much more like eccentric scientists”.

In his review on “ Babyblauen Seiten ”, Thomas Schüßler states that “on their third album, the band has largely left the sound experiments behind and is on the way to more song-oriented structures.” His colleague Jochen Rindfrey also agreed that the work was "Not as experimental as the first two albums, [but] not as style-forming as the later Kraftwerk stuff", but still fun to listen to.

Web links