Customer Reviews

Kraftwerk: The Catalogue Box Set

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After many years of rumors about a definitive remastered collection of the Kraftwerk catalogue, now finally comes "The Catalogue", a stylish box set of 8 of the 11 Kraftwerk studio albums (more on the 3 missing albums later).

"The Catalogue" (8 CDs; 351 min.) brings albums 4 through 11 of the Kraftwerk catalogue, starting with 1974's "Autobahn" all the way through 2003's "Tour De France Soundtracks". As a lifelong Kraftwerk fan, I nevertheless did not have a couple of the early albums on CD (I had them on vinyl as a kid), and to now rehear "Autobahn" and "Radio Activity" in all of its remastered glory was quite the fantastic listening experience. The remastered sound on all of the albums are remarkable, albeit less noticable on the last release "Tour de France Soundtracks", as that one was released in quite good audio quality already in 2003. Listening to many of these tracks, it reminds you of the astonishing catalogue of songs from Kraftwerk, and it makes me wish the band would open the playbook a bit more in their concerts, not always playing pretty much the same 'greatest hits'. (I've seen Kraftwerk a couple of times in recent years, most recently opening for Radiohead in March in Sao Paolo).

As to the box set and packaging, it is quite the visual experience. Style has always been a HUGE point for the Kraftwerk experience. The box set is in the format of the old vinyl release, and besides the 8 CDs, there are 8 visual booklets for each of the albums, all in the format of the old vinyl, each being 16 or 20 pages, with pictures and most of the lyrics. It was as though you were back in the 1970s enjoying the vinyl experience, except that you now have the remastered CD pristine listening to go along with it.

The November issue of MOJO Magazine had a fascinating interview with Ralf Hutter, in which he mentions that the first 3 Kraftwerk albums (Kraftwerk; Kraftwerk 2; Ralf + Florian) will get an updated remastered release at some point as well, and that a new Kraftwerk album will be out "quite soon", which of course in the Kraftwerk universe could be next year, or in five, who knows. All that aside, "The Catalogue" is the ultimate for Kraftwerk fans, but for those missing first 3 albums.

First off, I'm biased. I've liked this group since I was a kid. The music is great. I don't love it all, but it's very good and much of it is classic. These guys have been extremely influential and they helped change the face of popular music. I don't know if it's possible to overstate their contribution to music.

Having said that, if you are on the fence about splurging for the box set, maybe this will help. Three of the CDs are available only in the box set. All three of them are excellent, but one is classic: Computer World. It's been sampled a ton and it's one of the progenitors of hip hop. The beats, the sounds, the humor. These guys were silly and serious at the same time. Not an album to be missed. The others are fun -- The Mix is an amped-up Reader's Digest version of their biggest songs, and Techno Pop contains some great music as well.

An added bonus, the box set has real quality. It's made of thick, sturdy card board. The booklets are well made and have wonderful artwork, and the CD covers and slipcases are superb. Also, the CD labels themselves are excellent. From a graphic design point of view, this collection is a real winner.

the members of kraftwerk are the godfathers of all electronic music. beautiful melodies combined with their perfectionist attention to detail are seen on every kraftwerk album. all of their main albums are available in this one gorgeous box set, only missing some less polished experimental music from their early years. you would be in for a treat if you're hearing all of these albums for the first time in one shot like this. however, don't buy this english version set just yet!

after you've heard and become addicted to kraftwerk's catalogue, you will want to experience this music in the original german. kraftwerk usually releases a german version of each album as well as an international version with english lyrics. the differences are minor, but can get annoying at times.

for example, in the song "pocket calculator" off of the "computer world" album, the english lyrics begin with: "i'm the operator with my pocket calculator." the original german lyrics start with: "ich bin der musikant mit taschenrechner in der hand," which translates as, "i'm the musician with pocket calculator in the hand." the lyrics in both versions then talk about using the pocket calculator to do computational tasks like adding/subtracting as well as controlling/composing (music), which should conjure up the image of a synthesizer. if you didn't know the original german lyrics were referring to a musician, then the rest of the lyrics might not make sense. this song is about the melding of man and machine. the human musician makes music using electronics, breathing life into the electronics, while the electronics in turn serve as an appendage to the musician, making the human more machine-like; each affects the other. this is a theme that runs throughout kraftwerk's music in the "man-machine (die mensch-maschine)" and "computer world (computerwelt)" era. the underlying idea can get lost in translation here because of the awkward "operator/calculator" rhyme, while the original german is perfect with the "musikant/hand" rhyme. kraftwerk lyrics are first written in german, then ported over to english with varying degrees of compromise.

the german version of "the catalogue" is called "der katalog" and can be found on the german version of amazon (amazon.de) for a comparable price. unless you're planning on owning both the english and german sets, i recommend the purer german version if you can only own one of the two.

No one has had more influence on electronic music than Kraftwerk. They are the pioneers of the genre. When listening through these CD's one can hear many similarities with many of today's artists, not just in the world of electronic music, but music in general.
As for this superb collection, don't be put off by the price; once it sells out, you can only expect this box set to rise incredibly in price. I recommend getting it now, while it's still under say 500 dollars.
The packaging is...well...Kraftwerk. Very clean and immaculate. The remastering of their catalogue is great, giving it even more of a feeling of having been recorded very recently, which is true of Kraftwerk's music in general: Being way ahead of their time.
This collection will only get more expensive than it already is...get it now!

This is how box sets should be done. The box itself is the size of an lp jacket and is the sturdiest box like this that I've seen. The discs are in a liner, which is then slid into a jacket. Each disc is accompanied by an lp sized booklet featuring pictures relavent to the album, adding a visual dimension to the experience.

The remastering is incredible. Autobahn, Radioactivity, and Trans Europe Express sound like they were recorded in the last 10 years. I don't know how they pulled off this remastering job! The sound is just amazing, it really is.

Like many others here, I balked at the price initially. However, once I received the set, I understand why a bit of a premium price has been put on this set. You get your money's worth with the high quality packaging!

If you don't care about the extras like the box or the lp sized booklets, you should just look at purchasing the discs individually. Otherwise, don't be put off by the price too much because it is an impressive product.

Like many who have posted reviews on this deluxe box set, I've been a Kraftwerk fan since "Autobahn" and have purchased all their LPs and CDs to date. After reading the glowing reviews of this box set I took the plunge and ordered it, even though the price jumped from $105 to $130 (in the last week!) It arrived today and I've listened to each of the eight CDs.

First, the packaging is truly awesome, especially the included LP-sized booklets, which I might add are printed on quality thick paper that you won't leave fingerprints on!

The CD packaging is nice too with the slip cases, and the overall box is well made, (unlike the Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells 2009 Ultimate Edition" that was plagued with problems!)

More importantly, to me, is the sound quality of the actual CDs, and here are my honest thoughts:

Autobahn - Very nice improvement over previous CD releases. The sound is solid, without the hiss - even though I feel some of the ultra high frequencies are missing. No "pumping" that I could hear, thankfully.

Radio-Activity - I have to say this remastered album disappointed me. The four white noise sweeps starting "Radio-Activity" have been noticeably cleaned up but at the expense of the beautiful "choir" in the background. You can hear the choir get louder after each sweep, evidence of processing. It's not terrible but noticeable, IMHO. "Antenna" also sounds a bit subdued and not as crisp as the original version. This is my favorite KW album and perhaps I'm being too critical?

Trans Europe Express - FINALLY!!! A quite nice release of this album on CD. Other than the import "Trans Europa Express" CD release, all others sounded as if they were mastered from vinyl LPs, including ticks and pops here and there.

Man Machine - Nicely cleaned up without noticeably affecting the overall sound quality. The increased volume is a welcome plus in my opinion.

Computer World - Also nicely cleaned up though I feel a bit of the high end is missing in a few tracks. "Numbers" is absolutely breathtaking!

Techno Pop (Electric Cafe) - I was anxious to hear this album because of the additional track "House Phone", a remix of "The Telephone Call." First, the ending of "The Telephone Call" contains material different from the U.S. Warner Brothers CD release, just so you know. The "House Phone" part is okay but didn't excite me too much. The overall sound quality of this CD is awesome, especially in the bass response.

The Mix - The original U.S. release of this CD sounded incredible and the remaster does no harm. I couldn't find any difference except the slightly boosted volume level.

Tour De France - Also released originally in great sound quality so this one didn't need any improvements but sounds great.

Overall I have to say I recommend this Box set only to die-hard Kraftwerk fans who have to have everything, as the previous CD releases are truly adequate as they are with the exception of the U.S. "Trans Europe Express." I agree with forum members here who have commented the price tag is too high. This would be an excellent addition to any Kraftwerk collection had it been in the $80 - $90 price range but $130 is too much, IMHO. The lack of bonus tracks, rarities (like Dentaku), or the first three Kraftwerk albums takes away from what could have been an Ultimate Kraftwerk fan's dream set. The Catalog isn't bad but if you already own all their CDs, I'd think twice about forking out the money for this one.

I am a graphic designer and do packaging design for a living. The new Kraftwerk catalogue box is a beautiful piece of graphic design! The cover uses pixel renditions of the Kraftwerk band members, the box is 12" wide X 13" high X1.5" deep, I mean a BIG box! The paper is an ultra white finish with a dull varnish to protect the graphics from fingerprint oil. The box consists of all of the commercial Kraftwerk albums placed in a soft foam pad with cutouts to accommodate the CDs.

Guys, I've read some reviews and here's the drill.. If you are looking for absolutely RARE unheard Kraftwerk material, look on Discogs! This box is for every fan looking for a clean and optimized rendition of the classics we love.

Every CD has a large booklet which is stored in YET another box inside the big box. Guys, this is expensive packaging!! The booklets are all about 11.75" X 11"75 with the original graphics from the legendary covers.

I am not sure though if the pixelation of the images is due to the fact that some of these graphics were enlarged or if the designers were trying to achieve the "pixel, wireframe look" that you saw in the Boing Boom Tschak video. Every booklet is exquisite. The cover for the "THE MIX" album is different than the US CD cover, it has the schematic of a little robot in black and white.

Instead of jewel cases every CD is housed in a digipak sleeve, a cardoard sleeve with beautiful colors and optimized, retouched graphics. They look as sharp as I've ever seen them! Every CD has artwork related to the cover and visual theme of the LP. Overall, as a graphic designer I can tell you this is an amazing work of design and packaging. The music of course has been remasterized and sounds unbelievable crisp, the combination of the two is truly remarkable making this an instant CLASSIC collector's item!

I am not biased because I like Kraftwerk, but from a professional design point of view I'd say this box was very expensive to make, let alone adding the CDs. It is worth every penny and then some!!

A few weeks ago, I discovered that Urgh A Music War had finally, FINALLY been released on DVD. I snapped it up and watched it for the first time since probably, I dunno, 1986. Glorious. Surprisingly, the one segment out of the whole movie that really got to me was OMD performing Electricity. I had completely forgotten that they were even in Urgh, and it was like an ice cold bucket of nostalgia had been dumped on my head. For the last 30 years or so, I've always thought of myself as a hardcore punk dude. I tend to forget that for a couple of years before that, I was obsessed with new wave and synthesizer-based stuff in particular. From 1979 to 1982 or so, my musical diet mainly consisted of me sitting and listening to KROQ, occasionally holding my sister's tape recorder up to one of the speakers to tape songs I liked. Well, between seeing OMD in Urgh and the newly released Devo album, I've been getting back to my electro/synth roots lately. I was able to dig out a lot of my old stuff... early Depeche Mode, the Human League, Yazoo... but I couldn't find any of my Kraftwerk. I wanted to hear them again so badly that I was in the process of just re-buying all of their CDs at Amazon when I noticed that they had a box set, so I bought it. And I've been in heaven ever since. I was a little put off by the new cover artworks, but I have to admit they're impeccably designed... and the original covers are on the sleeves inside the protective jackets. There's also a collection of 12" booklets containing various pieces of promotional artwork and photos from the respective era of each record. All in all one of the best boxsets I've ever seen. As for the music itself, what can I say? I cannot express how much I love and respect Kraftwerk. So far ahead of their time. It truly boggles the mind.

These remasters sound FANTASTIC. Is it worth the repeat purchases? Obviously, that depends on how highly Kraftwerk rates in your own world. They rate pretty darn high in mine,so this was a fairly easy decision for me.

Having said that,this box set isnt exactly a bargain (particularly at the list price).Shop around, I found mine for 100.00 which I think is a fair price for what you're getting.And what are you getting? Besides the eight remastered titles,all housed in individual (cheap) cardboard sleeves,a seperate slipsleeve containing LP sized booklets for each title. When I read that in the product description,I was sold.Upon receipt, I say "meh..". The booklets consist (depending on which booklet)of either art work and/or photographs of the "theme" of each individual release.I was hoping for more text (of which their is very,very little) discussing each release.You actually get nothing of the sort - again, either photos or art work both of which rendered very minimally. Not sure how often i'll be pulling these out of their slipcase...

So bottom line,if you're new to Kraftwerk & can find this for around 100 i'd say dont hesitate - it's a great overview of the majority of their material. If you're an established fan and have likely already purchased these all individually,just know what you're getting: GREAT sounding remasters with supplemental material that will take you all of about 5 minutes to get thru.

Just a quick note as the reviews here have addressed the incredible quality of this set. Earlier releases have always had short comings on many formats. I was so excited when I saw this was coming out as I have/had these titles on everything from record to cd and have never been satisfied. Then I did some research prior to this being released and read a really bad review from a UK audio source that stated that these remasters had worse sound than the previous CD issues. The reviewer said the high end was shrill and tinny and total a mess. I was bummed and did not preorder.
Then I thought about it and deducted that this must be wrong as I thought about the sound at the live show I flew 2000 miles to see 2years ago. It was flawless, as was the show. Then the release of the DVD of this tour. It was flawless also and was considered to be the answer to the fans question of when are we going to get digital sound of a digital music. I just could not believe Ralf would let this happen and he didn't.
I am here to say that this is it and it contains the WB releases that locked in some legal dispute[hello Prince, Neil Young, ect...], so they won't be issued by them selves, only in this set.
BUY IT NOW!!!