Customer Reviews

Kraftwerk: Man, Machine and Music

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There will probably never be a definitive biography of Kraftwerk, due to the growing reluctance over the years of Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider-Esleben to say anything about the band and the placement of seemingly formidable roadblocks in front of probing journalists (and former band members).

Pascal Bussy comes as close as any writer in this book, which was originally published in 1993 and has been updated several times. What Bussy has is a huge jigsaw puzzle of information and facts culled from many sources - including Hutter and Schneider-Esleben when they did grant interviews in the early years - and puts the story together to bring the three elements in the sub-title together.

Particularly interesting is the history of the German music scene of the 1960s and 1970s, since no band or musician is in a vacuum when it comes to the early influences that launches a professional career.

Though the 2004 world tour was an artistic success, Bussy hints at what a possible "tour" could look like in the future. It truly may be more fun to compute.

Kraftwerk: Man, Machine and Music, may leave some readers wanting more tangible information, especially about the technical/experimental work done inside Kling Klang studio to achieve the band's sound & music. But until Hutter and Schneider-Esleben say more than the repetitive blips heard on Kraftwerk's official web site, Bussy's biography will remain the best observation at a legendary and mysterious group.

A real insight into the 'Kraftwerk'!
No wonder that the band has not allowed this book to be published in German in Germany, there are way to many secrets into their way of life and work revealed here.
The book deals with the history of the band in realtion to Germanys history and why Kraftwerk have become the icon in Electronic Music today.
If you want to know more about the people behind the robots, read this book....

A "must" if you are at all interested in the band. My only criticism would be that it doesn't really dig that deep - but, as mentioned in other reviews, and by Bussy himself, this is due to the lack of information coming from the band themselves rather than a lack of effort and research. This aside, a fascinating look into the Kraftwerk world. I thoroughly enjoyed it - highly recommended.

This was something that I actually got new info from. If you want to learn more about kraftwerk and how they have got to where they are today this is a good source. I got more from this than the interviews kraftwerk gives. Try it if you like.Kraftwerk And The Electronic Revolution this dvd is also a good place to get a start on learning your krautrock!

Pascal Bussy is a French music journalist who had followed the German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk from the very beginning, and seeing that there was so little known, or written, about the band, he decided to try and write a book about Kraftwerk. The original book came out in 1993 and this is, after an update in 2001, another revised and updated edition from 2004.

"Kraftwerk: Man. Machine and Music" (222 pages) brings a straight-forward retelling of the origins of Kraftwerk, which of course includes a basic overview of the German krautrock scene in the late 60/early 70s. After that, the book follows a pretty strict forat, taking the 11 studio albums of the band as the starting point of the band's history. Here a couple of extracts:

-- on the band's name: "An added attraction in the name Kraftwerk was the fact that on German roads the power stations (kraftwerks) are indiacted by road signs every 100 km or so, therefore acting as free advertising for the group. This extra appeal to the name was not lost on them."

-- on the track "Autobahn": "In the group's eyes, the track was so much more than just a song or a piece of music. Hutter was now clearly enjoying this conceptual side that allowed him to theorize, often humorously, about its derivation."

-- on possible collaborations with Bowie (whom they met regularly in his "Berlin" period): "It would undoubtedly have been a very unusual step for Kraftwerk to take, given that they had never collaborated with anyone outside the Kraftwerk family. Suffice to say, it is probable that Bpowie would have benefited more from such a collaboration."

The parts I enjoyed most in the book are the detailed reviewes and analysis of the band's albums and its ocer and art work, which plays such an important paqrt in the whole Kraftwerk experience (check out the excellent insights on the cover work for the "Man Machine" album). The band's sudden interest in the early 80s in cycling gets extended attention as well (and that would of course lead to the Tour de France single in 1983 and come-back album in 2003). If you hope to get any 'dirt' on the personal lives of Hutter & Company, you've come to the wrong place. "I considered I had been respectful of Hutter and Schneider's obsessive wish for privacy and avoided including addresses or precise locations", writes the author in the Introduction.

In all, as mentioned in other reviews, there is nothing monumental or truly revelatory about this book. It is a pleasant introduction, nothig more, nothing less. As a lifelong fan I finally had the good fortune of catching Kraftwerk in concert for the first time at Coachella 2008. What a memorable experience that was. And we could see another new album possibly as soon as sometime later in 2010. Bring it on!

Pascal Bussy brilliantly probes and lauds the rigid and creative worldview of Kraftwerk's brain, namely, Ralf Hutter. He is extremely aloof while also being a source of goodwill. Bussy unveils that the dynamic Ralf Hutter is an environmentalist, vegetarian and indomitable biker. This book is a great biography about a very secretive and influential band. Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream are Germany's paramount bands.Ralf Hutter and Edgar Froese are equally multitalented and magnificent.