Customer Reviews

Man Machine

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Man Machine" was my first exposure to Kraftwerk back in the late 70's, and in the remaster, the work sounds that much better. Nice to see it raised on such a pedestal. Although I have the original vinyl, I haven't compared the two side-by-side, but the remaster is powerful, clear and clean, which does the music great justice. There is so much clean detail - like the subtle breathiness of the single-word vocal in "Spacelab", or the clean staccato beat at the start of "The Man Machine", and the detail of the sounds in it.

Not having the direct comparison of new to old, I'll stick to the tracks, which are especially informative when comparing to Kraftwerk's "Computer World" (1981) - very different compilations. "The Man Machine" is like a "working man's" (actually, "working robots") compilation compared to "Computer World". If you liked the latter, you'll like this even better if you like simplicity. "The Man Machine" is analogous to the imaginative liner notes (actually photos), which show the four Kraftwerk mannequins going off to a day of work (arriving promptly at 7:59 to their recording studio). It's practical and hard-hitting in most spots, interleaved with the "experiences" of the day. Brilliant - and so much different than the also brilliant "Computer World". You will not find anything like "Numbers" or "It's More Fun to Compute" (from the latter CD) here. In comparison, "The Man Machine" world is quaint and familiar, rather than being edgy.

Track 1 (The Robots) "We are programmed just to do, anything you want us to". The PERFECT intro to this compilation. The track just brilliantly gives the feeling of marching forward, somewhat in a plodding but well-defined way that you might imagine a robot would do. A lot of vocoder here, and the remaster picks up all the very fine subtlety - the breathiness and echo. Just great.

Track 2 (Spacelab) Starts with the sound of a door closing. Perhaps the door to the studio? Now, the robots go to work - making sounds quite unlike the first track! This track is far more fluid and spacious. The melody is mostly uplifting, but with a few melancholy lines - both feelings are carried in a smooth melody which overlays a very staccato beat.

Track 3: (Metropolis) The start sounds like the power is coming up, over the sound of a "beating heart" of the city, which smoothly transitions to another smooth melody - something you might attribute to smooth movement. Feels like you're watching the goings-on of a Fritz Lang style art-deco city through the eyes of "the robots".

Track 4: (The Model) The robots hit the night club. Another smooth, charming melody - sounds like the Kraftwerk "robot" equivalent to Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible".

Track 5: (Neon Lights) Nostalgic. The start is so simple, and a bit melancholy. Day passes into night in the robot world, but here (as in "the Model") we have human vocals. The musical lines are so simple, even though they layer as the song proceeds. The synth
That comes in at 2:00 in the song mimics the lyric - "shimmering neon lights". The slow tempo, crossed with the smooth melody and staccato beat gives a peaceful feeling in this seemingly "cold" robot world.

Track 6: (The Man Machine) Just in case you were forgetting where you were from hearing the last two tracks, we're now back to the working, robot world. Seems like the complement to track 1 in many ways - simple clean musical lines, with "sound effects" in many spots that are used as musical lines, overlayed in the usual brilliant Kraftwerk way.

To conclude - I can't help to re-iterate the vast difference between this compilation, and "Computer World". I'm leaning toward the latter as the "better" compilation, but both are beyond 5 stars, so it doesn't matter - if you are into Electronica, you must have both.

As in the rest of the remastered Kraftwerk series, this album has been given the full remastering treatment. If you are familiar with previous both German and US CD versions you will remember the hiss and the flat sound overall. This did not prevent enjoying the techno pioneers but it was even back then not great. The first idea of how it should sound came with the live Minimum Maximum album. Now, this is an enormous improvement: not just is there no hiss butu also the sound has an amplitude it never had. Listen to The Robots and you will be knocked out by the modernikty of the sound: the highs and the basses are incredible and belie the age of this recording. Even if you have it you must get it again. The people at Kling Klang have done a psctacular job.

I first came across the music in the early eighties and it has fascinated me ever since. Yes, there are lots of pieces which just repeat over and over again - so it will suit everybody's taste - but even after all those years it still sounds fresh to me and this is certainly the mark of a good work.

Of the three Kraftwerk albums I own, this is my least favorite, though it is not a bad album. There are plenty of their trademark repetitious machine music phrases with plenty of melody and odd sounds thrown in.

I recognize more of this album than any of their others because I've heard clips in commercials, radio theme songs, and other places that I can't quite pin down. I think this album may have been their biggest hit, chart wise.

It has plenty of good cuts, however, I don't find I get as absorbed in them as I have with Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express. I am only contrasting The Man Machine against the others as it is still a great album.

If you like good electronic music, you can't go wrong with The Man Machine. Recommended.

I used to listen to this cassette in the early 1980s, mesmerized by this exciting new electronic, robotic sound. The sound was disengaged yet beautiful. When I graduated to cds in the late 1980s, I replaced many of my cassettes and LPs but failed to pick this up. When I learned this was digitally remastered, I decided to get it. The remastery is fantastic and the music still sounds so good, even after 30 years. The electronic/techno music genre owes much to these pioneers.

This is one of my favorite albums. The only thing about this album that knocks it off a star is that there are only a few tracks. What I bought this album was for the songs "The Man Machine" and "The Robots". The other songs are very average by their standards. But the two tracks mentioned are some of the best by this group. Too bad they don't have a greatest hits compilation or anthology. The ones I have are either remixes which are not better than the original or live recordings. I am sorry but Kraftwerk does not sound better live. I prefer their studio versions as I go for the sound. I am a fan of Kraftwerk but would not purchase tickets to see their live shows. They are not particularly a show type of band as they are more recording artists. Another thing is that I notice that the price for this album is generally high so if you are looking for this album be prepared to cough up some dough for few tracks and old album.

"Man Machine" by Kraftwerk is a superb sounding cd that has a good collection of unique sounds. "Man Machine" definitely sounds like a great cd that would be a good fit for many science fiction films. I say this because the songs have a great mix of futuristic electronica music melodies. My favorite songs on this compilation would be "Neon Lights", "Spacelab", and "The Model". "Spacelab" is a great musical track that has some very strong high-energy beats with a futuristic theme in them. The voice that is used for "Spacelab" complements the song perfectly. "Neon Lights" is a unique musical track that is about the beauty of the kaleidoscope of lights shimmering together in certain cities at night-time. I admit that my overall favorite song is "The Model", because it is a clever blend of an interesting story mixed in with beautiful music. "The Model" is a creative song about a person who is infatuated with a beautiful model who is very much sought after, popular, and successful. This Kraftwerk masterpiece is great to get if you love to listen to classic electronica music.

....Finally there is the remastered version of this great album!
For all the fans of Kraftwerk and electronic music in general a MUST HAVE Album!!!

If you are interested in electronic music from Germany in general, check out Dolomiti Super Chill: Late Summer 2009. It is a chillout compilation series with great chill potential!

I am going to enter a review which I feel is an honest assessment but will annoy some of the previous reviewers (at least).
Now I love this album and have owned a copy in some form or other since its debut in '77.

I jumped at the chance to buy my two favourites when they were remastered ( The Mix and Man Machine.)

Upon listening to The Mix I thought there was very little upgrading of the sound in the upper frequencies, and any improvement to the bass was caused by the recording being slightly louder only.

I subsequently read the "glowing" reviews for the Man Machine and thought it must be true that it is vastly improved. Not.

To verify my suspicions, I played my analogue master cd back to back with the new remaster...and came to the conclusion that I could get the same sound simply by turning up the volume on the old copy.