Tour de France 03 [Single]

Kraftwerk | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 8, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single
• Label: Astralwerks
• ASIN: B0000A2ZUF
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,084 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

'Tour De France 03' features previously unreleased recordings & is released to coincide with the centenary of the Tour de France bicycle race. The single actually bears very little relation to Kraftwerk's seminal electro masterpiece from 1983. Four tracks

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transmission Television, July 8, 2003

By 

Fantozzi (Dallas, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tour de France 03 (Audio CD)

It's really great to have this opportunity to listen to brand new Kraftwerk tune. It took them so long to compile the album since The Mix makeup release, but it's always worth to wait for Kraftwerk. Or do they wait for us?
Anyway, this single is an excellent example of high quality electronic music full with concept. It's truly recognizable Kraftwerk, it doesn't sound outdated though as some net sources try to tell. TDF 03 actually drives, fills you with energy, but, as any other serious record, requires you to listen to it a couple times before you really enjoy and love it. All in all, it's Kraftwerk's new single and one of the 2003 most significant events.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A seriously addictive work-out..., August 17, 2005

By 

nicjaytee (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tour de France 03 (Audio CD)

Innovators from the far left out-field who've managed to keep up there with the best for 30 years, Kraftwerk are a unique and often bizarre proposition. And here's another example why... take a fairly odd idea - "musical to cycle to" - put it through 11 iterations, stand back and see what happens. First off is their 1983 "Tour de France (CD Single)" featuring three excellent interpretations of their ridiculously catchy original tune, including some quite wonderfully integrated sound bytes of heavy breathing and buzzing derailleur gears. Then, 20 years later, there's "Tour de France Soundtracks" with its superb first three tracks (Tour de France Etapes 1, 2 & 3) which while some way away from their predecessors pick up on several of their chord sequences to become perfectly complementary, equally irresistible extensions of them, followed by it's final track, titled - yes you've guessed it - "Tour de France", that's a further excellent reworking of the original concept. And then, if that's not enough, mix it all up even more with this, their "Tour de France 03 (CD Single)" featuring four more, subtly different, versions of the first three tracks from the "Soundtracks" album.

Too much I hear you say... well possibly not. As you may by now suspect these guys are dedicated "velo-men" who know a bit about how to keep your legs turning, and if you put the whole 11 tracks together and hit the "shuffle" button you'll see why because you've got just about the best possible accompaniment to a serious blast on the pedals. A mesmerically addictive, wholly harmonious sequence of brain etchingly good back-beats & chord sequences that'll keep you cycling, jogging, driving or just chilling out for almost an hour before hitting, as you will, the replay button. And if you're not convinced, buy any one of these superb records for starters and then see if you can resist getting the rest.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice but not great, July 31, 2003

By 

Joerg Colberg (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tour de France 03 (Audio CD)

The crucial thing about whether you're going to like the single or not is whether you like Kraftwerk's old stuff or not. By "old stuff" I mean the music pre-1991, that is before they did "The Mix". If you're a fan of the older stuff it's quite likely you won't be too thrilled with this. You'll probably know the original version of "Tour de France" (which hails from 1983) and the new versions are nothing like it. They more or less abandoned a lot of what made people like them so much in the past - those beautiful melodies and the almost robot-like singing. That's too bad. On the other side, this stuff is quite a bit better than a lot of the other stuff you're being subject to these days so that's two stars. If you don't know Kraftwerk's older stuff "Tour de France 2003" sounds almost like your run-of-the-mill electronica. You're getting four versions of the same song which are pretty much all the same - give or take some slight variations. It's better to get the actual album (which also has a few versions of this very same song).