The Man-Machine

Kraftwerk

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 1995)
• Original Release Date: 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Emd Int'l
• ASIN: B000007R1M
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,242 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #17 in	Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Styles > Rock > Krautrock
  #72 in	Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Germany

Track Listings

1. Robots

2. Spacelab

3. Metropolis

4. Model

5. Neon Lights

6. Man Machine

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

The album on which Kraftwerk got serious about their legacy of fusing human flesh and the technology it has inspired into an indistinguishable whole, Man-Machine also ironically embodies some of the band's most endearing contradictions. The case is stated up front with the techno classic "The Robots." The journey continues to worlds both utopian ("Spacelab") and dystopian ("Metropolis"). Then it segues into a bona fide, hook-laden dance track ("The Model," perhaps inspired by the club success that Kraftwerk's previous album, Trans-Europe Express, experienced at the hands of enterprising early mixmaster DJs). There's also a downright sentimental cityscape, "Neon Lights." But lest anyone think that Schneider, Hutter, and company are too human, they wrap up the proceedings with the robotic dance-groove of the title track, inspiring dizzy listeners to ponder: Kraftwerk--men or machines? --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahead of their time: set a standard to be followed, August 7, 2003

By	Manny Hernandez "Author of Ning For Dummies" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

I ran into a copy of this album, by Kraftwerk while dropping by the library yesterday. I hadn't heard their work before. I was very impressed. Big names from the late seventies/early eighties, like Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre and the whole Gary Numan-Depeche Mode-wave come to mind. These guys really set a standard in the seventies! Very interesting material. Worth listening to attentively.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kraftwerk at their robotic best!, October 9, 2001

By	Asterion (Saskatchewan, Canada) - See all my reviews

1978's 'The Man Machine' is Kraftwerk's most focused, and strongest album to date. Although short, clocking in at just over thirty minutes, the six tracks that comprise 'The Man Machine' are of high quality and filler-free. The album can easily be listened to straight through several times without boring the listener.

The album kicks off powerfully with 'The Robots'. It's pulsating bassline, machine-like rhythms and heavily processed vocals set the tone for the rest of the album. I actually prefer this version of 'The Robots' to the one on Kraftwerk's 1991 release 'The Mix'. I find 'The Man Machine' version to be a lot more robotic than 'The Mix''s more human, organic reworking.

Next is the first of the two almost completely instrumental tracks on `The Man Machine', `Spacelab'. `Spacelab''s weightless, dreamy synth lines say more to the listener than any vocals could ever describe. The only vocals that enter the mix are the vocoded words "Space-lab". A very relaxing, beautiful track.

Third up is the other vocally minimal track on the album, the dystopian `Metropolis'. This track is the most ominous of all of the tracks on `The Man Machine', perhaps the most ominous of all of Kraftwerk's songs (`Radioactivity' would be a close second). Likely drawing from Fritz Lang's 1926 masterpiece of the same title, `Metropolis' invokes the listener with the feeling that this futuristic city may not be the utopia we would all like it to be.

`The Model', the album's fourth track is a strange, somewhat poppy, but very catchy song. The lyrics are very simple and the synth sounds are very dated, but that is what is so charming about this song. "Charming" could very easily describe the appeal of all of Kraftwerk's work, as a matter of fact.

`Neon Lights'. Soothing, vocally minimal, long, experimental. Perfectly positioned in the track listing, `Neon Lights' helps to hold the album together. It is the perfect transition between the poppy `The Model' and the animatronic title track.

The closing track on the album is the title track, `The Man Machine.' It's toy-like staccato synth line and "pop-hiss" drums that run throughout the song sound as if they were played by automatons. The vocals are a stark contrast to the synth lines as they are warm, smooth and reverberating. This is one of the best tracks on the album, it is so much different in structure than the other songs, yet has many musical similarities. A great way to end the album.

Overall, `The Man Machine' is my favourite Kraftwerk album. Every song is focused and contributes in it's own way to the one overall feel of the album. If you want to get into Kraftwerk, I would suggest buying `The Mix' as I did. It is a bit of a greatest hits album, as well as a reworking of older Kraftwerk favourites. It is a good overview of Kraftwerk's career thusfar, even though they haven't done much since '86. But if you want some solid, vintage Kraftwerk, definitely pick up `The Man Machine.'

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "We are programmed just to do anything you want us too.", June 3, 2005

By	The Spastic Fantastic Mighty House Cat "Frosty5" (Waltham, Massachusetts, United States, Planet Earth) - See all my reviews

Kraftwerk's 1978 album, "The Man Machine" is art. The German electronic quartet of Ralf Hutter, Wolfgang Flur, Karl Bartos, and Florian Schneider have impressed me with this six-song piece of pleasure. It's material like theirs that get me to buy more of their music. All six tracks are sweet. Track one is "The Robots." This song includes a singing robot. Just for having robotic vocals (which I can't get enough of) this automatically becomes an enjoyable tune of mine. I also like the electric percussion in the song. "Spacelab" is track two on the album. It's very mysterious sounding. I feel as if I'm in a space station, all alone, lightyears from everything else in the galaxy. Next, there's track three, "Metropolis." It starts out slow with percussion that sounds like drops of water and long notes. The bass comes in and the percussion changes after that. The vocalists sing out "Meeeeetroooooopoliiiiiis" in the song. "The Model, track four, is my favorite song on the CD. It's also the shortest of all the six tunes found on this disc at 3:42. The song's about a supermodel woman whose beauty and charm led her to fame and popularity. Track five, "Neon Lights" is nine minutes long. It's the longest track in the album. The lyrics for the song are "Neon lights, shimmering neon lights, and at the fall of night, the city's made of light." They're only heard in the first half of the song. The second half contains psychadelic sounding synthesizers. The final track is "The Man Machine." This track includes singing robots, different from "The Robots." This is a very nice tune, a good song to finish off the album. All six tracks are great. This CD has "genius" written all over. I could listen to it the whole way through whenever I'm in the mood, and I get into that mood quite often. I'm glad there's a music group like this.