Kraftwerk "Kraftwerk 2" (1972)

Kraftwerk 2

release date: Jan. 1972

format: digital (1994 uofficial reissue)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,02]

producer: Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider-Esleben, Konrad 'Conny' Plank

label: Germanofon - nationality: Germany

Track highlights: 1. "Klingklang" - 3. "Strom" - 5. "Wellenlänge"

2nd studio album by German band Kraftwerk, here only credited the two co-founders of the band, Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, after the recently included drummer Klaus Dinger left the band and instead co-founded the band Neu! According to Hütter, it was hard to find drummers for Kraftwerk because no one would work with them when they chose to use non-typical (electric) instruments, so Hütter and Schneider themselves are credited percussion on the album here, just as they are on sucessorRalf und Florian (1973). The opening track "Klingklang" is almost 18 minutes long and in addition to being the album's longest composition, it has also given name to Kraftwerk's studio and record company Kling Klang, founded around '73.

Musically, a lot has actually happened since the debut Kraftwerk from 1970. The absence of actual drummers distances the album from other contemporary 'krautrock' releases and points to a purer electronic-founded style, where Hütter and Schneider - aided by the later legendary Konrad 'Conny' Plank sound - only stage their instrumental compositions using rhythms from percussion instruments such as xylophone, marimba and primitive programmable instruments, and on top of this basic substance they have added sounds from organ, electric piano, flute, violin, accordion, but also from more traditional instruments such as bass and guitar.

Still, it's a long way to the band's more iconic compositions with more traditional musical structures, but there is much pointing in the direction of ambient and progressive pop, and then the music has also taken a direction away from the initial improvisational and more abrupt compositions from the debut, which still had contained elements from psychedelic rock.

The album (just as its predecessor and the follow-up) has never officially been reissued, but only exists as a result of pirated copies - as here from the supposed Czech company Germanofon.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Kraftwerk "Kraftwerk" (1970)

Kraftwerk [debut]

release date: Dec. 1, 1970

format: digital (1994 unofficial reissue)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,84]

producer: Ralf Hüttel, Florian Schneider-Esleben, Konrad 'Conny' Plank

label: Germanofon - nationality: Germany

Track highlights: 1. "Ruckzuck" - 2. "Stratovarius"

Studio debut album by Kraftwerk consisting of the two founders Ralf Hüttel and Florian Schneider-Esleben after they had left the experimental German band Organisation, who had released the album Tone Float (Jun. '70). On this first outing, the drummers Andreas Hohmann and Klaus Dinger are also credited as members. Hohmann plays drums on the first two compositions, while Dinger is credited drums on the final cut.

The album consists of four tracks with varying playing time running from 7:50 to 12:10 minutes and with a total running time of just under 40 minutes. It's experimental instrumental music pointing to inspiration from another German band: Tangerine Dream, which had just released its debut Jun. '70, and then it's also music with influence from experimental releases by Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, John Cage, and especially Karlheinz Stockhausen and musique concrete in general. Several tracks and parts of compositions sounds very much like the result of spontaneous sessions with Hüttel playing organ and a special instrument: electric 'tubon', while Schneider is credited playing violin, flute, and percussion. Besides a krautrock style, the individual compositions are made with some interesting twists pointing to ambient and progressive elements and rhythms you may find on early electronic music of the mid-70s by Brian Eno, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Jean-Michel Jarre, and in the early eighties by an artist like e.g. Laurie Anderson and among many synthpop bands, and then again in the early techno scene. You'll find sound bits hinting at this in the actual electronic explosion from the late 80s and early 90s with bands like The Orb, The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Dust Brothers etc. and in much wider sub-styles. The album was originally released on Philips - reissued several times through the 70s and also on cassette from '77, but it has never been officially released on CD format, nor has it been reissued after 1980, and Germanofon releases (many from '94) of the band's three earliest albums are all unofficial or 'bootleg' releases, and the band themselves haven't found it fruitful to reissue the earliest albums. This may also be seen e.g. with the band's own 8-CD box set Der Katalog (2009), which doesn't include releases from before Autobahn (1974).

The album is a pure curiosity. There are many other and better experimental albums from the period, and it's only interesting that Hütter and Schneider already here named their music-project Kraftwerk, although, the electronic characteristics were only established with the band's fourth album. Still, it's a bit of shame how Hütter and Schneider somehow won't acknowledge their musical starting point. There are some fine parts pointing to both their own later progression, but also to much other music that flourished during the 70s.

[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Cesária Évora "The Magic of Cesária Évora" (2011)

The Magic of Cesária Évora (unofficial) (compilation)
release date: Dec. 2011
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]

producer: various

label: Chinese Dragon Music - Cape Verde

An unofficial [bootleg] best of compilation album with Cesária Évora of Cape Verde, Africa issued on the bootleg label Chinese Dragon. The album was probably released shortly after her death (Dec. 17, 2011).

It contains 18 tracks and has an extensive running time for 1 disc albums at just above 77 mins.

This is a very fine collection of the wonderful Évora. I only have two original studio albums with her, and two best of compilations, and the compilation albums does what they do so fine: they introduce and showcase more of her repertoire. Only, I prefer original studio albums.

Killing Joke "The Bum's Rush" (1983) (unofficial)

The Bum's Rush (unofficial bootleg)
release date: 1983
format: vinyl / cd (2007 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: none
label: A Skidmark Record - nationality: England, UK

Unofficial album by Killing Joke released by 'Skidmark'.
It took me a couple of years before I realised that the album wasn't an official one as I bought it in an ordinary record store, and it had a sticker attached saying 'Sam import', which was a much used distribution company selling official albums. Also, the recording sound isn't all that different from what you were used to in the early '80s. Although, being a bootleg product, the album itself has been pirated and re-distributed in various issues, and with many covers. The original issue came with a still image from an early slapstick comedy. Furthermore, tracks A2 to A4 were later officially issued as the second part (second John Peel recordings) of The Peel Sessions 1979-1981 (2008) and tracks A1, A5, B1 to B4 officially released in 2003 on the compilation album The Unperverted Pantomime (2003).
In an attempt to deal with the abundance of pirate albums and recordings featuring songs by Killing Joke, the band released two 3-disc compilation albums in 2007 with selected pirated material: Bootleg Vinyl Archive Vol.1 and Bootleg Vinyl Archive Vol.2 issued by Candlelight Records, which includes The Bum's Rush on disc 1 of "Vol. 2".

Joy Division "Warsaw" (1981) (unofficial bootleg)

Warsaw (unofficial bootleg)
release date: 1981
format: vinyl (reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: none
label: RZM Productions - nationality: England, UK

Unofficial album by Joy Division released by 'RZM Productions'.
Apparently, the album contains the un-issued recordings by producers John Anderson, Bob Auger, and Richard Searling for the RCA sessions at Arrow Studios, Manchester, May 3rd and 4th 1978. The sessions took place after the band signed its first contract but they were subsequently helped by rule of court to declare the contract illegal, and after this, they signed with Factory Records to have them issue the band's first official album.