Trans-Europe Express

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<b>100 Best Albums</b> For all its frictionless rhythms and gleaming surface, Kraftwerk’s catalog can be a maze-like affair. The Düsseldorf group’s first three albums (1970’s <i>Kraftwerk</i>, 1972’s <i>Kraftwerk 2</i>, and 1973’s <i>Ralf & Florian</i>) have long been unavailable, perhaps because of the gulf between the LPs’ avant-garde rock and the sleek electronic pop for which Kraftwerk would thereafter become famou. As they grew, the group modeled their image and production alike upon the efficiency of business and industry, and like any successful corporation, Kraftwerk were never shy about reinventing themselve. If their electronic period began with the pinging arpeggios of 1974’s <i>Autobahn</i>, their synth-pop era kicked off in earnest with 1975’s <i>Radio-Activity</i>, where they explored shorter songs and sharper hook. But with 1977’s <i>Trans Europe Express</i>, they perfected their fusion of electronic experimentation and futurist philosophy. <i>Trans Europe Express</i> situated Kraftwerk as something like Germany’s answer to Andy Warhol: In music for the masse, they invented a new kind of conceptual art. The album includes not only some of their most consequential sounds—the title track’s melody would form the basis for Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock,” while the grinding rhythm of “Metal on Metal” would help shape the birth of techno a few years later—but also the ideas that would distinguish Kraftwerk as pop music’s resident intellectual. As on <i>Autobahn</i> and <i>Radio-Activity</i>, the group remains committed to the fusion of art and everyday life, sourcing drum patterns from the rhythms of train travel on the title track, “Metal on Metal,” and “Abzug,” and sampling the sound of breaking glass on “Showroom Dummie.” .

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