KRAFTWERK – COMPUTER WORLD LP – Nr MINT A1/B1 UK PROG ELECTRONICA

Kraftwerk – Computer World
(EMI Records  1981  EMC3370)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing

G&L Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
Inner Sleeve in Nr MINT condition

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are a few light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Kraftwerk is a German electronic music band formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1969 in Düsseldorf. In the 1970s, they were among the first successful pop acts to popularize electronic music and are widely considered to be innovators and pioneers of the genre. The band was fronted by both Hütter and Schneider until Schneider’s departure in 2008.

Kraftwerk began as part of Germany’s krautrock scene in the early 1970s, releasing three albums in an experimental rock style before embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, vocoders, and self-made instruments. On commercially-successful albums such as Autobahn (1974), Trans-Europe Express (1977), and The Man-Machine (1978), they developed a distinctive style which combined electronic music with simple pop melodies, sparse arrangements, and repetitive rhythms, while adopting a stylized visual image which often employed matching suits. Following the releases of Computer World (1981) and Electric Café (1986), member Wolfgang Flür left the group in 1987. They released their final album Tour de France Soundtracks in 2003. Founding member Schneider departed in 2008.

Kraftwerk have exerted a lasting and profound influence across many genres of modern music, including synthpop, hip hop, ambient, industrial, post-punk, techno, and club music, and have inspired a wide and diverse range of artists. According to The Observer, “no other band since the Beatles has given so much to pop culture.” In January 2014, the Recording Academy honored Kraftwerk with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  As of 2016, the remaining members of Kraftwerk continue to tour.

Computer World (German: Computerwelt) is the eighth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released on 10 May 1981. The album peaked at number fifteen on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 12 February 1982 for shipments in excess of 60,000 copies.

The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. Critics see this album as a peak in the career of Kraftwerk, along with The Man-Machine and Trans-Europe Express. The compositions are credited to Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, and Karl Bartos. In keeping with the album’s concept, Kraftwerk showcased their music on an ambitious world tour and issued several different versions of the single “Pocket Calculator” in different languages: namely, German (“Taschenrechner”), French (“Mini Calculateur”) and Japanese (“Dentaku”, or 電卓). A fifth version, in Italian (“Mini Calcolatore”), was lip-synched to on Italian television in 1981.

As was the case with the two previous albums, Computer World was released in both German- and English-language editions. The title of the final track, “It’s More Fun to Compute”, is in English in all releases, as it is based on the slogan “It’s more fun to compete!” that could be seen on old pinball machines. There are also some minor differences in the album mixes used on the English- and German-language releases.

Computer World was listed by Pitchfork Media as the forty-fourth best album of the 1980s. Slant Magazine placed the album at number twenty-five on its list of “The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s”. Rolling Stone named it the tenth greatest EDM album of all time in 2012.

Track listing

Personnel

The original 1981 sleeve notes are relatively unspecific regarding roles, merely listing all the equipment suppliers and technicians under the heading “Hardware” and the various other people involved, such as photographers, as “Software”. By contrast, the 2009 remastered edition notes list the performer credits as the following:

Kraftwerk

• Ralf Hütter – album concept, artwork reconstruction, cover, electronics, keyboards, mixing, Orchestron, production, recording, Synthanorma Sequenzer, synthesiser, vocoder, voice
• Florian Schneider – album concept, cover, electronics, mixing, production, recording, speech synthesis, synthesiser, vocoder
• Karl Bartos – electronic drums
• Emil Schult – cover

Additional personnel

• Günter Fröhling – photography
• Johann Zambryski – artwork reconstruction