Autobahn

This was exactly what I needed today.

Not but favourite genre but undeniably groundbreaking in 1974. You should listen to Kraftwerk if you like electronica or simple, atmospheric music. I would suggest not to expect mindblowing songwriting or melodies. I don't really like Kraftwerk. I find it boring, repetitive and lifeless. It sounds like a parody of German electronic music. However: this music represents an utterly inventive use of technology for 1974. That the only real instruments present are human voices is what sets this apart, even if I find that to turn me off entirely. I have never liked Kraftwerk. This is also 5/5 album for anyone interested in the history of popular music or just fans of electronic music production. It's impossible to overstate its influence and importance. My aesthetic distaste for it (not completely! But mostly...) is irrelevant to its essentialness.

Liked this more than I thought I would. 3.8

3.5

3.5.

Solid.

Respect the experimentation, but I still don't "get" this band.

Great album, truly innovative and hugely influential.

I mean really. What do you say about 22 minutes of fun, fun, fun on the autobahn. Goes through all the stages - a little bit enjoyable, the fun wears off, delirium sets in, delirium wears off, abject despair, missing it when it's gone. Is that the point? The rest of the album is much nicer, but also has much less to say for itself. A confusing listen.

This one is so influential and I have a lot of great memories listening to it in 8th grade German class, but it’s still a decently challenging album to just sit down and listen to.

Første rigtige elektroniske musik? Det skulle afspejle følelsen af at køre på autobahn i Tyskland de havde faktisk lave albums inden, men det var sådan mere krautrock agtig. Tyskland efter krigstid hvor man havde svært ved at lave det samme rock som i England, så man var lidt identitetsløs. Det her hjalp Tyskland med at få identitet. Men de var også alt for langt foran ift deres tid, men der var kunstnere som David Bowie som var meget inspireret. Autobahn 20 min lang blev en radiobanger. Men alt der hedder synth musik efter (specielt i 80’erne?) var inspireret af dette. Det er svært ikke at give dem en høj karakter alene på at have skabt så stor en arv og lyd.

Electronic music just isn't for me.

Absolute classic. Definitely a headphones on listen and even better if you’re mentally 100 years ago peasant type shit.

51 years ago I didn't like this at all and I haven't changed my mind. 1 star or F.

4.7

The first 3 tracks are nigh-perfect, the last 2 I didn't love as much. 4* album in a vacuum but 5* when factoring in its influence and importance.

4 I am having fun

Okay, a bit dated

8/10

It was aight. Little strange but also cool.

this site giving me kraftwerk two days in a row is diabolical. i somehow managed to enjoy this even less than the man-machine. like i mentioned for the man-machine, i can appreciate the sound of this album for its time, but i was praying for it to be done by the end of the third track.

Right up my alley but was like fine to me

Was not expecting much, especially with the first song being 22 minutes long. Instead, I got a really pleasant, synthy, vibe-out album that I wouldn't hate to put on while driving or something. It is the Autobahn after all. Favorite Track: Mitternacht

I don't actually like this album, but I respect it enough to give it a 4.

Fun fun fun on the autobahn... It speaks to a fun simple time. An era of optimism and energy that I'm not sure if we can go back to. Things were never simple but it can be fun to imagine that they were.

Chill 70s German beats to study/relax to.

It’s all really about the main 20 minute title track for this album. The “side 2” songs are interesting from a soundscape perspective, particularly the live flute bits in the last two, but they’re all kind of an afterthought. The main track is a fundamental piece of electronic music that sort of bridges the boundaries between “experiment to convey a mood” and “full fledged progressive <genre> song”. The track really does bring about a sense of a road trip on a highway. There are fun major key bits, scary bits when you’re surrounded by traffic moving much faster and carrying much heavier loads, slow bits when not much is going on, etc. From a perspective of painting a picture and feeling with music, it’s brilliant. In my opinion it’s also great to listen to. There’s a driving beat showing the constant motion of a car and stabs of vehicle synth noises, and even lyrics sung mostly without edits in places. I really like it as a piece of art, maybe a bit less as something I’ll put on to listen to for fun. It’s for that reason I’m not giving it a 5; Kraftwerk’s later stuff is simply more enjoyable to listen to. This is cool and wonderful in its own space though.

This is good but very much inferior to the Man Machine. Again one of those albums (particular tracks like Kometenmelodie 2) that I used to enjoy much more back in the day (around 6 years ago). Regardless, still a solid electronic type album so 4 stars.

I always prefer JMJ and this shows why. Some nice motifs on the title track but half of it is a bit bleepy and boring.

I don't think I enjoyed this as much as the previous kraftwerk one, but I still liked it. It was catchy, the synths were nice. I could hear all sorts of things that were influenced by this. I could hear PSB and even some Laura marling style arpeggios in there. There was a lot of similarities to the synth parts pink Floyd were putting out around the same time. It was good.

One of thier best

More well constructed electronic from these Germans. The title track is excellent. The rest kind of fades into the background but still, enjoyable.

Monotonous. Gets boring quickly.

Funny how much longer the first song was than the others on the album. Still sounds futuristic today.

Groundbreaking and extraordinary. Still resonates today.

Hmm. I didn't expect to like this so much. I do not care for more modern electronic music at all. Super repetitive and bloated and too long. But this was actually quite enjoyable. Maybe older electronic music is better...

While everyone knows it as their breakthrough success due to the title track, that the album as a whole is far more of a transitional work, is often overlooked. Once the side-long full-length version of the international hit single is done, there’s little other evidence of the driving proto-electronica on show. Side two remains largely in the wheelhouse of their previous albums; more acoustic-based melodic experimentalism. This duality actually works quite successfully. It is a rather beautiful album through-and-through, but may surprise/disappoint a listener simply expecting more motorway based vibes. Personally I return more often to this for side 2, opting for their later albums when I’m in need of the beats.

Fantastic Album, actually really came around to it, reminds me of a lot of 70s morg music albums that tried to depict industrial and naturalist soundscapes, but you can hear the transition to a poppier sound. Huge knock for 20 minute track tho smh.

Experimental and progressive synth pop style. The album had 5 or 6 songs but initial song was 22 minutes, which was 20 minutes too long. quirky just not something I’d revisit

É realmente bem experimental. Parece uma música que eu ouviria, mas acabou sendo só uma música de fundo mesmo. Vou dar mais chances depois para esse álbum.

apesar de ser muito instrumental e repetitivo, ele não me irritou. inclusive, a primeira música é bem legal. consigo entender porque eles são tão pioneiros na música eletrônica.

3 star. Some of these got a sp00ky vibe to em

Before I started listening to this album, I committed that I would listen all the way through and not give up after a couple of songs or in this case part way through a 22 minutes on. I powered through it, but barely. I understand that Kraftwerk is cutting edge in the electronica space and among the pantheon of music of gods to many, but man it was painful to listen to. I can understand, listening to it in small snippets or simply background music but how many hallucinogens do you have to be on to make this pleasant to listen to for 42 minutes straight?

Вайб. Конечно трудно представить, каково было это слушать пятьдесят лет назад. Жалею, что ставил лучшим альбомом группы троечки. Лучшая песня - Autobahn.

They were a million years ahead of the rest of the world.

Comes on at times like a Teutonic answer to the Beach Boys, who also just happened to invent the framework and machinery that gave birth to techno and sampling. Mental. This is important work; just don't worry too much about the fact that some of it sounds like a broken kettle.

I really didn't like the first song at all, the one just called Autobahn that is like half an hour long, and figured I wouldn't like the rest of this but actually after that song is over it picks up and sounds cool. But it's hard for me to say I really like an album that sounds like call center hold music for half an hour, even if it's influential and important. 2/5 for the A-side, 3/5 for the B-side

Always a good listen. It doesn’t sound like much now but at the time this was groundbreaking stuff.

Not my taste.

Vai niin. Oli aika tylsä ja mielestäni liian elektroninen, vaikka välillä olikin kivoja melodioita. Luulin aluksi että biisi vaihtui jo mutta sitten kuuluikin yhtäkkiä 'autobahn' ja tätä kesti ikuisuuden. Loppu albumi meni kuiten aika nopeesti ohi jee.

Not my thing

The audacity of this app giving me a Kraftwerk album and then three albums later giving me another. I didn't have the first one, but it was bizarre and I wasn't eager to listen to it again, or listen to another album by them, or even another kraut rock album in general. My biggest complaint of the previous album i reviewed of theirs was that the songs had nice grooves but they went on for too long and got repetitive. So, you can imagine my expectations when I see a 42-minute, 5-track album. And a 22-minute opening song? Maybe it won't be completely boring throughout. 17 minutes in..."I am NOT having fun on the Autobahn" The outro was kind of interesting, but again, what could have been a minute or less, was over three minutes of the same chord progression. Whatever, I'm just glad I'm over halfway through this thing. Unfortunately the second "half" of the album was worse than the opening song. So much boring ambient noise. The only song that was slightly memorable was the last one but I think that was because it reminded me of the theme of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and even then I got sick of it when it repeated for the 20th time.

Plane ride home from Puerto Rico. Just didn’t really grab me.

I like Kraftwerk a lot and this is a classic. If people only think of them as electronica, some of the instrumentation will surprise you.

Close enough. Welcome back German Pink Floyd

Wow

Kinds cool but not for 22 minutes

I just really wasn’t feeling this album. I get the innovation and stuff. Applaud them for what they did for synthesizers and stuff. Just really not my style.

You know what, I always moan when I see an Electronic album come up but this was pleasantly surprising. I’m a big big fan of this

I have tons of respect for this considering the decade and how influential it must have been. But realistically I would never listen to it again.

9/10

Wasn’t for me

Boring fuckin garbage jfc

This is good, really good if you consider the time this came out. It definitely could have used a little something more, maybe some intensity or a more interesting direction for it to go in musically, but I can't really ask that much, considering.

9/10

The last song was very cute. The rest was decent.

8/10

Building on the electronic sounds from Ralf & Florian but starting to divorce them from the actual limitations of "organic" instruments, Kraftwerk abandoned the motorik drums and other conventions of more contemporary Krautrock. The band now has basically retconned their history to call Autobahn their debut and it makes sense since this is more representative of where the band went from here. The title track being the standout, there is some interesting experimentation in the second half. They would continue to perfect the sound in their subsequent albums but the foundation is here. It might be cool to make music about driving on free-flow highways but let's see you write a song about driving in a city in rush hour.

как на это реагировать... интересно, концептуально, до такого еще додуматься надо было

Why do I feel like I've just been hypnotised on my way to work? I imagine this album would have blown my mind in 1973. Not so much in 2025. The repetitive, atmospheric soundscapes here are definitely pleasant enough to listen to for the most part, and there are some major highs on the lengthy title track “Autobahn”, but there’s also some very bizarre and jarring experimental moments that make for a disjointed listen. Got to give it credit for being an interesting listen and I'm sure pretty groundbreaking in the 70s.

This first entered my youthful world as a weirdly entrancing curiosity put on the stereo by my musically far-advanced older neighbor. Same guy who brought Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult, and Monty Python into my world. I still find it weirdly entrancing, mesmerizing even. Less weird now that some decades of electronica have intervened. I like this cover's elegant simplicity but remember a highway scene from the first? In the future, I would become pleasantly stoned to this. And could always since first listen say faux-robotically "bon bon bon, ottobon" on command. Foundational.

This will be forever equated with gym class when I was 11 and we all had to compose a dance to the short, single version of Autobahn. There were a few moments when I enjoyed the melody of a couple of tracks. But the rest was as monotonous as hell.

OK... I think this hit me at the most opportune time. Driving in the rain on I76 as sunset fell, this was a soundtrack I never would have imagined I'd like. But I did.

I've never gotten this or understood its popularity.

Geil!

i appreciate it for what it did for music but it wasn’t my vibe

I was very excited when this album came up today. I've been reading and hearing about it since I started deep diving music back in college (in the early 80's), but never listened to it before. While listening this morning it hit me that this is a perfect example of a "list" album, mainly due to the historical importance. The example I came up with in my mind is that it is the album version of the film Metropolis (which I watched for a college film class). These are the beginnings of things to come and they still resonate today, even if they are dated and much better has happened since. That all being said, I mostly enjoyed the album. The song Autobahn was cool, and there were enough musical changes to warrant its length. I also loved Kometenmelodie 2 very much. The other songs were a bit hit and miss. If I'm only going by importance, this is a 5 star album. But I'm mostly going to judge it on how much I liked it. It's a 3.5 that will bump up to 4.

The beginning of german Electronic music!!!

Illalla kun kuuntelin olin valmis antamaan jopa nelosen tälle levylle, mutta tänään kun kuunteli uudestaan niin pakko tiputella tylsään kolmoseen. Ei oikeastaan mitään pahaa sanottavaa ja oikein toimiva Kraftwerk levy, mutta kun tietää että parempaakin on luvassa. Hieman nimikkobiisi jää toistamaan itseään vaikka rakentuukin hienosti alusta eteenpäin.

Jahas, Kraftwerkkiä :D Nimikkobiisi Autobahn on todella psykedeelinen ja kokeellinen, kuvitteellinen automatkabiisi, joka kestää puolet albumin kokonaisuudesta. Ihan mielenkiintoinen konsepti, mutta jää ehkä hieman junnaamaan osittain, vaikka on saatu myös vaihtelua noinkin pitkään kappaleeseen. Vähän on hankala arvostella tällaista levyä, mutta yritetään. Molemmat Kometenmelodiet ovat ikäänkuin toistensa vastakohtia, ykkönen on todella minimalistinen ja tumma kappale, kun taas kakkonen on iloinen ja kirkkaita synia hyödyntävä. Seuraavat kaksi kappaletta ovat ilmeisesti päivän ajankohtaan sijoittuvat, Mitternacht keskiyöhön ja Morgenspaziergang aamupäivään. Levy on selkeästi siis kolmen erilaisen kokonaisuuden rakentuma, joissa kaikissa on erilainen teema. Annetaan tälle kolmonen, koska en yksinkertaisesti osaa päättää onko tämä enemmän paskaa ja liian taiteellista/kokeellista vai mielenkiintoista ja aikaansa nähden edistyksellistä hienoutta.

Toki yhtyeen aina tiennyt, mutta aika vähälle kuuntelulle jäänyt. Nyt tuli töiden ohessa kuunneltua ja kyllähän tämä toimi! Lempeää tunnelmointia ja auttoi keskittymään rahan grindaamiseen!

Ei ollut tämä Kraftwerkin eka levy tuttu, ja näköjään syystä. Ei vielä ihan lähde jamit nousuun tästä. Kometenmelodie 2 oli ainoa kappale jossa oli jotain meininkiä.

Semisti vaikee levy arvioitavaksi. Varmaan tavalla tai toisella suuntaa näyttävää matskua ainakin popimman elektromeiningin saralta. Ainakin tässä nyt viel ajellaan Voimalaitoksen viitoittamana aurinkoisella baanalla eikä oo kovinkaan synkeet meiningit. Ihan kivan kuulosta päristelyä. Ei kuitenkaan sillai resonoi, että jaksais tehosoittoon pistää. Eiköhän tätäkin länsiteutonia oo tarjolla tulevaisuudessakin tän listan osalta levyistä joita pitäis kauheesti kuunnella ennen kuin nirri on pois. Mietitään sitten niiden kohdalla lähteekö arvosana kirkastuun vai hiipumaan (jos ei oo ragequitattu ennen sitä).

Toimivaa taustamusiikkia. Ei herättänyt vahvoja tuntemuksia suuntaan tai toiseen, mutta varsinaisesti valittaakaan ei voi.

Ei mielestäni parasta Kraftwerkiä, mutta kappaleet luovat hyvin tunnelmaa ja levyllä on selkeää suunnitelmallisuutta ja kulkua.

Ihan jeppis hassuttelua. Nimibiisi oli entuudestaan tuttu, mutta kuuntelemalla sieltä löytyi kyllä muitakin tuttuja melodioita, esimerkiksi levyn viimeinen biisi. Ihan mukavaa taustamusiikkia tosiaan.

Cool but a little weird

People in 2125 will LOVE this album! Maybe as much as I love it circa now!

Listened on the autobahn for a flex

Just boring.

The namesake song goes for more than 20 minutes. Holy shit is it glorious!

# Playlist Track - Kometenmelodie 2 # Notes - The album is a pleasure and a joy, but it is DENSE. Very much so, at times. - Recommend to people who want to understand the history of electronic music, and the ones who are willing to give this the attention and time it requires of you. Not a great casual listen.

Really interesting to get this album back to back with Throbbing Gristle. Both important to industrial and electronic genres, and this one incredibly easier to listen to. Repetitive, experimental, and (no other way to say it) - German. Not always fully accessible, but I’m never upset to listen to this album.

Słuchałam tego na autostradzie, więc trudno było nie docenić, ale mimo wszystko - 20 minut poświęcone na jeden kawałek?! Na Boga dlaczego? Szczególnie, że to prosty utwór, po pierwszych 5 minutach już nic nas nie zaskoczy. 6/10 i sama się dziwię, że aż tak dużo.

Title track is great. And I like Kometenmelodie 2 a lot too. A very solid four, close to five.

Beep boop. No thanks.

01010101000010110

Really loved the soundstage and early electronica on this one. Something just hits

3.7

I know this band is considered a pioneer of the style and they have a huge cult following, I’m just having trouble connecting with the 100 electronic music - of any era. It’s me. Not them.

Autobahn is brilliant, yes, but it’s also the sonic equivalent of watching minimalist furniture slowly arrange itself. Rating: 4/5 Short Review: The beginning of everything. So cold, it’s hot. Favorite Track: “Autobahn” – because there’s only one road and it’s 22 minutes long.

Love this. Brought back memories.

Fun Fun Fun Fun on the M62

Nein! Nein! Nein!

I liked all the non "Autobahn" tracks - but that one just didn't jive with me, too long / slow, and unfortunately that takes up the majority of this album.

Chillwave

Conceito espacial de uma trilha sonora digna de 2001 de um Kubrick feliz. Alguma coisa parecida com um Tron um pouco mais feliz. O título do álbum orna muito bem com a sensação de brincar em uma pista de autobahn

Álbum bem experimental, não é ruim, mas a primeira música não foi bem construída parece trilha de sonora de filme sobre como seria no futuro com os carros voadores & trilha sonora de fliperama

Альбом в принципе очень даже классный. Интересные звучания, я считаю. Подойдет если хочется задумать о своем, но при этом слушать что-нибудь;) Да в какие-то моменты меня доставали некоторые звучания, но их было совсем не много и этому я очень рада. Лучший трек:Mitternacht(9.5/10) Худший трек:нет

An interesting but not exceptional album from Kraftwerk, most notable for side one's 22-minute musical interpretation of a trip down the autobahn. This track is both groundbreaking and "fun fun fun" but after about 15 minutes it made me hope someone would come and take their keys away. (The version on *The Mix* does the job just as well in half the time of the original.) The remaining tracks are a mixed bag, with some muscular synthpop that points the way to later bands like OMD, but also with some spacey numbers (with flute here and there) that don't amount to much more than proto-new age music.

Первый альбом и такой крутой,не просто альбом а что то разнообразное с улетом разных инструментов,для меня конечно не топ 1 от крафтверк но все же альбом вдохновил тысяча музыкантов и звучит свежо для ушей даже в наше время Лучший трек:Autobann 9.8/10 Худший трек:нету Итог 4.7/10 @spiderland3

Good vibes

Just found out there are THREE (3!!!) Kraftwerk albums on this list. Insanity. One could perhaps make some semblance of sense... but so many baffles the mind. Talentless, meandering blandness.

Interesting… idk if it would’ve made MY list, but I can appreciate historical significance. Unfortunately for this album, I do not rate objectively.

I understand its significance but I think it would be an incredible album experience on vinyl; much better than the Spotify crap.

Probably a 4, but the fact that this came out in 1974 and is such an influential album to all future electronica music, I'll give it a 5.

That first track was way too long and will haunt my dreams.

Listen, i appreciate electronica. And I don't mind Kraftwerk. But this is not something I'm really ever going to ever choose to listen to.

Amazing, important electronic album. Autobahn (the song) is such a trip.

Ik ben ervan overtuigd dat dit een zeer belangrijk album was indertijd, maar ik heb het nooit helemaal gehad voor Kraftwerk. Ik zou dit 5 sterren kunnen geven wegens invloedrijk, maar ik ga het toch recenseren volgens mijn eigen smaak, en meer dan een 2 gaat het toch niet worden. Sorry aan alle 50-jarigen!

So cool. I feel like daft punk sampled them or were inspired by them.

Wow I hate the original cover for this, glad I’m used to the one for the remaster.

Not as good as Man Machine, but still pretty good. Let's just say I'm kraftwerking it

I don’t get it

Not their best album but still good

I liked it

These men are nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of. Genre definer, almost worth the hype.

I actually thought this was going to be one of those albums where it's like "yeh OK they're one of the OGs and they made new paths but now it's a bit dated and boring" but I really enjoyed it entirely. I listened to it a few years ago on the actual autobahn and I was way too stressed out to enjoy it. I hate not having half stars because 4 is a wee bit too high.

I liked lil bits of Autobahn but, just like the road, it's long bro. Rest was meh

Good

Bon bon bon mita auto bon

A game changer. Admittedly one that spawned OMD, but let's gloss over that. I was fascinated by Kraftwerk as a child, and the notion that songs didn't have to be about humans, or, indeed, emotion. Love this album so much.

Me pegou de surpresa. Já ouvi outros discos do Kraftwerk, inclusive tenho alguns álbuns deles em minha coleção pessoal, e quando o assunto é música eletrônica eu sempre os menciono como um dos meus grupos favoritos. Porém, nunca havia ouvido Autobahn antes. É uma sonoridade um tanto quanto diferente do resto do trabalho da banda. Bem menos “robótico”, e mais orgânico. Alguns sons do segundo lado até se parecem com sons da natureza, como canto de pássaros. Seu maior mérito se encontra, é claro, em seu primeiro lado, com sua faixa titular. Ela é expansiva e ponderosa. Passagens bem memoráveis, e uma fluidez invejável. Um ótimo disco, mas não chega a ser um dos meus preferidos da banda. 4/5

Autobahn is joyful and fun. The rest doesn’t do it for me.

Hardly.

If they were 5 yr old kids amazing. Actually no. Horrible

a bit of a nothingburger of an album really

Genre-defining record. The title track at over 22 mins is kind of insane, but its minimal repetitiveness and varied melodic parts makes it hypnotic. This with all the other experimental tracks, you can hear how the sum of its parts helped create the next stage of Kraftwerk and their staying power.

3.9 2x great

Actually quite mesmerizing.

jaaaa

The title track may be the best thing Kraftwerk has done. And they’ve done a lot of great things.

Nous sommes en 1974, j'ai quatre ans et pendant que je découvre les joies du bac à sable, quatre Allemands en costumes cravates sont en train de paver l'autoroute du futur musical avec des machines qui, aujourd'hui, auraient du mal à faire tourner un jeu Game Boy. Le morceau-titre, "Autobahn", 22 minutes au compteur. Vingt-deux putains de minutes ! Nous promet un voyage sur l'autoroute, et c'est exactement ce qu'on a car ce morceau est un concept, une installation sonore. Les mecs n'ont pas voulu écrire un tube, ils ont voulu te mettre sur l'autoroute. Et de ce point de vue, c'est une réussite totale. C'est minimaliste, répétitif jusqu'à la nausée, mais ça a une cohérence folle. C'est l'anti-rock par excellence, pas de solo de guitare, pas de refrain qui explose, juste le bruit du moteur qui démarre, le clignotant, le "Fahren, fahren, fahren auf der Autobahn" qui s'incruste dans le cerveau comme un refrain de comptine pour enfants autistes. C'est audacieux, presque arrogant. Et c'est ça, la "différence". Ça ne ressemble à rien de ce qui se faisait à l'époque. C'est une porte qui s'ouvre sur un autre monde. Un monde un peu chiant, c'est vrai car on attend qu'il se passe quelque chose, une sortie de route, un accident, un autostoppeur flippant, n'importe quoi ! Mais non, il ne se passe rien. C'est l'Allemagne où tout est propre, ordonné, sans surprise. La fameuse rigueur teutonne appliquée à la musique. Et pourtant... pourtant, il faut être juste. Remettons-nous dans le contexte, en 1974, la musique électronique, c'est de la science-fiction. C'est de la musique de laboratoire, pour des intellectuels en blouse blanche. Les mecs de Kraftwerk, eux, débarquent et disent : "On va faire de la pop avec ça". Ils prennent des machines conçues pour imiter des instruments existants et ils décident de leur faire chanter le bruit du monde moderne. Une bagnole, une autoroute. C'est d'une banalité confondante et en même temps, d'une audace folle. On sent bien l'influence des Beach Boys, ce "Fun, Fun, Fun" transposé dans la brume de la Ruhr. Mais là où les Californiens chantaient les filles et le soleil, Kraftwerk chante le bitume et le progrès. C'est clinique, froid, déshumanisé. On est à des années-lumière du chaos jouissif d'un "Leave Home" des Chemical Brothers ou de la moiteur paranoïaque d'un Tricky. Et quand on a grandi avec le "big beat", les rythmiques syncopées et les basses qui vous décollent les plombages, "Autobahn" peut sonner désespérément plat. La face B, avec ses "Kometenmelodie" 1 et 2, "Mitternacht" et "Morgenspaziergang", est une autre paire de manches. On quitte l'asphalte pour un voyage plus cosmique, plus étrange. "Mitternacht" ("Minuit") est presque angoissante, avec ses violons synthétiques qui pleurent dans la nuit. C'est là qu'on se dit qu'il y a autre chose derrière la façade lisse. On sent une mélancolie, un truc pas net sous le capot. Et puis "Morgenspaziergang" ("Promenade matinale"), avec sa flûte bucolique et ses bruits de nature synthétiques, c'est presque une blague. On imagine nos quatre androïdes en train de s'émerveiller devant un oiseau en plastique. C'est d'un kitsch absolu, mais un kitsch qui a du sens. Alors, pourquoi ce disque est-il dans cette foutue bible des "1001 albums" ? Parce que sans lui, pas de synth-pop. Pas de Depeche Mode, pas de New Order. Parce que sans lui, David Bowie n'aurait peut-être pas enregistré sa trilogie berlinoise. Parce que sans lui, l'electro, la techno et toute la clique n'auraient pas eu la même gueule. Afrika Bambaataa, en samplant "Trans-Europe Express" pour son "Planet Rock", a fait le lien entre Düsseldorf et le Bronx, créant au passage le hip-hop electro. C'est ça, le poids d'"Autobahn". C'est un putain de monolithe. Est-ce que c'est chiant ? Objectivement, pour un type comme moi qui aime quand ça grince, quand ça dérape, oui, une bonne partie de l'album est une épreuve d'endurance. C'est trop propre, trop poli, trop... allemand, dans le cliché le plus total. On est loin de l'électro "bien barré" que j'affectionne. Mais nier son importance historique, ce serait comme dire que le blues du Delta, c'est juste un vieux mec qui gratte une guitare désaccordée. C'est vrai, mais c'est aussi la base de tout ce qui a suivi. Ma note final après écoute est de 2 sur 5. Le premier point, c'est pour l'importance historique, indéniable. Le deuxième, c'est pour le courage et l'originalité radicale. C'est pour avoir osé être "chiant" à une époque où tout le monde voulait être "fun". C'est pour avoir créé une esthétique à partir de rien, ou presque.

★★★½

Just reinforcement that I dislike listening to most electronic music

meio meh

I have been listening to this for years now. It never ages. A fantastic album

po eu genuinamente entendo a importância e tal mas achei mto chato pqp

dois em sequencia que começam com uma musica de 20 min que doideira enfim, é bem experimental, mas dá pra ver o synthpop chegando. importante pra banda e pro desenvolvimento do gênero né. mas achei mei chato vo mentir nao

Felt like an experimental 70s album with no really drive. Just some noise 80% of the time. Not memorable.

FAHN

I'm glad an album like this exists and I will play it next time I drive for the full effect. 3.75

Without this half the music I like doesn’t exist. 3rd track peaked as the plane I was on took off and I ascended into heaven.

This was fun.

Kometenmelodie 2

60/100 this is probably the weirdest album ive listened to so far, but not in a bad way, the first track was 23 minutes and i was kinda dreading it but overall it felt much shorter and didn't keep me too bored throughout it . the two kometenmelodies were a bit boring however and mitternacht wasn't anything special but i quite liked morgenspaziergang. overall, the worst album ive listened to so far but not due to a lack of quality, just a lack of entertainment, talent is shown here and i can appreciate it but in my opinion they go 2/5 here and one of the two is 23 minutes long and i probably won't revisit it much, if at all. replay value on this album is little to none in my opinion but the experience as a whole - pretty good, can just drag on for a while

Nice clean vibe, easy background listening, good album for doing stuff. 8/10

"We can’t stop it, we can’t slow it down!" Roadside Picnic, The Strugatsky Brothers Anton Bruckner famously disowned two of his first three symphonies - one dismissed outright as ungiltig (“invalid”). Brahms, too, withheld early efforts. Kraftwerk made a similar move: their first three albums have never been reissued, the band choosing instead to pretend their story begins with Autobahn. It is a shame. While their earliest work remains little more than legend, the bootleg of Ralf und Florian shows a group still exploratory but already closing in on themselves. Autobahn is really cut from the same cloth. Like Ralf und Florian, it was produced by Conny Plank and still carries the incense of krautrock’s hippie aesthetic - flutes, synthesisers, drifting soundscapes. The difference is focus. Here Kraftwerk commit to programme music: compositions that mirror the modern world, an approach that would define them album after album. For all the band’s later reputation as mechanical and remote, Autobahn is surprisingly human. The 22-minute title track may be as long as a traffic jam, but at least it moves. What saves it is a sense of lightness and wonder: the imagined scenery flashing by, the bright detours, the generosity of spirit that keeps monotony from becoming despair. Once we are off the motorway, things get looser. Kometenmelodien 1 drifts uncertainly; it is never clear whether we are watching the comet or inside it. Its sequel is leaner, more charming, with a buoyant optimism that speaks of 1970s West Germany at its most hopeful. The album closes on Morgenspaziergang: after a night of stargazing, the car is abandoned for a morning walk. Birds chirp, brooks babble - though all conjured electronically, save for a lone flute that might just belong to Pan himself. For all the talk of Kraftwerk as robots, this is an album that ends not with machines but with nature, however reimagined. Kraftwerk’s motorway vision invites comparison to Roadside Picnic, the Strugatsky brothers’ 1972 novel that later inspired Tarkovsky’s Stalker. Both works emerged from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, yet they circle around similar questions: how do human beings inhabit landscapes reshaped by technology, and how do we navigate the uncanny in the everyday? Where the Strugatskys’ Zone is unsettling, hazardous, a place where the familiar turns strange, Kraftwerk’s Autobahn offers a counterpoint. The road becomes a site of wonder rather than dread, its repetitions tempered by optimism, its artificial soundscape suffused with warmth. Kraftwerk would go on to make sharper, more disciplined music. Yet the humanity closing Autobahn - the warmth of the Plank years - is essential to understanding their trajectory. Later they would present themselves as Die Mensch-Maschine, men as machines. Here, at least, they remain men. But specifically German men. In that sense, their disavowal of early albums resembles Bruckner’s own self-pruning: both sought to define what was truly representative of their art. But where Bruckner’s legacy points upward to spires of faith, Kraftwerk’s looks to motorway pylons and music that is programme-driven, worldly, and resolutely modern. 2.5 _Duke of York: My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg the leading of the vaward. Henry V: Take it, brave York._ Henry V (Act 4, scene 3) Being first is everything. You’re a winner before you even start. You are verifiably brave, so you’re automatically a hero. Shakespeare doesn’t record how well the Duke of York actually fought, but in any case it wasn’t well enough to not be one of the 29 Englishmen that contrived to get killed at Agincourt while the French were getting pwned to the tune of 10,000 dead. Kraftwerk, I understand, are ideally evaluated in the light of other people’s artistic achievements; posterity is looking at the whole battle and the important thing is that David Bowie, prominent among the victorious, defeated the French. I respect that analysis but, at the same time, I listened to Autobahn today for the first time and I can’t help recording that in my view Kraftwerk did not fight particularly well. First off, Kraftwerk’s efforts seem to have done little for the recorder. Morgenspaziergang comes off like a rewrite of the Forest Murmurs/Waldvogel scene from Siegfried for a school project - a terrific idea for which I would certainly award the students involved a top grade. I am not sure it connects meaningfully with the rest of Autobahn, but I did like it. That said - I am miffed that apparently the credits (or at least the English credits) for this album have the instrument recorded as ‘flute’. People don’t recognise the sound of a recorder when it’s played well, poor maligned little instrument. Despised in the classroom. Erased from pop history. Much of the rest of the album is a driving hazard. I listened in the car and honestly wasn’t far off pulling over. The synths, soft-edged and absorbingly grainy, have a somnolent effect. Snoozen, snoozen, snoozen auf der Autobahn. It’s an impressive track all the same although perhaps in the end embodying a cold and monumental character despite the glimpses of humour over the 20 minutes. This is what I thought Kraftwerk sounded like and it is easy to respect. I found Kometenmelodie 2 harder to respect. There is a sense of the band cosying up to the listener here in the tracks conventional chord progressions and even-phrased chirpiness. It sounds dated. It sounds a bit silly to be honest. All the same - it certainly isn’t difficult to listen to (assuming you aren’t driving), but like the title track, it is surely impossible to really love and return to. And isn’t that one of the chief risks you take when you claim the prize of the leading of the vaward? We thank Kraftwerk for their sacrifice. R.I.P Duke of York. “Heroes”. 2/5

It’s fine. Not in the mood today which will hurt my rating for it. Actually I don’t think I could have been listening to a more inappropriate album for the mood I’m in. Sorry kraftwerk, it’s probably not you.

Neat

I was pleasantly surprised by this album; aside from the goofy vocals, it's a very good, atmospheric bit of music that you can let your mind wander off to.

A great idea. Actually sounds like a car journey for large parts. I like the flute and guitar mixing with the synthesizers. Does it hold my attention for the duration? No.

unmemorable

got this album the day after my best friend's wedding and her dad was wearing a kraftwerk autobahn shirt at the beach that day

2.1

I don't understand the hype for this album. It's a decent techno album, but it just felt draining to be listening to the first 22 minute song... The other songs aren't any better. Still though, it's not horrendous or bad or anything. I just feel that ambient music like this can be done better. 5/10

hard pass

Just random sounds, wack imo

Woo got both Kraftwerk albums in a row! As Hutter says this is an "exciting experience that makes you run through a huge variety of feelings" The main thing to know about this is how hard the title track grooves. There's a common misconception that electronic music is really rigid and repetitive but the drum track in this slides over the beat in a really groovy way. My favourite story about Kraftwerk is that Moodymann thought they were black. That's how funky they are. Kometenmelodie 1 and 2 are a clear influence on Bowie. Number 2 could almost be a Suicide track. Morgernspierzang has some wonderful sound design with birds morphing into synthesizer chirps and back. Again a clear influence on Bowie and Eno's Moss Garden. While the links to Detroit are even more explicit in this than Man Machine and it does retain a bit more of the krautrock influence I think it doesn't quite hit the peak of what Kraftwerk were capable of.

Not for me

I did enjoy the electric instruments and the sound. Mello but just too repetitive at times. Sometimes it worked sometimes it drove me mad

Fun, Fun, Fun on the autobahn So many familiar hooks / samples Techno before Techno Tough listen after autobahn

Are you all insane? This is barely music.

I've never listened to this before, and now I regret that. I love this spacey synthey old school electronica. Will 100% listen again.

Kraftwerks' debut album. The title track still holds up, but it's quite noticeable that they still were experimenting and finding their style. Kometenmelodie parts 1 + 2 are still fine, but Mitternacht and Morgenspaziergang range from tedious to slightly annoying. No matter - this is still a classic album. 3/5

I have heard of them, people (radio 6) talk about them a lot. So I thought I might like them more, seemed a bit naf to me.

Great ending to the strongest week we've had so far. Faith restored a bit.

Pioneers in the electronic world. The intro to autobahn features a car starting up- the sound of it illustrates the decade it came from, a clunky familiar sound of an old combustion engine (probably a VW Beatle!?) - the early 70's, then consider the music you are listening to.....from that very decade, so to steal a cliché - they were well ahead of their time!

Not so much an album, more a feeling, a sense of movement, perpetual and habitual. Hypnotising at 3 am, cycling through a bleak industrial estate in my deserted home town

Foundational soundscapes that explore a space we forgot was there

It is likely to be an influential classic, but i won't listen to it again

22 minute opening song like you actually want me to kill myself 1001albumsgenerator.com

the kind of music your straight white friend puts on while you're smoking. He keeps promising you it gets better. Okay, Dan Savage.

Autobahn - I know it's supposed to be cars... but it's trains Kometenmelodie 1 - I'm too simple to get it Kometenmelodie 2 - Optimistic Mitternacht - Christmas music for a tidepool cave-dweller Morgenspaziergang - A cute little alien is trying to communicate with me. I am listening... He is also dancing.

i was excited to listen to this but the first song felt like an entire album to get through. for some reason felt really slow and massively long. i got tired of it after 15 mins or so. okay mitternacht is the track that satisfies my brain the way i want it to. i loved it! same with the last track. very very nice. if you think about how they did this in the 70’s well… it’s simply mind blowing really isn’t it. my enjoyment of the music have been more of a 4, with these last two tracks a 5. how much do i want to include the influence and the fact that this was made in the 70’s? i don’t know. it was truly a very cool thing to accomplish this so early on, using synthesizers and drum machines but i think i need to be in the right mood to feel like it’s a 5 enjoyment wise.

Driving related Noise without melody.

70s German electronica. Electronic pop with synths and drums. Their first international hit. Rhythm of moving car. Spacey, floaty synths. Very minimalistic.

Autobahn

Couple of good tracks and this has stood the test of time but it isn’t their best album.

I imagine it was influential and it was a decent listen but there's nothing here to make me return

This was a pleasant surprise. I couldn’t make it through the entire first track but really liked the following tracks. Smooth and ambient but also like Willy Wonka at times. Something completely different.

It is acceptable... for elevator music or something. Not sure how this influenced anyone though.

Incredible

Would try this again, but didn't feel it today.

Not for me. Couldn't get through 2 songs. 1 Star

1. autobahn - 0 2. kome - 1 3. melodie - 1.5 4. mitter - 1.5 5. morgen - 2

Exactly what I thought driving the Autobahn would be like.

Not the peak of electronic music nor of Kraftwerk for just listening, but it's exciting as an early endeavor into something new, and it *is* still pretty and unique, at the least It does put things into perspective that this existed before Born To Run, Why Can't We Be Friends, and such... Yesteryear, the Dark Side of the Moon... Tomorrow, der Autobahn

You know its not my favorite but it eas nice to break up the sound that this thing has been giving me with something different.

Less than 5 minutes into the first (and longest- 20 minutes!) song of the album, Autobahn, you are already on a beautiful sound journey, I loved the different sounds and textures. The flute particularly gives an optimistic view and makes you feel like you are about to embark on a journey, which makes sense as the album title translates to the German highways. Then, it has areas of darkness, with synths that make it feel creepy. Highlight was Kometenmelodie 2 for something more optimistic. On first listen, it was giving electronic German Pink Floyd vibes, a great album to transport your mind and soul… Particularly interested in how this album was cited as a reference of David Bowie’s work, and was interested to learn about the ‘kraut rock’ genre of this band.

Fahr’n fahr’n fahr’n …

Listened to this album recently as part of my 2025 resolution to listen to at least one new album per week. Wrote the following note for it on my spreadsheet: "they're too cool; what itch is this shit scratching, b/c man it makes me want to listen to them, but only as albums really and not consistently, but it always blows me away." Have previously listened to this album as a teenager, so already knew all the songs, but it was great to revisit. I'd love to explore their discography further. Favorite Song: Autobahn

No

Cool album that I’m sure seemed futuristic for its time, and kind of still does. Are they saying they’re “fond of the autobahn”?

Interesting electronica. Not my wheelhouse, but an expansion of listening.

I get why they’re influential, but just not my thing.

Interesting mix of old time synths and analog instruments. The singing is just funny, but it's a classic listen.

This is such a classic. Kraftwerk is just starting to find its stride with this album, which sets the stage for the masterpieces to come. I enjoyed revisiting this from the Autobahn drive at the beginning to the morning walk at the end.

This album sounds like a soundtrack to a 1970s sci-fi movie. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it.

That’s a 1 for me, it was ok to listen to, but I really don’t ever want to come back to it. Just not my vibe

I've a lot of time for Kraftwerk. This isn't my favourite of their albums -I prefer The Man Machine and Radioactivity - but it's still very good.

Yes, good. A couple of dud tracks or moments (Kometenmelodie Part 1) but a lot of really great stuff in here. The title track is a tour de force, and the closing Morgenspaziergang is great peaceful Krautrock and scratches my Popol Vuh itch. Wonderful stuff.

2/5

A strange little robot dream of a road trip. There’s something kind of soothing about how repetitive it is, but also a little maddening. I imagine this is what R2-D2 hums to himself in the back of an X-Wing. This was laying concrete for entire genres to drive on later. Spins: 2 Playlist Additions: - Autobahn - Kometenmelodie 1 - Kometenmelodie 2

Not something I’ll come back to often because it’s not really my cup of tea. But man, this album was made in 1974? No wonder it’s so influential.

Planant dans le bon sens du terme belle decouverte

Meio meh

I didn't hate this or anything. It wasn't unpleasant to listen to. It just wasn't very fun. This just sounded like a low-budget 80s movie soundtrack.

i appreciate that they were very influential, but this album was a snooze fest. redundant and boring.

Not my thing, Herr Goof

Nah

Ambient robots? Not sure how to classify Kraftwerk. Artsy maybe? It doesn’t suck but didn’t scratch any itches.

2 sterne

I'm probably never gonna be in the mood for it so let's go 3.

Opening with a 22-minute title track that doesn’t really go anywhere is... a choice I would not have made. While this is supposed to be groundbreaking, it tends to meander without much payoff.

Weird but I really enjoyed it

This album is a little too minimalist for me. It has some fun sound bytes, but isn't one I would really want to actively listen to again. 2.5/5

I can appreciate this but I would never seek it out. I was bored and the songs can be too long. 2.49/5

I was surprised by how much I liked the other Kraftwerk album on this list, Transeurope Express, and subsequently surprised by how little I liked this one.

Absolutely boring

Местами веселый, а местами мрачный. Важный альбом и послушать интересно.

3.3 stars rounded down. Sounds relaxing but not as great as later Kraftwerk albums.

I am indifferent on this because this is not something I would personally gravitate towards. Interesting sound (I could absolutely hear this in the background of a movie and like it/vibe to it) but this is not something I'd put on, or rec to others unless I had a reason to. And I'm DEF not listening to a 22 minute song if it's not pulling me in after like 5 minutes. 1/5 for that alone (sorry not sorry)

No

Incredibly groundbreaking, influential, and boring as hell.

This album is a bit different I don't know exactly how I feel about it. Maybe a few more listens and I would get fully into it.

Early electronic/techno. A lot of experimenting with sounds. Interesting but not really listenable.

Day 1! Gave this one a chance, and then looked at other reviews to see what I was missing. Agree with most of the sentiment that I can see the innovation and it is impressive that this sound was definitely ahead of its time, but I just found myself pretty bored. Awkward album to get for day one! 3 stars

Fun fun fun on the Autobahn!

GOD i’m sorry I couldn’t do this. It was hard to get through and I could even take it song by song because the songs were a thousand hours long.

3 Kraftwerk albums!? OK let's go - mixed bag for me thus far, but I know this title cut... What else to write about a Kraftwerk album? I feel...incredibly efficient after listening? Autobahn is a fun track - 22 minutes of fun though. It is a long road, true. Not sure how rating these types ("these types" as if there are more like this...other than the other Kraftwerk albums of course) of albums does any good - they're not really "songs" per se in the sense of how we think of songs. I mean "Mitternacht" is what, dripping pipes in a huge empty metal warehouse combined with the "Escape from New York" soundtrack? Although I'm reverse-engineering it since this is from 1974 Honestly it's just kind of cool and you can't really compare this to much of anything. I'm not going to be listening to this on a roadrip, no pun intended, but for just weird background music to work to or maybe even sleep to, I'm in. 7/10 4 stars.

Bardzo dziwne. 1/5

Great

Almost a 5 but I think the repetitive nature of the first song with the swooshing car sounds get a little tiresome. I don't usually have any problems with it but this time I would say that their later releases are better. Still an album I would recommend.

Not my genre at all but this was fun in a very Classic Doctor Who soundtrack way. Would listen again.

I get their place in electronic music history but I didn’t need another Kraftwerk album to prove to me that they had a mediocre sound

This isn't as good as their first record. It's not as catchy. But still a banger of an album

One of my favourite bands, but I don’t think this is their best album.

Fun soundscapes I love these guys

I just don’t get this.

Kraftwerk are one of a kind. This was an inventive album and a touchstone for the burgeoning electronic music world. But they would do far interesting things in the coming years. 3/5 #96

I’ve tried listening to this ‘classic’ before. It just doesn’t really work for me I’m afraid

Love the impressionistic concept. The 20+ minute title track truly feels like a perfect representation of a long car trip on the highway. Nice variety of sounds from the synths, beyond the classic bleeps and bloops.

Weird and wild! Those Germans are some odd dudes. Comically entertaining once again. But definitely not gonna dig around to listen to this ever again. This is a one and done. 🤣

This was just fine as background music. I'm not sure I would listen to it in any other capacity.

First song is fucking 22 minutes long? Definitely German. Respect it l, can't rate it higher than a one because I would never listen to it but it doesn't offend me

There was some decent stuff in here, and I really liked the third track. The issue? The 23 minute opening that is boring as shit, and took forever to get through. 3/10

When i was 11-12 years old... a song came on the radio... it sounded like nothing else in the US top forty or on Rock radio... to my American ear, i heard "fun fun fun on the Autobahn"... lol... my dad, who had been stationed in Germany at the tail end of WWII, said he had actually been on the Autobahn... which is a highway in Germany, where, basically, there is no speed limit... i think... but, whatever... the song was a HYPNOTIC groove... that was THREE minutes of joy on the readio... but 22 minutes long on this album!!! which is a good thing... it's a great song... and like a long "TRIP" down the Autobahn... which must be nice, if it's anything like this song... the instrumentation, now passe, was totally different than anything that was blasting from my speakers before... "Wir fahr'n, fahr'n, fahr'n auf der Autobahn"... we drive drive drive down the autobahn... was what they were singing... the rest of the German lyrics just describe the road and that they turn on the radio and listen while they drive... lol... exactly like you were doing back then... genius... anyway... think of this record as a single more than an album... side one... 22 minutes of "Autobahn"... side two... the "B" side... and if you are INTO electronic music and its origins... you give this FIVE STARS... if you are not, side two... is VERY B... lol... and you ONLY Play side one... therefore... a rating of three stars... Five stars for side one... deducted two stars for side two...

3.5

"Autobahn" is the fourth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. Electronic pop, electroacoustic and kosmische are the Wiki-listed genres. Right. Originally, the band consisted of the duo of Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter both vocalists and helm the electronics. Klaus Röder (guitar, flute) and Wolfgang Flür (percussion) were added as members. The music was a transition from their experimental krautrock to electronic pop consisting of mostly synthesizers and drum machines. Initially, the album had mixed reviews but retrospective reviews cite its significance and influence on future music and artists. Commercially, it reached #4 in the UK and #5 in the US. The entire first side, nearly 23 minutes, is the self-titled "Autobahn." The song was inspired by the group's joy of driving the German Autobahn. Car doors, an engine starting, horns and we're off. An electronic drone and electronic sounds mimicking vocals. A synth bass melody leads to the main synth melody keys. Vocals eventually come in "Wir fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n Auf Der Autobahn." Tinny drums and a flute. The song then goes on for another 12 minutes basically repeating itself. "Kometenmelodie1" continues the instrumental tone with six minutes of low electronic hums, wind blowing noises and ominous synth keys. Bam! "Kometenmelodie2" wakes you up with high-pitched layered synth keys. The music builds too with volume. Although minimal and repetitive, this song works. The first half of "Mitternacht" had a church vibe with organ keys and animal noises. It finished with water drips and more ominous synth keys. After some electronic noise noodling the album closer "Morgenspaziergang" settles in with some lovely flute and piano. Minimal lyrics and various electronic noise define this album. Oh, and there's a flute. I do enjoy the first ten minutes of "Autobahn," but have to admit I lose focus after that. The second side of this album was hit and miss for me. There's no doubt that can hear its influence in the future electronic music world. Kraftwerk's next four albums are all very good to excellent. I think I'd mark listening to this as going back to hear an historically significant album but I'd really recommend any one of their next four albums.

There were parts I liked but a large part where I was not having fun on the autobahn

did not know it would be so fun

The starting point of the Kraftwerk we know and love. The album is dominated by the title track which chugs over the entirety of Side A, and is both hypnotising and rather sweet. Side B doesn't match up and still has traces of the old Kraftwerk (flute in the last track), but the legacy of this album is assured.

point6.

- I feel like this might be a strange one. my spidey senses are telling me - this song is 20 minutes long. like driving on the autobahn? - some great musicality of the synth that i like. the periodic chanting i just don’t like that much. - this song gets a 2 - can feel this as a precursor to alt j (16 mins into autobahn is giving tessellate in my butt) - this sounds like something that “changed the trajectory of music forever” but the thing is i don’t think i particularly am getting it. - this second song is physically painful to listen to - mitternacht sounds like you’re getting chased in a dungeon. - ok this last song is equally painful to listen to at the beginning - it tapers out into pan flute there were parts that were cool. mostly it was hard to listen to.

Mercifully shorter this time; still plagued with juvenile, singsong writing and what feel like amateur, exploratory musical accompaniments. "Wir fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn" is the first real lyric of this record. you have to be kidding me

8.5/10 This is foundational stuff. New music I listen to today sounds like this. Clean, crisp sounds. Immaculate synthesisers, great drum programming. This is a perfect example of what to play when people say electronic music is just people twiddling knobs. Fundamentally: yes. Actually: the title track is a wonderful audio poem full of soul that evokes an actual road trip. Doesn’t get a full 5 as there is a drop off in quality at the end Best: Autobahn

Slow and repetitive

Nice.

yes, great! “autobahn” the track could be a separate album itself!

Better than average and more listenable than most of this genre.

22:47 of background soft 70s synthesizer music. That's just for the first "song". It bothered me less that I would have guessed. 4/10

Kraftwerk ultimately forces the listener to confront their own relationship with technology, and the anxiety provoking duality of both depending on it for your very life, and our abhorrance of just that dependency. Bit of an existential crisis that the music reflects very well, creating natural sounds mechanistically, or mechanical sounds that are shallow renditions of the actual. There is some cognitive dissonance that is not unentertaining. Philosophy aside: the compositions (I think) owe more to classical than pop. There is a complexity and intelligence at the core of this music. Kraftwerk almost completely abandons traditional instrumentation and essentially invents a genre. Prior to this, electronioc music was novelty ("Switched On Bach") or used as sound effects in other formats ("Good Vibrations", "Baba O'Reilly"). Here though we can take all-electronic compositions seriously for the first time, at least in the mainstream. There are earlier examples but Kraftwerk makes it eminently listenable, even catchy, and breaks into the mainstream in a small but highly influential way. Important album.

Not for me. 1/5

Tror fortsatt dette er en Harald Eia-sketsj.

I simply do not prefer it.

This is fine as background work music. I understand it was also very technically influential but doesn’t necessarily hold up as an interesting modern listening experience.

Nice as a soundtrack.

Cool album. It’s like being transported to the autobahn Favorite track - Autobahn 6/10

The electronic wave never hit me right. It's just not for me.

I didn't hate this and I didn't love it. Honestly I'm still not 100% how I feel about this, but I feel like it did enough to get to 3 stars.

Respect the music but not my style of tunes really

Great first song for driving g

Am I having fun on the Autobahn, not so sure yet. Prefer the one about trains.

I enjoyed this, but the second side felt a little bit disconnected in places, particularly the final track, which sounded like the theme music for a children's TV show from the 1970s.

I had expected a much harsher dissonate sound, instead I loved it

I think I love Kraftwerk.

I really like Kraftwerk and appreciate how influential they have been to so many electronic acts to follow. I hadn’t heard this one before, and really dug the vibe. Eating it a 3 because I don’t see myself listening to it again, but looking forward to Tour de France (if it’s on the list). This album is another great example of why I’m doing this project…I never would have gotten around to listening to it otherwise!

Not great

An over twenty minute opening song that just seems to go on and on and on is not a great way to get me engaged. But, alas, that is what one is expected to do when firing up Autobahn by Kraftwerk. I’d try to listen to this album before and had the same hard time trying to get through it. I do appreciate what Kraftwek did sonically that others took and implemented into their own music. Kraftwerk walked so others could run. I just can’t get into this album. There’s no chance I would ever fire this up for any reason whatsoever. This is a 1 rating for me. 1/5

Der Track „Autobahn“ ist ein gelungenes Musikexperiment und die weiteren Tracks sind ok. Insgesamt sehr gutes aber nicht außergewöhnliches Album.

Well, It was good background music for working, probably good for driving too. The song was too long really, but I did like the other songs. interesting, but probably won't be visiting it again though.

Didn't listen to this fully due to time constraints. Leaving as a three

Shimmering perfection.

Fun example of early electric music... Not as weird as things can get.

I don't get it

Sounds that vary from Volkswagen commercial to a Tron movie style background music.

absolute fucking dogshit, genuinely fuming i got recommended this shite

I can appreciate this album for its importance as an early electronic release, but as their first album Kraftwerk really didn't have it figured out yet. Weird album, not much to it. Enjoy 22 minutes of "Wir fahr'n, fahr'n, fahr'n auf der Autobahn".

This was a fun little listen. The first song reminded me of a song Ethan and I would make while going about our day, it felt unserious and entertaining. I think the album was a 2/5 stars because it was simple. I am obviously not a music savant, but I think the electronic music I am used to has more going on, so this fell a little flat. I really enjoyed tracks 1 + 3, the others were forgettable. I appreciate how foundational this album was for electronic music!