Trans Europe Express
Kraftwerk
1977
Album Summary
Trans-Europe Express (German: Trans Europa Express) is the sixth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. Recorded in mid-1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. It saw the group refine their melodic electronic style, with a focus on sequenced rhythms, minimalism, and occasionally manipulated vocals. The themes include celebrations of the titular European railway service and Europe as a whole, and meditations on the disparities between reality and appearance. Trans-Europe Express charted at 119 on the American charts and was ranked number 30 in The Village Voice's 1977 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Two singles were released: "Trans-Europe Express" and "Showroom Dummies". The album has been re-released in several formats and continues to receive acclaim. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times called it "the most important pop album of the last 40 years".
WikipediaWhat an interesting album. I can see why it is one of the most influential albums in modern music history. Electronica vibes
Early electronica should always be celebrated. It’s the foundation for any synthesised music today. But this foundation has cracks...and their extremely repetitive and flakey. There is a solid compound in it’s mix yet nowhere near interesting enough to want to reapply once let alone over and over again. 1 Star!
Solidly boring. I see that it was made in 1977 so this may have been foundational to the music that I DO like but... I do not want to listen to this ever again haha.
What's not to love about Kraftwerk? Groundbreaking electronic music and German accents! I've been a fan since a very young age. The Siouxie and the Banshees version of "Hall of Mirrors" was an important moody college song, but sounds positively jaunty next to Kraftwerk's masterpiece of existential dread, which leads nicely to "Showroom Dummies." We are all showroom dummies; "we go into a club, and there we start to dance." I never had this album, but "Trans Europe Express" was on a Kraftwerk collection I had, and was always a favorite of mine with its funky train beat in the background and (retroactively) futuristic feel. On a sleek, high speed train of the future, speeding through the European landscape, I'm filled with ennui and angst under this façade I'm forced to wear. Timeless perfection.
Good job it wasn't the Trans UK Express or it would have been overpriced, delayed, busy and the toilets would have been horrible. AMIRIGHT?
2 Kraftwek albums in a row.... Wtf are you doing to me. These sound exactly the same. Like crap.
It is such a great album and love the early electronics and rhythms, along with the German flair in Kraftwerk's vocals. Listening to this made me want to catch a train in the middle of the night in the city. A very essential listen. Trans Europe Express to Abzug was perfection and its chant felt like a powerful mantra. Have to say though, the German version was better and in partitcular, so were the live versions of Hall of Mirrors and Showroom Dummies in 1981. Fun Fact: Dr Dre playing a live version of Metal on Metal at the beginning of Defiant Ones effectively prescribed me to Kraftwerk and this album.
Repetition, but make it beautiful and captivating. I really enjoyed this record.
OK, I wrote my first review below but was still listening to it when driving across town. In the space of a mile, I encountered some staggeringly entitled arsehole drivers. I found that it actually was the perfect soundtrack to staring the patriarchy in the face with a cold, dead, unblinking stare. It's just gone from 1 to 4 stars. ---‐------------------------------------------- Yes, I know, massively influential on the electronic music genre. But this is the musical equivalent of eating 6 crackers without water. Joyless, functional and boring. I couldn't finish it. One star.
Kraftwerk opens this album with sparkly electronic synths reminiscent of 8-bit games that would later be invented years after its release. A display of their visionary status in the 1970s music industry milieu, 'Trans-Europe Express' (album) implements simple beats and minimal production that is perhaps more contemporary and innovative at the time. Despite this, Kraftwerk fundamentally misses the target - static and uniform composition that manages to revel only in its past glory, of being first to experiment with the digital medium.
1977 German techno sounds interesting just by the title, but honestly it's feckin boring. Couldn't finish
A little more in the way of vocals than the previous Kraftwerks album, still DEFINITELY not my thing though.
Really could not get through it. Understand why it was foundational for its time but unsure if it translates to anything interesting today. Did find out the melody from the title track was used in a Bollywood movie which was funny.
I like synth. I even like some Kraftwerk. But this album is so repetitive and boring that it was pretty hard to get through. There's a set of 3 songs that are actually the same song. Rough.
This one was challenging to listen to the whole album. Grinds a bit on the outside of my brain.
Sounds like someone dicking around on a keyboard. Almost ten minutes of this shit on the first song. Guh. Like is the fact they say "Europe. Endless." Over and over and play the same shit over and over for 10 fucking minutes supposed to be ironic? Or is it supposed to be a stab at coloratura? Europe is endless and so is this fucking song. I don't find this groundbreaking in anyway. It's sophomoric if you we're to ask me. Pedantic even. I'm not taking the right drugs. I've just seen there's a song called endless. I can't wait...
Tedious, sterile and joyless. I really don't understand the appeal of this music - except maybe as a background, ambient sound. Felt a lot longer than 43 minutes.
I LOVE KRAFTWERK. So cool, different, electronic, but not overwhelming or too much. Genius. I discovered them playing in Vintage Vinyl one day and had to ask an employee who it was and bought the CD.
Liked this one a lot more; slowly building songs, somewhat repetitive but intricately great
I mean, I don’t hate electronica, and this is pretty decent so far. I don’t consider myself the biggest electronica fan, but I found this fairly enjoyable. It was not a pain to listen to at all.
One of the coolest albums ever. German version >> English version. Electronic ingenuity. 9-10/10 1. Trans Europa Express 2. Spiegelsaal 3. Schaufensterpuppen
Gran álbum que puedo apreciar como frecuente escuchador de tecno y deep house. Aunque también he de reconocer que no me lo puedo tomar en serio, es como música-meme. Chistosito, sobre todo la canción inicial la súper veo en un meme de gatitos tocando el synth. Mood: los supersónicos atienden al concierto de robotina.
Escuchar Kraftwerk no es sentarse a escuchar musica como haces siempre. Tenés que posicionarte en los 70 y mirar hacia este lado del charco. TEE se hizo cuando acá se cantaba pata pata la escena de la musica nacional se preparaba para explotar. Es inocente, despojada de complejidad y terriblemente exacta. Te dicen Kraftwerk y escuchás como suena y decis "si, a esto me suena la palabra Kraftwerk". Si bien no es mi disco favorito de ellos (Computerwelt y Die Mensch-Maschine por si se lo preguntan), es un disco mega significativo. La tematica de la musica es sobre cosas que cuando mirás para atrás suenan re simples y basicas, pero cuando lo contextualizas, tematizaban con la vanguardia de lo que estaba sucediendo. El Tour de France, la radioactiviad, un tren que cruza todo europa, robotica, computacion... De ahi viene la inocencia con la que hicieron musica y la forma en la que suena. Hoy pasarían como ringtones polifonicos. Inventaron la musica electronica. Sin ésto, no hay Tiesto, no hay David Guetta, no hay nada. And that's something. ...Que increible que en los 70's estos tipos hablaban de un tren que iba a pasar por todo un continente y acá seguimos discutiendo si la emision genera inflacion.
Otro disco que gasté. Hoy no estoy de humor para escucharlo. Me duele la cabeza y digamos que no colabora mucho a que se me pase. Gran disco igualmente. 9/10 ludomatics.
Lo escuché un poco a las apuradas, pero es una banda que me gusta Como dijo Betz es un gusto adquirido. Ideal también para trabajar, me permite concentrarme. 5 efes
Really innovative and fun. It's repetitive, but there are variations throughout. My five year old developed a dance to Trans Europe Express while wearing sunglasses. 5/5.
I tore thru this. I prefer Man-Machine but this album deserves 5 stars.
Stunning example of electronica. Completely game changing - who knew that Germans could be so cool ;)
Phenomenal, still comes in just behind Autobahn for my favourite of theirs but it's close.
Lovely, dreamy electro pop. Minimalistic sounds but gorgeously layered. 5/5 stars
Take a ride on the T.E.E. Express. It is retro, but also futuristic. It is idealistic but also kind of unsettling. It is a 10/10 but still not even my personal favorite Kraftwerk record. R.I.P. Florian Schneider
Beautiful sometimes uncomfortable listening. How can an album so subdued make me feel so anxious? The layered sounds, pioneering synth lines and monotone vocals of Trans-Europe Express are a master work. This is another album that is so influential I find it hard to imagine what it would have been like to be one of the artists inspired by it hearing it for the first time.
Iconic. Most people are not aware of Kraftwerk and their ground-breaking electronic style that wasn't really done. The inhumanness goes so far it wraps around and becomes somehow human. Only song I'm not a fan of is "Showroom Dumimes". 4.5 to 5.
This may be their most refined and engaging album. It feels very conceptually unified as they begin to focus more on something closer to pop song structures with lyrics, at least on Side A. The fluid 3-track song suite of Trans Europe Express / Metal on Metal / Abzug on Side B is like a mini railway version of their masterpiece Autobahn, but with a much funkier beat. Quite a ride. This album is also a big step for them in becoming the robots they were destined to be in Showroom Dummies. And I must say I geek out every time when they name check their real life rendezvous with Bowie and Iggy on the title track. Absolutely historic. They were electronic music pioneers who were so far ahead of their time that they were essentially in a league of their own. You may not dig their schtick, hell, you may not even care for electronic music whatsoever, but, like it or not, these affectless Germans changed the sonic possibilities for music across multiple genres, some of which they nearly single handedly created. Hard to pick a favorite album by them but this just may be it for me.
I don't know why but I love this album. It's great. Fun sounds, cool german accents saying the same words over and over again. So amazing! I think my favourite tracks are Europe Endless and The Hall of Mirrors.
Awwww yiss. I fucking love this album, but I am happy to rediscover that fact.
Det här kan mycket väl vara det bästa som någonsin släppts. Det är, fulländat.
fucking amazing electronic I love Kraftwerk favorite song is probably Showroom Dummies, but the whole album’s great - 10/10
Fav songs: - The Hall of Mirrors - Showroom Dummies - Trans-Europe Express
Repetitive, detailed, more to it than you get on a first listen. Great!
OK so I'm dumb. For the longest time I thought kraftwerk was that shitty joke from the eric Andre show. But that's kraft punk. I'm smart. But this album is amazing. It's so ahead of its time it isn't even funny. I will save this one for now and check out the whole kraftwerk catalog.
First time listening to Trans Europe Express. It's what I expect from Kraftwerk based on the other albums I've heard and Kraftwerk never disappoints.
Is this their best album? Probably first among equals anyway, just fantastic. My kids hate it, such philistines
Iconic Suite in the back end, and further solidifies one of the bands I actually would have have been a hard-core fan of in the 70s
This is the Kraftwerk I've been waiting for. Just the right amount of weird forward-thinking energy without getting too much. Great, catchy songs. A fantastic medley on the back half. This was just what the doctor ordered.
Так, ну это реально мой альбом, потому что только увидев облогу с утра я подумал: ну вот это меня точно чем-то удивит. Удивило. Для меня концепт раскрыт полностью, музыкальные решения пушечка, лирика тут не мешается, но и не вокал не машинальный, за что я 4+ "леди и джентльменам поставил", ну и не затянуто, быстрые 40 минуток. Такой музыкальный тикток 70х: 1,5 семпла, 2,5 музыкальных решения, которые привели к прекрасной поездке. Обязательно буду включать в дальних поездках после выезда из города и прямо перед въездом (для полетов уже есть песенька). Отдельно могу выделить почти все, но титульная композиция прям обязательно. 4-6 треки тоже надо послушать. Пы.сы. первая пятерка! Пы.пы.сы. кажется, я ебнутый, но мне заходит что авангард как визуальный жанр, так и аудиальный, как оказалось. Ещё пару альбомов и созрею до пытки авангардом от славы КПСС Пы.пы.пы.сы. возможно не оч структурировано, но 1) оч эмоций много, 2) хочу с утра получить новый альбом, а сейчас уже в кроватке с телефоном лежу, так что подробнее обсосем на подкасте
What a treat. These guys are the best at what they do. Hugely influential. The sound just envelopes you. Hard to believe this is 46 years old.
Not something I'd choose to listen to but probably good to have on the background while working.
Was initially thinking 3 stars during a background listen, but put it on again and paid slightly more attention and definitely bumping it up to 4. It's been so massively influential on a bunch of genres I like. To quote from a Drowned in Sound review quoted on Wikipedia, it's "all at once antique, timeless, retro and contemporary". Fave track - the whole of side 2! 🚅
Surprenant, j.aime bien la musique electro. C’est tres en avance sur son temps. 4.25*
No me queda sino imaginar solamente cómo sonó esto en su momento. Aun hoy, me gusta prácticamente todo. El minimalismo y la repetición de las vocales le dan un aire todavía más artificial, ese sonido "robótico" con el que se ubica a Kraftwerk. Un pensamiento random, me gusta mucho, pero siento que si estuviera atrapado en algún lugar con solamente esta música, sentiría miedo rápido (?). Creo que mis beats favoritos están en "Trans-Europe Express", "Metal on Metal" y pues qué linda "Franz Schubert". 9/10
Production: 17/20 Songwriting: 12/20 Innovation: 19/20 Bangers: 10/20 Emotional response: 16/20 =64 Awesome sauce.
Otra banda que nunca había escuchado pero esta vez sí fue algo a conciencia jajaja Kraftwerk para mí siempre fue música de gente cool y a ese mundo yo no pertenezco. Ahora que tuve la ocasión de escucharlos, sigo con la misma idea (?). Es un disco muy conceptual que, en ese sentido, lo siento lejano a mí, pero de todas formas sí me gustó, aunque no sabría poner en palabras por qué.
Lovely stuff for a summers day. True pioneers. Cant believe this was made in 76!
I would play this album again. The last 4 tracks, from "Metal on Metal" through "Endless Endless", was may favorite portion of the album. The first track, "Europe Endless", felt like the typical sound from Kraftwork to me (in a good way). Track 2, "The Hall of Mirrors", was the weakest spot for me on the album. Perhaps this was because of the almost spoken word portions. "The Hall of Mirrors" wouldn't prevent me from putting this album on again. Between 3.75 and 4.25
Parts of this album really blew me away. Some of it was repetitive to be sure, but there was a level of energy that was constant throughout that kept me hooked. I really enjoyed this.
interesting to 1. realize more songs than I know are covers of albums i didn't know. 2. listen to early electronica and see how that comes through in more recent music 3. realize I love the the mild german-accent in english. 4. realize that my only impression of kraftwerk was based on the name, and that conjured a very different sound that reality.
Liked it. respect for the technical challenges early electronic music faced
The grandfathers of electronic rock music. Lots of very familiar beats with moody Eurocentric lyrics. Album has a great flow but some of the tracks are very long and repetitive, even if the motifs never really get boring.
Een gezelliger album dan ik van Kraftwerk herinner. De moeite waard om nog eens te luisteren.
Another really great album from Kraftwerk. I think I like this one a bit better than The Man Machine actually, especially in the vocal department.
This felt "milder" than The Man-Machine album that came up from Kraftwerk already. Maybe more song/melody oriented? Fairly laid back.
Light on vocals, heavy on synthesizers. I can get behind this. I hope I listen to more Kraftwerk. Maybe I will. I probably won't. But it would definitely make me cooler. Great music for chugging away at work. Highlights: The feeling of listening to the same drum beat and synth sounds for 6+ minutes, and how that lures you into a trance.
8/10, spacey, repetitive in the best way possible, very forward thinking, very good. v good.
I grew up listening to Kraftwerk and it shaped my musical taste profoundly. They were so innovative in the 70s that this sound must have blown everyone’s mind. However the irony is that because they were so influential that you hear this style almost everywhere now so the their unique groundbreaking sound is lost on most new listeners. This album is great but I think Man Machine and Computer World are better so it only gets a 4 from me.