The Man Machine

The way they take bleeps and bloops and infuse them with warmth and emotion is something else. Neon Lights is one of the most beautiful pieces of music.

Music made by men pretending to be robots for people who are pretending not to be robots. Overall my favourite Kraftwerk album

beep boop

Welcome human! You request has been approved! Album review: "The Man Machine" by Kraftwerk PROCESSING... 10%... 60%... 100% REVIEW GENERATED! Algorithmic creativity, smoothly blending electronic beats with synthesised melodies to create a harmonious sonic experience. BEEP!

Great album. Still sounds surprisingly fresh and modern, highlighting how far ahead of their time kraftwerk were at the time of release.

When this first appeared it must have sounded like the most mental thing ever. The meticulous technical effort seems normal now, but still feels exciting.

It must have been wild to discover this album in 1978 - a bunch of German weirdos singing in robot voices about space lasers. Still listenable today. Best track: The Model

A classic which basically started electronic music. It sounds so futuristic and so hard to believe it’s from 1978

It hurts my head to imagine how alien this must have sounded in 1978. Like Arnie turning up naked and nicking a motorcycle, it must have been like the future had arrived.

Amazing. I can hear all of New Wave and Techno in their trailblazing synthesisers.

Love. This one is genuinely life changing for music.

I, for one, welcome our robotic overlords. Best Tracks: The Robots; Metropolis; The Model

OH YESSSS it's a wall to wall banger situation :) I love this album. It is so interesting, unusual, influential, beautiful, relaxing yet exciting, experimental, German, sexy, somehow still futuristic even though it's already very old! The model is a TUNE and it's one I often whip out on an open mic night with guitar cajon and vocals haha! I recently used The Robots in a school assembly (I'm a teacher) and can confirm the kids of today LOVE it, not a soul was sitting still. I love that it's not loads of songs! I just wonder what the price was when they released it in 1978 when people couldn't stream online, did they account for the short length by making it cheaper? I'm actually in love with Neon Lights. It's put me in a great mood despite a stressful day at work, that's a marker for 5 star perfection in my book.

More pop-oriented than any of their previous work, the sound of The Man-Machine -- in particular among Kraftwerk's oeuvre -- had a tremendous impact on the cold, robotic synth pop of artists like Gary Numan, as well as Britain's later new romantic movement.

Kraftwerk = les Daft punk du pauvre mais vous savez comme moi qu'il serait idiot de m'étaler sur cet album sans évoquer les événements récents. Comme vous le savez, la rivalité entre mon compagnon d'écoute elchavez et moi dépasse très largement le cadre de la musique. Celle-ci a connu un point de non-retour il y a quelques semaines. Vous savez probablement que je prends depuis plusieurs années un malin plaisir à sortir avec les conquêtes dudit elchavez. Le but poursuivi est le suivant : le mettre hors d'état de nuire. Alors que je rentrais justement d'un bar du centre-ville en compagnie de l'une de ses anciennes fréquentations, nous nous assîmes soudain sur les marches de la Poste Meriadeck. Cette dernière déclara d'une voix blafarde : "Robcremière, je dois t'avouer quelque chose : j'adore les Crusaders ainsi que Hugh Masekela." Pas besoin d'en rajouter, nos langues s'entremêlaient bientôt dans un tourbillon inarrêtable. Après une vingtaine de minutes, celle-ci m'annonça soudain : "Robcremière, tu embrasses beaucoup mieux qu'elchavez. De plus, ta connaissance de la musique lui est nettement supérieure." J'acquiesçai brièvement et nous nous galochâmes ensuite avec encore plus de vigueur. Dans le même temps, on pouvait entendre les encouragements de certains passants : "Bien fait pour elchavez !", "Il l'a bien mérité !", "À mort elchavez, l'homme qui ne donne jamais plus de 4 !", etc... Le lendemain, j'envoyai une lettre recommandée à ce dernier dans laquelle je lui exposais les faits dans leur intégralité. Une bataille de plus remportée par Robcremière.

An excellent album, which still sounds like the future, despite being released over 40 years ago. Standout track is Neon Lights - it’s almost-waltz like time signature somehow only serves to make it sound even more futuristic. Everyone should own this album.

Very unique. It blows my mind that such a refined and crisp electronic, synthy sound was possible in 1978.

Another album where I appreciate the historical value. A lot of the songs I appreciate, but the repetitive nature of it does get on my nerves after a little while. Little no variation in the lyrics (mostly the title of the song on repeat.) Perhaps it speaks more of my modern failing attention span, an ailment of the 21st century. It really struggles to hold my interest. Not something I would listen to on my own I don't think. It's nice to have given it a proper listen so I understand the historical context of electronic music a bit better.

Jaa, Kraftwerk. Die wahren Elektropioniere. Natürlich habe ich mir das bahnbrechende Album im deutschen Original angehört. Und daher gibt es auch einen deutschen Komentar. Großartig.

Is it cool that this came out in the 70s - yes Did I enjoy listing to this - no

"She's a model and she's looking good. I'd like to take her home it's understood". SMSLGIL2THHIU. That's the new password for this group. Memorize it.

Ja! Das ist die Autobahn!

What is there left to say about this stunningly influential album?

Another future classic from the 70s. Silky smooth electronica for the autopeople.

Still sounds like music from another world. My art teacher used to play this over & over at school. I was rubbish at art but it was great to hear this. The Model hasn’t aged, stunning. Neon Lights is something else, warm & emotional. Absolutely ridiculous this is over 40 years old. I’m reading Carl Cox’s autobiography and he dedicates a whole chapter to Kraftwerk. It’s wondrous, magical music. It makes you feel different to any other music, unique in that way.

Can't believe it took me this long to listen to Kraftwerk. Absolutely timeless. Their influence can be heard everywhere. Will probably add a few songs from this album to my running playlist.

Never realized how much of a foundation Kraftwerk laid for electronic music and robot pop.

This is a great album, perfect from front to back. I love all of Kraftwerk’s albums, but this one is to my mind a perfectly executed album, probably the best introduction to the band for a new listener. The songs flow beautifully into each other and tonally they all work well together. It’s such a smooth listen. Half these songs clock in over 6 minutes and you don't even feel it really. There isn’t a bad song here as far as I’m concerned. I also feel like over time this album has really aged well. Back then, it was highly futuristic. Now it’s simply a classic, a necessary touchpoint for anyone with an interest in electronic music. The compositions are tight, crisp, melodic and spare. The vocals are limited, either sung directly by Ralf Hütter, or vocalizations processed through machines. I know not everyone is a fan of the songs with vocals, but I happen to like them a lot and I think they’re central to the whole “Man Machine” concept in Kraftwerk’s music. When you hear a song like “The Model” or “Neon Lights,” it’s Hütter’s vocals that provide that surprising warmth and pathos. Without it, all you have is the machine. It’s an idea both in music and in life that’s still pretty timely when you think about it. Fave Songs: Neon Lights (it’s so very good, possibly their best song ever), The Robots, The Model. I mean really, all of them.

I can hear where Daft punk and a lot of other electronic artists were influenced by these dudes.

Connor: I loved this album! It's catchy, danceable, and yet certain songs - especially The Model - seem to have a dark, cold undercurrent that make me feel lonely

"Die Mensch-Maschine": a perfect distillation of the record. So much of the future is in these songs, especially the future of electronic music. Yet there's physicality, even humanity, in every beat. It's the soundtrack of a cyberpunk world we never got. That might be good, of course: The music is more challenging than the titular phrase, and that lost future has problems we moderns don't have to face. Practically, moving to these rhythms works, but feels less than freeing. For other electronic music, that might be a flaw. Here, though, it feels like The Point.

a la Tron Legacy electro-techno

🤖

For electronic music this is a surprisingly pleasant listen. But like everything in this genre, I find myself asking, "What's this the soundtrack for?"

After 3 Kraftwerk records I can confidently say this is a very important band that I don't enjoy listening to

i like daft punk and i like this but god is it just so boring, three is the highest i can rate this without feeling bad about myself, i wish the whole thing was as funky as i know it has the power to be and was at times

It’s ok, a little outdated but I can tell that it was groundbreaking at the time Fav song: the man-machine

Exceptionally weird. Exceptionally cool.

Beep boop this music is made by computers. I am a human, therefore I do not understand it.

Um uhh stop beeping at me

Ugh

Super weird Euro music

Les sonorités de cet album me sont apparues fort désagréables. Où sont passés la rigueur et le pragmatisme allemand au moment de concevoir ce navet de musique electronique? Je me souviens d'un temps où les studios allemands étaient un exemple d'organisation, les micros étant bien alignés, les tables de mix en ordre de marche, on ne décelait aucun bruit parasite, seule la voix de l'ingénieur son rythmant ce balais de production sonore. Ce temps semble désormais bien loin, il serait bon de redonner à l'Allemagne sa gloire d'antan.

Kind of boring.

Was waiting for it to finish from the first track

Thanks, I hate it.

Not it

just not my thing

Seminal piece of electronica.

Fantastic album. Just what I needed.

good! 5/5

What a classic run of incredible albums. Still sounds fresh today. Always choose the German versions when listening which sometimes masks the silly lyrics.

Kraftwerk hat mein deutsches Herz

fine start, but in my opinion really picks up towards the middle and the end

So great. So fun and interesting and funky! Good background music that you want to groove to.

cute robot sounds i really like it unexpectedly

Awesome Project. As a piece of groundbreaking art, this thing succeeds and as a danceable, fun piece of music it also succeeds. We are the robots is a fantastic opener and it never loses any momentum. Neon lights is a fantastic techno ballad. The model is probably the most human song on here and if you removed the electronic elements and replaced it with rock instrumentation it probably would have charted in England. The last song is a great closer and the vocal modifications might be played out now, but it fits with the track. I was expecting something cold and soulless. With ai and the pervasive voice of tiktok and siri, I was expecting to dread this album. Instead, it's an incredibly warm and kinetic album. It feels calculated but not in an accountant way, it feels precise in the same way that a bird flaps its wings or cells divide. It feels natural, and it's endlessly refreshing. In the 50 or so years since this album was released, I think that the role of the robot in society and music has changed a lot. Fears of robot surveillance is constant, with hysteria around drones in the sky while we also invite robots into our houses on apps on our phones and smart toilets that can give you insights on your health based on your poops. You can feel the optimism on this album. Robots aren't enemies or weapons. They are babies, they have a lot to learn about the world, and at least at that moment, in 1976, their only limit was the imagination.

I love this album in all its forms, and its one of the few albums I think is vastly improved by a remaster. You can talk all day about Kraftwerk and how they invented an entirely new genre, but that's been said a billion times. The whole album not only defines a new musical genre and influenced countless future electronic and pop acts, but it practically created an aesthetic beyond music. When you think of retro future, the soundtrack is this. The post "atomic" space age, transistor based robotics, synthesized assistant voices, everything of that style owes so much to this album. I think every track is good, but my favorite is "Spacelab". I put it on nearly every quiet/ambient playlist I make. Using it as a seed to tweak various algorithmically generated playlists usually results in something good. I'm not entirely sure what it is about it but it speaks to me. There are lots of other Kraftwerk songs I like on other albums but this might be the only one I can go all the way through every time. Not a single thing I don't like about it.

My first taste of Kraftwerk. You can see how much they influenced the synthpop artists that followed them and since I love those artists, not too surprising that I love this. Even with several 6+ minute songs, I was never bored. Favorites: Metropolis, The Model, Neon Lights, The Man Machine Would I listen to it again?: Yes

One of my all time favourite albums from the pioneers of electronic/techno music. Futuristic and probably one of the most accessible Kraftwerk albums. The model was a hit single in the UK. This album influenced many of the new wave/new romantic acts including Human League, Gary Newman, Bowie etc...One of the many highlights is the eerily beautiful Neon Lights. Magnificent Machine Muzik. 5 stars.

Daft Punk, eat your heart out.

While not my favourite, it’s still a dance floor banger!

So-so

5 stars

So excited to see Kraftwerk show up for my album today. I'm not familiar with this one (Tour de France is my favorite) but still solid. Starting my commute to work The Robots was surreal, imagining what the future could be like.

Wow, um, kind of…melodic for these guys? And storytelling? And emotional? Anyhow, enjoyable throughout, well worthy of their canon, but some surprises to keep you guessing.

Fantastic stuff. Continued listening to more Kraftwerk immediately after, which is a sure sign of an easy five for me. Edit: listened to it all day at work and now I think I am becoming a robot 🤖

First off, I think the music in this absolutely slaps. I only really know Kraftwerk from Autobahn, and this isn’t exactly different, but I loved the whole aesthetic alongside it. As well as being hilariously space age and synthy, it also plays at being totally serious about its content and I just love that. I love a German accent and a Russian language breakdown. I love the idea of music made by robots. I love that the cover is clearly trying to make you think about old Russian propaganda posters, and the sense that this is sort of about the Cold War, but also sort of a big joke about a dystopian world from a silent film. I particularly liked Spacelab for being quite haunting- I think that’s a theremin in there, and the drum machine reminds me of a zoetrope spinning different photographs round. I thought The Model was super fun too, particularly for its stilted English- interesting also that this one sort of adds to the world while not being explicitly about, like, technology: “she’s posing for consumer products now and then” feels like it’s sung by the robots from the opening track. I think I might have heard Neon Lights before, but it’s possibly the one I connected with least- it felt the simplest and most romantic, which wasn’t really what I was in the mood for after single word tracks with heavy beats and beeps. Great beefy breakdown though, which made me think about twinkly lights in the city. The Man Machine is obviously a great closing track, and kind of felt like the most influential track, maybe- if someone released this now it would sound like a lot of electronica, and I think that’s because everyone cites Kraftwerk. When you think about music that sounds like the future, it sounds like Kraftwerk, and even though The Man Machine is from the 70s, our ideas about the future don’t seem to have moved on that much. Here’s my lofty conclusion, because you know you wanted one, Fi: is the reason “futuristic music” hasn’t moved on because we no longer imagine ourselves to have a future? Arguably we’ve met Kraftwerk’s fantasy already- robots and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis realised in countries that even in the 70s were largely desert. Have we lost all optimism about the future in the face of climate change? Was the technology they’re imagining, which I’m calling dystopian, once seen as a move forward, and in the age of AI it’s lost its shine? Anyway I loved this and will put it on in the car and while drunk. Four and a half for being short (and sort of because of Neon Lights), rounded to a five.

Why does Kraftwerk affect me in a way that so much electronica doesn’t? Who knows but this is an extraordinary album that would be the best album of the year if it were released in 2024 yet somehow it was made in 1978 So much of the album is a mood, but The Model is an absolute banger of a pop song hiding in there

You can just imagine the film that would be attached to this. Dynamic with that Teutonic deadpan delivery.

This is my second Kraftwerk album to review, after Trans Europe Express, which I really enjoyed, and gave a five-star rating to. Given how I felt about Trans Europe Express, and my general love of synthesizers, I have pretty high hopes for this album. I’m excited to fire this up! As I expected, I really enjoyed The Man Machine (I hope that’s the only time I’ll ever type that phrase). It was a little different in tone and sound than Trans Europe Express, but I liked The Man Machine a little better (barely side-stepped it there). The overall sound was really great, but the individual songs were fantastic as well. I listened to this twice, and I honestly wish I’d had time to listen to it more than that. Even on two listens, there were more sounds that I was able to pick up on during my second go-through. Kraftwerk’s music sounds so simple, but it’s executed brilliantly, and their albums are mixed and engineered incredibly well, giving their albums a rich sound. “Spacelab” was my favorite song on the album. I loved its operatic, otherworldly sound. The main synthesizer melody was fantastic, and the other sounds that were added in only added to its beauty. I didn’t want this song to end either time that I listened to it. The other songs were really good too, but I felt like “Spacelab” stood above the crowd. This album really does a great job at showcasing how well Kraftwerk understood sound and music. Without their influence, some of my favorite bands probably wouldn’t exist, at least not in the same capacity. I really wish I had known about Kraftwerk when I was a teenager, because I think I would have loved this album then too. I can’t wait to review Autobahn when it comes up.

Tough to get much better than Kraftwerk. Pretty much everything they put out is flawless, particularly the few picked as essential for this list. 5 stars.

Ik denk dat Kraftwerk hier hun volle glorie heeft bereikt. Het is nog steeds minimaal natuurlijk. En het klinkt nog wel als een gimmick. Maar nummers als Die Roboter en Das Model zijn ergens vrij catchy. En aan Das Model ook waarom Kraftwerk als een grondlegger gezien wordt. Denk de tekst weg en je hebt de basis onder heel veel jaren '80 platen.

This is great. I've already had Autobahn from the generator and I didn't get on board with that, but Man Machine might have made me a Kraftwerk convert. It's a lot more danceable and fun I think that than album Of course there are a lot of synths and beeps but they do a great job of creating atmosphere, melody and groove with mostly electronics. Some of this type of music can get repetitive but I never found that with this album. The Model is a classic and I didn't get bored of any of it Also can't believe how much this sounds like Daft Punk, particularly Discovery. Or rather, Daft Punk sounds like this. Incredible influence I liked it so much I'll give another listen to Autobahn and am willing to regret giving that a rubbish score

This is why I’m doing this.

Fav: Neon Lights Least Fav: Metropolis This made me feel like a retro-futuristic robot, and I enjoyed every second of it

My lunchtime walk around Telford town centre felt like I was in Bladerunner. I mean it does, anyway, but this added to it. 5/5 would hunt replicants whilst not realising I was a replicant myself again.

Форма и содержание друг в друге

Minchia spacca

Bleep Bloop

I am the robot.

The best robot music in the world! I love Kraftwerk!

I don't think this is quite as good as Radioactivity, but it's still an easy 5.

Here's a fun story: I took a "coding music" class during my senior year of college, where I learned how to make my own electronic music and the history of the genre. One of the artists talked about in that class was Kraftwerk, and I heard "The Robots" off this album, The Man Machine. I enjoy that song for its driving beat, the minimalist vocoder vocals, and the mixture of synthesizer loops and electronic keyboard strokes that interweave to create a mechanical atmosphere indicative of the titular robots. That sentiment of the electronically driven atmosphere is carried throughout the rest of the album. The song compositions expand upon various loops and rhythms to generate a sound and style that invokes the given lyrical theme, oft divided between the advancement of machinery on the title track and "Spacelab" and the glitz and glamour of city life on "Metropolis", "The Model" and "Neon Lights". I don't think I have much to complain about with The Man Machine. It's well-produced and well-executed in its intent like you would expect a machine to do, and it does not overstay its welcome at 36 minutes of runtime. Perhaps not everyone is on board with the minimalist nature of this album and electronic music in general, but I cannot deny the enjoyment I have in what it accomplishes with so little.

So perfect - I always play this when i start a half marathon race - because seeing my fellow runners in neon colours bobbing at dawn to ‘The Robots’ and ‘Neon Lights’ always puts me in a good mood. End to end this record is flawless, as a friend calls them - these cool German cats - are hilariously poignant, and through their rigid robotic ways - have loads of oomph and swagger. I can’t sing praises high enough.

Kraftwerk was one of my favorite techno groups back in the 80's

My introduction to and favorite from Kraftwerk. Kicks me right back to high school when I'd loop this in my car daily. Even though I listened so much, I'm only really tired of The Model, but even that is still a great tune. I won't try to decide how it stacks up with the rest of the musical canon, all I care about today is that I fucking adore every minute of this one.

Amazing sounds, you can hear how much this album influenced modern electronic music.

Great album. Everytime I listen to this, I feel excited because of how good it is.

I could listen to Kraftwerk for days.

Techno to a T, this album fully owns its identity and it's amazing for it. The sounds, the themes, the vocals, everything is so robotic and it works amazingly. Maybe its because this sounds like nothing else on this playlist so far, but every song had me fully glued to its full weirdness. At 36 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome and I was glad this was included. The songs are all similar, but my favorite is maybe Spacelab or Neon Lights.

The Model

Catchy, danceable, machinic, but also oddly human too. Terrific album well worth your time.

The premier foundation of high-end electronic music and art combined!

Total electronic ear candy ✨

Loved it! What a nice way to check in with past electronic music. We definitely are the robots, Kraftwerk was right.

Aye this was sick, a very cool album and very on brand with the theme and the effects used (plus the vibes were immaculate). I think German music consistently surprises me in the best way. I really loved The Robots and Neon Lights. I also really loved that it was short. It didn't feel too short, but it was kind of a perfect album through and through.

Man why was I not listening to Kraftwerk sooner. This is great.

Meisterwerk.

very 70's funk industrial vibe. Actually dig it. Wouldn't say I love it, but I do dig it.