Trans-Europe Express (album)

Template:Use dmy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: Template:Start date | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Radio-Activity1975The Man-Machine1978studioTrans-Europe ExpressTrans-Europe Express German.pngyesGerman album coverKraftwerkTemplate:Start date1976Kling Klang (Düsseldorf)* Electronic

• synth-pop
• experimental pop
• avant-garde<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>42:45Kling Klang* Ralf Hütter
• Florian Schneiderx|2=</?t[drh][ >]|nomatch=}}|Template:Main other}}Template:Main other}}

Trans-Europe Express (Template:Langx) is the sixth studio album by German band Kraftwerk. Recorded in 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 VoiceTemplate:'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 as one of the best albums of the 1970s and of all time.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2014, the Los Angeles Times called it "the most important pop album of the last 40 years".<ref name="latimes" />

Background

File:Kraftwerk by Ueli Frey (1976).jpg

Kraftwerk performing in Zürich on 10 March 1976, before starting production on Trans-Europe Express

After the release and tour for the album Radio-Activity, Kraftwerk continued to move further away from their earlier krautrock style of improvised instrumental music, refining their work more into the format of melodic electronic songs.Template:Sfn During the tour for Radio-Activity, the band began to make performance rules such as not to be drunk on stage or at parties. Karl Bartos wrote about these rules, stating that "it's not easy to turn knobs on a synthesizer if you are drunk or full of drugs. ... We always tried to keep very aware of what we were doing while acting in public."Template:Sfn During this tour, early melodies that would later evolve into the song "Showroom Dummies" were being performed.Template:Sfn

In mid-1976, Kraftwerk began to work on the album which was then called Europe Endless.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Paul Alessandrini suggested that Kraftwerk write a song about the Trans Europ Express to reflect their electronic music style. Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider met with musicians David Bowie and Iggy Pop prior to the recording, which influenced song lyrics. Maxime Schmitt encouraged the group to record a French language version of the song "Showroom Dummies", which led the group to later record several songs in French. The album was recorded at Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf.Template:Sfn Artistic control over the songs was strictly in the hands of members Hütter and Schneider, with Bartos and Wolfgang Flür contributing sequenced electronic percussion.Template:Sfn Kraftwerk went to railway bridges to listen to the sounds the train would actually produce. The group found the sound the train made was not danceable and changed it slightly.<ref name="tq" />

Recording

An important piece of new equipment used on the album was the Synthanorma Sequenzer, a customized 32-step 16-channel analog sequencer made for the band by Matten & Wiechers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="elektropolis1" /><ref name="elektropolis2" /><ref name="elektropolis3" /><ref name="elektropolis4" /> This allowed the construction of more elaborate sequenced synthesizer lines, which are featured prominently in the tracks "Franz Schubert" and "Endless Endless",<ref name="elektropolis5" />Template:Sfn and liberated the player from the chore of playing repetitive keyboard patterns.

Whereas Radio-Activity had featured a mixture of German and English lyrics throughout the album, Trans-Europe Express went further and was mixed as two entirely separate versions, one sung in English, the other in German. At the recommendation of Maxime Schmitt, a French version of the song "Showroom Dummies", titled "Les Mannequins", was also recorded. "Les Mannequins" was the group's first song in French and would influence decisions to record songs in French on later albums.Template:Sfn After recording the album in Düsseldorf, Hütter and Schneider visited Los Angeles to mix the tracks at the Record Plant Studio.Template:Sfn Elements of the mixing sessions that were done in Los Angeles were dropped from the album, including the use of more upfront vocals in order to do more mixing in Düsseldorf and Hamburg later.Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Artwork

The artwork for the album cover of Trans-Europe Express was originally going to be a monochrome picture of the group reflected in a series of mirrors. This idea was dropped for a photo by New York-based celebrity photographer Maurice Seymour, with the group dressed in suits to resemble mannequins.Template:Sfn J. Stara's image of the group was taken in Paris and is a highly retouched photo-montage of Kraftwerk from their shoulders up again posed as mannequins which are shown on the cover of the English version of the album.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On the inside sleeve, a color collage of the group sitting at a small cafe table designed by Emil Schult was used. The photo for this scene was from the session by Maurice Seymour, taken on the group's American tour. Other photos were taken by Schult that show the group laughing and smiling. These were not used for the album's release.Template:Sfn

Composition

Wolfgang Flür has stated Kraftwerk were influenced by the music of the Weimar Germany era: "we were children who were born straight after World War TwoTemplate:Nbsp... we had no musical or pop culture of our ownTemplate:Nbsp... there was the war, and before the war we had only the German folk music. In the 1920s or 1930s melodies were developed and these became culture that we worked from".<ref name="thompson1" /> Karl Bartos also spoke of post-war influence as the group thought that they "had this development in the 1920s which was very, very strong and was audio visual. We had the Bauhaus school before the war and then after the war we had tremendous people like Karlheinz Stockhausen and the development of the classical and the electronic classical. This was very strong and it all happened very close to Düsseldorf in Cologne and all the great composers at that time came there."<ref name="tq" /> Paul Alessandrini is credited for helping contribute to the album's concept. Alessandrini told Hütter and Schneider that "with the kind of music you do, which is kind of like an electronic blues, railway stations and trains are very important in your universe, you should do a song about the Trans Europe Express".Template:Sfn Kraftwerk believed critics in the United Kingdom and the United States associated them with Nazi Germany, with tracks such as "Autobahn" inextricably linked with the Nazis who built the high-speed roads in the 1930s and 1940s. At the same time, the band were keen to move away from their German heritage towards a new sense of European identity and felt that the Trans-Europe Express could be used to symbolize this.<ref name="tq" /> AllMusic referred to Trans-Europe Express as a concept album with two different themes. The first being the disparities between reality and image, represented by the songs "Hall of Mirrors" and "Showroom Dummies", and the others about the glorification of Europe.<ref name="amgreview" /> Slant Magazine described the album as "a sonic poem to Europe".<ref name="slreview" />

The musical style of Trans-Europe Express was described by AllMusic as melodic themes which are "repeated often and occasionally interwoven over deliberate, chugging beats, sometimes with manipulated vocals" and "minimalism, mechanized rhythms, and crafted, catchy melodies".<ref name="amgreview" /> The music has been categorized as electronic pop,<ref name="latimes" /> synth-pop,Template:Sfn and experimental pop.<ref name="rubin" /> Hütter has commented on the minimalist nature of the album, stating that "If we can convey an idea with one or two notes, it is better than to play a hundred or so notes".Template:Sfn The first side of Trans-Europe Express has three songs. The song "Hall of Mirrors" has been described as containing deadpan vocals with lyrics that speculate how stars look at themselves in a looking glass.Template:Sfn Hütter and Schneider have described the song as autobiographical.Template:Sfn The third track "Showroom Dummies" was described by AllMusic as "bouncily melodic in a way that most of Trans-Europe Express isn't" and with lyrics which are "slightly paranoid".<ref name="sdreview" /> The idea for the song came from Flür and Bartos being compared to showroom dummies in a British concert review. Some versions of the song contain a spoken introduction starting with a count-in of "eins zwei drei vier" as a parody of the band Ramones who started some songs with a quick count-in of "one two three four".Template:Sfn The second side of Trans-Europe Express is a suite with "Trans-Europe Express" continuing through to "Metal on Metal" and "Franz Schubert" before closing with a brief reiteration of the main theme from "Europe Endless".<ref name="tee" /> AllMusic described the musical elements of the suite as having a haunting theme with "deadpan chanting of the title phrase" which is "slowly layered over that rhythmic base in much the same way that the earlier 'Autobahn' was constructed".<ref name="tee" /> The song's lyrics reference the album Station to Station and meeting with musicians Iggy Pop and David Bowie.Template:Sfn Hütter and Schneider had previously met up with Bowie in Germany and were flattered by the attention they received from him.Template:Sfn Ralf Hütter was interested in Bowie's work as he had been working with Iggy Pop, who was the former lead singer of The Stooges; one of Hütter's favorite groups.Template:Sfn

Release

Trans-Europe Express was originally released in March 1977.<ref name="Nusser" /> With the help of Günther Fröhling, Kraftwerk made a promotional music video for the song "Trans-Europe Express". The video features the group wearing long coats on a train trip from Düsseldorf to nearby Duisburg. Photo stills from this video were later used on the single sleeve for "Showroom Dummies".Template:Sfn Fröhling would work with Kraftwerk again on their album The Man-Machine doing the photography for the album cover.<ref name="ammm" /> To promote the album to the press in France, EMI Records hired a train with old-fashioned carriages from the 1930s to travel from Paris to Rheims while the songs from the album were played over the train's announcement system for the critics.Template:Sfn

In October 2009, a remastered edition of the album was released by EMI in Germany, Mute Records in the European Union and Astralwerks in the United States.<ref name="asrm" /><ref name="muterev" /><ref name="emircd" /><ref name="emirv" /> This re-release was available on compact disc, digital download, and vinyl and features a different album cover from previous versions of the album. This new version features a black background with a white Trans Europ Express train in the center.<ref name="dis" /> The track listing on the 2009 re-release amends the titles of the songs to match the original German release. This change has "Metal on Metal" being credited for two minutes of the music with the remainder being a track titled "Abzug" (English: "Departure").<ref name="notes2"/>Template:Sfn

Critical reception

Initial reviews for Trans-Europe Express were positive. Music critic Robert Christgau, in a review for The Village Voice, wrote that the album's "textural effects sound like parodies by some cosmic schoolboy of every lush synthesizer surge that's ever stuck in your gullet—yet also work the way those surges are supposed to work".<ref name="vvchristgau" /> Trans-Europe Express placed at number 30 in The Village Voice's 1977 Pazz & Jop critics' poll.<ref name="vvlist" />

Modern reception has been very favorable. Trans-Europe Express has the highest possible ratings from publications including AllMusic, Drowned in Sound, Mojo, Rolling Stone and Slant Magazine.<ref name="amgreview" /><ref name="dis" /><ref name="Mojo" /><ref name="rs" /><ref name="slreview" /> Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that the album "is often cited as perhaps the archetypal (and most accessible) Kraftwerk album ... Overall, Trans-Europe Express offers the best blend of minimalism, mechanized rhythms, and crafted, catchy melodies in the group's catalog".<ref name="amgreview" /> Q, in a 1995 review, wrote that the album "changed the face of American dance music" and was "one of the most compelling beats of this or any other era".<ref name="Q2" /> In 2009, Drowned in SoundTemplate:'s Chris Power stated that "Trans-Europe Express is all at once antique, timeless, retro and contemporary. Its status as modern electronic music's birth certificate is well-earned, but its hallowed reputation should never be allowed to disguise its true value and power as a work of art. Nor should it obscure a longevity that, 32 years on, we might as well start calling by its real name: immortality".<ref name="dis" />

Trans-Europe Express has also appeared on top album lists from a variety of sources. In 2001, TV network VH1 placed Trans-Europe Express at number 56 on their list of "100 Greatest Albums (of Rock & Roll) of All Time".<ref name="vhllist" /> In 2002, Slant Magazine placed the album at number one on their list of the greatest electronic albums of the 20th century.<ref name="sllist" /> In 2003, Rolling Stone placed the album at number 253 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time",<ref name="rsintro" /> with the ranking dropping to number 256 in a 2012 revision and climbing to number 238 in the 2020 reboot of the list.<ref name=autogenerated1>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="rs2012" /> Channel 4 placed the album at number 71 on their list of the 100 greatest albums.<ref name="chan4" /> In 2004, the online music website Pitchfork listed Trans-Europe Express as 6th best album of the 1970s, stating that "the day will soon come, if it hasn't already, that Trans-Europe Express joins the ranks of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Exile on Main St. as a record that simply cannot be written about".<ref name="pf1970" /> 2014, pop music critic Randall Roberts wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the record was the most important of the last forty years.<ref name="latimes" />

Legacy

Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album's influence as "unprecedented, reaching as wide as rock (Radiohead's Kid A), hip-hop (Afrika Bambaataa's classic 'Planet Rock', Jay Dee's recent 'Big Booty Express') and pop (Madonna's Drowned World Tour, which incorporated samples of 'Metal on Metal')".<ref name="slreview" />

In the late 1970s, the album influenced post-punk band Joy Division; bassist Peter Hook related: "We were introduced to Kraftwerk by [singer] Ian Curtis, who insisted we play Trans Europe Express before we went on stage every time. The tape was played at the venue over the PA system, to be heard by everyone. The first time was Pips [a Manchester club well known for its 'Bowie Room']. Ian got thrown out for kicking glass around the dance floor in time to the track. It took us ages of pleading to get him back in."Template:Sfn Drummer Stephen Morris also confirmed that Joy Division "used to play Trans-Europe Express before we went on stage, to get us into the zone. It worked because it gets up a lot of momentum. Trans-Europe Express just seemed to express an optimismTemplate:Snd even if people see it as machine music". Morris also said: "It reminds me of Cabaret, the film, with all of the 1920s singing. ... When you get that marriage between humans and machines, and you get it right, it's fantastic. I have to say it's my favourite Kraftwerk album."<ref name="Hewitt" /> In the mid-1980s, Siouxsie and the Banshees' rendition of "The Hall of Mirrors", on their album Through the Looking Glass, was one of the few cover versions that Ralf Hütter hailed in glowing terms as "extraordinary".<ref name="Ruffilli" />

Accolades

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Blender	United States	500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2003	*
Paste		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2012	47
Pitchfork		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2004	6
Robert Dimery		1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	2005	*
Rolling Stone		The Rolling Stone 200: The Essential Rock Collection<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1997	*
		The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=autogenerated1 />	2003	253
			2012	256
			2020	238
Slant Magazine		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2005	1
Tom Moon		1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	2008	*
VH1		The 100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2001	56
Vibe		100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1999	*
Channel 4	United Kingdom	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2005	*
GQ		The 100 Coolest Albums in the World Right Now!<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2005	86
Gary Mulholland		261 Greatest Albums Since Punk and Disco<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	2006	*
Mojo		The 100 Greatest Albums Ever MadeTemplate:Citation needed	1995	48
		70 of the Greatest Albums of the 70sTemplate:Citation needed	2006	*
		The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	2007	*
Muzik		The 50 Most Influential Records of All Time<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1999	8
		Top 50 Dance Albums of All Time<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2002	9
NME		Albums of the Year (honorable mentions)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1977	*
		All Times Top 100 Albums<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1985	38
		100 Best Albums of All Time<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2003	36
		The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2013	81
Paul Morley		100 Greatest Albums of All Time<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	2013	*
Q		The 50 Best Albums of the 70s<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1998	9
Sounds		Albums of the Year<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1977	13
		The 100 Best Albums of All Time<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1985	48
The Observer		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2006	3
The Times		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	2008	11
Uncut		100 Rock and Movie IconsTemplate:Citation needed	2005	23
The Wire		The 100 Most Important Records Ever Made<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1992	*
Adresseavisen	Norway	The 100 (+23) Best Albums of All TimeTemplate:Citation needed	1995	15
Panorama		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	1999	16
Pop	Sweden	The World's 100 Best Albums + 300 ComplementsTemplate:Citation needed	1994	101
Max	Germany	The 50 Best Albums of All TimeTemplate:Citation needed	1997	22
Musik Express/Sounds		The 100 MasterpiecesTemplate:Citation needed	1993	94
		The 50 Best German RecordsTemplate:Citation needed	2001	15
RoRoRo Rock-Lexicon		Most Recommended AlbumsTemplate:Citation needed	2003	*
Rolling Stone		The Best Albums of 5 Decades<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	1997	*
		The 500 Best Albums of All Time<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2004	325
Sounds		The 50 Best Albums of the 1970sTemplate:Citation needed	2009	10
Spex		The 100 Albums of the CenturyTemplate:Citation needed	1999	35
(*) designates lists that are unordered.

Commercial performance

Trans-Europe Express charted higher in the United States than Kraftwerk's previous album Radio-Activity by peaking at number 117 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart.<ref name="ambalist" />Template:Sfn "Trans-Europe Express" and "Showroom Dummies" were released as singles from the album.Template:Sfn "Trans-Europe Express" charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977 where it peaked at number 67.<ref name="ambalist" /> Trans-Europe Express began charting in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. The album entered the charts on 6 February 1982, staying in the charts for seven weeks and peaking at number 49.<ref name="OCC" /> The re-released single for "Showroom Dummies" (a remix with additional drums) entered the charts on 20 February 1982, staying on the charts for five weeks and peaking at number 25.Template:Sfn

Track listing

Notes

• ^{^[a]{{#if:| }}} While "Abzug" (English meaning "trigger" or "departure") appeared originally as a separate track on all pressings of Trans Europa Express, later releases of Trans-Europe Express combined "Abzug" and "Metal on Metal" together under the latter track's title, at a running time of 6:52. On both 2009 reissues of Trans Europa Express and Trans-Europe Express, however, "Abzug" is presented as a separate track.

Personnel

Adapted from Trans-Europe Express liner notes.<ref name="notes2" /><ref name="notes3" /> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2

Kraftwerk

• Ralf Hütter – voice, synthesizers, Vako Orchestron, synthanorma-sequenzer, electronics, producer
• Florian Schneider – voice, vocoder, votrax, synthesizer, electronics, producer
• Karl Bartos – electronic percussion
• Wolfgang Flür – electronic percussion

Technical

• Peter Bollig – engineer
• Bill Halverson – engineer (The Record Plant, Hollywood)
• Thomas Kuckuck – engineer (Rüssl Studio, Hamburg)

Design

• Maurice Seymour – photography
• J. Stara – photography
• Günther Fröhling – photography (2009 remaster only)
• Ink Studios – typographic design
• Johann Zambryski – artwork reconstruction (2009 remaster)

Charts

Weekly charts

Template:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chart

Chart (1977–1982)	Peak position
French Albums (SNEP)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} Select KRAFTWERK from the drop-down menu and then press OK.</ref>	2
Italian Albums (FIMI)Template:Sfn	8
UK Albums (OCC)<ref name="OCC" />	49
US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes<ref name="ambalist" />	119

References

Footnotes Template:Reflist

Works cited Template:Refbegin

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External links

• Template:Discogs master
• Trans Europe Express on Spotify (listen)
• Kraftwerk official website