Livewerk

May 10th, 2005

I recently acquired an advanced copy of Kraftwerk’s new double-CD live album Minimum Maximum. As far as live albums go, it’s frickin’ amazing. I’m not a connosieur of live albums, because too often either A) the recording quality completely blows, or–more often–B) the performance captured on the live disk is just horrible. You’d be surprised how many bands sound great on CD but completely stink live. Nonetheless, I’ve found a number of great live albums over the year (Frampton Comes Alive, of course, but also Banco de Gaia’s Live at Glastonbury and Barenaked Ladies’ Rock Spectacle)…but I must say, Kraftwerk’s new live collection is the best of them all.

First of all, the recording quality is superb. Let me say that again: superb. One more time: superb. There are 22 tracks, representing performances in a wide variety of European locales, and all of them are crystal clear and so beautifully mixed that you’d swear you’re standing there in the audience while the robots themselves kick out the machine-jams.

But. Good recording quality only does so much. Best of all are the songs themselves–the performances and the arrangements. “The Man Machine,” for example, has been redone slightly and remixed so that it’s a little cleaner-sounding and a bit more interesting, with some neat reverb on the drums, for instance. “Tour de France” sounds as though it’s taken from an unknown remix CD. And, in fact, the album does not sound like a live album so much as an updated remix CD.

It’s completely awesome. Check it out, as it comes highly recommended.

By Derek C. F. Pegritz on May 10th, 2005 | Scategory: Music |