Elegance and Decadence5 Out 5 Stars
Having already created the aural electronic equivalent of driving on one of Europe's most famous roadways, Kraftwerk set about making the soundtrack to riding Europe's best known railroad line. "Trans Europe Express
" is the electronic album that launched thousands more; everyone from David Bowie to Afrika Bambaataa to Radiohead has cited this album as an influence. In its 2009 remastered incarnation, "Trans Europe Express" gains in clarity and depth, and reinforces the fact that this 1977 album was decades ahead of its time.
TEE was the album where Kraftwerk began to manipulate not only their sound, but their look. The cover photo was a stylized studio shot and the innersleeve reveiled the very first images of the band as mannequins, an image that would become even more extreme in years to f
ollow. The non-synthesized instruments from "Autobahn" were removed entirely and the interlocking title track/"Metal On Metal"/"Abzug" playout as a trip along the tracks with the monotonous clickety clack of the drum machines simulating the rolling cars. The deadpan voices chant the title and name drop meeting Iggy and Bowie in Berlin (an episode that really happened). It was the sound of the future, and sounds incredible even now.
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