Currently enjoying “Autobahn” by Kraftwerk

“Influential” albums are usually a bit of a gamble. There are records that strike a chord with artists and listeners alike, and then there are records that somehow fall short of appealing to the general public, despite being celebrated or even worshiped by the artists that they influenced.

Take an album like Trout Mask Replica. It’s widely regarded as a bold artistic statement, and it’s basically the reason why Captain Beefheart still gets name-checked by musicians who want you to know that they’re, like, really serious about the art form. But it’s not the sort of record that people put on at parties or enjoy in their spare time, you know?

Even when it comes to pop music – and despite their reputation and pretensions, Kraftwerk were all about pop music – it’s often easy to wonder what the big deal is when it comes to a classic album. By the time an album comes to be regarded as influential, there’s a pretty good chance that the artists who were influenced by it have already taken the genre to the next level. Ironically, an album that sounded fresh and revolutionary when it first came out can easily be made to sound stale and obsolete when compared to the work of subsequent artists and musicians who took the ball and ran with it.

Radiohead and Nirvana both considered the Pixies a major influence. But that in itself doesn’t automatically put Doolittle on the same level as OK Computer or Nevermind.

Listening to Kraftwerk in this day and age is like a lesson in this sort of “artist and influence” relationship. Their music does tend to sound basic, dated and light when compared to the work of the many, many artists they’ve inspired.

But the good news about Autobahn, the 1974 album that marked a critical and commercial turning point for the group, is that it’s actually quite a listenable disc in its own right. Hell, at times, it’s pretty catchy. It doesn’t have the same direct and obvious bearing on hip hop and dance music that you’d hear on later albums like Trans-Europe Express and Computer World, but it’s definitely much more accessible and enjoyable than their earlier work.

The cornerstone of the album is the title track, a twenty-two minute piece that was edited down to three for its release as a single. But the four tracks that appear on the album’s second side are a pretty great concept piece in themselves. It’s a light listen, but what’s wrong with that?

If you’ve been meaning to get into Kraftwerk – and don’t laugh, because it’s something that every self-respecting music nerd is tempted to do at some point – then this is a great place to start. Work your way through the chronology from there, and the albums will only get better.

Posted in Currently Enjoying