Radio-Activity 2009

**Intro**This is one of the best, and probably *the best* of Kraftwerk's albums. For those of you who aren't familiar with Kraftwerk yet, they were one of the *first ever* electronic music bands, and got started making their music already in 1970. Because this electronic music is so old, I feel like at the time people hadn't even really figured out yet if it was going to be played live in concert halls like the symphony orchestra or in dance clubs. For those of you who are used to listening to recent electronic, you might find this music to be more spacey, abstract, and minimalistic compared to what you are used to, but once you get used to this, and you go in for the second or third listen, you'll realize that this is some deep stuff, and the Germans in this band probably spend hours, and maybe days making sure that every attack, sustain, release, and timbre of every note was EXACTLY how they wanted it. This is brilliant stuff!!**The Music**Kraftwerk made this album to protest nuclear proliferation and the "we've let the genie out of the bottle" and the "we are trying to control something we weren't meant to control" notions that were existent in the 1970s, with the aggressive pursuit of both nuclear power and nuclear arms race things that were happening at the time. Chernobyl and Fukushima hadn't happened yet, but other nuclear disasters that we have kind of forgotten about such as the Windscale Fire and the Kyshtym Disaster had, and they were very scary radiological incidents too.Here is a summary of some of the songs on here:Geiger Counter/Radioactivity - The album starts with slow geiger counter thumps, which then speed up and then blend right seamlessly into the rhythm of the song for Radioactivity. Everything about the song Radioactivity is creepy. The beat is lumbering and dark. The lyrics are wistful and pessimistic. There is a creepy background vocal hum as if coming from a whole choir of people singing in a cathedral.Radioland - Seems to be a happier song, and has a lot of sounds in it related to what you hear when you tune a radio. The lyrics are more gentle and personal, but then there are also distorted lyrics that sound like they are being sang by a group of people in chorus, and they are almost more praise music-like.Airwaves - Similar to Radioland, but happier, more animated. Similar to Kraftwerk's work on their earlier album, Autobahn.Intermission/News - Xylophone-like tones and muffled radio spoken work together.The Voice of Energy - "The Voice of Energy" introduces itself in German with heavy distortion. This is a very creepy voice.Antenna - Lively and happy. Also focused on radio related things. Similar style to the content on Autobahn.Radio Stars - Sounds that suggest electronic instruments in a science fiction movie, with fuzzy distorted vocals that are difficult to understand.Uranium - They take "The Voice of Energy" and use it to tell about some things in German regarding radioactivity and Uranium. It is super creepy, just as creepy as Alice Cooper or Marilyn Manson can sing, but in German and distorted.Transistor - This song is happier, dreamlike in fact. It seems to suggest frolicking in open green fields in the bavarian alps, carefree from things as heavy as radioactivity.Ohm Sweet Ohm - Distorted vocals, but not as scary as The Voice of Energy. A comforting, melodic conclusion to the album.**Listening/Buying Advice**Kraftwerk is a minimalistic band. Even though this album isn't their most minimalistic work, at first you may feel like you aren't listening to much. But listen to it several times. Try using some high quality headphones, or a high quality stereo so that you can hear all of the little sound details that are present. There is actually a lot going on here. If you are into buying single .mp3 files, please consider buying the entire album this time. Most of these songs blend together, and you won't get the full effect unless you listen to them all together. If you look at the customer reviews for this album, you'll see that there are several releases of it out there, and some listeners feel that some of superior to others, so that may also be something to think about when you get ready to buy it.**Conclusions**This album is an important part of the history of electronic music, and it was one of Kraftwerk's best pieces of work. It carries with it political messages. It is abstract in some cases, and straightforward in others. It is creepy in some songs, and happy in others. This is actually one of my favorite music albums, and with the amount of music I have bought and listened to, that says a lot. I like this album without reservations. You should definitely check it out!!

If you listened to Autobahn and Radio-activity , you'd think... no... swear... that Radio-activity was recorded FIRST . Most of the electronics are RAW . [ noises ] The melodies are VERY simple and nowhere near the TECHO-POP of Autobahn . It is ALSO fair to say that Radio-activity is to Kraftwerk what Cyclone was to Tangerine Dream . [ mixed reviews ] All in all , my favorite Kraftwerk album. [ due mainly... BECAUSE of the noises ! ]

If you love pop and little else, move along. If you love electronic music and concept artistry, a better album than Radio-Activity does not exist. There may be others _as_ good as Radio-Activity, at least in theory, but in my collection of thousands (CDs, Records, Tapes, Digital Downloads), I have been unable to find one. This replaced my old cassette which was destroyed from being over played years ago, and I realized that I was somehow missing this album when I went to listen to it recently. Naturally I ordered it straight away. Naturally I listened to it as soon as it arrived. Naturally I listened again and again long into the night and shared it with everybody who has real musical taste and an appreciation for experimental and electronic recordings.If you do not like this album, it's not Kraftwerk's fault, but some flaw in your suitability to the material:)

I've been a huge Kraftwerk fan for a long time. I have the Capitol CDs... and had original LPs before that... but couldn't resist the lure of remasters on nice, new vinyl. These are a real treat. While I am writing this after just listening to Radioactivity, the review applies more or less equally to all the 2009 remasters.. Let's start with the bad... I wasn't happy that they replaced the cover art (for us in the USA anyway..) but was pleased to see that the original cover art is on the LP sleeve. Print quality of the booklet and cover is excellent and with a nice weight. The LP itself is a very nicely pressed heavy piece of vinyl. It's ruler flat, heavy and quiet. This is a great pressing. As for the music, remaster really means "up in the air," because frankly, sometimes the remaster just isn't any good. But that is not the case here. Much like they did with the Beatles remasters, the audio is very clean and clear compared to the old versions, with maybe just a hint of eq for some presence and low-end, but all in all, there isn't any compression or real negatives as to what was done. It doesn't have that new, loudness war, soul destroying modern CD mastering sound... thankfully!! So, you get better than normal quality LP for your $20 and the audio is preserved, yet enhanced. Truly nice products.

Back in the mid 70's, my wife and I lived in Germany a year and a half and spent quite a few hours driving on German autobahns. When I first heard Kraftwerk's Autobahn album, I was sort of stunned. How could these guys make you feel the alert adrenalin intensity and ebb and flow of the Autobahn using synthesizers (they are well known pioneers in the use of these)? You can close your eyes and actually feel the rhythm of the autobahn--Mercedes and Porches passing you in the slow lane (70mph+) traveling 100mph+ in the fast lane with subtle relevant things going on in the background also. That being said, "Radio Activity" does something different to you--also electronically. Get "Autobahn" first. If you like it, you will like "Radio Activity" too, but maybe not as much. By the way, when we got back to the US, they had passed a 55 mph speed limit. Felt as slow as a bicycle.

By far and away the most creative soundscape album to grace the world. The use of synthetic sound to act as the theme of 'radio' throughout the album is seamlessly crafted into the tracks and in turn, connect the tracks. Those of you have listened to pre-digital radios will understand the tuning of the 'dial' on a shortwave band, and as the track suggests, the sounds that come from the radio between the stations is the chatter and noise of 'radioland' where all of the sounds are not created by man but transmitters and atmospherics. To listen to this album is to lose yourself into an otherworldly symphony of a time when radio was the dominant source of entertainment and information. The act of tuning was opening up new countries, languages and music that reflects a far more insular world of the pre and post war Europe and the listener was eavesdropping into an unknown and undiscovered culture. As Kraftwerk pioneered the use of industrial and machine genesis sounds, the radio must have been a very inspirational source of sound to embellish all of their works, and as such, this album is a homage to radio. The inclusion of high energy radio and radioactivity is also woven in as a overlying warning of the of the 'Pandora's box' principle with the benefits and hazards of 'Radioland'. A must for all hardcore Kraftwerk and electronic music fans collections and alongside Man Machine, the definitive precursors to the whole modern genre of electronic music.

Sparse, dark, and atmospheric, this album rewards the listener with its differing layers of sounds. Its influence can be heard in numerous bands and various styles

Probably their most under rated album ever, back in 75 this sounded amazing!

Superb - they are the greatest in this field. Kraftwerk are so clever. Musicians and performing artists of their generation.

Brilliant