6. KraftwerkRadio-Activity
I’ve always liked a lot of those Kraftwerk albums and I used to enjoy them even in the early punk and new wave days and they kind of had a place in the scheme of things. They were very minimal, obviously, and they’re brilliant at what they do.
I started listening to some of their albums recently because I hadn’t had copies for years – I had the vinyl back in the day – but I got new copies and listened to them more recently and the album that really stood out was Radio-Activity. It’s just a very moving album, actually. I was discussing this with a friend who’d come over and we put it on and we started talking about it and he said, "This is the one I put on too." And what came out was that it’s a very emotional album and an emotional level that their other albums don’t really have and that’s what I love about it. It’s the one I choose to put on. It’s definitely been a favourite of recent times.
I didn’t see the recent tour but I saw them some years ago at some festival somewhere and I saw them in the early 80s at the Hammersmith Odeon during their Computer World tour. They’re a long-term favourite of mine and a touchstone for a lot of people and they’re an important group and this album is one that I find particularly special.
