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Tour de France Soundtracks is a successful record on anyone's terms; it's one that fans won't need to cringe from, and one that newcomers will be able to enjoy for what it is.
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Their latest LP may not pack the same fortune-telling punch of their classic records, but it is nevertheless a distinctly engaging, sophisticated experience.
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UncutA slight disappointment. [Oct 2003, p.124]
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The concept itself is an interesting one. When it works, it is easy to conjure TV images of Hinault and LeMonde battling through the Pyrenees, the patterned rhythms of Indurain and Armstrong heaving through village street time-trials.
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MojoNo huge amounts of new ground broken... but even a mediocre Kraftwerk album is still a work of near-genius. [Sep 2003, p.101]
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Q MagazineThere are moments where the glory years are emulated.... Even so, after 17 long years, both band and audience deserve better than a wandful of magic and some rehashes. [Oct 2003, p.102]
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If you're the sort who would feel fuddy-duddy driving a perfect, new VW Beetle, avoid Tour de France. If you're one who would proudly point out the offbeat grace and unlikely persistence of a vivid personality in a machine, Kraftwerk endure.
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Under The RadarSounds like a flashback to the early eighties that at times is an adjustment to modern-shaped ears. [#5, p.101]
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There's more to Tour De France Soundtracks than a simple remake of the past.
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SpinThe deadpan humor that animated the band's early werk is missing. [Nov 2003, p.117]
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Has all the hallmarks of classic Kraftwerk.
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Alternative PressMostly stuck in a low gear. [Dec 2003, p.156]
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The WireDisplays more intellectual rigour, subtle discipline and attention to detail than many of their younger contemporaries can ever dream of attaining. [#235, p.56]
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BlenderNone of it is groundbreaking. [Oct 2003, p.120]
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FilterThey remain simple and cerebral. [#7, p.91]
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Not quite what we might have hoped for from such historically important innovators. But not quite as bad as it appears, either.
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In essence, the group has adopted the smartest possible approach on Tour de France Soundtracks by simply making quintessential Kraftwerk music of a kind stylistically consistent with the music of its past but with subtle enhancements that suggest a connection to the present.
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No, it's probably not going to remap the musical landscape this time, and, arguably, it doesn't sound as ahead of its time as, say, 'Computerworld' did. BUT! 'Tour de France Soundtracks' also sounds joyously, shamelessly like no-one else at all.
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Fans will appreciate Tour De France's high standard of unadorned synthesis, thematic melody and Autobahn minimalism, with epiphanic pleasure and not a little nostalgia.
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The old masters have aged gracefully with the times: no longer following or leading the techno/electronic movement, but rather operating within their own realm of digitally manufactured bliss.
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All in all, the release probably would have worked better as an extended EP instead of nearly an hourlength rumination on one track and ideas that spawned from it.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 13 out of 14
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Mixed: 0 out of 14
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Negative: 1 out of 14
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Nov 22, 2022Jetzt spielt er schon wieder an sich herum, leider kein Ralf und Florian mehr, dies will gehört sein.
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LeonardoFAug 3, 2005an instant classic
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MichaelAJul 10, 2004