Day 139: Kling Klang!

Album 435/1031

Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express (1977)

Side one
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Europe Endless" ("Europa Endlos")	Ralf Hütter Florian Schneider	Hütter	9:40
2.	"The Hall of Mirrors" ("Spiegelsaal")	Hütter Schneider Emil Schult	Hütter	7:56
3.	"Showroom Dummies" ("Schaufensterpuppen")	Hütter	Hütter	6:15

Side two
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
4.	"Trans-Europe Express" ("Trans Europa Express")	Hütter Schult	Hütter	6:52
5.	"Metal on Metal" ("Metall auf Metall")		Hütter	2:11
6.	"Abzug[a]"		Hütter	4:53
7.	"Franz Schubert"		Hütter	4:26
8.	"Endless Endless" ("Endlos Endlos")		Hütter Schneider	0:55

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Europe_Express_(album)

Golf's verdict: Whilst the title track is rightly still hailed as a classic, this is a pretty weak effort from the Dusseldorf Fab Four - and I am a big Kraftwerk fan. Most of it sounds more like a Radio 4 comedy pastiche of Kraftwerk than the real thing (e.g. 'Showroom Dummies', which has none of the charm of 'The Model'). This came in between Radioactivity and The Man Machine - both much stronger albums in my opinion.

Maire's verdict: I honestly don't understand their appeal. Boring.

Album 436/1031

Todd Rundgren - A Wizard / A True Star (1973)

All songs written by Todd Rundgren except where noted.

Side one – "The International Feel (in 8)"

1. "International Feel" – 2:50
2. "Never Never Land" (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne) – 1:34
3. "Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off" – 1:14
4. "You Need Your Head" – 1:02
5. "Rock and Roll Pussy" – 1:08
6. "Dogfight Giggle" – 1:05
7. "You Don't Have to Camp Around" – 1:03
8. "Flamingo" – 2:34
9. "Zen Archer" – 5:35
10. "Just Another Onionhead/Da da Dali" – 2:23
11. "When the Shit Hits the Fan/Sunset Blvd." – 4:02
12. "Le Feel Internacionale" – 1:51

Side two – "A True Star"

1. "Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel" – 4:16
2. "Does Anybody Love You?" – 1:31
3. "Medley" – 10:34
   • "I'm So Proud" (Curtis Mayfield) – 2:46
   • "Ooh Baby Baby" (Smokey Robinson, Warren "Pete" Moore) – 2:54
   • "La La Means I Love You" (William Hart, Thom Bell) – 2:16
   • "Cool Jerk" (Donald Storball) – 2:33
4. "Hungry for Love" – 2:18
5. "I Don't Want to Tie You Down" – 1:56
6. "Is It My Name?" – 4:01
7. "Just One Victory" – 4:59

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wizard,_a_True_Star

Golf's verdict: I'm not sure if prog-pop is really a thing, or whether someone just made it up to try and categorise the uncategorisable. If you like Ween then you may well like this as it is basically a whistle-stop tour of styles and production flourishes with rarely much sign of a traditional song structure. I remember buying it about 15 years ago and finding it hard work. This time I found it quite intriguing and potentially worthy of further time.

Maire's verdict: Just shush! Absolute rubbish.

Album 437/1031

Beth Orton - Central Reservation (1999)

All tracks written by Beth Orton

No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Stolen Car"	Victor Van Vugt	4:16
2.	"Sweetest Decline"	Victor Van Vugt	4:04
3.	"Couldn't Cause Me Harm"	Victor Van Vugt	4:48
4.	"So Much More"	Victor Van Vugt	5:41
5.	"Pass in Time"	Bruce Robert Howard	7:17
6.	"Central Reservation"	Mark Stent	4:50
7.	"Stars All Seem To Weep"	Ben Watt	4:39
8.	"Love Like Laughter"	Victor Van Vugt	3:06
9.	"Blood Red River"	David Roback	4:15
10.	"Devil Song"	David Roback	5:04
11.	"Feel To Believe"	Beth Orton	4:02
12.	"Central Reservation (The Then Again Version)"	Ben Watt	4:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Reservation_(album)

Golf's verdict: When I lived on Ladbroke Grove in the '90s I used to bump into her in the corner shop. At the time I had largely dismissed her as a bit of a fey folkie type (admittedly on very little evidence as this was pre-streaming era when one could often go for years hearing of an artist but not actually hearing their music), but I thoroughly enjoyed most of this album. Very occasionally the vocal style and production slipped a little too much into Dido territory for my liking, but ultimately I came away with a different point of view (as the late, great JC might have once said).

Maire's verdict: I was getting really worried it was going to be 3 shit albums today and then this came along. Pleasant listening.