Eberhard Kranemann is a one-time member of KRAFTWERK who later recorded an album ‘Fritz Müller Rock’ with the legendary Conny Plank.
A graduate of the Dortmund Conservatory, the multi-instrumentalist also worked with NEU! but it was in 1967 while as a member of the band PISSOFF that he met Florian Schneider.
More recently, Kranemann has formed KRAUTWERK with Harald Grosskopf who played drums on Klaus Schulze’s ‘Moondawn’ and recorded a number of albums with Manuel Göttsching as a member of ASHRA.
In a merger of the Schools of Düsseldorf and Berlin, Kranemann and Grosskopf transmit their cosmic sonic visions of today, tomorrow and beyond in an updated take on art school kosmische with a lively and rhythmic self-titled debut album.
Following an enthusiastic talk at the 2017 ELECTRI_CITY_CONFERENCE in Düsseldorf, Eberhard Kranemann kindly chatted about the genesis of KRAUTWERK and his observations on the vibrant post-war German music scene that ultimately impacted the world’s musical landscape.
So what is the concept of KRAUTWERK?
There is no concept, we are just two guys who are making music for fun. We did know not each other until one year ago. I heard Harald for the first time at a festival in Sulingen where he was doing a solo performance and I had a performance in another room.
I liked his kind of drumming, he doesn’t play natural drums and doesn’t use those crazy boom-boom-boom drums from a computer, he plays a special electronic kit with sticks on plates. He doesn’t use the pure electronic sounds, he changes them via Ableton with his special effects… they had so much power, I had never heard this before. I thought “I must work with him”
Then, he came into my room… I’m a more experimental musician using wired sounds and he didn’t like it! For him, it was too dissonant! So when I telephoned him to suggest working together, he did not want to… but 4 weeks later, he said “OK, we try something”
He came into my studio, but I did not tell him before that I’d prepared it to record our whole session professionally. I recorded 40 minutes of what we had played. We had never played together before but this 40 minutes was so great, it was wonderful music.
We made another date 4 weeks later and did 20 more minutes.
So we had 60 minutes in total and this is our first LP, CD and digital download. It was two old guys making music for fun, but then a label heard it and other people liked it very much.
So we did a British tour which was a big success, we will be going to Stockholm and next year, we play in China. People in America want us to go there too.
Both you and Harald Grosskopf have a lot of history in German electronic music, Harald was in ASHRA and released a great solo debut in ‘Synthesist’, had you been aware of his previous work?
No, I wasn’t interested in the Berlin School of Music, for me it was boring, it was just synthesizers going on and on and it was not enough. For myself, I need more power or action.
You were in KRAFTWERK?
Me and Florian Schneider were the originators of KRAFTWERK, one year later Herr Hütter came into the band and now he is the only man who makes it exist, he gets a lot of money out of it because he is a businessman.
A band who spends 30 years not making any new music and only the old sh*t comes out every year in new clothing, this is not for me. I must make new music going into the future and when I began this project with Harald, I had the idea of starting at a point 30 years ago when KRAFTWERK stopped making music because when they now play concerts, they don’t make music… they stand there like roboters and the music comes programmed from the computer, I do not like this.
When I played in KRAFTWERK in 1971 and the years before, we used techniques between man and machine but there was a lot of freestyle, everyone could play. But they stopped it and did this very cool, reduced music… you can do this if you want, they are very famous for it and they do it very well, but I think my friend Florian left the band he didn’t like it anymore. He is a real musician and he wanted to make music, he doesn’t want to stand on a stage with the sounds coming from the computer
So how do you make technology work for you in KRAUTWERK?
There is a difference between Harald and me; Harald works very much with technology and computers. But I don’t do it as much as he does, because I’m more of a traditional musician. When we play live, I play cello, Hawaiian guitar and sing. But I don’t tell stories, I use the voice like another instrument and make rhythm with it like “boom-tschak-boom-bah-tschak”… so I sing like a drummer and then Harald comes in with drums.
As Fritz Müller, you worked with the legendary Conny Plank, what was he like?
He was a very important man, for me in the last century, Conny Plank was the most important producer, engineer and mixer in the whole world, THE BEST! He was so great that he even turned down David Bowie and U2. He was very honest, he didn’t want to work with them.
He was very clear and only wanted to make music with people he liked… not only liked but loved! There was a lot of love between him and the musicians, it was so wonderful to work with him, he had a good gut feeling about people. I was the person in the background that put him in contact with KRAFTWERK and NEU!
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Eberhard Kranemann
‘Krautwerk’ is released by Bureau B in CD, vinyl and digital formats
Eberhard Kranemann and Harald Grosskopf play Kraken Sthlm in Stockholm with FAUST on Friday 17th November 2017
Midge Ure needs no introduction as one of the UK’s most highly regarded songwriters and musicians.
Best known for his involvement in ULTRAVOX’s ‘Vienna’, voted “the UK’s favourite No2 of all time” in a BBC Radio2 poll in 2013, the diminutive Glaswegian first found fame as the front man of SLIK. Their single ‘Forever & Ever’ became a UK No1 in 1975 and turned Ure briefly into a teen idol while the band had their own comic strip in Look-In magazine.
Luckily, SLIK could play their instruments and write their own material so in 1977 under the name PVC2, they released ‘Put You In The Picture’ on Zoom Records, a punkish single that sold more than anything by SIMPLE MINDS during their tenure on the label.
Having become fascinated by KRAFTWERK when they hit the UK charts with ‘Autobahn’ in 1975, he purchased his first synth, a Yamaha CS50 in 1977. So when Ure joined RICH KIDS and met drummer Rusty Egan, it was to change the course of his career when he subsequently founded VISAGE and joined ULTRAVOX.
VISAGE had been started in 1978 by Ure and Egan as a project to make up for the shortage of suitable European styled electronic dance music to play at The Blitz Club where the latter was the resident DJ. Needing a front man, they turned its doorman Steve Strange to act as Pied Piper to the colourful clientele who were later to be dubbed the New Romantics. Ure would subsequently help to deliver the movement’s signature song ‘Fade To Grey’.
Others involved in VISAGE included MAGAZINE’s John McGeoch, Dave Formula and Barry Adamson but also crucially Billy Currie, taking a break to heal his wounds from a recently fragmented ULTRAVOX following the departure of leader John Foxx. At the suggestion of Egan, Ure joined the band and the rest is history.
Photo by Brian Griffin
The classic ULTRAVOX line-up of Ure, Billy Currie, Chris Cross and Warren Cann had a run of twelve consecutive Top 40 hits singles in the UK before they imploded due to good old fashioned musical and personal differences, in the wake of Ure’s parallel solo career and his charity work with the Band Aid Trust.
But Ure was always been happiest in the studio and during his first ULTRAVOX phase, he also produced tracks for FATAL CHARM, MODERN MAN and MESSENGERS as well as Ronny, Phil Lynott and Peter Godwin, all while working on the second VISAGE album ‘The Anvil’.
The last ten years have been particularly busy for Ure. A regular on the live circuit with his endearingly intimate acoustic gigs featuring career highlights in stripped back form, he also undertook a number of key musical collaborations with European producers. But his most high profile project was the reformation of the classic ULTRAVOX line-up in 2009.
Following the winding down of ULTRAVOX after an arena tour opening for SIMPLE MINDS in late 2013, Ure returned to the acoustic format for two live tours backed by INDIA ELECTRIC CO. But Autumn 2017 sees Ure returning to synthesizers and electric guitars with his BAND ELECTRONICA tour.
He said on his website: “I want to revisit some material that I’ve not really been able to perform with the recent acoustic line-up, so you can expect to hear songs that haven’t been aired for a while as well as the classics and a couple of surprises! I’ve really enjoyed touring with a band and now I want to expand back to a four piece and return to a more electronic based format”
With that in mind, here is a look back at the career of Midge Ure and his great adventure in electronic music via this twenty track Beginner’s Guide, arranged in chronological order and with a restriction of one track per album / project…
RICH KIDS Marching Men (1978)
Fresh from being ousted out of THE SEX PISTOLS, Glen Matlock offered Ure a place in his new power-pop combo RICH KIDS. An anti-Fascist anthem produced by the late Mick Ronson, ‘Marching Men’ was notable for Ure’s first use of his Yamaha CS50 on a recording, much to the dismay of Matlock, whose idea of a keyboard player was Ian McLagan from SMALL FACES. Eventually, the band imploded with Matlock and Steve New thinking guitars were the way to go, while Ure and Rusty Egan felt it was electronics.
Despite the rejection by EMI, the first VISAGE demo of ‘In The Year 2525’ attracted the attention of producer Martin Rushent who wanted to release the collective’s music via his Genetic imprint through Radar Records. ‘Tar’ was a cautionary tale about smoking dominated by John McGeoch’s sax and Billy Currie’s ARP Odyssey. Alas, Radar Records had funding pulled from its parent company Warners just as the single was released, stalling any potential it had. As the album was put on hold, Ure found yet another lifeline.
Available on the VISAGE album ‘Visage’ via Spectrum
Ure joined ULTRAVOX to record the now classic ‘Vienna’ album, although it was testament to Conny Plank’s faith in the band that he continued to work with them after John Foxx left. On ‘All Stood Still’, Ure put his live experience with THIN LIZZY to good use on this fine barrage of synthesizer heavy metal about an impending nuclear holocaust. Driven by Chris Cross’ triggered Minimoog bass and Warren Cann’s powerhouse drums, the interplay between Ure’s guitar and Currie’s ARP Odyssey was awesome.
Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Vienna’ via EMI Music
German music formed a large part of Rusty Egan’s DJ sets at The Blitz Club and even Irish rocker Phil Lynott frequented it. ‘Yellow Pearl’ was a LA DÜSSELDORF inspired co-composition with Ure, while Rusty Egan later played drums on the remix which became the ‘Top Of The Pops’ theme in 1981. A VISAGE track in all but name, ‘Yellow Pearl’ was so draped in the involvement of Ure and Egan that it was almost forgotten that the figurehead of the song was the frontman of THIN LIZZY!
Available on the THIN LIZZY album ‘Greatest Hits’ via Universal Music
Nottingham combo FATAL CHARM supported ULTRAVOX and OMD in 1980. Their excellent first single ‘Paris’ was produced by Ure and their sound could be seen reflecting the synth flavoured new wave template of the period. Singer Sarah Simmonds’ feisty passion gave a freshly charged sexual ambiguity to the long distance love story written in the days before the Channel Tunnel. Instrumentalist Paul Arnall said: “We were able to use Midge’s Yamaha synth which gave it his sound”.
Available on the FATAL CHARM album ‘Plastic’ via Fatal Charm
Co-produced by Conny Plank, with the Motorik thrust of NEU! and a marvellous symphonic pomp, ‘The Voice’ was a fine example of the creative tension that had now emerged between Ure and Chris Cross on one side, and Billy Currie on the other. Characterised by the swimmy Yamaha SS30 string machine, a magnificent middle eight ARP Odyssey solo and piano run was the icing on the cake. The song took on a life of its own in a concert setting with an extended closing percussive barrage.
Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Rage In Eden’ via EMI Records
To the public at least, it was business as usual with the second album ‘The Anvil’ and its launch single ‘The Damned Don’t Cry’. Very much in the vein of ‘Fade To Grey’, it was full of synthesized European romanticism. But with Steve Strange and Rusty Egan now finding success with their club ventures and ULTRAVOX becoming ever more popular, it was unsurprising that ‘The Anvil’ lacked the focus of its predecessor. Internally, things had gone awry and tensions with Egan led to Ure bidding adieu to VISAGE.
Available on the VISAGE album ‘The Anvil’ via Rubellan Remasters
MIDGE URE & CHRIS CROSS Rivets (1982 – released 1984)
Midge Ure and Chris Cross worked together on an eccentric synthesized spoken word album with eccentric British poet Maxwell Langdown entitled ‘The Bloodied Sword’. But their involvement in ‘Rivets’ came about when Levi’s® were about to launch their expensive new TV advertisment… an executive, unhappy with the soundtrack shouted “What we need on there is ‘Vienna’”! The campaign was a successful one and Ure was commissioned to submit music for the next commercial entitled ‘Threads’; however his ’633 Squadron’ inspired electronic tune was subjected to demands for rewrites by the paymasters so tired of the politics, Ure withdrew the track… that piece of music became ‘Love’s Great Adventure’. Levi’s® sponsored ULTRAVOX’s ‘Set Movements’ tour and ‘Rivets’ was part of a cassette that came with the souvenir programme!
Originally released on ULTRAVOX ‘Set Movements 1984 Interview’ cassette, currently unavailable
‘After A Fashion’ was a blistering sonic salvo that crossed the best of JAPAN’s rhythmical art muzak with ULTRAVOX’s ‘The Thin Wall’. However, it stalled at No39 in the UK singles charts and sadly, there was to be no album. But Mick Karn later played on ‘Remembrance Day’ in 1988 and Ure briefly joined JBK, the band formally known as JAPAN sans David Sylvian for an aborted project in 1992. Sadly Karn passed away in 2011 after losing his battle against cancer.
Available on the MIDGE URE album ‘No Regrets’ via EMI Gold
Glaswegian duo MESSENGERS were Danny Mitchell and Colin King whose only album ‘Concrete Scheme’ as MODERN MAN in 1980 was produced by Ure. The pair toured with ULTRAVOX as support during the ‘Quartet’ tour, as well as joining them on stage to augment their live sound. MESSENGERS’ debut single ‘I Turn In (To You)’ was also produced by Ure but criticised for being ULTRAVOX lite, although the song held its own with its dramatic widescreen passages.
Originally released as a single via Musicfest, currently unavailable
An electro Celtic melodrama in four and a half minutes, the magnificent ‘Man Of Two Worlds’ was the highlight from ULTRAVOX’s self-produced ‘Lament’ long player. Featuring an eerie female Gaelic vocal from Stock Aitken & Waterman backing vocalist Mae McKenna, the doomed romantic novel imagery capturing a feeling of solitude with haunting synths, programmed Motorik rhythms and manual funk syncopation was an unusual template, even for the period.
Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Lament’ via EMI Music
‘No Regrets’ had been a big solo hit in 1982 so with ULTRAVOX on break, Ure took a busman’s holiday and recorded his first solo album ‘The Gift’. A song demoed by Danny Mitchell of MESSENGERS for their aborted long player, while there was a big anthemic chorus and vibrant string synth interludes, ‘If I Was’ was a very different beast from ULTRAVOX in that this was a love song. Featuring LEVEL 42’s Mark King on bass, it became a UK No1 single in the Autumn of 1985.
Available on the MIDGE URE album ‘The Gift’ via EMI Music
As a reaction to the pomp of ULTRAVOX, Ure went back to basics with his ‘Out Alone’ tour in 1993 which featured acoustic renditions of his own songs and covers assisted by a pre-programmed keyboard. One song he performed was Peter Green’s ‘Man of the World’, a bittersweet song about a man who has everything he wants, except the companion he craves. A live recording ended up as a bonus track on the ‘Guns & Arrows’ single, but a studio version appeared on 2008’s ’10’ covers album.
Live version available on the MIDGE URE double album ‘Pure + Breathe’ via Edsel Records
For Jam El Mar and Mark Spoon’s attempt at a ‘pop’ album, the German dance duo featured vocals on all the tracks and among those recruited were Dolores O’Riordan of THE CRANBERRIES and SIMPLE MINDS’ Jim Kerr. For his return to full blown electronica, Midge Ure’s contribution ‘Something To Remind Me’ was big on beats. Recording coincided with preparations for the ‘Sampled Looped & Trigger Happy’ tour which saw Ure use a more technologically driven format for live shows for the first time in many years.
X-PERIENCE Personal Heaven – Desert Dream radio mix (2007)
Thanks to his continued popularity in Germany, Ure was much in demand as a guest vocalist and was persuaded to record a song he had written with HEAVEN 17’s Glenn Gregory by dance production team X-PERIENCE. Duetting with Claudia Uhle, who provided her own sumptuous vocals to compliment the electronics and muted synthetic guitars, the punchy Desert Dream radio mix was particularly effective.
Named after the German poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller, Christopher von Deylen’s domestically popular ambient electro project recruited Ure to sing on the dramatically widescreen ‘Let It Rise’; he said: “SCHILLER’s got his very own, very good and distinctive style which is much more of a laid back, trip-hop dance thing”. Ure revisited the track for his own ‘Fragile’ album in a more stripped back arrangement.
Available on the SCHILLER album ‘Atemlos’ via Universal Music
In 2009, the impossible happened and the classic line-up of ULTRAVOX reunited for the ‘Return To Eden’ tour. Things went well enough for a new album to be recorded and writing took place at Ure’s retreat in Canada, Produced by Stephen J Lipson, several of the tracks like ‘Live’ and ‘Satellite’ recalled former glories while with this take on Giorgio Moroder, the percolating sequences and rhythmic snap of ‘Rise’ could be seen a robotic 21st Century update of ‘The Thin Wall’.
Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Brilliant’ via EMI Music
LICHTMOND is an ambitious audio-visual project led by sound architects Giorgio and Martin Koppehele to “Experience Dreamlike Time”. Very progressive in its outlook with “A magic triangle of electronics, ethno and rock songs”, Ure featured on lead vocals and said on the album notes: “For me LICHTMOND is a unique combination of music, visuals and brilliant imagination. All coming together to make one great big piece of art. Enjoy it!”
Although Ure had been regularly touring and playing festivals, there was a gap of 14 years between the ‘Move Me’ and ‘Fragile’ long players. The ULTRAVOX reunion was the spark he needed to get his sixth solo album of original material finished. The lead single was ‘Become’, a romantic and less abrasive take on ‘After A Fashion’. With a danceable metronomic beat, it had a classic synthpop sound that Ure admitted he was “kind of harking back to early VISAGE”.
Available on the MIDGE URE album ‘Fragile’ via Hypertension Music
‘Glorious’ not only reunited our hero with Rusty Egan but also Chris Payne who co-wrote ‘Fade To Grey’; Ure said: “I liked the music, Chris Payne and Rusty had done a great job but I didn’t think the song / melody / lyrics were strong enough… I stripped the demo down to the basic track, edited it down into a more ‘song like’ format and started working on a glorious melody. I added the main melodic synth line and layered guitars over it, ending with the ‘hopefully’ uplifting solo over the outro”.
Midge Ure’s BAND ELECTRONICA 2017 live dates include:
Frankfurt Batschkapp (Sep 27), Munich Technikum (Sep 28), Cologne Kantine Kulturbetriebe GmbH (Sep 29), Bochum Zeche (Oct 01), Hamburg Gruenspan (Oct 03), Berlin Columbia Theater (Oct 04), Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (Oct 10), Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (Oct 11), Bournemouth Pavillion Theatre (Oct 13), Guildford G Live (Oct 14) , Milton Keynes Theatre (Oct 15), New Theatre Oxford (Oct 17), High Wycombe Swan Theatre (Oct 18), Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall (Oct 19), Skegness The Embassy (Oct 20), Edinburgh Playhouse (Oct 22), Dundee Caird Hall (Oct 23), Gateshead Sage (Oct 24), Manchester Opera House (Oct 25), Dartford Orchard (Oct 27), Basingstoke Anvil (Oct 28), Sheffield City Hall (Oct 29), Halifax Victoria Theatre (Oct 31), Buxton Opera House (Nov 01), Birmingham Town Hall (Nov 02), York Grand Opera House (Nov 03), Southport Theatre (Nov 04), Blackpool Grand Theatre (Nov 05), London Shepherds Bush Empire (Nov 07), Torquay Princess Theatre (Nov 08), Portsmouth Guildhall (Nov 09), Salisbury City Hall (Nov 10), Truro Hall for Cornwall (Nov 11), Nottingham Royal Concert Hall (Nov 14), Eastbourne Devonshire theatre (Nov 15), St Albans Arena (Nov 17)
”When Brian Eno calls himself a non-musician, he isn’t confessing a fault or admitting a deficiency. His self-evaluation is a proud stroke against obsolete concepts in rock and roll. He is a madcap ringmaster in the centre ring, introducing an act that will not only make music sound different, but change what it means”
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno started out as the EMS VCS3 wielding non-musician in ROXY MUSIC. In his autobiography ‘In The Pleasure Groove: Love, Death & Duran Duran’, John Taylor remembered the man who at the time was just known as ‘Eno’: “They had this keyboard player who just turned knobs… how the hell does that work??”
Although Bryan Ferry was the art rock combo’s leader and songwriter, Eno attracted his own legion of fans and inevitably took away some of the limelight. Following two acclaimed albums, Eno left ROXY MUSIC after being told by Bryan Ferry in June 1973 that they would never share the same stage again!
Tensions had been running high at Roxy gigs with Eno’s fans gathering to the left of the stage chanting “ENO-ENO!” while Ferry’s fans were to the stage right chanting back “FERRY-FERRY!” – Ferry later admitted “I wasn’t very good at sharing” but EG Management who looked after ROXY MUSIC weren’t too unhappy, saying to Eno: “We feel you’re ready for a solo career!”
To celebrate the start of that solo career, Eno’s first four classic vocal albums ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’, ‘Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)’, ‘Another Green World’ and ‘Before & After Science’ have been reissued as deluxe gatefold 2LP heavyweight vinyl editions mastered at half-speed for 45RPM, effectively now presenting each album as two EP mini-albums.
Using ‘simplistic keyboards’ and ‘snake guitar’, Eno’s solo debut ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ released in January 1974 followed a thrashy, energetic style inspired by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. Its hybrid of glam, progressive and art rock continued in a vein similar to early ROXY MUSIC.
Indeed, Phil Manzanera, Andy MacKay and Paul Thompson joined their former band mate as part of the record’s line-up of deliberately incompatible musicians which included Robert Fripp, Paul Rudolph and Chris Spedding. Eno’s willingness to experiment and challenge conventional rock traditions only affirmed to some observers that he was the originator of the arty Roxy sound, as Ferry & Co mellowed and gradually turned into STEELY DAN!
With its humourous money shot title, ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ was dominated by guitar-driven numbers like the neo-instrumental title track, ‘Needles In The Camel’s Eye’, ‘Baby’s On Fire’ and ‘The Paw Paw Negro Blowtouch’, although the latter’s madcap synth solo and electronic treatments provided Eno with his USP. However, alongside these noise experiments were softer, more introspective numbers like the wonderful ‘Some Of Them Are Old’. It was a good debut, but things would get even better.
Named after a Peking Opera, just the influential nature of ‘Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)’ released in November 1974 signified the importance of his sophomore offering and this was without its more cerebral approaches and observations on Chinese Communism.
OMD borrowed the templates of ‘Back In Judy’s Jungle’ and ‘China My China’ for ‘Maid Of Orleans’ and ‘Genetic Engineering’ respectively, while the bassline similarities of ‘The Fat Lady Of Limbourg’ with BLANCMANGE’s original ‘Some Bizzare Album’ take on ‘Sad Day’ are there loud and clear.
Then there was BAUHAUS later turning ‘Third Uncle’ into a goth disco favourite with only minor amendments and Manchester post-punk funksters A CERTAIN RATIO getting their name from a lyric in ‘The True Wheel’. Musically, ‘Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)’ was again guitar based but there was also the pretty lullaby of ‘Put A Straw Under Baby’, while a beautiful elegiac quality aided by synthesizers seeped into the album’s solemn title track closer.
However in early 1975, Eno’s life took a major turn when a car accident left him hospitalised and temporarily immobile. While convalescing, he attempted to play a record of 18th Century harp music and unable to get up to adjust the volume which was set too low, the almost inaudible soundtrack made him realise how music could be part of the ambience of its environment. It changed Eno’s outlook and his way of making music.
Co-produced by Rhett Davies, the first fruit of labour was the experimental ‘Another Green World’ released in September 1975. Unlike his previous solo records, he had no material pre-prepared before entering the studio.
Largely gone were the guitar based numbers of the first two albums, although the art funk of ‘Sky Saw’ featuring Percy Jones on fretless bass, Phil Collins on drums and John Cale on viola must have caught the ear of a certain David Robert Jones. Instead, there were shorter tracks, many of them evocative instrumentals dominated by keyboards and synthesizers like the iconic title track which was eventually used as the theme to the BBC2 arts programme ‘Arena’.
Pieces such ‘Sombre Reptiles’, ‘Becalmed’ and ‘Spirits Drifting’ signalled where Eno was heading musically, but the album’s best track was the beautiful piano-led ‘Everything Merges With The Night’. This mournful tune, featuring a flat but honest vocal from Eno, was to become a key influence on Gary Numan for his ballads ‘Complex’ and ‘Please Push No More’.
The critical acclaim for ‘Another Green World’ saw Eno becoming a man in demand as a collaborator, which led to the two year gestation period for ‘Before & After Science’ released in December 1977. It was his first vocal record credited as ‘Brian’ and to be his last one for many years as he divided time working with ULTRAVOX, CLUSTER and TALKING HEADS. Indeed, the David Byrne led combo were the inspiration for the metallic romp of ‘Kings Lead Hat’; the title was an anagram of the art school combo’s name while the track itself was later covered by ULTRAVOX.
As with David Bowie’s ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ which Eno had also worked on, ‘Before & After Science’ presented its material as pop and experimental sides. The first side included the quirky ‘Blackwater’ with its fabulous stabs of synth, while the material that formed the almost percussion-less second side was another pointer of things to come. Adding a Yamaha CS80 to his EMS AKS and Minimoog synth armoury, a gentle sophistication manifested itself, particularly on the sumptuous nautical folk of ‘Spider & I’.
Meanwhile the album’s acknowledged highlight ‘By This River’, co-written with CLUSTER and engineered by Conny Plank, was subsequently revisited by Martin Gore of DEPECHE MODE for the second instalment of his ‘Counterfeit’ covers project in 2003.
After ‘Before & After Science’, Eno largely steered clear of conventional vocal led material for his own work and went into full ambient mode, releasing the highly regarded ‘Music For Airports’ in March 1978. There would be further lengthy ambient electronic offerings such as ‘Thursday Afternoon’, ‘The Shutov Assembly’, ‘Neroli’, ‘Lux’ and more recently ‘Reflection’.
Although today, Brian Eno might be seen within the rock sphere as the producer of U2 and COLDPLAY, this quartet of recordings chronicles his musical journey as to how it all began. While this series of reissues is restricted to vinyl, CD and digital formats are already available. Anyone remotely interested in popular music should give these inventive albums a listen, in whatever format.
It was at Conny’s Studio near Cologne that a number of landmark recordings were completed, notably KRAFTWERK’s ‘Autobahn’ and ULTRAVOX’s ‘Vienna’.
The studio was the operational centre of engineer and producer Konrad Plank whose innovative portfolio covered a wide spectrum of music.
Using a customised mixing desk, Plank favoured a dynamic production ethos that went against the grain of the compressed rock recording of the times. An advocate in the possibilities of electronics, he said: “I like synthesizers when they sound like synthesizers and not like instruments. Using a drum machine for electronic music is okay, but not if you try to make it sound like a real drummer”.
Conny Plank’s work with pioneering German experimental acts such as KRAFTWERK, CLUSTER and NEU! had a strong influence on David Bowie and Brian Eno, and thus ultimately every act that emerged from Synth Britannia; John Foxx considers Plank to be the most important record producer since George Martin.
His influence was quite evident when ULTRAVOX worked with George Martin on the ‘Quartet’ album in 1982; compared to their Plank produced Cologne Trilogy of ‘Systems Of Romance’, ‘Vienna’ and ‘Rage In Eden’, ‘Quartet’ sounded thin and lacked density. But as history has shown, a producer can only achieve so much when the artists themselves are not delivering and even Plank’s involvement in ULTRAVOX’s lamentable ‘U-Vox’ album could not save it.
“Craziness is something holy” Plank once said; his key to getting the best out of his work was to enjoy the company of the acts he worked with. This was a particularly important requisite when trapped inside a countryside complex away from the social distractions of a city.
When Plank was booked by Daniel Miller for a four day session to record DAF’s first full-length album ‘Die Kleinen Und Die Bösen’, only the final day involved any actual recording as he had spent the first three days getting to know them; the relationship with DAF continued for a further three albums.
However, legend has it that after being introduced to U2 by Brian Eno with the view to producing ‘The Joshua Tree’, Plank turned down the job declaring: “I cannot work with this singer!”
As well as studio work, Plank was also an active musician. It was while touring South America with CLUSTER’s Dieter Moebius that Plank fell ill; he sadly passed away in December 1987 at the age of 46. Conny Plank leaves an important musical legacy, so here is a look back at twenty of his works, with a restriction of one track per album project…
ASH RA TEMPEL Traummaschine (1971)
ASH RA TEMPEL were a highly important Kosmiche band; it was the platform from which future electronic exponents Manuel Göttsching and Klaus Schulze emerged. Plank engineered their very different debut album, seeded from sessions of free-form improvising. With just one track per side of vinyl, the eerie atmospheres of ‘Traummaschine’ contrasted with the noisier rock of ‘Amboss’.
Available on the ASH RA TEMPEL album ‘Ash Ra Tempel’ via SMGO Art
Having engineered KRAFTWERK’s first two albums and the earlier ORGANISATION ‘Tone Float’ long player, Conny Plank helped their shift towards synthesizers on their third long player. A Minimoog and an EMS AKS appeared, but a Farfisa electric piano and a preset rhythm unit were the dominant textures of ‘Tanzmusik’. Things were becoming more structured with the abstract use of vocals.
Originally on the KRAFTWERK album ‘Ralf & Florian’ via Philips Records, currently unavailable
Plank acted as mediator between the NEU! nucleus of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger who each had quite different personalities and aspirations. Over a classic Motorik beat, ‘Für Immer’ featured carefully layered mini-cacophonies of sound. Indeed, so much studio time was spent on the track, the duo ran out of budget.
Available on the NEU! album ‘Neu! 2’ via Grönland Records
Under Plank’s stewardship, ‘Autobahn’ was KRAFTWERK’s breakthrough release as their transition into electronic pop. Ralf Hütter’s octave shifting Minimoog formed the rhythm backbone alongside a futuristic electronic snap, while Florian Schneider’s ARP Odyssey took the melodic lead over a 22 minute car journey. The parent album was to be their last recording with Plank.
Available on the KRAFTWERK album ‘Autobahn’ via EMI Music
Unable to recreate NEU! live as a duo, Rother headed to Forst to meet with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of CLUSTER to record ‘Musik Von Harmonia’. For the follow-up ‘Deluxe’, they added vocals, a drummer in Mani Neumeier of GURU GURU and Plank to assist with production. The wonderful synth work on the title track signalled a melodic sensibility equal to KRAFTWERK.
Available on the album ‘Deluxe’ via Grönland Records
Plank’s association with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius began in 1969. Their fourth album ‘Sowiesoso’ was CLUSTER’s first fully realised exploration into ambient electronics. With gentle melodic phrasing and unimposing rhythmical patterns, the title track was a wonderfully hypnotic adventure that welcomed the listener into the soothing world of the long player’s remaining aural delights.
Available on the CLUSTER album ‘Sowiesoso’ via Bureau B
The third NEU! album saw a two sided approach with a frustrated Klaus Dinger looking to seek the limelight. He finally got what he wanted in LA DÜSSELDORF and headed down a more aggressive direction on their debut self-titled LP produced by Plank where there was a lot of “Düsseldorf”. But ‘Time’ was the epic lengthy album closer that built to a brooding climax.
Michael Rother’s first three solo albums ‘Flammende Herzen’, ‘Sterntaler’ and ‘Katzenmusik’ were produced by Plank and featured CAN’s Jaki Liebezeit on drums. “he was so valuable” Rother said in 2015, “we wouldn’t have been able to record NEU! or the second HARMONIA album or my solo albums without Conny, so he’s all over the place in my music… thank you Conny”.
Available on the MICHAEL ROTHER album ‘Flammende Herzen’ via Random Records
Originating from his sessions with CLUSTER, Eno produced this beautiful piano and synth ballad at Conny’s Studio with Plank at the engineering controls for inclusion on his fourth pop solo album ‘Before & After Science’. The warmth extracted from the Yamaha CS80 used was one of the key stand-out elements of ‘By This River’, which was later covered by Martin Gore for ‘Counterfeit 2’.
With the success of their earlier ‘Eno & Cluster’ ambient opus, the artful threesome added voices and more experimentation for its follow-up ‘After The Heat’. With Plank again behind the desk, ‘Broken Head’ recalled some of Eno’s work with Bowie on ‘Heroes’ while deep monotone vocals were a offset by some oddly noted piano accompaniment and an unorthodox rhythmic template.
Available on the ENO MOEBIUS ROEDELIUS album ‘After The Heat’ via Bureau B
The first phase of ULTRAVOX! was dominated by the songwriting of John Foxx, but ‘Slow Motion’ was a group effort. Decamping to Conny’s Studio, the intro and theme were composed by bassist Chris Cross on his newly acquired EMS AKS. The quintet locked together as never before, with Billy Currie’s ARP Odyssey playing off Robin Simon’s treated guitars as one behind Warren Cann’s powerful drums.
Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank released their first collaborative effort, the reggae influenced ‘Rastakraut Pasta’ in 1979. For the second album ‘Material’, a more rigid beat was applied, as well as driving synthesizer rhythms. ‘Tollkühn’ was a mightily pulsing electronic workout that more than suited the title’s English translation of ‘Daredevil’.
Available on the MOEBIUS & PLANK album ‘Material’ via Bureau B
Holger Czukay was at the zenith of his Dali-inspired surrealist sound painting, having released ‘Movies’ in 1979. Following their LES VAMPYRETTES collaboration in 1980, Plank contributed ‘Witches’ Multiplication Table’ to the second solo album by the CAN bassist. With Czukay providing an oddball monologue over a dub backbone, Plank added cemetry synthesizer violin alongside bursts of French horn.
PHEW! was a member of psychedelic rockers AUNT SALLY and her first solo single was produced Ryuichi Sakamoto. Produced by Plank, Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit, ‘Signal’ was the experimental Japanese singer’s take on Neue Deutsche Welle with distant echoes of Berlin’s MALARIA! looming. Driven by hypnotic bass synths and punky guitar, it was unsurprisingly tense and darkly rhythmic.
Available on the PHEW! album ‘Phew!’ via Pass Records
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart were actually interested in rhythmic electronic music from Europe, hence their name. When the pair left THE TOURISTS, one of the first to lend support for their new aspirations was Conny Plank. ‘Never Gonna Cry Again’ with its doubled synth and flute solo was the first song released from their production partnership.
Available on the EURYTHMICS album ‘In The Garden’ via Sony BMG
So happy was Plank with working with ULTRAVOX on ‘SystemsOf Romance’ that when Midge Ure joined following the departure of John Foxx, he offered to finance the recording of the Vienna’ album. Produced in Conny’s Studio for the follow-up ‘Rage In Eden’, ‘The Thin Wall’ densely merged synthesizers, guitar, piano, violin and Linn Drum for a formidable yet under rated hit single.
Available on the ULTRAVOX album ‘Rage In Eden’ via EMI Records
Gabi Delgado-López and Robert Görl had worked with Conny Plank since 1979; DAF had reduced to a minimal electro body core of tight drumming and synth programming to accompany shouty, aggressive vocals. As with a previous Plank production ‘Der Mussolini’, DAF again courted controversy on ‘Kebab Träume’ with the provocative line “Deutschland! Deutschland! Alles ist vorbei!”
Available on the DAF album ‘Für Immer’ via Mute Records
Mani Neumeier, the percussionist and singer of GURU GURU who recorded three albums with Plank joined him and Moebius for a one-off long player ‘Zero Set’, Neumeier’s presence was felt heavily on ‘Speed Display’, a mad hyperactive collage of drums, bubbling electronics and treated robotic vocals that did exactly what it said on the tin!
Available on the MOEBIUS PLANK NEUMEIER album ‘Zero Set’ via Bureau B
‘Marcia Baïla’ was LES RITA MITSOUKO’s tribute to their late friend, Argentinian dancer Marcia Moretto. With Plank at the production helm, a squelchy backing track with enough space for Catherine Ringer’s strident theatrics was honed for a wonderful celebration of life. The duo went on to become very popular in France, collaborating with SPARKS in 1990.
Available on the LES RITA MITSOUKO album ‘Best Of’ via Sony Music
The Italian singer / songwriter unusually had something in common with NITZER EBB’s Douglas J McCarthy in that she too had a relative who was a F1 driver; in her case it was her brother Alessandro. Plank started working with Nannini in 1982 at a time when he was still regarded as a more artistically minded producer, rather than one who delivered pop hits. ‘Bello E Impossibile’ was a huge hit.
Available on the GIANNA NANNINI album ‘Profumo’ via Dischi Ricordi
The recent release of the ULTRAVOX! 4 CD box set ‘The Island Years’ was a timely reminder that their one-time leader John Foxx has had a music career that has spanned over four decades.
Born Dennis Leigh, his first recorded work was a ROXY MUSIC styled cover of ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ for an arthouse adult film of the same name, as a member of TIGER LILY. The quintet comprising of Foxx, Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Stevie Shears renamed themselves ULTRAVOX! and signed a deal with Island Records.
Reinforcing their art rock aspirations seeded by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND and Bowie, ULTRAVOX! secured the production input of synth pioneer and label mate Brian Eno for their self-titled debut in 1977. “It was good to hear his stories and enact his strategies” Foxx remembered of the experience, “He wasn’t greatly experienced in studio craft but he was a good co-conspirator, someone with a useful overview, who understood where we wanted to go”. Two albums later, they began to make headway with a template inspired by the emergent electronic bands from Germany such as KRAFTWERK, CLUSTER and NEU!
However, Foxx became disillusioned with the restrictions of a band format and departed ULTRAVOX! in 1979 for a solo career; “I want to be a machine” Foxx had sung on the ‘Ultravox!’ debut and he virtually went the full hog with the JG Ballard inspired ‘Metamatic’ released in 1980 on Virgin Records.
Recorded at Pathway, an eight-track studio in Islington using an ARP Odyssey, Minimoog, Elka Rhapsody 610 and Roland CR78 Compurhythm, the seminal long player yielded two unexpected hit singles in ‘Underpass’ and ‘No-One Driving’. Foxx said of that period: “You felt like some Film Noir scientist inventing a new life-form in the basement. I also think it was the beginning of Electro-Art-Punk or something like that. A strange wee animal. Seems to have bred copiously with everything available and still survived – right to this day.”
Photo by Adrian Boot
But featuring acoustic guitar and piano, by his second solo outing ‘The Garden’, Foxx had achieved his system of romance. In the years since, John Foxx has continued to innovate within electronic, experimental and ambient spheres, such are his diverse artistic interests.. Despite this, he is still very much under rated, especially compared with artists who benefited from his influence.
Gary Numan has always acknowledged his debt to the synth rock overtures of ULTRAVOX! while DEPECHE MODE’s admiration of ‘Metamatic’ led to its incumbent engineer Gareth Jones working with the band on their own Berlin Trilogy of ‘Construction Time Again’, ‘Some Great Reward’ and ‘Black Celebration’.
So with a vast repertoire to his name, what tracks in his various guises would act as a Beginner’s Guide to the man referred to affectionately as Lord Foxx Of Chorley? This is not intended to be a best of chronology, more a reflection of highly divergent career. With a restriction of one recording per album project, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK lists its #Foxx20.
ULTRAVOX! My Sex (1977)
Using Brian Eno’s Minimoog with a knob marked with a sheep sticker to indicate that it made woolly sounds, Billy Currie’s classical sensibilities combined with Foxx’s detached dissatisfaction for the wonderful ‘My Sex’. Of Eno, Foxx said “He was just what we wanted, really. A sort of art approach to recording”
Available on the ULTRAVOX! album ‘Ultravox!’ via Island Records
ULTRAVOX! Hiroshima Mon Amour (1977)
Utilising Warren Cann’s modified Roland TR77 rhythm machine, this was Foxx moving into the moody ambience pioneered by CLUSTER, away from the art rock of the first album and the aggressive attack of interim 45 ‘Young Savage’. ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ had been premiered as a spikier uptempo number for the B-side of ‘ROckWrok’.
Available on the ULTRAVOX! album ‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’ via Island Records
ULTRAVOX! Quiet Men – 12 inch version (1978)
Relocating to Cologne to work with the legendary Conny Plank for their third album ‘Systems Of Romance’, ULTRAVOX! became more texturally powerful thanks to Billy Currie’s ARP Odyssey, the EMS Synthi AKS of Chris Cross and the recruitment of guitarist in Robin Simon. ‘Quiet Men’ was a perfect integration of all those elements attached to a rhythm machine backbone.
Available on the ULTRAVOX! box set ‘The Island Years’ via Caroline International
JOHN FOXX He’s A Liquid (1980)
With ‘Metamatic, Foxx’x mission was to “Make a language for the synth and the drum machine”. The deviant ‘He’s A Liquid’ was pure unadulterated Sci-Fi: “I think it was a bit of punk electronica at the right time – just before everyone else raided the shed. Historically, perhaps it defines an impulse – something that wasn’t possible before – one man and some cheap machines making music independently”.
Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘Metamatic’ via Edsel Records
JOHN FOXX Europe After The Rain (1981)
Foxx admitted he had been “reading too much JG Ballard” and had thawed considerably following ‘Metamatic’. Now exploring beautiful Italian gardens and taking on a more foppish appearance, his new mood was reflected in his music. Moving to a disused factory site in Shoreditch, Foxx set up ‘The Garden’ recording complex and the first song to emerge was the Linn Drum driven ‘Europe After The Rain’.
Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘The Garden’ via Edsel Records
ANTENA The Boy From Ipanema (1982)
Before NOUVELLE VAGUE, French-Belgian combo ANTENA hit upon the idea of merging electronic forms with a samba cocktail style. Foxx produced their cover of ‘The Boy From Ipanema’, adding robotic textures via The Human Host. Much lighter that any of his own work, it was also quite sinister, making this a unqiue curio in the John Foxx portfolio.
Available on the ANTENA album ‘Camino Del Sol’ via Les Disques du Crépuscule
JOHN FOXX Ghosts On Water (1983)
Foxx had envisioned ‘The Golden Section’ as “a roots check: Beatles, Church music, Psychedelia, The Shadows, The Floyd, The Velvets, Roy Orbison, Kraftwerk, and cheap pre-electro Europop”. Working with Zeus B Held, the album had a psychedelic electronic rock flavour, liberally seasoned with vocoder effects and samplers. With folk laden overtones, ‘Ghosts On Water’ was one of the album’s highlights.
With its sax sample lead line, ‘Shine On’ showed Foxx could deliver a fine pop tune but he had lost his way and wasn’t happy: “I simply didn’t like the mid to late 80s scene – all perfect pop and white soul. I suddenly felt isolated. I remember one day finding myself half-heartedly toying with some sort of sh*tty pop music while longing to be out of the studio and working on something visual. So I thought right that’s it – time for a change”.
Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘In Mysterious Ways’ via Edsel Records
NATION 12 Remember (1990)
Foxx made an unexpected return to music with an acid house inspired number produced by Tim Simenon of BOMB THE BASS fame: “It was a great experience – a new underground evolving from post-industrial Detroit, using analogue instruments rescued from skips and pawn shops… Tim Simenon turned up wanting me to do some music… so Foxx was out the freezer and into the microwave…”
Available on the NATION 12 album ‘Electrofear’ via Tape Modern
JOHN FOXX Sunset Rising (1995)
Having been a choir boy, ‘Cathedral Oceans’ saw Foxxblending ambient forms with Gregorian chants, as exemplified by ‘Sunset Rising’. But the project had an extremely long genesis . Asked what this material gave him that songs couldn’t, he answered: “Well, they cover a different emotional and sonic spectrum – more concerned with tranquility and contemplation. Music with beats can’t address this at all”.
Weaned on ‘Metamatic’, Louis Gordon was a natural collaborator for Foxx’s song based comeback. Their partnership confirmed that Foxx still had that inventive spark. Noisy and percussive, ‘Dust & Light’ recalled the unsettling Dystopian standpoint with which Foxx had made his pioneering impact, although he sustained his interest in more psychedelic forms via songs like ‘An Ocean We Can Breathe’.
Available on the JOHN FOXX & LOUIS GORDON album ‘Crash & Burn’ via Metamatic Records
HAROLD BUDD & JOHN FOXX Subtext (2003)
With beautiful piano and processed electronics, the sparse ‘Subtext’ was very reminiscent of Harold Budd’s 1984 Eno collaboration ‘The Pearl’. From the ‘Translucence’ album which was twinned with the more discreet, sleepier textures of ‘Drift Music’, it was smothered in echoes and reverberations galore as slow atmospherics and glistening melodies esoterically blended into the ether.
JOHN FOXX & ROBIN GUTHRIE My Life As An Echo (2009)
The ‘Mirrorball’ album with COCTEAU TWINS’ Robin Guthrie took textural guitars and echoing piano into a dreamworld that Foxx could now enter. ‘My Life As An Echo’ was a beautiful instrumental which stopped short of being fully ambient thanks to its live drum loop. Other tracks such as ‘Estrellita’ and ‘The Perfect Line’ saw Foxx adding Glossolalia to the soundscape.
Available on the JOHN FOXX & ROBIN GUTHRIE album ‘Mirrorball’ via Metamatic Records
JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS featuring MIRA AROYO Watching A Building On Fire (2011)
Joining forces with synth collector extraordinaire Benge, Foxx found the perfect foil for his earlier analogue ambitions. The best track on their debut album ‘Interplay’ was a co-written duet with Mira Aroyo of LADYTRON entitled ‘Watching A Building On Fire’. With its chattering drum machine and accessible Trans-European melodies, it was an obvious spiritual successor to ‘Burning Car’.
Available on the JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS album ‘Interplay’ via Metamatic Records
GAZELLE TWIN Changelings – JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS remix (2012)
JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS became extremely prolific and a number of remixes appeared, the best of which was for GAZELLE TWIN aka Elizabeth Bernholz. She said: “John and Benge’s remix of ‘Changelings’ was really delicate and elegant. It’s one of my favourites of all the remixes because it doesn’t alter the song much at all. I love the addition of John’s vocal in there too. It was perfectly suited. It’s really special for me”.
Available on the JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS album ‘Evidence’ via Metamatic Records
JOHN FOXX & JORI HULKKONEN Evangeline (2013)
Foxx and Jori Hulkkonen had worked together previously on the songs ‘Dislocated’ and ‘Never Been Here Before’ for the Finnish producer’s solo albums, but never before on a body of work with a conceptual theme. Their eventual ‘European Splendour’ EP took on a grainier downtempo template and the lead track ‘Evangeline’ possessed a glorious pastoral elegance coupled with an otherworldly anthemic chorus.
Available on the JOHN FOXX & JORI HULKKONEN EP ‘European Splendour’ via Sugarcane Records
JOHN FOXX & STEVE D’AGOSTINO The Forbidden Experiment (2014)
With a Dystopian backdrop, Foxx returned to the more mechanical approach with Steve D’Agostino for the soundtrack of Karborn’s experimental short film. The music was “a sinister sonic architecture of drum-machine-music and analogue synthesizers”. The rumbling rush of ‘The Forbidden Experiment’ became a favourite forthose who preferred his instrumental work to have more rhythmic tension.
GHOST HARMONIC was a project comprising of Foxx and Benge alongside Japanese violinist Diana Yukawa. Foxx said: “the underlying intention was we all wanted to see what might happen when a classically trained musician engaged with some of the possibilities a modern recording studio can offer…” – with a startling dynamic , the album title track was a looming string and synth opus of soothing bliss.
Available on the GHOST HARMONIC ‘Codex’ via Metamatic Records
JOHN FOXX The Beautiful Ghost (2015)
An accessible chill-out record, ‘London Overgrown’ was Foxx’s first wholly solo ambient release since the ‘Cathedral Oceans’ trilogy. With the visual narrative of a derelict London where vines and shrubbery are allowed to grow unhindered throughout the city, ‘The Beautiful Ghost’ was like Beethoven reimagined for the 23rd Century with beautiful string synths placed in a cavernous reverb.
Available on the JOHN FOXX album ‘London Overgrown’ via Metamatic Records
JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS A Man & A Woman (2016)
‘A Man & A Woman’ was less rigid than previous JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS recordings featuring the enchanting voice of Hannah Peel and even some acoustic guitar flourishes. Despite this, vintage synths were still a key element to his mathematical theories: “Analogue is a bit more complex – still mysterious and rebellious. Digital is more controllable. Use where necessary. Avoid anything with a multi-function menu!”
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Eberhard Kranemann is a one-time member of KRAFTWERK who later recorded an album ‘Fritz Müller Rock’ with the legendary Conny Plank.
He came into my studio, but I did not tell him before that I’d prepared it to record our whole session professionally. I recorded 40 minutes of what we had played. We had never played together before but this 40 minutes was so great, it was wonderful music.
You were in KRAFTWERK?
So how do you make technology work for you in KRAUTWERK?
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released in January 1974 followed a thrashy, energetic style inspired by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. Its hybrid of glam, progressive and art rock continued in a vein similar to early ROXY MUSIC.
released in November 1974 signified the importance of his sophomore offering and this was without its more cerebral approaches and observations on Chinese Communism.
released in September 1975. Unlike his previous solo records, he had no material pre-prepared before entering the studio.
released in December 1977. It was his first vocal record credited as ‘Brian’ and to be his last one for many years as he divided time working with ULTRAVOX, CLUSTER and TALKING HEADS. Indeed, the David Byrne led combo were the inspiration for the metallic romp of ‘Kings Lead Hat’; the title was an anagram of the art school combo’s name while the track itself was later covered by ULTRAVOX.
album in 1982; compared to their Plank produced Cologne Trilogy of ‘Systems Of Romance’, ‘Vienna’ and ‘Rage In Eden’, ‘Quartet’ sounded thin and lacked density. But as history has shown, a producer can only achieve so much when the artists themselves are not delivering and even Plank’s involvement in ULTRAVOX’s lamentable 
album could not save it.
, only the final day involved any actual recording as he had spent the first three days getting to know them; the relationship with DAF continued for a further three albums.
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Foxx made an unexpected return to music with an acid house inspired number produced by Tim Simenon of BOMB THE BASS fame: “It was a great experience – a new underground evolving from post-industrial Detroit, using analogue instruments rescued from skips and pawn shops… Tim Simenon turned up wanting me to do some music… so Foxx was out the freezer and into the microwave…”
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