The Man-Machine () is the seventh studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. It was released on 19 May 1978 by Kling Klang in Germany and by Capitol Records elsewhere. A further refinement of their mechanical style, the album saw the group incorporate more danceable rhythms. The album has a satirical bent to it. It addresses a wide-range of themes from the Cold War, Germany's fascination with manufacturing, and humankind's increasingly symbiotic relationship with machines. It includes the singles "The Model" and "The Robots".
Although the album peaked at 53 initially on the UK Albums Chart, it reached a new peak position of number nine in February 1982,
Music
Matt Mitchell of Paste magazine said that "the album was where Kraftwerk took their mechanical style of old and re-tuned it into a club-worthy aesthetic". The staff of GQ India assessed: "Taking electronic music from the German counterculturea still influential moment termed Krautrock by UK audiencesacross the 1970s and early '80s, [Kraftwerk] sculpted something modernist [...] out of the possibilities of synthesiser music." According to Alex Linhardt of Pitchfork, the band "just sound like robots" on the album. He explained: "While the fast-paced world of Ralf Hütter quotes knows no limits of pretension, this is the only album that conceivably expresses his ideal music: No emotions, no philosophies, no performances, and virtually no humor. It is pure technology: the whistles and surging circuitry of unmanned factories; twinkling hydraulic tubes; flaring odometers and cogs; and pre-Pong claw-claps." According to Steve Huey of AllMusic, "The Man-Machine is closer to the sound and style that would define early new wave electro-popless minimalistic in its arrangements and more complex and danceable in its underlying rhythms." He further described the style as "more pop-oriented than any of their previous work"
Themes explored on the album include science fiction and urbanization. based on the work of the Russian suprematist El Lissitzkythe words "Inspired by El Lissitzky" are noted in the album's inner sleeve. The back cover image is an adaptation of a graphic from Lissitzky's book for children About Two Squares: A Suprematist Tale of Two Squares in Six Constructions.
Release
The Man-Machine was released in April 1978. The Man-Machine was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 15 February 1982
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Reviewing the album in 1978, Andy Gill of NME stated that "The Man-Machine stands as one of the pinnacles of rock music", adding that "the sparsity of the lyrics leaves the emphasis squarely on those robot rhythms, chilling tones and exquisite melodies". Village Voice critic Robert Christgau also reviewed the album that year, saying: "Only a curmudgeon could reject a group that synthesizes the innovations of Environments and David Seville & the Chipmunks, not to mention that it's better make-out music." Mitchell Schneider from Rolling Stone found that the "chilling restraint and relentless sameness" of the lyrics and music are tempered by Kraftwerk's sense of humour and "sheer audacity", which makes for a listening experience that is "strangely pleasant in an otherworldly way".
Tony Clayton wrote in The Irish Times which "they constitute the resilient framework of electro-pop and electronica we hear today. And if there are more simple, warm and beautiful pieces of electronic music out there than 'Ohm Sweet Ohm', 'Neon Lights', 'Europe Endless' and the title track of Autobahn, then this geezer has yet to hear them." Paste ranked it the 11th best album of 1978.
The staff of GQ India called the album's sound "new and brilliant" for its time. They wrote: "Though 1981's Computer World is arguably more prescient musically in its anticipation of techno, 1978's Man Machine is the masterpieceelegiac, witty and truly marvellous in its sheer audacity and triumph. For our money, the best electronic album of all time."
Kraftwerk
- Ralf Hütter – album concept, artwork reconstruction (2009 remaster), cover, electronics, keyboards, Orchestron, production, Synthanorma Sequenzer, synthesiser, vocoder, voice
- Florian Schneider – album concept, electronics, production, synthesiser, vocoder, Votrax
- Karl Bartos – electronic drums
- Wolfgang Flür – electronic drums
Additional personnel
- Günther Fröhling – photography
- Leanard Jackson – engineering
- Karl Klefisch – artwork
- Joschko Rudas – engineering
- Henning Schmitz – engineering assistance
- Johann Zambryski – artwork reconstruction (2009 remaster)
Studios
- Recorded at Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf, Germany
- Mixed at Studio Rudas in Düsseldorf, Germany
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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! scope="col"| Chart (1978)
! scope="col"| Peak<br/>position
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! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)
| 56
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! scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)
| 14
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|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
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! scope="col"| Chart (1982)
! scope="col"| Peak<br/>position
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{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (2011)
! scope="col"| Peak<br/>position
|-
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Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1978)
! scope="col"| Position
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! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 26
|}