Radio-Activity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses of "Radio activity" and "radioactivity", see Radioactive (disambiguation).
| Radio-Activity | |||||
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| Studio album by Kraftwerk | |||||
| Released | 1975 | ||||
| Recorded | Kling Klang Studio, Düsseldorf | ||||
| Genre | Electronic music Synthpop |
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| Length | 37:38 | ||||
| Label | Kling Klang EMI Capitol |
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| Producer | Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider | ||||
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| Singles from Radio-Activity | |||||
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Radio-Activity is a 1975 concept album by Kraftwerk. It was also released under the German name of Radio-Aktivität. Unlike Kraftwerk's later albums, which featured language-specific lyrics, only the titles differ between the English and German editions.
The hyphenated album title displays Kraftwerk's typical deadpan humour, being a pun on the twin themes of the songs, half being about radioactivity and the other half about activity on the radio. More word plays are evident in the track listing: the cleverly titled "Ohm Sweet Ohm", and "Radio Stars", which as a title could refer to pop stars, but upon listening is revealed to be about quasars and pulsars.
This was the first Kraftwerk album to be entirely self-produced by Hütter & Schneider in their Kling Klang studio, and the first one to be performed by the "classic" Hütter/Schneider/Bartos/Flür line-up. All the music was written by Hütter/Schneider, with Emil Schult collaborating on lyrics. Schult also designed the artwork – a modified illustration of a late-1930s Deutscher Kleinempfänger vintage radio.
It was the first Kraftwerk album to feature use of the distinctive Vako Orchestron keyboard (choir, string and organ sounds), which the group had purchased on their recent US Autobahn tour. The band's custom-built electronic percussion also featured heavily in the sound, and extensive use was made of the vocoder. The usual synthesizers were present (including Minimoog and ARP Odyssey), and Ralf's Farfisa electronic piano made a return on "Transistor". For the first time the group did not use flute, violin or guitars.
By 1975, Hütter and Schneider's previous publishing deals with Capriccio Music and Star Musik Studio of Hamburg had expired. The compositions on Radio-Activity were published by their own newly set up Kling Klang Verlag music publishing company, giving them greater financial control over the use of songwriting output. Also, the album was the first to bear the fruit of Kling Klang as an established vanity label under the group's new licensing deal with EMI.
The title track Radioactivity was released as a single, and became a hit in France after it was used as the theme to a popular music show. The song was later re-recorded by Kraftwerk for their 1991 album The Mix. It was further remixed, for subsequent single release, by William Orbit and François Kevorkian.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
(English release titles / German release titles)
[edit] Side one
- "Geiger Counter" / "Geigerzähler" – 1:05
- "Radioactivity" / "Radioaktivität" – 6:44
- "Radioland" / "Radioland" – 5:50
- "Airwaves" / "Ätherwellen" – 4:53
- "Intermission" / "Sendepause" – 0:37
- "News" / "Nachrichten" – 1:31
[edit] Side two
- "The Voice of Energy" / "Die Stimme der Energie" – 0:55
- "Antenna" / "Antenne" – 3:47
- "Radio Stars" / "Radio Sterne" – 3:35
- "Uranium" / "Uran" – 1:24
- "Transistor" / "Transistor" – 2:15
- "Ohm sweet Ohm" / "Ohm sweet Ohm" – 5:39
1, 5, 6, 10, 11 (the instrumental tracks) written by Hütter/Schneider
2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12 written by Hütter/Schneider/Schult
[edit] Equipment
- Roland RE-201 Space Echo
- ARP Odyssey
- Moog Minimoog
- Farfisa Rhythm Unit 10
- EMS Synthi A
- Oscilloscope
- Vako Orchestron
[edit] Credits
- Ralf Hütter – vocals, keyboards and synthesizers.
- Florian Schneider – vocals, keyboards and synthesizers.
- Karl Bartos – electronic percussion.
- Wolfgang Flür – electronic percussion.
- Peter Bollig – technical engineer.
- Walter Quintus – sound engineer.
- Robert Franke – photography.
- Emil Schult – graphic design.
[edit] Release details
The original releases of each format are shown below. These may differ from currently available versions.
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog | |
| Germany | December 1975 | EMI-Electrola | Vinyl | 1C 062 82 087 | With insert sheet of 'Radio-Aktivität' stickers |
| December 1975 | EMI-Electrola | Cassette | 1C 244 82087 | ||
| February 1986 | EMI-Electrola | CD | CDP 564 7 46132 2 | ||
| United Kingdom | December 1975 | Capitol | Vinyl | E-ST 11457 | |
| December 1975 | Capitol | Cassette | TC E-ST 11457 | ||
| 1976 | Capitol | 8-track | 8X-E-ST 11457 | ||
| June 1987 | EMI | CD | CDP 7 46474 2 | ||
| United States | January 1976 | Capitol | Vinyl | ST-11457 | With insert sheet of 'Radio-Activity' stickers |
| 1985 | Capitol | Cassette | C2 46474 | ||
| 1976 | Capitol | 8-track | 8XT 11457 | ||
| 1985 | Capitol | CD | CDP 7 46473 |
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