ROBOTS (1986, USA)
Capitol, 4XL-9445

The USA had an array of interesting releases, Kraftwerk had some success in club markets and of course, Autobahn was famously the biggest hit on the Hot 100 up to that point that wasn't sung in English. So when you cross that threshold, there will be lots of releases - albums will be pressed in several editions, I've discussed the "Music Club" phenomenon in an earlier post, and with so many radio stations, even for a medium-sized release, there would be promotional items in addition to the product you could buy in shops or through mail order. And because Kraftwerk would re-appear in the public eye from time to time, without ever making it big, it seems to have made sense to make compilations of previous singles, to get the back catalogue out to new audiences I suppose. And so we get the 1978 four-track 12" EP with the fantastic title "Kraftwerk's Disco Best" and - this, a 1986 compilation of the Capitol albums.

I must admit that I do not know why this came out at all, nor how the tracks were selected. Could be that it came out hot on the heels of Electric Cafe, but it could also be from just before that release - which had been post-poned for years, so maybe Capitol were trying to capitalise (no very weak pun intended, I promise!) on the lack of new product? Whatever the reasons for putting it out, on ROBOTS we find single edits of a few of their best-known songs, but also some more obscure selections, especially from Radio-Activity. BTW note that it's "ROBOTS", not "The Robots" as per the song title - placed as it is underneath that eye-watering band logo, it seems to me to suggest that Kraftwerk are robots? "Kraftwerk: Robots". 

I have not timed the cassette, but it seems to be well under 30 minutes, so they could easily have included a couple more tracks on each side. Showroom Dummies had been a club hit in the US, and The Man Machine Could this be an attempt at creating some customer dis-satisfaction? To simply move the listener to get the full albums, after hearing edits of singles and, well, Uranium, twice in an hour-long car journey... Ideally, you'd buy this, play it twice, stop by the local cassette supplier and get the full albums? Well, I have no idea of course. 

It seems, in spite of these shortcomings as a proper "best of" compilation, that it sold steadily and well, because the cassette came in many different shells, and a later edition had a different cat.no. (why??!). At least, I think the other cat.no is for a later edition, as the bar code on that one is more advanced... I suppose I'll post that at some later point, but for now, here's the 4XL-9445 version. ROBOTS came in a very basic one-sided one-panel J-card, with the famous 1977 promotional picture of the dummies, which had been used on the labels of the "Showroom Dummies" 12" and elsewhere.