KRAFTWERK (1979, Spain)
Philips 71 05 248

 

Obtaining the earliest works of Kraftwerk on cassette is difficult; not many were produced originally, and they have not been reissued officially since the 1970s. I've been collecting Kraftwerk cassettes for a few years now but the two first albums rarely show up. I know of German, French and Spanish editions, as well as the UK "twofer" edition (the two first albums were released in the UK as a double LP, and as one double-play cassette!). I was lucky to acquire a Spanish edition of the first album recently, so here it is!

This was the last official cassette edition of the first Kraftwerk album, coming as late as 1979. I suppose The Man-Machine had sold well in Spain, creating a market for other product with the band name on the front cover? Although I've grown to love these early albums, I must admit I feel for the poor Spanish fan who paid for this in 1979, expecting the prequel to The Man-Machine...

The Spanish edition of "Kraftwerk" comes in a 2-panel J-card, with the iconic traffic cone on the front and with the right panel crediting Florian Schneider-Esleben in full (he stopped using "Esleben" years before). There's a catalogue number for the LP, too, I suppose to facilitate placing an order for it in your local shop, and on the inside of the J-card, there's a tiny bit of printer's info, and the year 1979 is finally mentioned! The cassette is grey with those dark green labels used on most Philips cassettes at the time.








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