The November 1986 Guide (USA, Promotional sampler, 1986)
Warner Bros. (no cat. no.)


Generally speaking, I don't go in for the various artists compilations much. There is of course a score of these, featuring one song by Kraftwerk crammed in between other artists, but although I suppose these can be said to be part of the legacy of Kraftwerk, they haven't appealed to me that much. I suppose if there were a lot of exclusive content out there I would grab it eagerly, many other artists will issue alternative versions of tracks on such compilations, live material or demos or exclusive remixes... But with Kraftwerk, less was always more, and the music on the albums is nearly all you get. And having The Model crammed in between other hits of 1982 on some "Super Hits" style compilation just hasn't been as fascinating as getting the original albums from different countries.

 

This cassette doesn't have exclusive music, strictly speaking, but I found it interesting none the less: This has a one-minute portion of "Electric Cafe", the title track, with a voice-over enthusing about the new Kraftwerk album: "It's finally here: Kraftwerk's Electric Cafe. This album as you'd expect is on the cutting edge of musical technology, and since it's been at least a couple of years since their last release, Electric Cafe is one of the most eagerly awaited albums of the year. So plug it in, and enjoy!" After one verse of Ralf's voice, and the robots' chorus, the cassette cuts to the next artist. In all, 15 new albums are presented across 27 minutes, one side of a C60 cassette. The track list just holds the artists' names and cat.no of each new LP, and the samples include a diverse selection of artists, from Slayer to Bill Cosby.


A simple 1-panel J-card on pink card stock, with print just on the outside, and the cassette has no print or label or anything, not even a mark to tell what is the a-side (well, with the same programme on both sides, it hardly matters which one is the a-side anyway!). Fun to know how Electric Cafe was marketed in the US at the time, if nothing else!










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