Tour de France Soundtracks

Tour de France Soundtracks
Studio album by Kraftwerk
Released 4 August 2003
Recorded 1987–2003
Studio Kling Klang Studio
(Düsseldorf, Germany)
Genre Electronic
Length 55:57
Label
Producer
Kraftwerk chronology
Electric Café
(1986)		 Tour de France Soundtracks
(2003)		 Minimum-Maximum
(2005)
Singles from Tour de France Soundtracks
  1. "Tour de France"
    Released: June 1983
  2. "Tour de France 2003"
    Released: July 2003
  3. "Elektro Kardiogramm"
    Released: October 2003
  4. "Aerodynamik"
    Released: March 2004
  5. "Aerodynamik/La Forme Remixes"
    Released: 17 September 2007
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic73/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [2]
Stylus MagazineB+ [3]
Pitchfork Media7.0/10 [4]
Rolling Stone [5]
Mojo [6]
Uncut [7]
The Guardian [8]
BBCfavourable [9]
Drowned in Sound[10]

Tour de France Soundtracks is the tenth studio album by the German electronic group Kraftwerk, released in August 2003. It was re-released in October 2009 under the title Tour de France. The album was recorded for the 100th anniversary of the first Tour de France bicycle race, although it missed its intended release date for the actual tour. It includes a new recording of their 1983 single of the same name, the cover artwork of both releases being nearly identical. The announcement of the release caused much anticipation, as it had been 17 years since the group had put out a full album of new studio material (1986's Electric Café, also known as Techno Pop).

Unusually for a Kraftwerk album it did not have separate German and international vocal mixes, but was released only in one version, with a mix of French, German and English. The lyrics were co-written by Ralf Hütter and Maxime Schmitt, who had previously been manager of the Capitol label at Pathé-Marconi (part of the EMI group, the company that distributed Kraftwerk's music in France) and had been involved with the band since the mid-1970s.

A short jingle was supplied to the television broadcaster Eurosport for use in their coverage of the 2003 Tour de France.

The album peaked at number one in Germany, becoming the band's first number one in their home country.

A newly remastered edition of the album was released by EMI Records, Mute Records and Astralwerks Records on CD and digital download in October/November 2009, with heavyweight vinyl editions released in November/December 2009.

Release and promotion

Singles

"Tour de France", was released in June 1983 and the album includes a new recording of the song.

"Tour de France 2003" was released in July 2003 and includes the songs "Tour De France Étape 1", "Tour De France Étape 2" and "Tour De France Étape 3".

Elektro Kardiogramm was released as a promotional single in October 2003.

"Aerodynamik" was released as a single in March 2004.

Aerodynamik/La Forme Remixes" was released as a remix single on 17 September 2007, including remixes of the songs "Aerodynamik" and "La Forme" by Hot Chip.

Touring

Tour de France Soundtracks took the band on an extensive world tour in 2004. On the tour, they performed the music from four laptop computers running sequencing, sampling and synthesizer software, also controlling and synchronised with large video displays. In 2005, Kraftwerk released Minimum-Maximum, with separate audio and video releases featuring songs performed at various venues during the 2004 tour.

Commercial performance

Tour de France Soundtracks became the highest charting Kraftwerk album. However, it did not enter the Billboard 200, even though every Kraftwerk studio album since Ralf and Florian (1973) had charted there.

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Prologue"  
 0:31
2. "Tour de France Étape 1"  
  • Hütter
  • Schneider
  • Hilpert
  • Maxime Schmitt
 4:27
3. "Tour de France Étape 2"  
  • Hütter
  • Schneider
  • Hilpert
  • Schmitt
 6:41
4. "Tour de France Étape 3"  
  • Hütter
  • Schneider
  • Hilpert
  • Schmitt
 3:56
5. "Chrono"  
  • Hütter
  • Schneider
  • Hilpert
  • Schmitt
 3:19
6. "Vitamin"  
  • Hütter
  • Schneider
  • Hilpert
 8:09
7. "Aéro Dynamik"  
  • Hütter
  • Hilpert
  • Schmitt
 5:04
8. "Titanium"  
  • Hütter
  • Hilpert
  • Schmitt
 3:21
9. "Elektro Kardiogramm"  
  • Hütter
  • Hilpert
 5:16
10. "La Forme"  
  • Hütter
  • Hilpert
 8:41
11. "Régéneration"  
  • Hütter
  • Hilpert
 1:16
12. "Tour de France"  
 5:12

Note: The 2003 Japanese CD release of this album also contains the video of the single "Tour de France 2003" as enhanced content.

Promotional version

The promotional version of Tour de France Soundtracks contained a few differences from the album as it was finally released. "Régéneration" is extended to a length of 2:05, and there are slight changes in timbre and modulation during both "Tour de France Étape 3" and "Chrono".

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2003) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 29
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[13] 9
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[14] 76
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[15] 7
French Albums (SNEP)[16] 84
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] 1
Italian Albums (FIMI)[18] 22
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[19] 18
Scottish Albums (OCC)[20] 25
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[21] 7
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 25
UK Albums (OCC)[23] 21
US Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[24] 3

References

  1. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/music/tour-de-france-soundtracks/kraftwerk
  2. ↑ John Bush. "Review". allmusic.com. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  3. ↑ http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=1333
  4. ↑ Leone, Dominique (11 August 2003). "Kraftwerk: Tour de France Soundtracks". pitchforkmedia.com. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  5. ↑ Miles, Milo (12 August 2003). "Tour De France Soundtracks – Album Reviews". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  6. ↑ No huge amounts of new ground broken... but even a mediocre Kraftwerk album is still a work of near-genius. [Sep 2003, p.101]
  7. ↑ Cavanagh, David. "Uncut Reviews: Kraftwerk - Reissues". Uncut. Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
  8. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/aug/01/popandrock.shopping4
  9. ↑ Jones, Chris (30 July 2003). "Kraftwerk Tour De France Soundtracks Review". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  10. ↑ Chris Power (16 October 2009). "Kraftwerk Tour de France: Remastered". drownedinsound.com. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  11. ↑ Tour De France (Digital Remaster) (CD). Kraftwerk. Great Britain: Mute Records. 2009. CDSTUMM310.
  12. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Kraftwerk – Tour de France Soundtracks" (in German). Hung Medien.
  13. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Kraftwerk – Tour de France Soundtracks". Hung Medien.
  14. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Kraftwerk – Tour de France Soundtracks" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  15. ↑ "Kraftwerk: Tour de France Soundtracks" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  16. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Kraftwerk – Tour de France Soundtracks". Hung Medien.
  17. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  18. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Kraftwerk – Tour de France Soundtracks". Hung Medien.
  19. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Kraftwerk – Tour de France Soundtracks". Hung Medien.
  20. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  21. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Kraftwerk – Tour de France Soundtracks". Hung Medien.
  22. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Kraftwerk – Tour de France Soundtracks". Hung Medien.
  23. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  24. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/306063/kraftwerk/chart?f=322
Preceded by
Dangerously In Love by Beyoncé		 German Albums Chart number-one album
18 August 2003 – 24 August 2003 		Succeeded by
Dead Letters by The Rasmus
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