My copy of Der Katalog arrived on Monday, (via amazon.de) and I was intending to say something about it but I think it's understandable that I just got into it and enjoyed it first
My first impression was of the weight! It's very heavy. What you get is a standard 12inch album box that is an inch thick but the card used is practically industrial strength. Secondly, (having torn off the shrink wrap) is the smell, (smell the glove
). No... seriously! Pop the hood on this one and it smells like a new car. So much fresh print and new plastic (I happen to like that).
Everything's packed to within a very narrow tolerance. Possibly a little too tight a fit. I found the books only just squeeze back into their separate inner box. The CD's (all miniature replica card album sleeves) fit snug (4 x 4) two albums per slot) are easy enough to prise from their high density white foam but the ones on the bottom can be a bit fiddly. I also found sliding the inner card sleeves for each CD out was initially a bit tight (I did worry I might bend them).
Anyhow... by this stage, I'm furiously stroking my goatee (no that's not a sexual metaphor)
My early reservation about the removal of Karl and Wolfgang from the front sleeves no longer applies. Now I have the box set, it all makes sense. When you open the album, all four original members are still represented and indeed in the superb 12 inch booklets that accompany each recording contain many images of the original line up as it should be. I now feel that the simplification of the album art was simply to make an minimalist statement rather than any "rewriting of history". The books contain no text, (I rather like that) just the original artwork concepts and alternate images.
As for the all important music; someone else has written an extremely detailed blog which I largely agree with
READ HERE . I do find his comments about the start ID's of certain tracks to be a bit pointless though. The recordings are still the same regardless of where the CD decides to plonk it's start point.
I do feel that some of the noise reduction could have been handled a little better, (audio restoration being something I do for a living) but overall, it's not a big issue. The recordings do sound better for the clean up. The Man Machine (Die Mensch-Maschine) coming out best of all.
I do disagree with the blogger about Techno Pop however. I think the mastering sounds much better than the original although the replacement of The Telephone Call (Der Telefon Anruf) with the A & B side single mixes was a mistake. The original 8 minute album mix was far better than these two.
It should also be noted that the final album, (Tour De France) is not remastered. If you have this already you will have another duplicate I'm afraid. It makes complete sense of course, being so recent, there is no reason to change the sound on this.
So what to do?
Well I've ordered both box sets because I'm a Kraftwerk completist but for those less obsessive, I would recommend buying one box set and supplementing it with individual albums in the language of your choice. Remember, three of the albums will be identical as they are multi-lingual, (Autobahn, Radioaktivitat and Tour De France).
Overall, a nice thing to have. There's no doubt this was designed specifically for the obsessive, (and jollies a'plenty is does deliver). The remasters are worth having but not essential. As has been said many times before, if the old CD's were a bit quiet, you can always turn them up, (and crank the bass a bit if you like). Some may enjoy the new noise free sound (very sterile, very Kraftwerk) but others like me may be loathe to sacrifice some of the ambience lost in the process and miss the old mains hum and crackle that truly vintage gear used to produce.
