I own very few records about sport, a few football singles and a Canadian punk LP about ice hockey excepted*. Weirdly it only occurred to me on Sunday while I was crammed into a seat high up in the circle in the Liverpool Empire** that I own another; it was possibly the 7-minute film of vintage cyclists that accompanied the track that subtly tipped me off, I am quite perceptive like that.
Kraftwerk Tour De France. I suspect this is about a cycle race, possibly held somewhere in mainland Europe?
Born out of Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider’s deep love of cycling Tour De France was released in 1983, becoming a bit of an unlikely hit and then was subsumed into LP form in 2003, a pretty swift piece of work for latter day Kraftwerk.
After the ludicrously prescient technology heavy offerings Computer World and The Man Machine it is interesting how Tour De France flips the script slightly, acknowledging the man on the machine a little more. Although the machine is foregrounded along with the cyclist’s panting^ with the noises of the gears, chain and tyres all worked into the track.
And what a track it is. The 12″ version here is way better than the single edit, it needs the full 6:34 to pull ahead of the pack. The rhythm is brilliantly done, that skittering high pulse is the first sound you hear on the record and persists right through unabated. There is a joyfully simple synthesizer theme picked out between the French pronouncements that form the lyrics.
Galibier et Tourmalet
En danseuse jusqu'au sommet
Pédaler en grand braquet
Sprint final à l'arrivée
The finished track is like a racing bike, light, streamlined and surprisingly substantial. I love that it was picked up immediately as a breakdance track, Kraftwerk connecting hard with all those early breakers and electro producers on their own tour de monde.
My 12″ comes with the 3-minute single version and a bit of an oddity not found amongst the peloton of different versions released, it is called ‘Tour De France, Étape 2’ which is a 2:40 rhythm track that differs from that in the main release slightly.
Interestingly, you cannot stream this version of Tour De France anywhere now, it has been entirely replaced by the 2003 upgrade, which is slicker but less organic sounding than this. Bloody progress eh?
I was lucky enough to see Kraftwerk for the second time in a year^* in Liverpool on Sunday night. They were absolutely superb, even from my seat high up in the gods. There was a bit of an unexpected glitch at the very beginning and I confess to being the wag who shouted ‘turn it off and turn it on again’ at that point. Sorry.
It was a brilliant show, longer than the festival slot I saw them in last year and so we got even more treats. They performed a brilliant version of ‘Neon Lights’ this time around and I can never hear ‘Spacelab’ too many times – the bit where the flying saucer flies to that night’s venue is always a thrill. My other takeaway was again how prescient ‘Computer Love’ was, that yearning for a ‘data date’ and a ‘rendezvous’, amidst a morass of misconnections and loneliness.
The lights and presentation were, as always, just incredible and they have beefed-up and up-beated a lot of their tunes into thundering dance cuts, it was a bit sad to be seated for them.
My favourite moment was their touching tribute to their friend Ryuichi Sakamoto where they play a section of ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ with just his picture on the screen. It is a beautiful piece of music and a lovely moment. My second favourite moment was Ralf Hütter bowing and touching his heart as he left the stage, he meant it.
Kraftwerk are a brasher prospect than they once were, less melancholic maybe but they still have so much heart, joy and soul. See them if you can, while you can.
1321 Down.
PS: this was me doing my chores today
*The Hanson Brothers rule!
**it is a beautiful Victorian theatre but the distance between seats was knee-crunchingly inadequate, I am only 5’11”, Victorian scousers must have been borrower sized!
^it does all get a little ‘Love To Love You Baby‘ at times, although maybe with a touch less orgasmic cooing.
^*true, just, I saw them at Milton Keynes on 22 June 2025 too.
