I was a Robot/coming from the Autobahn/I was a Radio-Active man.
Yep, those opening words from I Was A Robot tells what you need to know – Wolfgang Flur was a key member of Kraftwerk when they were busy completely re-inventing electronica, but this is a retrospective of his solo stuff.
But be warned – if you are expecting the cool Teutonic sounds of his old band then you will be disappointed as this is the sound of a bloke who seems to have quit Germany, checked out Balearic beats and never came back.
This collection of uptempo Euro tech-house is both fun and a bit dated at times given the tracks start from 2002. I Was A Robot was a top 10 smash on the German dance chart, and is both knowing and a little cheeky. Cover Girl takes the story of Kraftwerk’s surprise UK number one The Model to its logical conclusion, but with much bigger beats.
Ironically the worse bits of this album is when Flur has a go on vocals as he is – frankly – no great shakes as a singer expect on the totally bonkers Best Friend’s Birthday where it sort of works.
He is on much stronger ground as a producer using powerful female vocals which works to perfection on the bouncy Blue Spark that would have been ideal fodder for gurning hedonists off their faces in the sun.
All in all a bit of a curate’s egg which is not surprising given it stretches over a decade of dance music, but Flur loses a point for stepping up to the microphone which doesn’t work. But you have to admire that a bloke nearing his seventh decade still trying to do something new and not just content to trade off past glories.
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