The fourth example in a series of exclusive 7″ Kraftwerk singles made available from the German ‘MusikExpress’ magazine has just been released for the August 2023 issue. Celebrating 20 years since the release of Kraftwerk’s most recent album, ‘Tour de France Soundtracks’, the 7″ is a one-sided single with an exclusive edit of the album’s closing track, ‘Tour de France’.
Of course, the detail there is that the closing track to the album was a 2003 re-recording of the version of ‘Tour de France’ first issued back in 1983, not the new 2003 album track Etape 1 / 2 /3 versions. UPDATE: And, thanks to a comment courtesy of Staggboy, to be more precise, the edit is derived from the 2017 3-D The Catalogue/Der Katalog version, rather than the 2003 ‘Tour de France Soundtracks’ album version.
As well as a piece about the album and its legacy, the magazine also comes with a new interview with the now 76 year old Ralf Hütter. Much of it dwells inevitably on cycling and the influence of the Tour de France but it also takes in Ralf’s views on AI, which he terms artistic intelligence.
The other singles in this series, which seem to come along at an interval of two years, that VersionCrazy has documented before include ‘Heimcomputer’, ‘Autobahn’ and ‘Die Roboter’.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy you can order it from the MusikExpress web shop. As well as the latest in the series there is also currently also the opportunity to obtain the previous singles too as a bundle.
unfortunately the bundle is no longer available. it seems that they have sold out of the Heimcomputer release, but the other 3 can still be purchased individually
Hmm… it’s definitely a rather lovely item, but I have to disagree with your description of the edit itself. It’s actually derived from the 2017 3-D Der Katalog/The Catalogue version rather than the closing track on the 2003 album that it’s meant to commemorate. I’ll get me coat… 🙂
PS please more Hard Corps! In the wake of the new Martin Rushent Autonomy compilation, can you possibly unravel the myriad permutations of Je Suis Passée?
Lovely item indeed. Have to disagree with your description of the edit though. It’s definitely derived from the 2017 3-D The Catalogue/Der Katalog version, rather than the 2003 Tour de France album version. I’ll get me coat…
Thanks very much indeed – my bad on assuming that the 2003 version was used! Duly updated!
I’m not sure if it serendipity or mind-reading, but I can confirm that having recently picked up that ‘Autonomy’ compilation CD I have dusted off the long in gestation deep dive into ‘Je Suis Passée’… watch this space…