Music Book Review: The Sound of the Machine: My Life in Kraftwerk and Beyond by Karl Bartos

The Sound of the Machine: My Life in Kraftwerk and Beyond
by Karl Bartos (Music 781.66 Bartos)

It’s been a great few years for books on German electronic pop pioneers Kraftwerk, starting with David Buckley’s book “Kraftwerk: Publication” about two years ago. That remains a fantastic resource if you want to know more about the music of Kraftwerk—it’s quite an exhaustive overview of their music. Since then, we added another interesting book related to Kraftwerk called Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany by Uwe Schutte, which is a compact book but also very much worth reading. And here we’re going to look at a monster of a new book that you can now borrow from the Polley Music Library called The Sound of the Machine: My Life in Kraftwerk and Beyond. This is the autobiography of long-time Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos, who joined the band during what’s arguably their heyday, representing the period between their Autobahn album and Computer world, 1974 to 1990. After leaving Kraftwerk, he went on to form his own band Elektric Music, released a pair of well-received solo albums, and also collaborated with Kraftwerk again on the later albums Electric Café and The Mix.

 

My first response to this book was a bit of shock at its sheer size: it clocks in over 600 pages! However, I was a bit relieved once I opened the book to find that it’s using a large font, approaching large print text. It’s larger typesetting than any music book I’ve examined in a while, and I must admit that it’s a nice change of pace compared to some of the tiny text one finds in typical music history books.

 

With that unusual technical detail aside, let’s get into the book itself. Originally published in Bartos’ native German, the English edition was translated by Katy Derbyshire, and it finds Bartos writing in an affable, conversational manner throughout. Early chapters focus on his youth and early education. Like many aspiring musicians of his generation, he was inspired to pursue music after hearing the Beatles, and initially focused on the guitar and a little bit of drums. Eventually he found himself working mostly with drums, simply because there were lots of guitar players around. From this mostly self-taught beginning, he was able to get into Robert Schumann Conservatory, where he studied classical percussion in depth. But he continued to learn about the more unusual strains of rock music activity happening in the late 60s and early 70s, too, such as Zappa and Can. For much of the early 70s, Bartos was immersed in a combination of rock music idioms, classical music, and jazz, while earning his degree.

 

In 1974, it turned out to be his classical training that led Bartos to his long-time membership in Kraftwerk: they were looking for a classical percussionist to try playing their newly-developed electronic drum kit. The main pair of composer-performers in Kraftwerk, Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider, were also working with drummer Wolfgang Flur, but ultimately decided to add Bartos to their lineup. They began rehearsing to tour for the “Autobahn” album in earnest. Bartos lived a professional double-life in 1974 and 75, playing with Kraftwerk while continuing to work as a percussionist in opera and classical ensembles.

 

Starting with his accounts of activities in 1975, Bartos reveals his time as part of what’s now thought of as the “classic lineup” of Kraftwerk, starting with the recording of Radio-Activity. This narrative takes up the bulk of the rest of the book. Perhaps the biggest strength of this book for Kraftwerk fans will be the unique perspectives of Bartos regarding this period of fertile imagination for the band. He discusses lots of in-the-studio moments throughout the book, addressing both conceptual and technical elements of making this iconic music. But his perspective as a classically-trained musician continues to filter through all of his experiences, adding a unique take on this music that can’t be found in other books. Bartos has a great way of discussing the music in multi-layered, thoughtful, and introspective dimensions while managing to avoid the more technical jargon that could make things harder to understand for non-trained musicians.

 

The passages regarding Kraftwerk around early 1990, when Bartos and Flur left the group, are revealing as well. It’s been rare to read about this part of Kraftwerk history outside of the perspectives of Hutter or Schneider, but ultimately their slow work on “The Mix” album, while also insisting that Kraftwerk members only work within the band, ultimately led both percussionists to pursue other interests, for both emotional and financial reasons. It’s kind of a sad story. While there was a certain emotional detachment among band members that kept everything civil at first, eventually lawyers got involved over songwriting credit disputes.

The final section of the book is quite short, despite covering the time period from 1990 to the present. Bartos hasn’t been overly prolific as a musician in his time since Kraftwerk, though he’s released several solid albums as Elektric Music and under his own name. Ultimately, the book focuses on the period that most fans probably find the most compelling, and Bartos is a thoughtful and grateful guide through the heyday of Kraftwerk.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Kraftwerk: Publication by David Buckley, or Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany by Ewe Schutte.)

 

( publisher’s official The Sound of the Machine web page ) | ( official Karl Bartos web site )

 

Recommended by Scott S.
Polley Music Library

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Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!