| Tour de France Soundtracks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 4 August 2003 (2003-08-04) | |||
| Studio | Kling Klang (Düsseldorf) | |||
| Genre | Techno | |||
| Length | 55:57 | |||
| Language |
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| Label | ||||
| Producer | ||||
| Kraftwerk chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Tour de France Soundtracks | ||||
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Tour de France Soundtracks (renamed toTour de France for its remastered release) is the eleventh studio album by Germanelectronic music bandKraftwerk. It was first released on 4 August 2003, throughKling Klang andEMI in Europe andAstralwerks in North America. The album was recorded for the 100th anniversary of the firstTour de France bicycle race, although it missed its intended release date for the actual tour. It includes a new recording of their1983 song of the same name, the cover artwork of both releases being nearly identical. The announcement of the release caused much anticipation, as it had been 17 years since the group had put out a full album of new studio material (1986'sElectric Café, also known asTechno Pop). It is also the last studio album to featureFlorian Schneider before his departure from the band in 2008 and his death on 21 April 2020.
The album received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success. It reachedNo. 1 in Germany,No. 21 in the UK, as well asNo. 3 in the US dance charts.
Kitty Empire ofThe Observer labeledTour de France Soundtracks atechno album.[1] Unusually for a Kraftwerk album, it did not have separate German and international vocal mixes, but was released only in one version, with a mix of French, German, and English. The lyrics were co-written byRalf Hütter and Maxime Schmitt, who had previously been manager of theCapitol label atPathé-Marconi (part of theEMI group, the company that distributed Kraftwerk's music in France) and had been involved with the band since the mid-1970s.
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 73/100[2] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Blender | [4] |
| The Guardian | [5] |
| Los Angeles Times | [6] |
| Mojo | [7] |
| Pitchfork | 7.0/10[8] |
| Q | [9] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
| Spin | C[11] |
| Uncut | [12] |
"Tour de France" was released in June 1983 and the album includes a new recording of the song. "Tour de France 2003" was released in July 2003 and includes the songs "Tour de France Étape 1", "Tour de France Étape 2" and "Tour de France Étape 3". A shortjingle was supplied to the television broadcasterEurosport for use in their coverage of the2003 Tour de France. "Elektro Kardiogramm" was released as a promotional single in October 2003. "Aerodynamik" was released as a single in March 2004. "Aerodynamik/La Forme Remixes" was released as a remix single on 17 September 2007, including remixes of the songs "Aerodynamik" and "La Forme" byHot Chip.
Tour de France Soundtracks took the band on an extensive world tour in 2004. On the tour, they performed the music from four laptop computers runningsequencing,sampling, andsynthesizer software, also controlling and synchronised with large video displays. In 2005, Kraftwerk releasedMinimum-Maximum, with separate audio and video releases featuring songs performed at various venues during the 2004 tour.
A newlyremastered edition of the album with the revised titleTour de France was released byEMI Records,Mute Records, andAstralwerks Records on CD and digital download in October–November 2009, with heavyweight vinyl editions released in November–December 2009.[13]
Tour de France Soundtracks became the highest charting Kraftwerk album. It peaked at number one in Germany, becoming the band's first number one in their home country. However, it did not enter theBillboard 200, even though every Kraftwerk studio album sinceRalf and Florian (1973) had charted there.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prologue" | 0:31 | ||
| 2. | "Tour de France Étape 1" ("Tour de France Stage 1") |
|
| 4:27 |
| 3. | "Tour de France Étape 2" ("Tour de France Stage 2") |
|
| 6:41 |
| 4. | "Tour de France Étape 3" ("Tour de France Stage 3") |
|
| 3:56 |
| 5. | "Chrono" |
|
| 3:19 |
| 6. | "Vitamin" |
|
| 8:09 |
| 7. | "Aéro Dynamik" ("Aerodynamic") |
|
| 5:04 |
| 8. | "Titanium" |
|
| 3:21 |
| 9. | "Elektro Kardiogramm" ("Electrocardiogram") |
|
| 5:16 |
| 10. | "La Forme" ("The Form") |
|
| 8:41 |
| 11. | "Régéneration" |
|
| 1:16 |
| 12. | "Tour de France" |
|
| 5:12 |
| Total length: | 55:57 | |||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 4. | "Tour de France Étape 3" | 4:07 |
| 5. | "Chrono" | 3:27 |
| 11. | "Régéneration" | 2:05 |
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] | 110 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] | 29 |
| Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[17] | 9 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] | 76 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[19] | 7 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[20] | 84 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] | 1 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[22] | 22 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] | 18 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[24] | 25 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[25] | 7 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] | 25 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[27] | 21 |
| USTop Dance Albums (Billboard)[28] | 3 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[29] | Silver | 60,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)| Studio albums |
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