Kraftwerk - Minimum - Maximum (DVD, 2005)

This is the ultimate, if not ONLY live package of music by the legendary German band and it's immaculate in form and function, as you would expect. It's a 2 DVD set in a trifold carrier placed in a sleeve, which is German and minimalist as you'd also expect yet I have to say it's not very resistant to greasy hands, being paper based so you'll want to have cleaner hands for more than handling the discs. I have not had the chance to hear the stereo mix OR the 5.1 Dolby setup as I used an old 1980 19" Trinitron and the quad is not hooked up at the moment but both the audio and video are fine for the vintage set I use. You might have a better picture on a DTV but I can't say and I didn't note any defects I could recognize during playback, just the odd format EMI chose so that it started first THEN presented a menu at the end. My Pioneet DV-C603 does not have a MENU button on the face nor chapter skip FOR THIS FEATURE. Leave that to German sensability I guess.

Kraftwerk does not perform with any conventional instruments nor have they in nearly 30 years, thus early compositions such as 1970's Runkzunk (which you may know as the 'theme' to Newton's Apple, although the producer of that show didn't appear to have asked originally) and the innovative aluminum drum pad kit that was years ahead of it's time has been retired as the performance is controlled by the four members' podiums/keyboards/sequncers.

Really, 61 year old men don't HAVE to run and jump and posture to be awe-inspiring! The graphics, the glow in the dark grid suits and the performances themselves are the star of this show. No exhorting the crowd with "HELLO GERMANY" and no massive jams with cartwheeling guitar strumming. You will not yearn for any of it. Kraftwerk is complete and lives up to the name and legacy of Ralf and Florian. They haven't always toured, choosing to do more early in the decade and they will only have a small itinerary in the US this year as I understand (one such date will be this spring in Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California in late April 2008 so if you cannot--I can't : ( --get to a concert I would urge you to find a copy of this concert. There are many clips on You Tube currently but you deserve your own record of the band that made the late 20th century what it is...

Kraftwerk helped invent the forms that became Techno, House and other Electronica styles from the beginning in the predecessor band Organization and with people like Conny Plank and members of Can and Neu! Ralf is proud of that contribution it is said and it can be said that the music and culture of the 1980's would not exist as they did if not for Kraftwerk.

This is a landmark and with the release date of "The Catalogue" still in limbo one of few official video releases available currently.

Worth every penny.