Exceller 8

Background

The album is a sampler of material from the first four Kraftwerk albums – Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2, Ralf und Florian, Autobahn – and includes some versions of tracks that had been edited down for release on singles, such as "Autobahn", as well as simple excerpts from longer album tracks, such as "Kling-Klang". Only the pair of tracks from the Ralf und Florian album, "Tongebirge" and "Kristallo", are entirely free of cuts.

Track selection was by Alan Cowderoy (later an A&R manager at Stiff Records) and sound engineering is credited to Steve Brown, though it is unclear if they created the edited versions of the two tracks released as singles. The three-minute version of "Autobahn" (edited down from an original album length of 22:30) is the same as the three-minute UK single mix, which had been a top twenty hit in the UK. A different 3:28 edit, released in 1974, received considerable airplay in the US. "Comet Melody 2" failed to chart.

The album was issued on vinyl and cassette and deleted in 1980.

Track listing

1. "Ruckzuck" (minus the opening flute-echo intro) – 7:30
2. "Autobahn" (new edited version) – 3:06
3. "Tongebirge" – 2:50
4. "Kristallo" – 6:18
5. "Comet Melody 2" (version released as a single in August 1975 with middle section edited out) – 2:49
6. "Kling-Klang" (excerpt beginning at 1:38 into the original track) – 9:20
7. "Vom Himmel Hoch" (the opening and closing sections with a cross-fade link) – 4:00
8. "Stratovarius" (excerpt of the final section) – 1:35