''Exceller 8'' is the title of a 1975 compilation album of music by Kraftwerk. It was released by the

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

label in order to capitalize on both the summer chart success of the single "

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

" and the imminent release of the next Kraftwerk album ''

Radio-Activity ''Radio-Activity'' (German title: ''Radio-Aktivität'') is the fifth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk, released in October 1975. The band's first entirely electronic album is also a concept album organized around the theme ...

''. By this time,

Ralf Hütter Ralf Hütter (born 20 August 1946) is a German musician and composer best known as the lead singer and keyboardist of Kraftwerk, which he founded with Florian Schneider in 1969. On May 12, 2021, Kraftwerk was announced as one of the inductees of ...

and

Florian Schneider Florian Schneider-Esleben (7 April 194721 April 2020) was a German musician. He is best known as one of the founding members and leaders of the electronic band Kraftwerk, performing his role with the band until his departure in 2008. Early li ...

had set up their own record and publishing company, Kling Klang.

Background

The album is a sampler of material from the first four Kraftwerk albums – '' Kraftwerk'', ''

Kraftwerk 2 ''Kraftwerk 2'' is the second studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in January 1972. Background ''Kraftwerk 2'' was entirely written and performed by founding Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1 ...

'', ''

Ralf und Florian ''Ralf und Florian'' (English title: ''Ralf and Florian'') is the third studio album by the German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in October 1973 on Philips. It saw the group moving toward their signature electronic sound. Along wi ...

'', ''

'' – 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 20 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, 8-Track and cassette and deleted in 1980.

Reception

From contemporary reviews, a reviewer credited as "Miles" reviewed the album in the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', describing it as a "a good selection I guess" finding that the "album sounds mechanical, even for raftwerk" and that the group " sound so detached, the kind of guys who could blow up the planet just to hear the noise it made."

Track listing

# "Ruckzuck" (minus the opening flute-echo intro) – 7:30 # "

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

References

Sources

* * {{Authority control 1975 compilation albums Kraftwerk albums Vertigo Records compilation albums