Kraftwerk ‎– Showroom Dummies 12″

Very rare limited edition 12″ maxi by Kraftwerk
One of the unassailable highlights of Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express album, ”Showroom Dummies” joins the title track in dictating the gulf which lay between rock’n’roll and Kraftwerk’s idea of rock’n’roll – all the more so after the tale of shop window mannequins who come to life and go clubbing, ”Showroom Dummies” was released in three different languages – German, English and, most unexpectedly effective of all, French. “Nous sommes les mannequins” may not sound particularly threatening, but when the strobe hit you right, and the volume started to hurt… it was.

Yet ”Showroom Dummies” was not a cold record. Wolfgang Flur explains, “I remember we loved the feel and the rhythm, and it became a very big part of ourselves. We knew we had transplanted European culture into our music. It is my greatest delight of the Kraftwerk time, because of its romanticism and its beautiful sounding melody.” He is correct. Whereas other Kraftwerk albums have a futuristic sense to them, Trans-Europe Express in general, and ”Showroom Dummies” in particular, looked back as well. It was a nostalgic album, one which evoked images of an age long past, 50 or 60 years back, perhaps, when the real Trans-Europe Express was at its peak, when there really were places like the Hall of Mirrors, and where the showroom dummies posed to the strains of Franz Schubert.