Computer World



Computer World (Computerwelt) is the eighth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released on 10 May 1981. The album peaked at No.15 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 12 February 1982 for shipments in excess of 60,000 copies.

The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. In keeping with the album's concept, Kraftwerk showcased their music on an ambitious world tour and issued several different versions of the single "Pocket Calculator" in different languages: namely, German ("Taschenrechner"), French ("Mini Calculateur"), Japanese ("Dentaku", or 電卓), and Italian ("Mini Calcolatore"). The compositions are credited to Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, and Karl Bartos. As was the case with the two previous albums, Computer World was released in both German- and English-language editions.

Computer World was ranked at No.2 among the top 10 "Albums of the Year" for 1981 by NME. It was listed by Pitchfork as the 18th best album of the 1980s. Pitchfork listed the track "Computer Love" as the 53rd best song of the 1980s. Slant Magazine placed the album at No.25 on its list of "The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s". Rolling Stone named it the 10th greatest EDM album of all time in 2012.

Singles
The track "Computer Love" was released as a seven-inch single in the UK, in July 1981, backed with "The Model", from the group's previous album The Man-Machine. The single reached No.36 in the charts. In December 1981 the two songs were reissued as a double A-side twelve-inch single, and reached No.1 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1982, although "The Model" received the most airplay.

"Pocket Calculator" was released as a seven-inch single in the US by Warner Brothers in 1981, pressed on a fluorescent yellow/lime vinyl, matching the color of the album cover. The flip side featured the Japanese version of "Pocket Calculator," "Dentaku".

"Computerwelt" was remixed in 1982 as a dance version with additional bass and percussion sounds. It was released in January 1982 as a twelve-inch vinyl single only in Germany. The original track was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1982. "Computer World" was also chosen by the BBC for use in the titles of their UK computer literacy project, The Computer Programme.

Artwork
The cover shows a computer terminal (apparently based on one made by the Hazeltine Corporation) displaying the heads of the four band members.

The inner sleeve artwork, created by Emil Schult and photographed by Günter Fröhling, depicts four slightly robotic-looking mannequins (representing the band members engaged in studio activities: performing, recording, mixing), similar to the artwork of the previous album, The Man-Machine, also created by Fröhling. In two photos, the mannequin representing Karl Bartos is seen playing a Stylophone, an instrument which is featured on the track "Pocket Calculator".

Personnel
The original 1981 sleeve notes are relatively unspecific regarding roles, merely listing all the equipment suppliers and technicians under the heading "Hardware" and the various other people involved, such as photographers, as "Software". By contrast, the 2009 remastered edition notes list the performer credits as the following:

Kraftwerk

 * Ralf Hütter – album concept, artwork reconstruction, cover, electronics, keyboards, mixing, Orchestron, production, recording, Synthanorma Sequenzer, synthesiser, vocoder, voice
 * Florian Schneider – album concept, cover, electronics, mixing, production, recording, speech synthesis, synthesiser, vocoder
 * Karl Bartos – electronic percussion
 * Emil Schult – cover

Additional personnel

 * Günter Fröhling – photography
 * Johann Zambryski – artwork reconstruction

Legacy
In 1982, American DJ and rapper Afrika Bambaataa wrote the song "Planet Rock" and recorded chords inspired from Trans-Europe Express. The song's lyrics also included the Japanese number counting "Ichi Ni San Shi" from Kraftwerk's "Numbers".

Señor Coconut y su Conjunto, an electronic project of German musician Uwe Schmidt which initially covered Kraftwerk's songs, published a merengue-styled version of "It's More Fun to Compute" in their first LP El Baile Alemán, wrongly labeled as "Homecomputer" on the sleeve.

Coldplay used the main riff from "Computer Love" in their song "Talk" from their 2005 album X&Y.

Ricardo Villalobos' track "Logom-IX" from the 2006 album Salvador uses prominently the riff from "Computer World".

'Home Computer' is used as background music in the Young Sheldon episode "A Computer, a Plastic Pony, and a Case of Beer".