One star

I have always had something of an issue with Kraftwerk. I put it down to the kid at school who did all that robotic dancing thing to The Model - a far better way of pulling the girls than my ham-fisted chat-up lines!

I never really liked that techno stuff, preferring the likes of Blondie.

And so it was with some trepidation that, some 20 years later I reacquainted myself with possibly the only band to come from Germany's industrial Dusseldorf.

This is a live double album recorded over three months last year. And the global following of this aging quartet is evident in the fact tracks are recorded in every corner of the world, from Latvia to Japan.

While you have to admire the production, one thing does prove a little annoying after a while - all the tracks sound exactly the same!

The Model, Autobahn and Tour De France, the only three tracks I'd heard before picking up this latest collection, are crammed together at the end of disc one, which meant there were few treats in store on the second cd.

Any hope of finding light relief in the sleeve notes was dashed by a series of pictures and not a jot to read!

While I'm sure this will prove a must-have album for Kraftwerk aficionados - others should give it a miss.

DL