Album of the Day

Kraftwerk's embrace of the brave new world of synthesizers set them apart in the 1970s, but by the time of COMPUTER WORLD, the German group was perfectly in synch with the pop zeitgeist. With members Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider twiddling knobs on both sides of the board, the album offers an irresistible batch of songs like “Pocket Calculator,” “Computerwelt” (which picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance) and “Computer Love,” which was a No.1 single in the U.K. on this day in 1982. While the blips, bleeps and beats of COMPUTER WORLD are clearly audible in the music of disciples like Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk offers a playful, and even warm take on technology that again sets them apart from their peers.