Darwen, a small market town of around 30,000 residents, so a little under half the size of Shrewsbury where our shop is sited, sits 5 miles south of Blackburn, Lancashire. On Bank Holiday Monday May 27th 2013, The Wonder Stuff played on a makeshift, ramshackle stage sited in the Main Square in the pissing rain at the Darwen Live free festival. Also on the bill at the festival that day were a band from Leigh, Greater Manchester who my brother Miles wandered off to see. And that’s how we discovered The Lottery Winners.

Now right up front I want to assure you I really like the Lottery Winners. They are a supremely wonderful live band, Thom Rylance is as good a frontman as you'll find anywhere, part Noddy Holder (without THAT voice), part stand up comedian. I’ve bought their records, seen uncountable live shows and toured with them. But I am gonna start with a whinge. I have opening song, “The Meaning Of Life”, on the EP it was originally released on in 2016 and compared to that, the version they chose as track 1 side 1 on their debut album is a reet dogs breakfast. I don’t know who chose to re-arrange it and change the lyrics, whether it was the band or producer Tristan Ivemy, but whoever it was, it didn’t need it.

Fortunately tracks 2, 3 and 4 on side 1 are all perfect pop beauties that make up for that first aberration. “Little Things”, “21” and “I Don’t Love You” are bloody fantastic pop tunes, the kind you want to hear at a gig while you’re right down the front bouncing up and down and screaming along to the chorus. Over on Side 2 the “Elizabeth” and “I Know” (it becomes the perfect audience participation song live) continue with the bangers.

And that’s the thing about the Lottery Winners, whether on record or live, they grab your attention, the melodies are infectious, they make you want to bounce and sing along. You’ll not find the meaning of life (boom-boom) or any great earth shattering statements in here. What you will find is bloody wonderful pop music. If that’s the sort of thing you like and you’ve not partaken yet…what the hell are you waiting for ?

Little Things - https://youtu.be/-psEJCGrkIc?si=O5-_kvCBjKGzFrNy

1981’s “Computer World” was something of a departure in sound for Kraftwerk, and at the same time it wasn’t. What I mean is Kraftewerk were still the robotic, computerised, strictly electronic combo of “Trans-Europe Express” and “The Man-Machine” but the technology of electronic instruments, of synthesizers and drum machines and sequencers, must have taken a huge leap forward between 1978 and 1981 because you can hear it on “Computer World”. Whereas the previous albums had a feeling about them that the musicians were wrestling with technology and making it do things it wasn’t designed to do, here the technology has caught up with the musicians ambition and everything seems easier to do.

The album is about the rise of computers and the, somewhat outlandish in 1981, idea that they would eventually be a part of all our every day lives (how’s that working out for you ?), Kraftwerk as predictors of the future. “Computer World’, “Computer Love”, “Home Computer”, “It’s More Fun To Compute” the titles tell you where we are at here.

My personal favourite again shows Kraftwek’s sense of humour. “Numbers” has a lyric that is simply them counting in German, French, Italian and Japanese. The lyric is simplicity itself, numbers, but aren’t computers simplicity when you get down to the basics ? Binary code, zeros and ones, numbers, but humans have more of them. Now that’s funny.

We already know that “Computer Love” was released as a single and it’s B-side. “The Model” eventually took it to #1 in the UK. The other single from this album was “Pocket Calculator” which was also recorded with lyrics in German ("Taschenrechner"), French ("Mini Calculateur"), Japanese ("Dentaku"), and Italian ("Mini Calcolatore”).

“Computer World” is a great sounding, very clean, electronic dance record. Kraftwerk’s influence on recorded music since the mid 70’s, be it electronic, Hip Hop or “dance” music is vast.

Numbers - https://youtu.be/tBTL2Porphg?si=p1_0NPYpDjCoCgBb

The German music that I listen to most is that of Kraftwerk and Rammstein. One viewed as a cold, robotic, emotionless ensemble, the other as making brash, loud, hellscapes of sound from some Thunderdome style fiery, dystopian future. I find both to be making music with a wicked sense of humour.

C’mon…d’ya think Rammstein aren’t sitting around thinking up the most ridiculous things they can do with fire (flame throwing guitars, face masks and Angels wings, cooking the keyboard player in a huge pot FFS) and having a good laugh about it ? Likewise you don’t think Kraftwerk weren’t wetting themselves about the idea of sending some showroom dummies out to sing “We Are The Robots” while they sat backstage and we paid to watch it ? Those pesky Germans do like a laugh after all.

“The Man-Machine” (or “Die Mensch-Maschine” as they were now releasing German and English versions of their records) refines the sound developed on “Trans-Europe Express” and makes it more robotic yet more danceable at the same time. It is home to their best known song, “The Model” (“Das Model”). Although this album was released in 1978, in 1981 to promote the album “Computer World” (“Computerwelt”, you can thank us for the German lesson later) “The Model” was released as the B-side of the single “Computer Love” and that reached #36 in the UK chart. Later that year it was re-promoted in a new picture sleeve (red instead of the original releases yellow) with “The Model” designated as the A-side (although as EMI used leftover copies of the original release, they just changed the picture sleeves, the label still had “The Model” as the B-side) and it went to #1 in February 1982.

“The Robots” sets the scene for what is to come. It’s one of Kraftwerk’s signature songs. The vocals are very affected to give a robotic feel that the music completely supports. That sense of humour is there in the lyrics too

“We're functioning automatic

And we are dancing mechanic

We are the robots”

Now if you don’t think that’s funny, well…there’s a section spoken in Russian and the slogan “We are the robots” is repeated over and over, giving a feeling that maybe the robots aren’t so clever after all, or are they ?

“Spacelab” and “Metropolis” are two (almost) instrumentals. “Spacelab” very much has the feel of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” about it, although with less soul and more robot but just as much dancefloor about it. Like “Spacelab”, “Metropolis” only lyrics is the title repeated.

“Neon Lights” is about as close to a ballad as Kraftwerk are likely to get and the title track brings things to a close with another of those almost instrumentals based a simple repeating figure and the ominous lyric

“Man Machine, pseudo human being

Man Machine, super human being”

This album was recorded and released in 1978. It sounds fantastic, way ahead of its time production wise. I’d wager every synth-popper of the 80’s knows it intimately and most certainly owes Kraftwerk a huge debt for giving them a career.

The Robots - https://youtu.be/SaoBbCC66I4?si=2USCw2vffi7iTYEJ