Trans Europe Express is the name of Kraftwerk's landmark 1977 album, an electronic and somehow emotional paean to industrial Germany and perhaps one of the most influential discs of all time. The music itself is the first real demonstration of the power of electronic music to truly demonstrate emotion; to this day, some of the songs on this album evoke strong emotions in me.
The album itself consists of seven pieces, but when listened to straight through, the final four pieces flow together into one long musical rush. The tracks are Europe Endless, The Hall of Mirrors, Showroom Dummies, Trans Europe Express, Metal on Metal, Franz Schubert, and Endless Endless.
The title track was later used in one of the first watermark moments in r & b and sampling history when Afrika Bambaataa used a very large sample of this song in his seminal track "Planet Rock." The strength of TEE is such that it manages to cross the large boundary between industrial techno and old-school hip hop with relative ease. The lyrics of this song are as follows, though the beauty is in the instrumentation.
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Rendezvous on Champs-Elysees
Leave Paris in the morning on T.E.E.
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
In Vienna we sit in a late-night cafe
Straight connection, T.E.E.
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
From station to station
back to Dusseldorf City
Meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express