“Trans-Europe Express” elicits something like an existential crisis in me when I hear it after all these years. It has gone on to earn relentless praise from just about any source that rates music, but I would hear awkward redundancy where others found ‘hypnotic beauty’, and so I somehow missed its allegedly transformative power.

Figuring this to be a shortcoming of sorts, I return to the album often in an attempt to find the qualities that eluded me all of these years, time spent as if I were on a therapist’s couch discussing a failed marriage. I will acknowledge that the record has qualities, but I still come away with a shrug and the innate sense that my ignorance is a shortcoming, thus forcing me to analyze what blocks me from seeing what the rest of the world freely acknowledges.

Of course, in my defense I have made excuses, two of them, actually. The first and most powerful excuse relates to Kraftwerk’s earlier album, “Autobahn.” The very first time I heard that album coincided with my very first psychedelic experience. At the time, I never heard of the group or the side-long title track, and a good friend supplied a ‘safe’ space in his basement and played the entire album with the lights out while we conjured fantastical images in our brains relating to the sound of driving endlessly. Naturally, the psychedelics made the moment unforgettable, but the suggestive music provided safe fodder for our imaginations. It was a fantastic moment, and as a result I always think of “Autobahn” with admiration and awe.

The first time I heard “Trans-Europe Express” had been under much more ordinary circumstances, and my first impression revolved exclusively on its repetitive nature, not just within the album itself but the thematic redundancy of endless travel that was more than adequately represented already on “Autobahn.” There simply wasn’t enough of anything new for me to get excited about.

My second excuse is based on the timing of the album’s release. Few years were more transitional than 1977, and I already had my head spinning from trying to retain my appreciation for Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac while simultaneously getting my brains kicked in by the Clash, Television and the Sex Pistols. A duo called Suicide also appeared at this time, playing simplistic synthesizer riffs that struck me as an extreme punk version of Kraftwerk. I even saw them perform live at CBGB back then and they scared the bejeezus out of me, although I now consider their album to be somewhat ridiculous and dated. My point is that I had enough on my plate, thank you very much, and considered “Trans-Europe Express” to be peripheral under the circumstances.

​At this point in time, I simply throw up my arms in surrender. After four decades, what is the point of trying to ignite emotions that never really existed in the first place? Our relationship got off to a rocky start, and I never really recovered beyond developing a grudging appreciation for the album’s charms. When I play the album for others (part of my therapy is to see what opinions the album elicits from other music fans), there is usually a mildly positive response, but I have never witnessed anyone swoon with delight, as I might expect from an album so highly regarded.

Quite honestly, for an album that the LA Times called “the most important album of the past forty years,” the general reaction I witness from friends and musicians is quite muted. I can’t help but wonder if the person who wrote that was even higher than I was. In the long run, maybe it’s not a shortcoming to feel the way I do, but rather a matter of circumstance. I completely understand and appreciate the album’s influence on artists such as David Bowie, Afrika Bambaataa and Radiohead and acknowledge its enormous impact on Gary Numan, New Order, Devo, Depeche Mode and the subsequent EDM movement.

Maybe we can admit that the timing just wasn’t right for us, pay respect and simply move on?

Featured Tracks:

Europe Endless (Europa Endlos)

The Hall of Mirrors (Spiegelsaal)

Showroom Dummies (Schaufensterpuppen)

Trans-Europe Express (Trans Europa Express)

Metal on Metal (Metall auf Metall)

Abzug[a]

Franz Schubert

Endless Endless (EndlosEndlos)

March 1977 - Billboard Charted #119