How do you review one of the most influential, essential, enjoyable records ever made? I'm not going to try to convince nonbelievers or sheep by mentioning any of the thousands of classic recordings or heavyweight artists who were directly influenced by this, and descriptions of the music will only spawn overblown verbal acrobatics. At the dawn of the '80s, a concept album about "computers" and the images of inscrutable teutonic technerds, half-mannequin half-amazing, seemed cooly futuristic. The iconic graphic design and studied facelessness couldn't begin to disguise the intense soulfulness of the music, however. The transition from b-boy basic "Numbers" into "Computer World 2" is as aching as any blues lick, and the basslines rippling through "Home Computer" and "More Fun to Compute" are downright foul. "Pocket Calculator" is an anthem in Japan, where it came out translated as "Dentaku." "Computer Love" will make you cry and "Computer World" will make you laugh. This is a perfect album. Heavyweight 180g pressing on randomly colored vinyl.

• colored vinyl pressing
• music label: Warner Bros. 2005

reviewed by Monk 11/2011