If ever there were awards for lethargy then surely Kraftwerk would register at the top of the list. Seventeen years since 'Electric Cafe', their first proper album and over a decade since a worthwhile remix album Kraftwerk have finally developed a whole album of new material. Well, it's almost all new save for the original version of 'Tour De France' as a final track. Given the group's long-standing obsession with cycling a soundtrack for the Tour De France seems tailor made for these pioneers. Now in their 50's no one could really expect a meisterwork to rival 'Trans Europe Express' or 'Man Machine' but even though trends have moved on in the last twenty years they still sound fresh and alive at times. Exhibit A is 'Tour De France Étape 2' where they capture futurism and the freedom of cycling on the open roads whereas the likes of 'Chrono' recycle the sounds of 'Computer World', their last great album from 1981. On the debit side 'Vitamin' is like the gyrations of cycling machine set to music but as an eight-minute effort it is well short of 'Autobahn' standard. It's good to see the group back in action because even if they don't fire on all cylinders they still sound better than a lot of their modern-day equivalents.