Inventors of techno-pop and sampled everywhere, Kraftwerk have been one of the most influential groups since The Beatles.

So of course, the release of the Tour de France 2003 single with a new album this month (the first in oooh, almost a decade, and nearer twice that if you're talking original material) is an Event.

I've got the original 1980s 12" single release of TdF of course. One of their finest tracks and, until they did a CD single of it a couple of years ago, not available in any other format.

So ordinarily, I'd be there on the day of release, money in hand. But I've just heard the new one.

Oh.. my.. ghod it's bad. They've taken one of their absolute classics, all heavy breathing and complex rthymical patterns over a deceptively simple melody, and given it the Expo 2000 treatment. Almost nothing remains of the original. It's not even good europop. Take out some of the lyrics and it really could be Expo 2003. Blah blah bleurgh.