There's not many books on the subject of Krautrock, or Kosmische Musik, but Cope's was one of the first to bring the music back into something approaching the mainstream. Cope's approach is that of the fanboy, a headlong rush to preach the Krautrock gospel and convert the uninitiated. Sadly that means objectivity goes out of the window.

The early part of the book where Cope sets the scene and introduces the main players is good and his pieces on bands such as Neu! and Tangerinee Dream are effective, but later on he gets all metaphysical and trippy and starts trumpeting the virtues of some of the more obscure offshoots of Krautrock. That's where he loses me.

The last part of the book is dedicated to Cope's highly selective and personal Top 50 Krautrock records, for which he provides reviews. Again his love of the music comes through in the passion of his writing, but again he has no objectivity and his highly personal cut-off point for some bands is questionable.

Cope has said that he has no plans to revise or update this book, which is long out of print (you can, as I did, locate a PDF of it with a simple google search), and he has acknowledged that there are factual and interpretive errors. But for all that it is an enjoyable and informative read, just take it all with a pinch of salt. ( )

The classic and very readable and informative tome on all things 'Krautrock' - a history and a 'top 50' to get you started on the path of Kosmische music. ( )

[Originally published in EST magazine, 1996]

If you take my advice, you should consider the ability of some of Krautrock's greatest stars to demolish their own mythology as a salutary warning before reading Krautrocksampler. With groups like Kraftwerk incapable of recapturing lost inspiration, Tangerine Dream a now-dreadful money-making machine, and even Neu! besmirching their own reputation with the recent (appalling) Neu! 4, it's good to be reminded that however influential, however much of it remains amazing, huge swathes of Krautrock were, to be blunt, awful. The reason for this warning is to ensure that Cope's overwhelming enthusiasm doesn't completely rob you of your natural caution!

Alongside lengthy, often delirious reviews of 50 classic Krautrock records, Cope explores the history of groups like Can, Faust, Neu!, Kraftwerk, the Cosmic Couriers, Tangerine Dream, Amon Düül, Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel and Cluster. Like every true fan Cope is obsessed with "the early years", to the extent that anyone reading this book would be forgiven for thinking that Faust's story ended with Faust IV in 1973.

Cope's taste for the wildest possible freak-out, for music as a path to psychedelic inspiration and spirituality isn't for everyone, but there's still more than enough intriguing material here to open the minds of casual Krautrock fans and perhaps inspire them to seek out much that has remained obscure. Hardcore fans will keep looking for a more encyclopaedic account of the genre's many ancestors, groups, and descendants, but I still found Krautrocksampler informative, enjoyable and, at times, inspiring. ( )