Editing Autobahn (album) (section)

==Reception==
===Contemporaneous reviews===
{{Album ratings
|title = Contemporary ratings
|rev1 = ''[[The Village Voice]]''
|rev1score = C+{{sfn|Christgau|1975}}
}}
According to Kraftwerk biographer Uwe Schütte, on its initial release in Germany, ''Autobahn'' was generally ignored by the mainstream German music press.{{sfn|Schütte|2020|p=64}} The group invited members of the German rock press to drive with them and played "Autobahn" from the car's speakers.{{sfn|Bussy|2004|p=58}} Schult recalled the general response from these journalists was an emphatic "So what!"{{sfn|Bussy|2004|p=58}} The only major publication that covered the album was the November 1974 issue of German magazine ''Sounds'', in which reviewer Hans-Joachim Krüger called the album "varied, and above all entertaining jaunt which particularly impresses listeners wearing headphones".{{sfn|Schütte|2020|p=64}}{{sfn|Schütte|2020|p=298}} In a review of a later Kraftwerk album, a reviewer credited as "N.N." said of ''Autobahn'', "[S]omething like that doesn't even deserve to be released".{{sfn|Schütte|2020|p=65}}{{sfn|Schütte|2020|p=298}} Flür said of the album's initial critical reception: "In Germany, artists are often not well regarded unless they've scored great achievements abroad" and "Our success in the US finally brought good headlines in the German newspapers".{{sfn|Dalton|2016a|p=4}}

In 2013, Jude Rogers of ''[[The Observer]]'' called some English-language responses to the album [[xenophobia|xenophobic]].{{sfn|Rogers|2013}}  Rogers cited examples such as Barry Miles' live review of the band that was titled "This is what your fathers fought to save you from", and an interview between Hütter and [[Lester Bangs]] in which Bangs asked if Kraftwerk were "the final solution" for music.{{sfn|Rogers|2013}} When the ''[[NME]]'' printed Bangs' interview, a photograph of the group was superimposed over an image of a [[Nuremberg rallies|Nuremberg rally]].{{sfn|Rogers|2013}} Among contemporaneous reviews, [[John Mendelsohn (musician)|John Mendelsohn]] of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' gave the album a negative review, finding it not as good as the music of [[Wendy Carlos]], who "hasn't been in the Top Ten in months and months".{{sfn|Mendelsohn|1975}} ''[[The Village Voice|Village Voice]]'' critic [[Robert Christgau]] gave the album a C+ rating, comparing it with the music of [[Mike Oldfield]] but said it was made "for unmitigated simpletons, sort of, and yet in my mitigated way I don't entirely disapprove".{{sfn|Christgau|1975}}

Bill Provick of the ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'' was initially hesitant about the group, stating he mocked ''Autobahn'' at first, but upon listening to it and ''Ralf and Florian'', he called his initial reaction "a bad mistake, a grave injustice and a sad example of the rock snobbery I always bemoan in others".{{sfn|Provick|1975}} Provick said the album "works on two levels&nbsp;– as pleasing background atmosphere" and "upon closer listening as lovely escape route for the mind", finding "Kraftwerk opting for calm competence rather than spectacular gimmickry&nbsp;– a nice change in the world of electronic music".{{sfn|Provick|1975}} Gary Deane of ''[[The Leader-Post]]'' said ''Autobahn'' was Kraftwerk's "most ambitious and coherent [album] to date", and that the track "Autobahn" is repetitive due to its running time but added: "the effect is deliberate and the periodic familiarly of the Autobahn's scenery keeps the work together as a whole. It's really quite fascinating and offers a new dimension to most our musical lives."{{sfn|Deane|1975}} Van Matre described the title track as "an impression of the sounds and sensory perceptions of the road, at times nerve-wracking, at times as repetitious as the center dividing strip, but chiefly hypnotic"; and called the track "by far the finest and most accessible thing on the album".{{sfn|Van Matre|1975}} Van Matre also said the remaining tracks on the album are "more experimental, less catchy&nbsp;– but it makes the whole thing worthwhile".{{sfn|Van Matre|1975}} Some critics such as Gerry Baker of ''[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]]'' and Wayne Robins of ''[[Newsday]]'' included the album in their honorable mentions on their lists of the best albums of 1975.{{sfn|Barker|1975}}{{sfn|Robins|1975}}

===Retrospective reviews===
{{Album ratings
|title = Retrospective ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Erlewine}}

| rev2 = ''[[Drowned in Sound]]''
| rev2score = 9/10{{sfn|Power|2009}}

| rev3 = ''[[The Irish Times]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{sfn|Clayton-Lea|2009}}

| rev4 = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{sfn|Snow|2009}}

| rev5 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev5score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{sfn|Coleman|Randall|2004|pp=468–69}}

| rev6 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
| rev6score = 9/10{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=215}}

| rev7 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev7score = {{rating|5|5}}{{sfn|Cavanagh}}
}}

In 1985, Simon Witter wrote in the ''[[NME]]'' ''Autobahn'' is not as strong as Kraftwerk's four subsequent albums but that it has "enormous historical significance".{{sfn|Witter|1985}} Witter said: "In the glam era of glitter and guitars, Kraftwerk were four besuited squares playing keyboards", and that the group was "Mentally and sonically decades ahead of their contemporaries", noting their unique rhythms, textures and melodies.{{sfn|Witter|1985}} [[Simon Reynolds]] wrote in the ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]'' (1995): "Esoterics will claim they prefer the first three albums: they're excellent, but truthfully ''Autobahn'' is when Kraftwerk's muzak-of-the-sphere starts to matter".{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=216}} Reynolds said the title track "sounds like a pastoral symphony, even as it hymns the exhilaration of cruising down the freeway".{{sfn|Reynolds|1995|p=216}}

[[David Cavanagh]] gave the 2009 remaster of ''Autobahn'' a five-star rating in ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', saying the title track is its main attraction and called the tracks "freckled with warmth: sunny vocal harmonies ("...mit Glitzerstrahl"), a carefree flute solo (Schneider) and clever modulations (denoting gear-changes) to break the tension", Cavanagh called the remastering of the album a fiasco, and said it is worse than the compact discs previously released by EMI.{{sfn|Cavanagh}} [[Mat Snow]] wrote in ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' the album is a "pop landmark" and a "blueprint for their entire enterprise".{{sfn|Snow|2009}} Tom Ewing of [[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] commented positively on the album in their review of ''[[The Catalogue]]'', noting tracks on the album are a showcase for Kraftwerk's "gift for simple, wistful melodies" but said the themes explored on the album were done better on ''[[Trans-Europe Express (album)|Trans-Europe Express]]''.{{sfn|Ewing|2009}} Other later album reviews, such as a four-star rating from ''[[The Irish Times]]'' and a three-and-a-half star rating in  ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'', were generally positive with no specific details on ''Autobahn'' {{sfn|Coleman|Randall|2004|pp=468–69}} Christgau upgraded his initial ranking of C+ for ''Autobahn'' to a B−.{{sfn|Christgau|1975}} In the 2005 book ''[[1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die]]'', Stephen Dalton called ''Autobahn'' "...a landmark in avant-garde pop minimalism".{{sfn|Dalton|2005|p=318}}