ash ra tempel: le berceau de cristal

"In 1975 I was doing a series of concerts in France with Lutz Ulbrich, where we were presenting 'Inventions for Electric Guitar' and other compositions, which we developed together that year. In August, we were invited for two concerts in the South of France, one in the wonderful Roman theater in Arles, the other at the Festival Palace in Cannes. This is where we met the musicians of the German band CAN and the singer Nico, who also played at the festival. After the concerts we stayed together a few days in the beautiful city of Arles. Nico's friend, the French director Philippe Garrel, was working at that time on a film starring Nico, Anita Pallenberg and Dominique Sanda and was looking for music to make you dream. I always recorded most of our concerts, that's how we were able to offer him the piece that we had performed as 'encore' in Cannes. It became the main theme of the film. Other parts were recorded during several sessions throughout 1975 in my studio in Berlin. Instruments and electronic devices were relatively simple compared to today's technology: four-track tape recorder, an old Farfisa organ, the beautiful EKO Rhythm Computer (Italian machines controlled by punched cards), the EMS superb guitar-Synthi HiFli and, of course, our 'usual' guitars. All this combined with the patching, the filtering and echo has produced its own unique sound to 'electronic dreams' of the 70s." --Manuel Göttsching, 1993 Recorded in 1975 at Studio Roma, Berlin, with the exception of "Le Berceau de Cristal," recorded in concert on August 7, 1975, at Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. Mixed and produced by Manuel Göttsching.