EDGAR LUSTGARTEN - AN HOUR WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE (UK, 1974)

Times Cassettes, WLA 0001

Here's a weird anomaly for Kraftwerk fans: A reading of a selection of Edgar Allan Poe tales, with occasional incidental music lifted from the (then) most recent Kraftwerk album! 

Our reader, Mr. Edgar Lustgarten was born in 1907, according to his brief biographical data on the J-card, and this came in 1975. so he was already in his 68th year at this point... And it may be just my prejudice, but I would have thought that if an elderly actor was given a choice of what music to use in the background of his readings, he'd perhaps not jump at the latest electronic avant garde? In other words, whose idea was it to stick bits of Kraftwerk underneath these tales of Mystery and Imagination? Did they arrive at the studio and find they had forgot their LP of Brahms string quartets? 

Listening to the cassette it would seem like the music was a deliberate choice, it is edited and segmented and 'treated' with some echo here and there, it's no coincidential incidental music this! Maybe the sound guy was a fan? Whatever the reason, use it they did, and I'm thankful, because it makes for an interesting item for Kraftwerk collectors!

On the cassette, Lustgarten reads mostly on his own. There are small bits of Mitternacht, Morgenspaziergang and Kometenmelodie 1 shoved gently underneath in parts, and in particular the bit of Mitternacht has been given a once-over in terms of edits and studio tinkering - it is a couple of segments, spliced together and repeated, and I seem to hear some reverb or echo used on it as well... So no part of the title track is used, perhaps logical as it is more frequency-intense, there's simply more sound throughout the whole of Autobahn. The flute part of Morgenspaziergang is more inconspicuous, which, if you want it to BE there, without grabbing all the attention, is ideal!

Kraftwerk are also credited on the J-card, with information on the cat.numbers should you want to order a copy. I assume this was released in late 1974 or early 1975, because the info states that the cassette is available "from April 1975", which to me sounds like it hasn't been made available at time of writing? I think that's what it means. In fact, the cassette label states that this was produced in 1974, so there's that... Not sure they would announce a cassette release (of the Autobahn release) more than four months in advance at that point though? I must admit it's all a bit mysterious to me. Oh well.

The J-card on the pictures here are from the general release; be sure to look out for an obscure "library edition" too; which comes in an outsize box of practically the same design as this J-card. 

Finally, I'd like to thank John Shilcock for his website keepwerking.co.uk, which is where I came across this item. The pictures here are of my own copy though!