01. Amboss (19:40)
02. Traummaschine (25:24)
On the late-60's Berlin underground scene, there was a growing trend for radical innovative bands. One band was the embryonic Ash Ra Tempel, then known as Steeple Chase Bluesband (formed June 1969), who played a freak-out blues rock with John Mayall influences. The original line-up was: Manuel Göttsching (guitar), Hartmut Enke (bass) and Wulf Arp (drums), with Volker Zibell (harmonica) joining in August 1969. Arp was momentarily replaced by Wolfgang Müller, at which time they gained wide exposure with an appearance in concert on TV. A document of Steeple Chase Bluesband can be found on THE PRIVATE TAPES, which is just the sort of stoned blues-rock underground we expected.
Having left Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze met up with Manuel and Hartmut and hatched the idea of Ash Ra Tempel. At this time all three were also involved in Konrad Schnitzler's Eruption project. In August 1970 they started rehearsals and also played concerts, becoming notorious for improvisations that could exceed 30 minutes yet be most fascinating and invigorating. Documents from various concerts can be found on THE PRIVATE TAPES, revealing the innovation of the band, in which Klaus was much more than just a drummer (playing steel guitar, organ, electronics, etc.), but as a drummer he was something else!
After a couple of aborted demo's Ash Ra Tempel decided to go to Hamburg and record an album proper, with the aid of Conny Plank. This resulted in their debut, which was housed in a mystical elaborate centre-opening gatefold cover. As with their live jams, Ash Ra Tempel on record was a unique twist on the space-rock music as pioneered by Pink Floyd and Hawkwind, with elements of both yet devoid of songs, free-rock in the truest sense. Just one track per side: firstly with the power-drive storming "Amboss" (close to Klaus' work in Tangerine Dream) and in contrast, the shimmering timeless "Traummaschine". A yin-and-yang type concept that made for an extraordinary album. But, not too long after this, with a yearning for greater things in life than just playing drums, Klaus left Ash Ra Tempel, saying to Manuel "You keep the name, I'm going to do other things" and went on to pursue a most fruitful solo career as one of the pioneers of synth music.
After this, the former Steeple Chase Bluesband drummer Wolfgang Müller returned. The next album SCHWINGUNGEN ("Vibrations" in English) returned to their bluesy origins, and again (like their debut LP) it had contrasting sides. "Light And Darkness" exists as the closest any German band have got to early Hawkwind, a wild acid-rock cum cosmic-blues music fronted by eccentric vocalist John L. spouting rather than singing his LSD induced visions. It's intense, powerful, and for some - too dark and unnerving. In stark contrast, "Suche & Liebe" owed a huge debt to Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful Of Secrets", complete with shimmering vibes, a hazy electronic mist, and an overdose of Dave Gilmour style glissando guitars, stretching out to cosmic bliss.
Hereon, Ash Ra Tempel history becomes a mite complex, with involvement from Timothy Leary and numerous other projects, like the jam sessions released as The Cosmic Jokers. Ohr boss Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser had a vision of making the ultimate psychedelic trip, and naturally Timothy Leary being in nearby Switzerland lead to the opportunity of a lifetime. Hartmut was very keen on this idea, and went to Switzerland to meet Leary, and work out a concept based on "the seven steps to a better karma of consciousness". The results were SEVEN UP, a crazed trip with Leary at the helm. Timothy Leary had spiked the 7 Up that the band were drinking with LSD. The trip was set, and obviously too, was the title! On the tongue-in-cheek "Space", stoned 50's styled blues fronted by Leary, Brian Barritt and sexy backing singers, fused with Krautrock, psychedelia and an overdose of electronics. In true Ash Ra Tempel tradition, "Time" contrasted greatly, returning to the spacey realms of "Schwingungen" and moving the closest Ash Ra Tempel got to the cosmic Gong sound. The SEVEN UP experience caused the disintegration of Ash Ra Tempel as a proper band, "Gedanken" (on the KOSMISCHE MUSIK sampler) showed how much in flux Ash Ra Tempel had become. A huge band one moment, and next they were but two!
Such was the unpredictability of Ash Ra Tempel's line-up, that the next album JOIN INN resulted from an impromptu jam, recorded while Manuel, Hartmut and Rosi were waiting for everyone else that was supposed to turn up for the Walter Wegmüller TAROT sessions. It saw the return of Klaus Schulze to the band, and again an album of stark contrasts: "Freak And Roll" being the raunchiest relentless wah-wah guitar rock freak-out ever, and the cosmic drifting Schulze synthesizer-dominated "Jenseits" which featured Manuel's girlfriend Rosi Müller reciting her story of the Timothy Leary experience. After this, the trio toured for a while, playing at the Actuel Festival in Paris in February 1973, amongst other venues. But, two weeks on, after a concert in Cologne, as Manuel put it "Hartmut was too spaced out to play any more", Hartmut left Ash Ra Tempel. Though Klaus had been playing in the band, he wasn't an official member, he was more into developing his solo career.
So, Ash Ra Tempel became Manuel Göttsching and whoever was handy at the time. STARRING ROSI, recorded with Rosi Müller was very varied, sometimes comparable to Gong and Camel, and there's even a cosmic tango! Yet, still there's many classic touches. Also featured was Harald Grosskopf on drums, whom Manuel had worked with on The Cosmic Jokers sessions. After this, alone, Manuel went on to record his most innovative album INVENTIONS FOR ELECTRIC GUITAR, entirely created with guitar and echo devices, though you'd hardly believe it! Akin to Günter Schickert's SAMTVOGEL or more recent Robert Fripp, yet more sequential, cosmic and floating, awash with those typically Göttsching guitar licks. Almost like synthesizer music, yet purely guitar!
Continuing solo, adding synthesizers to his instrumentation, he eventually adopted the guise of Ashra. Manuel also worked in collaboration with many other musicians, including sessions with ex-Agitation Free members Lutz Ulbrich and Michael Hoenig, and in concert with ex-Wallenstein drummer Harald Grosskopf. Some sessions from this period have only appeared as official releases recently, namely the ethereal LE BERCEAU DE CRISTAL film soundtrack, the RIAS radio session DREAM & DESIRE, and the Hoenig/Göttsching jam EARLY WATER. The first two albums released as Ashra at the time were entirely solo, showcasing Manuel's great talent as a multi-instrumentalist, firstly with the cosmic and sequential NEW AGE OF EARTH which showed much Klaus Schulze influence along with unique new way of using sequencers, and then the energetic guitar riffing BLACKOUTS.
Soon Ashra became a proper group. Yet, as a trio, Ashra became far less easy to pin down, CORRELATIONS had an uneasy commerciality, and they almost bordered on disco music on one track of the unevenly balanced BELLE ALLIANCE, yet Ashra still ventured onto more experimental realms. Unique documents of Ashra live in 1979 feature on THE PRIVATE TAPES, showing how many different ideas were at play, attempting an uneasy balance between commercial accessibility and experimentation. This schizophrenic incarnation split and reformed numerous times, and all musicians have recorded solo works and worked in collaboration with other people since. Of the later Ashra albums, the most innovative was WALKIN' THE DESERT which ventured onto new uncharted territory of systemic and weird sound-sampling music, proving Ashra to be just as innovative as they ever were.
(Crack In The Cosmic Egg) |
