Review Summary: One of the all-time Krautrock albums. A very spacey atmospheric work.
Ash Ra Tempel was a German progressive rock band formed in Berlin, Germany, in 1970. The band was one of the protagonists of the psychedelic rock in Germany, one of the founders of what became known as Krautrock, also called “Kosmische musik”. Krautrock was a German avant-garde and experimental rock movement. The most consistent years of the Krautrock scene cover a relatively short period from 1970 to 1975. But, it became, above all, most known as the incubator of two of the most influential projects of the entire German prog rock scene, Ash Ra Tempel and Ashra. These projects were two of the pioneers of the progressive space rock genre and of the progressive electronic music.
Ash Ra Tempel was formed by ex-Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulze, Manuel Gottsching and Hartmut Enke. The drummer and percussionist Klaus Schulze and the ambitious guitarist Manuel Gottsching played in an amateur group, the Steeple Chase Blues Band, when the boom of the German rock scene began. Both with Enke on bass, the trio gave birth to Ash Ra Tempel, who released their first eponymous debut studio album, “Ash Ra Tempel” in the year of 1971.
The ambition of Ash Ra Temple was to forge a new German style grafted from improvisational blues and a re-imagined Anglo Saxon sound that inspired them. On this album, the band omitted lyrics, favouring, instead, the led instrumental landscape of hypnotic space rock sound. Both, Schulze and Gottsching, were early adopters of electronica, furnishing to the Ash Ra Temple albums a very own atmospher, unleashing a torrent of signature sounds. The repetitive nature and the hallucination of the compositions found on this album, took surely some concentration on the part of the band, as well as a keen sense of timekeeping, although at times the instruments blend into one seamless almost mechanistic.
The debut album of Ash Ra Tempel seems to be too many people the favourite album by the band despite I really prefer their third album “Join Inn”. But, I don’t blame them, as you won’t get a more perfect space atmosphere than the one you’ll find here. Strengthened by Gottsching’s long distance improvisations on guitar and Klaus Schulze’s pictorial sense, the two side lengthy tracks, one a furious psychedelic work out and the other a kosmische bliss out, are really one of those cornerstore of the progressive German rock releases. This is really a good example of how the ambition and imagination can really make something work in the world of the improvisation. This improvisational style can really be described as the rhythm section laying down a path for the guitar to explore. And if the acid rock freak out might be the thing that gets the attention, I often think it’s the floating, laid-back second side that shows the genius at work here.
The two tracks on the album are both very spacey pieces, but still very different from each other. “Amboss” is an intense guitar jam that reminds me a whole lot of Tangerine Dream’s “Electronic Meditation” during their most intense moments. This isn’t strange since Schulze was on that Tangerine Dream’s album before coming to Ash Ra Tempel. It opens quiet and relaxed, but soon bursts into a frenetic jam, highlighted with Gottsching’s excellent spacey guitar playing and Schulze’s energetic drumming. It’s quite fascinating how such an energetic and noisy piece still can be so atmospheric and relaxing. After a gentle prelude, “Amboss” develops into an unbelievable psychedelic orgy, driven by Gottsching’s freaky guitar and Schulze’s wild drumming. “Amboss” is perhaps more balanced than its instrumental rants. Quite different is the lengthy “Traummaschine”. As the name suggests, it’s a slow, dreamy, spacey ambient piece. It presented the band as the German Pink Floyd. It’s more “progressive” than “cosmic”. “Traummaschine” lives up to its title, and gives a clue about what Schulze later would do on his own albums. It’s a very quiet and mysterious piece, with floating electronics and shimmering guitar. It consists of elongated loops of sound, which are accompanied by somewhat textless singing. This is cosmic music in the style of the early Tangerine Dream. Only occasionally does the piece gain momentum, rhythm guitar and hand drums kick in, and finally a typical herbaceous guitar solo develops. After that, “Traummaschine” always falls back into the initial wave of gentle sounds. This space trip is very beautiful.
Conclusion: Anyone who claims to have the most important Krautrock albums must have two or three albums of Ash Ra Temple in addition to Kraftwerk, Amon Dul, Tangerine Dream, Guru Guru, Agitation Free and Popol Vuh and some albums of Ashra too. This debut album of Ash Ra Tempel is one of the finest examples of the so called Krautrock scene. They’re perhaps the quintessential example of Krautrock. The whole album gives you a feeling of flying through space in a pyramid and visiting planets with ancient temples. Gottsching is perhaps one of the most innovative guitarists ever, despite there is no flashy solos and Schulze is a master to create spacey electronic music. Still, if you’re looking for something more controlled with electronic spacey atmospheres start with one of the first Ashra albums.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
