Ash Ra Tempel: Ash Ra Tempel (1971)
Ash Ra Tempel, as well as Can, Faust, Neu, Amon Düül II, Tangerine Dream, and Kraftwerk, were regarded as the greats in the Krautrock scene. In 1970, Tangerine Dream released their debut album, Electronic Meditation. It was very untypical of their releases as it was a very guitar heavy psychedelic album with an underground feel. One of the members of that band was Klaus Schulze, who was a drummer at that time (he usually handled keyboards, but not in the early days). He left that band not too long after.
A young guitarist named Manuel Göttsching was starting a new band called Ash Ra Tempel, and the two members he got in were bassist Hartmut Enke and Klaus Schulze. They got to work in 1971 and recorded and released their self-entitled debut on Ohr Records (same label Tangerine Dream was recording for). The album simply consists of two side-length cuts. The first cut, “Amboss” is a rather agressive, mindblowing guitar-oriented piece. It’s some wild stuff, and unsurprisingly, it reminds me of TD’s Electronic Meditation.
The second and final cut is “Traummaschine”, German for “Dream Machine”. As you may guess, this cut is totally opposite from “Amboss”, as it’s a mindblowing, but mellow piece that’s mostly ambient. It has that creepy atmosphere that makes me think of Tangerine Dream’s Zeit. Some guitar does creep in but largely, it stays ambient. It’s strange how an album with two cuts can blow me away for completely opposite reasons (one being wild and intense, the other being mellow).
Unfortunately the band had trouble keeping members with Göttsching the only constant member. Klaus Schulze left to make a name for himself as one of the biggest names of electronic music (along with Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre, Tomita, Vangelis, Kitaro, Wendy Carlos, etc.). Other members that came in and out of Ash Ra Tempel included Rosi Müller, Steve Schroyder (ex-Tangerine Dream), and even Timothy Leary (who was apparently in exile in neighboring Switzerland around that time), of all people.
The original LP of Ash Ra Tempel’s debut came with a gimmick cover, not unlike Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery. The original is not particularly easy to find, but it’s been reissued plenty of times (but with a normal cover), including CD so you should be able to get yourself a copy somewhere. I find Ash Ra Tempel’s debut an incredible masterpiece of space rock, and if you like this type of stuff, you owe it to yourself to get this album, you won’t regret it!
– Manuel Göttsching: guitar
– Klaus Schulze: drums
– Hartmut Enke: bass