Ash Ra Tempel

Ash Ra Tempel are one of the greatest but (perhaps) lesser known of the wave of kosmiche music groups (generically branded as krautrock by the UK press at the time) that rose to prominance during the late sixties/early seventies. They originally formed after purchasing Pink Floyd's sound equipment in London and consisted of Manuel Göttsching (guitar), Harmut Enke (bass) and Klaus Schulze (drums). The idea was to combine blues influenced improvisations and new sounds available with the electronics and synthesizers newly available at the time with the traditional rock instruments of guitar, bass and drums. The debut self-titled album was released in 1971, engineered by Conny Plank. Konrad Plank himself was integral to the entire kosmiche scene. It was his inspirational manipulation of the new technology and his ability to effectively use the studio as an instrument, in it's own right, that opened up an entire new world (or universe) of possibilities. Conny also worked with the likes of Neu!, Cluster, Holger Czukay, Guru Guru, and Dieter Moebius and could almost be considered as part of the bands that he worked with, such was his influence. Klaus Schulze soon went his own way to pursue other ideas.

The following year, Manuel and Hartmut joined forces with guest musicians (forming more of a collective rather simply employed session musicians) for the second album Schwingungen. In the summer of the same year the rolling cast list teamed up with with Timothy Leary (yep, "turn on, tune in, drop out") to record Seven Up. In 1973, Klaus Schulze rejoined and, with the first appearance of Manuel's girlfriend Rosi, recorded the spontaneous and totally unrehearsed "Join Inn". Quite literally turn on the tape and play! This astonishingly creative period possibly represents the highwater mark for Ash Ra Tempel and all four feature in the top 10 of Julian Cope's deleriously idiosyncratic review of the period "Krautrocksampler". All four albums are essential!

The "Private Tapes" series of 6 cds contain a wealth of unreleased recording. Released in 1996, they have been sold out for years and (as far as I am aware) have never been reissued.

In preparing this post, I found that the early releases have just been rereleased (again!) or are about to be rereleased ... details of which can be found here. If you like what you hear, I strongly recommend that you buy them! They will sound far superior to these rips!

1971 - Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel [ohr]
1971 - Ash Ra Tempel - Live in Berlin, 1971.05.19 (bootleg)
1971 - Ash Ra Tempel - Live in Bern 1971.10.09 (bootleg)
1972 - Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen
1973 - Timothy Leary & Ash Ra Tempel - Seven Up
1973 - Ash Ra Tempel - Join Inn
1973 - Ash Ra Tempel - Starring Rosi
1974 - Ash Ra Tempel - Live @ Salle Wagrem, Paris, 06.12.74 (2cd bootleg aka "Paris Downers")
1975 - Ash Ra Tempel / Manuel Göttsching - Inventions For Electric Guitar
1976 - Ash Ra Tempel & Manuel Göttsching - New Age of Earth
1994 - Ash Ra Tempel - Le Berceau De Cristal
1997 - Ashra - Live in Nijmegen, 11.10.97 (bootleg)
2000 - Ash Ra Tempel - Friendship
2000 - Ash Ra Tempel - Gin Rosé At The Royal Festival Hall

Ash Ra Tempel / Ashra / Manuel Göttsching - The Private Tapes

The Private Tapes Vol. 1
The Private Tapes Vol. 2
The Private Tapes Vol. 3
The Private Tapes Vol. 4
The Private Tapes Vol. 5
The Private Tapes Vol. 6