Ash Ra Tempel

A Berlin krautrock group built around the guitarist Manuel Göttsching, whose long, spacious records from 1971 to 1973 sit between blues rock and electronic drift.

Origin: Berlin, Germany
Years active: 1970-1976, 2000-2001
Genres: krautrock, space rock, ambient, kosmische
Labels: Ohr, Cosmic Couriers, Virgin, MG.ART

Berlin and the first album

Ash Ra Tempel formed in Berlin around the guitarist Manuel Göttsching, the bassist Hartmut Enke and the drummer Klaus Schulze. Sources disagree on the year: the English Wikipedia text says 1971, after the three had taken part in Conrad Schnitzler's short-lived group Eruption, while its infobox, MusicBrainz and German Wikipedia say 1970. Göttsching and Enke had played together in the Steeple Chase Blues Band in the mid-1960s, and Schulze had earlier been in Tangerine Dream. The name, Göttsching told Radio Eins according to German Wikipedia, put the material (Ash) and the spiritual (Ra) in a temple where they meet.

The debut, Ash Ra Tempel, was recorded in March 1971 at Star Studio in Hamburg with the engineer Conny Plank, and released on Ohr that June. It has two long pieces, "Amboss" at 19:40 and "Traummaschine" at 25:24. In the bio sheet the trio wrote in 1970, Göttsching described the concept as a combination of blues rock and delicate collages of electronic sound. Schulze left after a Swiss tour in September 1971, by German Wikipedia's account, to record his solo album Irrlicht.

Schwingungen, Seven Up and Join Inn

The second album, Schwingungen (1972, Ohr), was produced by Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser with Dieter Dierks engineering, and used a larger cast: Wolfgang Müller on drums and vibraphone, Uli Popp on bongos, Matthias Wehler on alto saxophone and a vocalist credited as John L. Göttsching, Enke and Müller carry the title piece. Seven Up, recorded mainly in August 1972 at Sinus Studios in Bern with Timothy Leary, who was then in Swiss exile, came out on Cosmic Couriers in 1973 (MusicBrainz gives 1972). Its name comes from a bottle of 7 Up spiked with LSD. Schulze returned for Join Inn, recorded in 1972 at Studio Dierks and released in 1973, which was his last album with the group; Rosi Müller sang on it.

Julian Cope's Krautrocksampler of 1995 treats the first two albums with great enthusiasm, and he wrote that Schwingungen was a gift from the Gods. Göttsching and Enke were convinced, Cope says, that they had found the sound of heaven in the title track's chord sequence, and they reused it on "Time" from Seven Up.

Starring Rosi and the move to Ashra

Starring Rosi (1973, Ohr's Kosmische Musik imprint) is credited to Göttsching and Rosi Müller, with Schulze and Enke gone. Göttsching produced it at Studio Dierks in Stommeln and played nearly everything himself, with Harald Grosskopf guesting on drums. Cope called it an entirely different direction, more accessible and very commercially successful, and of no use after what the group had come to represent. In 1975 came Inventions for Electric Guitar, often counted as Göttsching's first solo album, and the soundtrack Le Berceau de Cristal for a Philippe Garrel film, which was not released commercially under the group's name until 1993. The last Ash Ra Tempel concert on setlist.fm is at the Bataclan in Paris on December 14, 1976. The next record, New Age of Earth, appeared in 1977 on Virgin as Ashra.

Göttsching and Schulze reunited as Ash Ra Tempel on April 2, 2000 at Julian Cope's Cornucopea festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London, released as the live album Gin Rosé, and made the studio album Friendship that year. From 2015 to 2018 Göttsching led Ash Ra Tempel Experience with Oren Ambarchi and Shags Chamberlain, among others, including a 2018 concert at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. He died on December 4, 2022, aged 70. Fiftieth-anniversary reissues on his MG.ART label, overseen by him, began in 2023.

Members

Manuel Göttsching guitars, synthesizers, vocals (1971-1976, 2000-2001)
Hartmut Enke bass, guitars, synthesizers (1971-1973)
Klaus Schulze drums, synthesizers (1971, 1972-1973, 2000-2001)
Wolfgang Müller drums, vibraphone (1972)
Rosi Müller vocals, vibes, concert harp, lyrics (1973-1976)

Records

Ash Ra Tempel 1971 · Ohr
The debut: one side for guitars, bass and drums, the other for the point where the instruments dissolve.
Schwingungen 1972 · Ohr
The second album, with a wider cast and a nineteen-minute title piece in two parts.
Starring Rosi 1973 · Ohr (Kosmische Musik)
Shorter songs, credited to Göttsching and Rosi Müller, recorded after Schulze and Enke had gone.

Songs

Traummaschine Ash Ra Tempel · 1971
The second side of the debut, which Göttsching described as instruments dissolving into electronic Nirvana.
Schwingungen Schwingungen · 1972
The title piece of the second album, in two parts, whose chord sequence the band believed was the sound of heaven.
Day-Dream Starring Rosi · 1973
A short song from Starring Rosi, with Dieter Dierks arranging the chorus.

Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze

Where to go next

Official

Manuel Göttsching The artist's own site, with discography and release notes.

Reference

Ash Ra Tempel on Wikipedia Line-up table and discography.
Ash Ra Tempel on German Wikipedia The name explanation and studio detail.

Writing and criticism

The Quietus: Manuel Göttsching has died A career overview.

Live performance archives

setlist.fm: Ash Ra Tempel 47 setlists from 1971 to 2016.

Fan sites and communities

Krautrocksampler Julian Cope's 1995 book, with the early albums reviewed.
Head Heritage Unsung: Join Inn A 2003 review.

Sources

Ash Ra Tempel, Wikipedia
Ash Ra Tempel, Wikipedia (German)
Seven Up (album), Wikipedia
Starring Rosi, Wikipedia
Krautrocksampler, Julian Cope (1995)
Manuel Göttsching has died, The Quietus (2022-12)
Ash Ra Tempel, MusicBrainz