Ash Ra Tempel

Ash Ra Tempel
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	Krautrock
Years active	1970–1976, 2000–2001
Labels	Ohr, Virgin, Komische, King, Cleopatra, Spalax
Past members	Manuel Göttsching Hartmut Enke Klaus Schulze Wolfgang Müller Timothy Leary Rosi Müller
Website	Official site

Ash Ra Tempel was a German krautrock group active from 1970 to 1976. It was Manuel Göttsching's first prominent musical output. Ash Ra Temple featured revolving members with only Göttsching remaining constant. Eventually Göttsching retired the use of the Ash Ra Temple name after he became the sole remaining member. His first solo album Inventions for Electric Guitar was the last album to bear the Ash Ra Temple name. It was subtitled "Ash Ra Temple VI" functioning as the sixth and final album. Göttsching later began using the name Ashra for his solo output as an homage to his former group. Ashra eventually evolved into a full band and continued along with Göttsching until 1998.

History

The group was originally founded by guitarist Manuel Göttsching, keyboardist/drummer Klaus Schulze, and bassist Hartmut Enke in 1971. All three founding members had previously played together as part of the short-lived group Eruption founded by Conrad Schnitzler. Prior to that Schnitzler and Schulze had worked together in Tangerine Dream.

A short-lived project Manuel Göttsching had in 1970 was the Steeple Chase Blues Band, which also included Hartmut Enke, Wolfgang Müller, and Volker Zibell.

Ash Ra Tempel released its self-titled debut album in June 1971. This release is considered by critics to be a classic of the genre; Schulze temporarily departed for a solo career shortly after its release. Schwingungen (1972), Seven Up (with Timothy Leary) (1972), and Join Inn (1973) are all considered key works from the band. The pop-oriented 1973 album Starring Rosi was thus named because it featured lead vocals by Rosi Mueller.

Their music is widely characterized as cosmic and atmospheric. The early albums were more psychedelic-oriented and all had one lengthy track per side: one more powerful and dramatic, the other of a more atmospheric nature. Instead of writing English lyrics, since German language was not popular in rock music at the time, Ash Ra Tempel more or less decided not to have lyrics in their songs.

A reunion concert performance with the original line-up took place in Cologne on February 28, 1973.

Later, after recording the soundtrack Le Berceau de Cristal (1975; unreleased until 1993) Ash Ra Tempel shortened its name to Ashra, making a more melodic, synthesizer-based music. In 2000 the band was reunited in the line-up of Manuel Gottsching and Klaus Schulze. The pair had previously worked together on Schulze's album In Blue.

Influence

Ash Ra Tempel exerted a relatively large influence on later space rock and krautrock bands. The psychedelic bands Acid Mothers Temple and Hash Jar Tempo named themselves in reference to Ash Ra Tempel. The experimental rock ensemble Al Berkowitz covered Light: look at your sun, from Schwingungen, and featured it on their live album Apprenticeship and attitude (2009). Hungarian psychedelic hardcore, 'shaman punk' band Galloping Coroners also said that they were influenced by Ash Ra Tempel in the late 1970s.

Members

• Manuel Göttsching - guitars, synthesisers, vocals (1971-1976, 2000-2001)
• Hartmut Enke - bass, guitars, synthesisers (1971-1973; died 2005)
• Klaus Schulze - drums, synthesisers, vocals (1971, 1972-1973, 2000-2001)
• Wolfgang Müller - drums, percussion (1972)
• Timothy Leary - vocals (1972; died 1996)
• Rosi Müller - vocals (1973-1976)

Discography

Studio albums

• Ash Ra Tempel (1971)
• Schwingungen (1972)
• Seven Up (1972)
• Join Inn (1973)
• Starring Rosi (1973)
• Le Berceau de Cristal (soundtrack) (1975)
• New Age of Earth (1976) (by Ashra)
• Blackouts (1977) (by Ashra)
• Correlations (1979) (by Ashra)
• Belle Alliance (1980) (by Ashra)
• Walkin' the Desert (1989) (by Ashra)
• Tropical Heat (1991) (by Ashra)
• Friendship (2000, with Klaus Schulze)

Live album

• Gin Rosé: at the Royal Festival Hall (2000, live album)

Compilations

• The Best of the Private Tapes 2xCD (1998) (rare demo recordings)
• Schwingungen/ Seven Up (1998) (Two original LP's on one CD)
• Join Inn/ Starring Rosi (1998) (Two original LP's on one CD)

Other releases

• Inventions for Electric Guitar (1975) (by Manuel Göttsching, subtitled as Ash Ra Tempel VI)

See also: Ashra

External links

• Official website
• Unsung: Ash Ra Tempel
• Myspace
• The Making Of Seven Up from April 2003 issue of Mojo magazine:
• "Ash Ra Tempel". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
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