GIN ROSÉ AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

This album differed aesthetically from the earlier works of Ash Ra Tempel, understandably the time of recording makes it more closer to Göttshing's 1980's solo and Ashra territories. Though I have not adopted fully that discography's sound, I found this still a very pleasant recording. The music on "Gin Rosé" is more synthetic instead of original band's 1970's classic period's raw analog and rock oriented sound, but the idea of improvisational music is still the same. The concert is presented here unedited as it was performed, and that's the way I think it should be. There are some little duller parts on the open sonic dialog, when Manuel and Klaus are searching the musical seeds to be grown on their electronic aural incubators. The overall final result is wonderful though, and small faults are usually the price of an improvisation. The drum parts are done with programmed percussion loops or such, but they didn't bother me as they were quite smooth sounding. And as they don't have a separate drummer, this is an understandable solution technically, and allowing more direct improvisation with lesser musicians. There are also some great ethereal passages on their performance, which reminded me of Tangerine Dream. If you are into that band, I would recommend checking out this CD.